The founder of the Turkish Republic, the savior of the Turkish nation, the world-renowned great statesman who left his mark on the era in which he lived, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881 in a three-storey pink house on Islahhane Street in the Kocakasim District of Thessaloniki. He accepted the date of May 19, when he went to Samsun, as his birthday. His father is Ali Rıza Efendi and his mother is Zübeyde Hanım. His paternal grandfather, Hafız Ahmet Efendi, was one of the Kocacık nomads who were settled in Macedonia from Konya and Aydın in the XIV-XV centuries. His mother, Zübeyde Hanım, is the daughter of an old Turkish family settled in the town of Langaza, near Thessaloniki. Ali Rıza Efendi, who was a militia officer, a secretary of foundations and a timber trader, married Zübeyde Hanım in 1871. Four of Mustafa Kemal's five siblings died at a young age, only Makbule (Atadan) lived until 1956.

  When Mustafa reached the age of education, he first started his education at Hafız Mehmet Efendi's Neighborhood School with his mother's request, then he transferred to Şemsi Efendi School at his father's request. Atatürk was grateful to his father throughout his life for his father's decision in school choice. While he was continuing his education at Şemsi Efendi, his father died (1888). After staying with his uncle in Rapla Farm for a while, he returned to Thessaloniki and finished his school. He enrolled in Thessaloniki Civil High School. After a short while, he entered the Military High School in 1893 by winning the military school exams, which he secretly took despite the opposition of his mother. At this school, Mathematics teacher Mustafa Bey gave him the name Kemal, which means "perfection, maturity". Kolağası Mehmet Tevfik Bey, a history teacher at the Manastır Military High School, where he was educated between 1896-1899, strengthened Mustafa Kemal's interest in history. He learned French at school, he continued his French courses during his summer holidays in Thessaloniki.  

 Although he wanted to join the Ottoman-Greek War voluntarily, which started on April 19, 1897, he could not go to the front because he was a high school student and at the age of 16. He graduated from the Manastır Military High School in November 1898 as second in his class. He started his education at the Military School in Istanbul (the Harbiye) in 1899. Two months after entering the Harbiye, he became a class sergeant. When he came to Istanbul, he started to deal with the country's problems. He graduated in 1902 with the rank of lieutenant.

He was entitled to enter the Military Academy in 1902. He received military staff officer training. While at the Military Academy, he and his friends published a handwritten newspaper to explain the shortcomings and errors they noticed in the administration and policies of the government. He graduated on January 11, 1905 with the rank of staff captain.

Between 1905-1907, he started his military service in Damascus under the command of the 5th Army. In the meantime, he founded the "Homeland and Freedom Society". He became Kolağası (Senior Captain) in 1907. He was assigned to Manastır, to the Army III. On April 13, 1909, he took office as the "Chief of Staff" in the Movement Army, which suppressed the "31 March Uprising", which was started by the anti-constitutional reactionaries in Istanbul. In 1910 he was sent to France. He participated in the Picardie Maneuvers. In 1911, he started to work under the command of the General Staff in Istanbul.

In the war that started with the Italian attack on Tripoli in 1911, Mustafa Kemal secretly came to Tripoli with a group of friends, disguised as a journalist, under the name of Şerif. He gained his first military success by organizing the people of the region in Tobruk and Derne. When the Balkan War started in October 1912, Mustafa Kemal was assigned to Gallipoli. His great services were seen in the recapture of Edirne in the Second Balkan War. In 1913 he was appointed Attaché of Sofia. While in this position, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1914.

On April 25, 1915, the 19th Division commanded by Mustafa Kemal stopped the enemy forces that landed on Arıburnu at Conkbayırı. Upon this success, Mustafa Kemal was promoted to the rank of colonel. The British attacked again at Arıburnu on 6-7 August 1915. Anafartalar Group Commander Mustafa Kemal won the Anafartalar Victory on 9-10 August. 

This victory was followed by the Kireçtepe victory on 17 August and the II. Anafartalar victory on 21 August. The Turkish nation, which gave 253,000 martyrs in the Çanakkale Wars, knew how to protect its honor against the Allied Powers. Mustafa Kemal's words to his soldiers, "I am not ordering you to attack, I am ordering you to die!" His order changed the course of the war.

After the Çanakkale Wars, Mustafa Kemal took office in Edirne and Diyarbakır in 1916. He was promoted to major general on April 1, 1916. He fought against the Russian forces in the Caucasus Front and ensured the recapture of Muş and Bitlis. After his short assignments in Damascus and Aleppo, he came to Istanbul in 1917. He went to Germany with Crown Prince Vahidettin Efendi and made investigations at the front. He fell ill after this trip. He went to Vienna and Karisbad for treatment. On 15 August 1918, he returned to the Syrian Front as the 7th Army Commander in Aleppo. He fought successful defensive battles against the British forces on this front and was appointed as the Commander of the YıldırımArmy Group. 

Mustafa Kemal arrived in Istanbul, Haydarpasa Train Station on 13 November. Passing from Haydarpaşa to Istanbul, when he sees the enemy warships anchored in the Bosphorus for the occupation of the city, he said his famous word "As they have come, so they will go!". During his six-month stay in occupied Istanbul, he held secret meetings with other patriotic officers who wanted to resist the invasion and disintegration of the country.

The main purpose of Mustafa Kemal, who was sent to Samsun by the Sultan as the 9th Army Inspector to stop the resistance started by the Turkish people, was to organize the people against the invasions and to establish a new state on the foundations of National Sovereignty. By providing National Independence with the War of Independence. For these purposes, he landed in Samsun on 19 May 1919. Declaring that "the independence of the nation will be saved with the determination and decision of the nation", Mustafa Kemal resigned from the military on July 8, first in Havza, then on June 22, 1919, and continued his civil struggle with the support of his people. He convened the ErzurumCongress on 23 July-7 August 1919, and the Sivas Congress on 4-11 September 1919, and determined the path to be followed for the liberation of the homeland.