Primitive accumulation and the capitalist state in the Ottoman Empire during World War I

This thesis analyses the process of capital accumulation and the function of the state in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Based on archival sources, it argues that the Ottoman State played an effective role in i) the execution of mobilization and taxation policies that dictated the confiscation of the labor power, property, agricultural surplus, natural resources, means of production and subsistence for the financing of the war, by considering class based discrimination; ii) the formation of social policies that lead to that the social groups which had not yet participated in production activity or participated in limited way submit to wage; iii) the making of extraordinary war profits, both through the production of arms and ammunition and their international trade, and through speculative trade on basic necessities i.e. food, clothing, sheltering which were compulsory for the reproduction of the civilian population. In this context, it argues that the period of World War I constituted an important historical moment not only in terms of nation building but also in terms of capital accumulation and formation of the capitalist state. Key Words: primitive accumulation, capital accumulation, capitalist state, war, war profiteering