It was formed in the late 19th century during the Ottoman military reforms in accordance with the Tanzimat period.

After the Young Turk Revolution and the establishment of the Second Constitutional Era on 3 July 1908, new government initiate a major military reform.

The Army at the start of the First Balkan War in 1912 was structured as such:[6] (place names given are ones the Ottomans used at that time) Additionally, the Second Redif Inspectorate had divisions in the Balkans at: Drama, Serez, Salonika, İştip, Monastir, Uskup, Piristine, Metroviçe, Pirzenin, Yanya, Elbasan, Naslic, and İşkodra.

The Fifth Redif Inspectorate in Syria had divisions at: Adana, Antep, Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Akka, and Tripoli.

At the outset of World War I, the army headquarters was located in Aleppo Syria commanding two corps made up of two divisions.

By November 1914, the Second Army was moved to Constantinople and commanded the V and VI Corps, each composed of three divisions.

Due to the poor state of the Ottoman rail network, it took a long period of time to move the forces.

In response to defeats elsewhere, the army had a number of divisions transferred to other areas such as Mesopotamia and Palestine.

After the defeat at Megiddo, the army briefly saw front line service commanding three divisions (23rd, 41st, 44th) at the end of the war.