Second Crusader Occupation in Constantinople, 1918-1923

Abstract

The article presents an exhibition organized by the Istanbul Research Institute to commemorate the centenary since the Allied Occupation Forces left the city on the Bosporus. Titled “Meşgul Şehir: İşgal İstanbul’unda Siyaset ve Günlük Hayat 1918-1923” (Occupied City: Politics and Daily Life in Istanbul), the exhibition will be open from January 11, 2023, to December 26, 2023. The exhibited materials bring to light that historical moment through archival documents, most of them forgotten or unpublished, coming from several countries, some neighbors, others distant.The subsequent period is characterized by an unprecedented cultural vitality. Remarkably, a plethora of talented visual artists, many of whom came from other countries, including Russia, emerged during this time. After a century, the exhibition lifts a heavy veil from the tumultuous history of the Ottoman Empire’s capital, revealing unique aspects of a traumatic yet transformative era for both ordinary inhabitants and the elites in the final days of the sultanate and the dawn of the republic.