The Hejaz Railway: Ottoman Ambition, Arab Revolt, and Imperial Collapse

The Last Ottoman POWs: British Captivity and the End of Empire

When the Ottoman Empire surrendered in 1918, tens of thousands of its soldiers were already in Allied prisoner-of-war camps, many held for years after the guns fell silent. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the forgotten story of Ottoman POWs in British hands — from the surrender at Kut to the camps of Egypt and Malta, and the political weaponization of prisoners during the Turkish War of Independence. They discuss the harsh conditions, the role of the Red Crescent, the prisoner exchanges at Mudros, and how the fate of these men became entangled with the struggle between the Istanbul government and Mustafa Kemal's nationalist movement in Ankara. Drawing on recent scholarship and personal memoirs, the episode reveals how captivity shaped the final collapse of the empire and the birth of modern Turkey. #OttomanEmpire #POWs #WWI #Kut #BritishEmpire #Malta #Egypt #RedCrescent #MudrosArmistice #MustafaKemal #TurkishWarOfIndependence #PrisonerExchange #Hilal-iAhmer #Ankara #Istanbul #GenevaConvention #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Last Caliph: How Turkey Abolished the Caliphate in 1924

After the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, Mustafa Kemal faced a final decision: what to do with the caliphate itself. This episode follows the abolition of the caliphate in March 1924, the exile of the last caliph Abdülmecid II, and the debate within Turkey's Grand National Assembly over whether Islam needed a political figurehead. We discuss the role of the caliphate during the war, the rivalry between Ankara and Istanbul, and how a single vote in a small Ankara chamber ended a 1,300-year-old institution. Along the way, we touch on the caliphate's symbolic power in the Muslim world, the protests in India and Egypt, and the quiet last words of a caliph who spent his remaining days painting in a Paris suburb. #OttomanEmpire #Caliphate #Abolition #MustafaKemalAtatürk #AbdülmecidII #TurkishWarOfIndependence #TBMM #Islam #1924 #Ankara #Istanbul #LausanneTreaty #IndianKhilafatMovement #Exile #FexingoHistory #History #MiddleEast #Turkey Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

How the Allied Occupation of Istanbul Ended the Ottoman Empire

In November 1918, weeks after the Mudros Armistice, Allied warships sailed into the Bosphorus and began a military occupation of Istanbul that would last nearly five years. Lucas and Luna explore how British, French, and Italian forces controlled the Ottoman capital, dissolved the parliament, and arrested nationalist leaders. They discuss the role of General Harrington, the sultan's collaboration, the rise of the Karakol resistance network, and how the occupation galvanized support for Mustafa Kemal's Ankara government. The episode also covers the final Allied evacuation in October 1923, just days before the Republic was proclaimed. Featuring details on the Allied High Commission, the 1920 raid on Parliament, and the silent struggle over the city's future. A story of imperial collapse and national rebirth in the streets of Istanbul. #OttomanEmpire #Istanbul #AlliedOccupation #MudrosArmistice #MustafaKemal #TurkishWarOfIndependence #GeneralHarrington #Karakol #SultanMehmedVI #SevresTreaty #Occupation #Resistance #LausanneTreaty #History #FexingoHistory #WorldWarI #MiddleEast #Turkey Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Armenian Genocide and the End of the Ottoman Empire

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1916 reshaped the Ottoman Empire's final years and its legacy. They discuss the Young Turk leadership under the Three Pashas—Talaat, Enver, and Djemal—and the systematic destruction of Ottoman Armenians. The conversation covers the Tehcir Law of May 1915, the role of the Special Organization (Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa), the deportation marches from cities like Erzurum and Van, and the foreign accounts from ambassadors such as Henry Morgenthau Sr. They also touch on the post-war trials in Constantinople and the assassination of Talaat Pasha by Soghomon Tehlirian. The episode ties the genocide to the empire's collapse—how mass violence and the loss of a major population contributed to the empire's disintegration and the rise of the Turkish Republic. #ArmenianGenocide #TehcirLaw #YoungTurks #TalaatPasha #EnverPasha #DjemalPasha #TeşkilatıMahsusa #HenryMorgenthau #SoghomonTehlirian #WWI #OttomanEmpire #Erzurum #Van #OperationNemesis #ConstantinopleTrials #History #FexingoHistory #MiddleEast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Ottoman Empire's Last Grand Vizier: Ahmet Tevfik Pasha

In the final days of the Ottoman Empire, as Allied warships anchored off Istanbul and the sultan prepared for exile, one man tried to hold the state together: Grand Vizier Ahmet Tevfik Pasha. This episode follows Tevfik Pasha's last, desperate year in power—from the collapse of the Paris Peace Conference negotiations in 1920, through the Allied occupation of the capital and the Greek advance into Anatolia, to his final resignation as the sultan fled aboard HMS Malaya. We explore his failed attempt to secure an independent Ottoman state at the Sèvres negotiations, his bitter rivalry with Mustafa Kemal's Ankara government, and his lonely defence of the caliphate in a world that had already decided the empire's fate. Along the way, we meet the last Ottoman cabinet as it met in a cramped palace room, the Allied high commissioners who dictated terms, and the men who ultimately chose nationalism over empire. This is the story of a loyal servant who arrived too late to save what he loved. #AhmetTevfikPasha #OttomanEmpire #GrandVizier #ParisPeaceConference #TreatyOfSevres #AlliedOccupation #Istanbul #MustafaKemal #AnkaraGovernment #LastOttomanCabinet #SultanMehmedVI #HMSMalaya #Gallipoli #MudrosArmistice #Caliphate #TurkishWarOfIndependence #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]