At the dawn of the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire stood wounded but unbroken. The disasters of the previous century had forced a reckoning. The age of easy conquest was over. Survival now required restraint, adaptation, and uneasy peace.

This episode of The Gilded Sword follows an empire caught between elegance and existential threat. We begin with the Edirne Event of 1703, when rebellion in the capital topples a sultan and exposes the growing power of the streets, the Janissaries, and the crowd. From there, the story turns to the glittering calm of the Tulip Era, when courtly life, European art, and new technologies flourished under Ahmed III and his visionary grand vizier. For a moment, it seemed the empire could modernize without breaking itself.

That illusion did not last.

The Patrona Halil Revolt tears down the world of garden parties and fountains, restoring conservative rule and military anxiety. And in the north, a new enemy is rising. Under Catherine the Great, Russia transforms into a modern war machine with its eyes fixed firmly on Ottoman lands and warm-water seas.

The result is catastrophe. In the war of 1768–1774, Ottoman armies collapse, and the navy is annihilated at Chesme. The final blow comes with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which strips the empire of Crimea and grants Russia the right to intervene in Ottoman internal affairs—an unprecedented breach of sovereignty.

By 1789, as Selim III takes the throne, the message is clear: reform is no longer optional.

From tulips to treaties, from elegance to humiliation, this is the story of how the Ottomans learned that the greatest danger was no longer inside their walls—but standing at their gates.