WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.220 Imagine for a second that you are handed a document, 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:07.099 and on paper the stated purpose of this document 00:00:07.099 --> 00:00:10.419 is to bring about world peace. This is right 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:13.419 after one of the most devastating, horrific conflicts 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:15.720 in human history. Right, World War I. Exactly, 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:17.640 it's supposed to be the final word. But instead 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:21.379 of peace, the moment the ink dries, this document 00:00:21.379 --> 00:00:25.030 instantly sparks a completely new war. fundamentally 00:00:25.030 --> 00:00:28.149 tears apart an ancient sprawling empire and it 00:00:28.149 --> 00:00:30.730 completely redraws the map of the modern world 00:00:30.730 --> 00:00:33.890 in ways that, well, ways that still dominate 00:00:33.890 --> 00:00:36.770 global headlines a century later. Welcome to 00:00:36.770 --> 00:00:38.509 The Deep Dive. It's great to be here. Today, 00:00:38.509 --> 00:00:40.810 we're looking at a truly monumental piece of 00:00:40.810 --> 00:00:44.909 history, the Treaty of Sev, signed in 1920. Yeah, 00:00:45.350 --> 00:00:47.869 such a critical moment. We have a really fascinating 00:00:47.869 --> 00:00:50.490 stack of source material today, drawing specifically 00:00:50.490 --> 00:00:52.710 from detailed excerpts of the Wikipedia article 00:00:52.710 --> 00:00:54.750 on the treaty. And our mission for this deep 00:00:54.750 --> 00:00:57.070 dive is to explore exactly how the victorious 00:00:57.070 --> 00:00:59.609 allied powers attempted to carve up the defeated 00:00:59.609 --> 00:01:02.329 Ottoman Empire and how this profoundly flawed, 00:01:02.630 --> 00:01:05.430 unratified document inadvertently gave birth 00:01:05.430 --> 00:01:08.260 to the modern Republic of Turkey. It really is 00:01:08.260 --> 00:01:10.939 a watershed moment. I mean, we are talking about 00:01:10.939 --> 00:01:13.700 the transition from a multi -ethnic empire that 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:16.920 stood for centuries to the fragmented, often 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:19.900 volatile nation states we recognize today. The 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:22.599 geopolitical stakes could not be higher. But 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:25.299 before we get into the mechanisms of how they 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:26.799 tried to pull this off, we should probably set 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.980 some vital ground rules for our discussion. I 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:31.040 am so glad you brought that up because we do 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.280 need to be very clear. We are going to be covering 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.599 some incredibly complex, historically charred 00:01:36.489 --> 00:01:38.829 in politically sensitive events today. Extremely 00:01:38.829 --> 00:01:41.269 sensitive. Yeah. Our sources dive into mandates, 00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:44.730 border conflicts, forced migrations, and genocides. 00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:47.290 So I want to be perfectly transparent with you, 00:01:47.409 --> 00:01:49.370 the listener. We are not taking any sides here. 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:52.129 None at all. We are not endorsing any specific 00:01:52.129 --> 00:01:53.930 political viewpoints, either left wing, right 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:56.870 wing, or anything in between. Our sole job today 00:01:56.870 --> 00:01:59.170 is to impartially report on the content provided 00:01:59.170 --> 00:02:01.719 in our source material. We are simply here to 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:03.900 unpack the facts, the differing perspectives, 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:06.900 and the historical records exactly as they are 00:02:06.900 --> 00:02:09.860 presented in the text. Precisely. We are just 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:11.599 acting as your guides through the historical 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.439 record. Our goal is to synthesize the information 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:17.400 to help you understand the sheer scale of what 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:20.300 was happening in that chaotic aftermath of the 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:23.300 First World War. Without overlaying modern political 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:25.599 judgments onto the text. Exactly. And what a 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:27.680 surreal setting for that aftermath. Yeah. I mean, 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:30.199 let's go to August 10th, 1920. the victorious 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:32.240 allies and the representatives of the defeated 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:36.159 Ottoman Empire meet to formally sign this treaty. 00:02:36.340 --> 00:02:38.520 And where do they choose to hold this momentous 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:40.900 event? This is my favorite detail. In an exhibition 00:02:40.900 --> 00:02:44.219 room at a porcelain factory in Sevres, France. 00:02:44.259 --> 00:02:46.240 It's a porcelain factory. I mean, you really 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:48.439 cannot write a better historical metaphor than 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:51.800 that. They are signing an incredibly fragile 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:55.289 peace treaty in a room. quite literally surrounded 00:02:55.289 --> 00:02:57.710 by fragile porcelain. It is a striking image. 00:02:57.969 --> 00:03:00.430 And the fragility of the entire situation was 00:03:00.430 --> 00:03:02.409 intensely apparent to the Ottoman delegation 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:04.810 from the very beginning. The representatives 00:03:04.810 --> 00:03:07.169 of the allied powers had prepared the draft at 00:03:07.169 --> 00:03:09.770 the San Remo conference a few months prior. And 00:03:09.770 --> 00:03:11.750 when they finally handed it over to the Ottoman 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:14.189 government, it wasn't an invitation for an open 00:03:14.189 --> 00:03:17.849 dialogue. They gave Istanbul a strict one month 00:03:17.849 --> 00:03:21.050 deadline to respond. A month to decide the fate 00:03:21.050 --> 00:03:23.419 of an empire. Yeah. And when the Ottomans formed 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:26.120 a commission, reviewed the devastating terms, 00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:29.120 and sent back their recommended edits, the allies 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:31.319 sternly rebuked them. They weren't having it. 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:33.580 Not at all. Istanbul was informed they could 00:03:33.580 --> 00:03:37.439 only expect minor unimportant changes. And then 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.800 they were handed an ultimatum, just 10 days to 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:43.120 give their final response. OK, let's unpack this 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:44.939 from the Ottoman perspective, because they are 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:47.840 completely backed into a corner. How does a government 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:50.180 even process an ultimatum like that? It's panic. 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:52.939 Complete panic. Right. So before making the final 00:03:52.939 --> 00:03:56.000 decision, Sultan Mehmed VI convenes a Sultanate 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:59.520 Council in July 1920. According to our source, 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:02.400 the explicit aim here was to shift the immense 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:05.259 historic responsibility of accepting this treaty 00:04:05.259 --> 00:04:07.400 onto a broader group. He didn't want to be the 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:09.819 only one holding the bag. Exactly. So they invite 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:12.680 government members, the Senate, former Grand 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:16.139 Viziers, high ranking officers and the religious 00:04:16.139 --> 00:04:21.879 scholars. But they... very notably exclude politicians 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:24.000 affiliated with the growing Turkish national 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.980 movement or anyone with a background in the previous 00:04:26.980 --> 00:04:29.379 ruling party. Yes, stacking the deck a bit. They 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:31.620 end up with exactly 57 delegates in the room. 00:04:31.790 --> 00:04:33.970 And the atmosphere in that room must have been 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:37.009 incredibly grim. The Grand Vizier, Damat Ferit 00:04:37.009 --> 00:04:39.689 Pasha, delivered a speech arguing that the country 00:04:39.689 --> 00:04:41.949 had arrived at this desperate point due to a 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:44.350 decade of terrible mistakes. Pointing fingers. 00:04:44.490 --> 00:04:47.730 Oh, absolutely. He specifically instigated blame 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:49.810 toward the Committee of Union and Progress, the 00:04:49.810 --> 00:04:52.589 faction that had previously held power. His core 00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:55.230 argument was essentially one of survival. Istanbul 00:04:55.230 --> 00:04:57.430 was only remaining in Turkish hands because the 00:04:57.430 --> 00:04:59.629 Allies trusted the Sultan. So they had to play 00:04:59.629 --> 00:05:02.519 along. Therefore, in his view, they had no choice 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:04.439 but to accept the treaty to keep the capital. 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:06.579 Which leads to an amazing historical quirk during 00:05:06.579 --> 00:05:09.699 the actual vote. Out of the 57 delegates present, 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:12.759 everyone votes to sign the treaty, except for 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.819 exactly one man. One single guy. A military delegate 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:19.639 named Tapsufariki Rizapasha is the sole person 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:23.180 in the entire room who abstains. Just imagine 00:05:23.180 --> 00:05:25.439 the pressure of being that one guy holding out. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.199 It's incredible. Ultimately, three relatively 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:30.600 lower -ranking Ottoman officials are chosen to 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.220 actually travel to France and act as the signatories. 00:05:33.819 --> 00:05:36.560 Ex -Ambassador Hadi Pasha, Ex -Minister of Education 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.180 Riza Tefik Bülükbaşı, and Embassy Secretary Reşat 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:43.420 Hallis. It is worth noting here, as a bit of 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:45.839 historical foreshadowing, that those three men 00:05:46.009 --> 00:05:48.810 essentially sacrifice their own futures by putting 00:05:48.810 --> 00:05:51.350 their names on that document. Because of the 00:05:51.350 --> 00:05:53.689 backlash later. Yeah. The source notes, they 00:05:53.689 --> 00:05:55.790 were later stripped of their citizenship by the 00:05:55.790 --> 00:05:58.449 Grand National Assembly, which was led by Mustafa 00:05:58.449 --> 00:06:01.449 Kemal Pasha, specifically as punishment for signing 00:06:01.449 --> 00:06:03.290 away the empire. And when you look at what they 00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:05.910 are actually signing away, it is difficult to 00:06:05.910 --> 00:06:08.209 comprehend. The territorial laws wasn't just 00:06:08.209 --> 00:06:11.069 a concession. It was an eviction notice on a 00:06:11.069 --> 00:06:13.269 continental scale. The numbers really reveal 00:06:13.269 --> 00:06:16.790 the true severity. In 1914, Ottoman Empire encompassed 00:06:16.790 --> 00:06:21.449 roughly 1 ,589 ,540 square kilometers. Huge. 00:06:21.990 --> 00:06:24.810 But under the Treaty of Sev, that territory was 00:06:24.810 --> 00:06:29.709 slashed to just 453 ,000 square kilometers. They 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:32.509 were losing well over two -thirds of their entire 00:06:32.509 --> 00:06:35.430 empire. The treaty was fundamentally designed 00:06:35.430 --> 00:06:38.050 to strip away almost all territory not inhabited 00:06:38.050 --> 00:06:41.230 directly by Turkish people and cede those lands 00:06:41.230 --> 00:06:44.050 to allied administration through a system of 00:06:44.050 --> 00:06:46.889 mandates and zones of influence. OK, here's where 00:06:46.889 --> 00:06:48.769 it gets really interesting. Let's break down 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:50.870 how that actually works in practice, because 00:06:50.870 --> 00:06:53.730 this is where the map gets redrawn. A mandate 00:06:53.730 --> 00:06:56.040 wasn't just a suggestion. It was essentially 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:59.120 a system of administrative control granted by 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:01.459 the League of Nations, often functioning very 00:07:01.459 --> 00:07:03.860 much like a colony. Basically, colony is an all 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:06.800 but name. Right. Let's start with Britain. Britain 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:09.439 is granted the mandate for Palestine. Crucially, 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:12.540 this incorporated the 1917 Balfour Declaration, 00:07:12.939 --> 00:07:14.920 which favored the establishment of a national 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:17.819 home for the Jewish people. But the treaty explicitly 00:07:17.819 --> 00:07:20.259 stated that nothing should prejudice the civil 00:07:20.259 --> 00:07:22.379 and religious rights of existing non -Jewish 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:24.379 communities in the region. A delicate balance 00:07:24.379 --> 00:07:27.360 they were trying to strike. Yeah. Delicate. Britain 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.779 also secured the mandate for Iraq. And the negotiations 00:07:30.779 --> 00:07:33.740 there were heavily focused on one specific resource. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.560 Oil. Always oil. The oil concession for the Mosul 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:40.079 province was handed straight over to the British 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:42.360 -controlled Turkish petroleum company. Then you 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:45.240 have France, who received the mandate for Syria 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:49.480 and Lebanon. But France also secured a massive 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:52.620 zone of influence directly in southeastern Anatolia, 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:54.639 what is modern -day Turkey. So not even just 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:57.399 the Arab provinces, but Anatolia itself. Exactly. 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:00.339 This covered areas like Antep and Urfa, stretching 00:08:00.339 --> 00:08:03.240 far to the north. Italy, meanwhile, was formerly 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:05.720 given possession of the Dodecanese Islands, which 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:08.139 they had actually been occupying since 1912, 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:10.560 and they were granted a large zone of influence 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.100 in southern and west -central Anatolia. This 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:15.399 included the historic capital of Konya and the 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:17.899 coastal city of Antalya. And then there's Greece, 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:20.040 which is a really unique piece of this puzzle. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:23.139 Greece is given eastern Thrace and the administration 00:08:23.139 --> 00:08:25.279 of Smyrna, a major city on the Aegean coast. 00:08:25.819 --> 00:08:28.180 But the quirk with Smyrna is how they structured 00:08:28.180 --> 00:08:31.639 the handover. On paper, the treaty left the region 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:34.840 nominally within the Ottoman Empire. But in reality, 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:37.840 all the day -to -day power and the exercise of 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:39.960 sovereignty was transferred to a local Greek 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:42.720 parliament. Sort of a trial period? Yeah, the 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.700 plan was that after five years, there would be 00:08:44.700 --> 00:08:47.440 a plebiscite, a public vote overseen by the League 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:50.159 of Nations, so the citizens could simply vote 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:52.600 and choose whether to officially join Greece 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:56.559 or remain Ottoman. And alongside these massive 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.759 territorial grabs, the Allies were intently focused 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:02.659 on securing strategic waterways and global trade 00:09:02.659 --> 00:09:04.159 routes. They weren't leaving that to chance? 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:07.399 Not at all. The Bosphorus, the Dardanelles, and 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:09.820 the Sea of Marmara were combined into a proposed 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:12.539 Zone of the Straits. Navigation through these 00:09:12.539 --> 00:09:14.700 critical waters was to be completely open in 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:17.240 times of both peace and war to all vessels of 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:19.779 commerce and war, regardless of their flag. So 00:09:19.779 --> 00:09:21.460 total loss of control for the Ottomans there? 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:24.690 Yes. It was the uncompromising internationalization 00:09:24.690 --> 00:09:26.889 of those waters. And they didn't stop at the 00:09:26.889 --> 00:09:29.889 waterways either. Certain major ports were declared 00:09:29.889 --> 00:09:32.250 to be of international importance, functioning 00:09:32.250 --> 00:09:35.009 as free zones. The League of Nations demanded 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:37.669 total freedom and equality in treatment at ports 00:09:37.669 --> 00:09:40.649 like Constantinople, Smyrna, and Basra in the 00:09:40.649 --> 00:09:43.710 Persian Gulf. Taking all the key economic hubs. 00:09:44.230 --> 00:09:46.789 The insight here isn't just who got which piece 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:49.549 of land. It's that the Allies were drawing lines 00:09:49.549 --> 00:09:52.669 based heavily on underground oil, maritime choke 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:55.789 points, and European imperial strategy. They 00:09:55.789 --> 00:09:57.950 were often completely ignoring the ethnic and 00:09:57.950 --> 00:10:00.669 cultural realities on the ground. They were essentially 00:10:00.669 --> 00:10:03.490 planting the seeds for a century of conflict. 00:10:03.710 --> 00:10:06.289 That becomes especially clear when we look at 00:10:06.289 --> 00:10:08.090 what happened to the local populations who had 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:10.409 been promised independence. While the Allies 00:10:10.409 --> 00:10:12.529 were very decisive on what they wanted for themselves, 00:10:12.669 --> 00:10:15.090 they created a deeply convoluted situation when 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:17.529 it came to establishing entirely new nations 00:10:17.529 --> 00:10:20.429 from the ashes of the empire, specifically regarding 00:10:20.429 --> 00:10:23.110 Armenia and Kurdistan. So while the European 00:10:23.110 --> 00:10:25.210 powers are busy carving out the most lucrative 00:10:25.210 --> 00:10:27.909 territories, let's look at those unborn nations. 00:10:28.529 --> 00:10:31.519 Section 6 of the treaty recognized Armenia as 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:33.879 a free and independent state, often referred 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.440 to as Wilsonian Armenia. Named after the U .S. 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:40.120 president. Exactly. The treaty actually tasked 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:43.019 U .S. President Woodrow Wilson with arbitrating 00:10:43.019 --> 00:10:45.139 and drawing the final borders in the eastern 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:48.120 provinces near the Caucasus, like Erzurum and 00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:50.860 Van, including granting Armenia an outlet to 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:53.440 the sea. But the political reality back in Washington 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.940 made this incredibly complicated. The United 00:10:55.940 --> 00:10:58.759 States Senate outright rejected assuming a League 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:01.240 of Nations mandate over Armenia. Just said no. 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:03.659 Pretty much. The United States had decided they 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:06.320 wanted to avoid the heavy responsibility of administering 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:08.580 the region. According to the text, the U .S. 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:11.220 simply wanted a permanent peace as quickly as 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:13.720 possible, along with financial compensation for 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:15.840 its military expenditure. Right. They wanted 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.350 out of the partition entirely. Which leaves a 00:11:18.350 --> 00:11:20.850 massive geopolitical vacuum right in the middle 00:11:20.850 --> 00:11:24.230 of this new map. And the situation was similarly 00:11:24.230 --> 00:11:27.330 methy for the Kurdistan region. The treaty scheduled 00:11:27.330 --> 00:11:29.870 a referendum for Kurdistan, which included the 00:11:29.870 --> 00:11:32.610 Mosul province, to let the local population decide 00:11:32.610 --> 00:11:35.610 its fate. But there was a catch. A huge catch. 00:11:36.409 --> 00:11:39.309 As our source explains, creating this state hit 00:11:39.309 --> 00:11:42.629 a major roadblock. The Kurdish nationalists themselves 00:11:42.629 --> 00:11:44.669 couldn't even agree on what the borders of Kurdistan 00:11:44.669 --> 00:11:47.500 should look like. The disparity between historical 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:50.360 areas of Kurdish settlement and proposed political 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:53.360 boundaries caused intense internal friction. 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:56.659 You had Sharif Pasha, who represented the Society 00:11:56.659 --> 00:11:58.700 for the Elevation of Kurdistan at the Paris Peace 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:01.100 Conference, proposing boundaries that notably 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:04.320 excluded the Van region. But then another prominent 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:07.440 nationalist, Emin Ali Bedir Khan, proposed an 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:09.700 alternative map that deliberately included Van 00:12:09.700 --> 00:12:12.389 and an outlet to the sea. Because they couldn't 00:12:12.389 --> 00:12:15.009 present a unified front, the diplomatic leverage 00:12:15.009 --> 00:12:17.929 weakened. And because of that disagreement, the 00:12:17.929 --> 00:12:21.629 treaty ultimately only outlined a truncated Kurdistan 00:12:21.629 --> 00:12:24.850 located entirely on what is now Turkish territory. 00:12:25.669 --> 00:12:28.250 It completely left out the millions of Kurds 00:12:28.250 --> 00:12:31.110 living in neighboring regions like Iran, British 00:12:31.110 --> 00:12:33.509 -controlled Iraq, and French -controlled Syria. 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:36.149 It was a compromise that satisfied almost no 00:12:36.149 --> 00:12:39.139 one. And left a fractured reality. That theme 00:12:39.139 --> 00:12:42.279 of severe restriction and uncompromising control 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:45.019 carries over into the non -territorial provisions 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:47.659 of the treaty as well. The micromanagement by 00:12:47.659 --> 00:12:49.980 the Allies was thorough, particularly regarding 00:12:49.980 --> 00:12:52.480 the military and finances of whatever was left 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:54.860 of the Ottoman state. Okay, here is where the 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:57.039 logistical absurdity really comes into focus 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.809 for me. The military limits in the source material 00:12:59.809 --> 00:13:03.230 are wildly specific. How do the Allies plan to 00:13:03.230 --> 00:13:05.169 actually enforce this? It's hard to imagine. 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:07.409 Right. The entire Ottoman army wasn't just reduced. 00:13:07.629 --> 00:13:11.049 It was capped at exactly 50 ,700 men. For an 00:13:11.049 --> 00:13:12.889 empire that recently spanned three continents, 00:13:13.029 --> 00:13:15.049 that is not a reduction. That is an abolition. 00:13:15.070 --> 00:13:18.309 It's nothing. And the Navy. They were allowed 00:13:18.309 --> 00:13:21.909 precisely seven sloops and six torpedo boats. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:25.460 An empire that used to dominate the Mediterranean 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:28.159 was handed an inventory list for a coast guard. 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:30.700 A small coast guard at that. Furthermore, an 00:13:30.700 --> 00:13:33.179 air force was strictly prohibited. The financial 00:13:33.179 --> 00:13:36.360 takeover was just as comprehensive. The Allies 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:38.720 designed a system to control the entirety of 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:41.720 the Ottoman Empire's economic engine. They established 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:44.019 a financial commission that was to approve and 00:13:44.019 --> 00:13:46.679 supervise the national budget, implement financial 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:49.820 laws, and take total control of the Ottoman Bank. 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:52.779 Total control? Yes. Future changes to the tax 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:55.220 system or customs required the direct consent 00:13:55.220 --> 00:13:57.940 of the Allied powers. It's the geopolitical equivalent 00:13:57.940 --> 00:14:00.559 of a bank not just foreclosing on your house, 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.940 but moving into your living room, taking over 00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:04.820 your bank accounts, and telling you what you 00:14:04.649 --> 00:14:06.570 you're allowed to buy for dinner. That's a great 00:14:06.570 --> 00:14:09.450 way to put it. The treaty even demanded the empire 00:14:09.450 --> 00:14:12.169 liquidate all property owned by citizens of former 00:14:12.169 --> 00:14:15.070 central powers, like Germany and Austria, living 00:14:15.070 --> 00:14:18.350 within its territories, just to ensure no rival 00:14:18.350 --> 00:14:20.950 economic influence could take root. The control 00:14:20.950 --> 00:14:23.690 extended deeply into social and legal penalties 00:14:23.690 --> 00:14:26.970 as well. The treaty mandated that all forced 00:14:26.970 --> 00:14:29.269 conversions to Islam that occurred after November 00:14:29.269 --> 00:14:32.570 1, 1914 were to be annulled. There was also Article 00:14:32.570 --> 00:14:35.309 230, which dealt directly with the concept of 00:14:35.309 --> 00:14:38.509 international trials. The treaty formally required 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:40.929 the Ottoman Empire to hand over to the allied 00:14:40.929 --> 00:14:43.610 powers the persons responsible for the massacres 00:14:43.610 --> 00:14:46.250 committed during the war, specifically addressing 00:14:46.250 --> 00:14:48.990 the Armenian Genocide. However, the text notes 00:14:48.990 --> 00:14:51.840 the complex reality of how this played out. The 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.220 inter -allied tribunal attempt to prosecute these 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:56.539 war criminals was eventually suspended. So they 00:14:56.539 --> 00:14:59.399 didn't face trial? No. The men who orchestrated 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:01.299 the genocide ultimately escaped international 00:15:01.299 --> 00:15:03.460 prosecution, and the source points out they were 00:15:03.460 --> 00:15:05.679 able to travel relatively freely throughout Europe 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:07.600 and Central Asia in the years that followed. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:10.840 It is a profoundly heavy document. It attempts 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:13.779 to control every single facet of a defeated nation, 00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:16.120 from where they draw their borders to how many 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.669 torpedo boats they can own. Which leads us to 00:15:18.669 --> 00:15:20.850 the inevitable backlash. Naturally. When you 00:15:20.850 --> 00:15:23.029 squeeze a country this hard, something is going 00:15:23.029 --> 00:15:25.389 to break. Yeah. If we connect this to the broader 00:15:25.389 --> 00:15:27.990 historical context, the terms of the Treaty of 00:15:27.990 --> 00:15:30.429 Sevres were actually far more severe than those 00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:32.509 imposed on the German Empire by the Treaty of 00:15:32.509 --> 00:15:35.590 Versailles. Wow, really? Yes. Because it was 00:15:35.590 --> 00:15:38.450 so draconian, it was fundamentally impossible 00:15:38.450 --> 00:15:41.309 for it to survive on the ground. The open negotiations 00:15:41.309 --> 00:15:45.049 had dragged on for over 15 months, delayed constantly 00:15:45.049 --> 00:15:47.299 because the Allies couldn't agree among themselves 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:49.639 on how to divide the spoils and because they 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:51.879 were watching a massive resistance movement grow 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:55.179 right under their noses. Exactly. While the Allies 00:15:55.179 --> 00:15:57.620 are arguing in European conference rooms, the 00:15:57.620 --> 00:16:00.580 Turkish national movement, led by Mustafa Kemal 00:16:00.580 --> 00:16:03.539 Pasha, completely splits from the monarchy based 00:16:03.539 --> 00:16:06.899 in Istanbul. They set up a rival Turkish Grand 00:16:06.899 --> 00:16:10.519 National Assembly in Ankara in April 1920. a 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.399 total break in leadership. And on June 7th, they 00:16:13.399 --> 00:16:15.860 pass a law declaring that any treaty signed by 00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:18.059 the Istanbul government after the formal occupation 00:16:18.059 --> 00:16:21.100 of Istanbul on March 16th is completely invalid. 00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:23.860 They flatly refuse to recognize the authority 00:16:23.860 --> 00:16:26.159 of the men who went to that porcelain factory. 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:28.600 The government in Istanbul even tried to seek 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:31.100 Mustafa Kemal's cooperation to get the treaty 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:34.399 ratified. But he expressed unwavering disdain 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:37.039 for it and launched a military assault instead. 00:16:37.230 --> 00:16:40.250 He wasn't having any of it. Not at all. The situation 00:16:40.250 --> 00:16:43.309 deteriorated so rapidly that the Turkish government 00:16:43.309 --> 00:16:46.009 in Istanbul had to issue a formal note to the 00:16:46.009 --> 00:16:48.509 Entente powers saying that ratification of the 00:16:48.509 --> 00:16:51.409 treaty was simply impossible at the time. And 00:16:51.409 --> 00:16:53.690 that kicks off the Turkish War of Independence. 00:16:54.009 --> 00:16:57.169 It is a massive multi -front pushback against 00:16:57.169 --> 00:17:00.429 the map drawn itself. The newly formed Turkish 00:17:00.429 --> 00:17:02.450 forces are fighting the Greek army in the west, 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:04.670 they are fighting our median forces in the east, 00:17:04.849 --> 00:17:06.490 and they are fighting French troops in the south. 00:17:06.630 --> 00:17:09.210 It's war in every direction. It is a full -scale 00:17:09.210 --> 00:17:11.890 armed rejection of the treaty. At one point during 00:17:11.890 --> 00:17:15.849 the Chanak crisis of September 1922, open hostilities 00:17:15.849 --> 00:17:17.910 with Britain over the neutral zone of the Straits 00:17:17.910 --> 00:17:20.640 are only very narrowly avoided. The resistance 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.480 wasn't just contained to Anatolia either. The 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:25.579 source notes that the attempt to enforce these 00:17:25.579 --> 00:17:28.740 mandates caused widespread instability. Arabs 00:17:28.740 --> 00:17:31.180 in Syria were unwilling to accept French rule, 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.240 Turkish forces around Mosul were attacking the 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.960 British, and Arabs in Baghdad were rising up 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:39.339 an armed rebellion against British rule. So it 00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:42.119 failed everywhere. Yeah. A document intended 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:44.920 to establish a lasting peace was instead causing 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:47.339 immense disorder everywhere its lines were drawn. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:49.559 So what does this all mean for the history books? 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:51.980 How does this chaotic story actually resolve? 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:55.180 Ultimately, the military success of Mustafa Kemal 00:17:55.180 --> 00:17:57.579 and the Turkish War of Independence forced the 00:17:57.579 --> 00:18:00.539 former wartime allies to face reality. They had 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:02.680 to abandon the Treaty of Sevres entirely and 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:04.700 return to the negotiating table. They had no 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:07.960 choice. Right. This led to the 1923 Treaty of 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:10.289 Lausanne, which officially established the borders 00:18:10.289 --> 00:18:12.769 of the modern Republic of Turkey. Under this 00:18:12.769 --> 00:18:15.150 new treaty, France and Italy lost those massive 00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:17.470 zones of influence, the internationalization 00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:19.789 of Constantinople was dropped, and the Republic 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.670 of Turkey secured its sovereignty. The SEV blueprint 00:18:22.670 --> 00:18:26.430 was dead. It is incredible to think about how 00:18:26.430 --> 00:18:29.190 close the world came to looking entirely different. 00:18:29.750 --> 00:18:32.710 I want you the listener. To keep this deep dive 00:18:32.710 --> 00:18:35.069 in mind, the next time you look at a map of the 00:18:35.069 --> 00:18:37.170 modern Middle East, or the next time you read 00:18:37.170 --> 00:18:39.970 the news about border conflicts in Syria or Iraq 00:18:39.970 --> 00:18:42.390 or Turkey, it's all connected. You are looking 00:18:42.390 --> 00:18:45.789 at the direct lingering fallout of this single 00:18:45.789 --> 00:18:49.950 failed document. The Treaty of Sevz was a blueprint 00:18:49.950 --> 00:18:52.549 for a world that was violently rejected, but 00:18:52.549 --> 00:18:54.869 the scars of where those lines were originally 00:18:54.869 --> 00:18:58.289 drawn are still visible today. This raises an 00:18:58.289 --> 00:19:00.049 important question and it's something I want 00:19:00.049 --> 00:19:02.869 to leave you to mull over as we wrap up. Think 00:19:02.869 --> 00:19:04.710 back to the role of the United States in all 00:19:04.710 --> 00:19:07.950 of this. The US Senate explicitly rejected assuming 00:19:07.950 --> 00:19:10.430 the Armenian mandate because they wanted to avoid 00:19:10.430 --> 00:19:12.490 the responsibility of being entangled in the 00:19:12.490 --> 00:19:15.369 region, preferring instead to seek quick peace 00:19:15.369 --> 00:19:18.730 and financial compensation. Consider how drastically 00:19:18.730 --> 00:19:21.329 different the entire history of the 20th century 00:19:21.329 --> 00:19:23.490 Middle East and the Caucasus might have been 00:19:23.490 --> 00:19:26.210 if the United States had chosen to accept that 00:19:26.210 --> 00:19:28.890 mandate and step into the power vacuum rather 00:19:28.890 --> 00:19:31.670 than walking away and leaving the region entirely 00:19:31.670 --> 00:19:34.799 to European imperial interests. It is a fascinating 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:37.480 what -if of history that really changes how you 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:39.799 view the modern geopolitical landscape. Thank 00:19:39.799 --> 00:19:41.480 you so much for joining us on this deep dive. 00:19:41.700 --> 00:19:43.500 Keep questioning the history behind the headlines 00:19:43.500 --> 00:19:45.140 and we will catch you next time.