WWI and the End of the Ottoman Empire | Mustafa Aksakal

E592 | The First World War brought an end to six centuries of Ottoman imperial rule and in many ways, made the Middle East region as it is known today. In this episode recorded live at the University of Virginia Institute for the Arts and Humanities, we are joined by Mustafa Aksakal, author of two books about the Ottoman Empire's involvement in WWI. In his new book The War That Made the Middle East, Prof. Aksakal takes a fresh look at the fateful decisions of the empire's last days, as well as how the First World War transformed Ottoman society and politics with devastating consequences for the people who lived it and lasting implications for the future Middle East region. More at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/08/aksakal.html Mustafa Aksakal is Associate Professor of History and the Nesuhi Ertegün Chair of Modern Turkish Studies at Georgetown University. He teaches courses in the History of the Late Ottoman Empire and the Modern Middle East. Chris Gratien is Associate Professor of History at University of Virginia, where he teaches classes on global environmental history and the Middle East. His first book, The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier, explores the social and environmental transformation of the Adana region of Southern Turkey during the 19th and 20th century. His current project, provisionally titled The Book and the Sword: Civil War and Reconstruction in Late Ottoman Syria, offers a global microhistory of the Tanzimat period, centered on the unsolved murder of an American missionary in the Ottoman Empire. Sıla Önder is a PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Virginia. CREDITS Episode No. 592 Release Date: 22 August 2026 Recording Location: University of Virginia Sound production by Chris Gratien Opening music by Chad Crouch. Closing music by Kara Güneş. Bibliography courtesy of Mustafa Aksakal at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/08/aksakal.html