Stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Indian Ocean, the Ottoman Empire was, since the Middle Ages, a political and religious entity of the first magnitude, in which the Sultan reigned over the Holy Places and was, as Caliph, the successor of the prophet Muhammad. However, the fateful decision to support Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914 condemned the Empire to destruction, as it was dismembered into a series of European colonies and the territories that eventually formed Saudi Arabia. Ryan Gingeras explains how these world-changing events took place and why we still live in the shadow of decisions made so long ago. Would the entire empire succumb to the predatory allied forces, or could something be saved? In a region so complex in ethnic and religious terms, what would be the price to create a cohesive and independent new state? The creation of modern Turkey is recounted here as a unique, bitter yet magnificent epic.