In 1908, the Ottoman Empire tried one last time to reinvent itself. The Young Turk Revolution forced the restoration of the constitution, crowds filled the streets in celebration, and for a brief, fragile moment, Muslims and Christians embraced the dream of a shared Ottoman future.

It would not last.

This episode of The Gilded Sword follows the empire’s final, violent descent from reform into ruin. We trace the collapse through the Libyan War and the Balkan catastrophes, which strip the Ottomans of almost all their European lands. Out of the wreckage emerges a hard nationalist regime—the Three Pashas—who gamble the empire’s fate on alliance with Germany in the coming world war.

World War I brings both legend and horror. Gallipoli forges the reputation of Mustafa Kemal. The Arab Revolt shatters imperial unity. And the Armenian Genocide leaves a permanent scar on the empire’s conscience, as deportation and mass death unfold behind the lines.

Defeat in 1918 brings occupation. Allied warships anchor in the Bosphorus. Greek troops land at Smyrna. Istanbul is humiliated—and Anatolia ignites.

From the interior rises a new movement, led by Mustafa Kemal, rejecting surrender and organizing resistance. The Treaty of Sèvres becomes a death sentence. The War of Independence becomes a rebirth.

By 1922, the Sultanate is abolished. By 1923, the Republic of Turkey is proclaimed. And in 1924, the Caliphate itself is erased, ending six centuries of dynastic rule.

This is not just the fall of an empire. It is the moment the Ottoman world fractures—and something entirely new takes its place.