The Ottoman Empire disintegrated and was partitioned after its defeat in World War I. The empire had already been in decline for centuries, struggling to maintain a bloated bureaucracy or a centralized administrative structure after various attempts at reform. The problem was exacerbated further by the rise of more localized interests across the empire, such as the rise of nationalist movements. Upon the Ottomans’ defeat in World War I, a combination of nationalist movements and partition agreements among the Allied powers forced its disintegration into numerous territories, with Turkey as the empire’s immediate successor.