This project seeks to examine the dynamics of state-society relations in the late Ottoman Empire in a crucial and formative historical period by focusing on a significant yet rather ignored topic, military conscription. Its main objective is to understand the response of multi-religious and multi-ethnic Ottoman society to the introduction of universal conscription throughout the second constitutional period during which the Ottoman society experienced a series of major wars and mass mobilizations before the break-up of their empire. Universal compulsory military service was a principle component of modernization and nation-building efforts in the late Ottoman Empire. It was a project to serve both the defense and the construction of the Ottoman nation. Yet, it remained far from accomplishing any of the ascribed tasks, military or civic. Neither could the new citizen army produce an effective defence like the armies of France or Germany, nor did it contribute to the creation of a societal cohesion and a unifying attachment to the empire. The Ottomans lost all the wars they fought between 1909 and 1918 and societal cleavages kept deepening. The failure of universal conscription has mostly been explained by ethno-religious factors and linked to the failure of Ottomanism. Notably, with regard to non-Muslim minorities, the resistance to join the colors has largely been associated with their weakened loyalty to the empire or weaning belief in the CUP and Ottomanism as a unifying ideology. However, in this paper, I argue for the need to consider military service and conscription as a distinct phenomenon from Ottomanism with its unique dynamics. It is my claim that empire-wide strong resistance to conscription cutting across ethnic and religious lines and significant variation in responses within each millet implied the importance of socio-economic factors, and indicated that ethnic, religious, and ideological accounts fall short in explaining the complex nature of societal response to universal compulsory military service and its eventual demise. With its intention of exploiting temporal, spatial variations within and across religious communities, my research employs a dynamic comparison research method. It is a historical comparative case study in which the response of different religious communities to the call to military service under Ottoman rule during three consecutive wars will be examined. In analysis and interpretation of the society’s pro- or anti-conscription attitude, such socio-economic factors as wealth, education, and place of residence along with ethnicity and religion will take precedence.