In line with the global developments in the first half of the 18th century, the Ottoman State had carried out a wide range of reforms including the Army as well.

In 1845, upon a decree, an administrative order of Sultan Abdülmecid, the Military Board of Education, composed of the Army War Academy Commander Emin Pasha, Fuat Pasha and Sheik ul Islam Arif Hikmet, decided that “The Military High Schools shall be established; the Army War Academy shall consist of four years, and like the European Armies, new courses shall be created to produce general staff officers.” Acquiring an institutional identity after this process, the War College went through two significant phases before evolving into its present state.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the remarkable leader recognized by the entire world as well as by all Turks, and the founder of today's modern Republic of Turkey, was the source of pride for the 57th Term Staff Officers Course.

A couple of months later in October, the College was moved from Harbiye to the Yıldız Palace, Crown Prices’ Quarter with the new designation “General Staff School”.

In view of the experiences gained during the First World War, substantial changes were made on the College curriculum in 1919, and a greater emphasis was placed on combat tactics and language courses.

7 years later came the establishment of the Air War College to train future staff officers of Turkish military aviation.

In order to unite the Higher Command Courses, and accordingly to co-locate all the colleges on the same campus, construction work for a new academic site was started on 12 March 1969 in Yenilevent, Istanbul.

In order to meet the requirements of technological world of today, the War Colleges Command inaugurated the deeply needed Atatürk Wargaming and Convention Center on 25 July 2003 to support academic education and training activities, to experiment the joint concepts in simulated environment as well as exercise and seminar environments, to create the joint doctrines of the Turkish Armed Forces.

The Strategic Research Institute is continuing its education and training activities since the 2003–2004 academic year to provide a postgraduate (master's and Ph.D.) level training, certificate programs, do scientific studies on the subjects requested by the Turkish Armed Forces but not effectively fulfilled by the institutes of the Military Academies and civilian universities.

Academic requests from the Friendly and Allied Countries towards the War Colleges, which has a special place among its counterparts, are constantly increasing every year.

The Joint War Institute, which is part of the new National Defence University, is now training staff officers for Turkish Armed Forces.