A City of Three Names and Twenty-Six Centuries

In 1913, the ancient metropolis straddling the Bosporus – known to Greeks as Byzantium, to Christians as Constantinople, and to Turks as Istanbul – entered its 26th century of existence. This strategic gateway between the Black Sea and Mediterranean had witnessed empires rise and fall while maintaining its position as one of the world’s most consequential urban centers. By 330 AD, when London remained merely a Roman military camp along the Thames, Constantinople had already become the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. Nearly eleven centuries later in 1453, fifty years before Columbus reached North America, Ottoman Turks conquered the Christian city, transforming it into the capital of an Islamic empire that at its height stretched across North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and southeastern Europe.

The Ottoman Empire in Twilight

By 1913, the once-mighty Ottoman Empire found itself in visible decline. Though still controlling sacred cities like Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina, its territories had shrunk dramatically from medieval heights. The empire now extended east to Russia’s Caucasus region and Persia, south to the Red Sea coast, north to the Black Sea, and maintained only a sliver of European territory in the west. This contraction created a pressure cooker of competing nationalisms within Constantinople’s diverse population of over one million residents.

Turkish poet Tevfik Fikret captured the city’s paradoxical nature in verse, comparing Constantinople to:

“Old senile Byzantium, enchanting dotard
Virgin widow who has known a thousand men
Your fresh seductive beauty still outshines them all
And loving glances still flow toward you from all eyes”

This poetic contradiction reflected reality – a city that had survived massacres (including 10,000 Armenians killed in communal violence just five years prior), devastating fires that regularly consumed whole neighborhoods, and periodic earthquakes, yet remained beloved by its multi-ethnic, multi-religious inhabitants.

A Microcosm of Empire: Constantinople’s Communities

Constantinople in 1913 mirrored the Ottoman Empire’s diversity, with communities maintaining distinct identities while contributing to the urban tapestry:

Muslim Groups:
– Turkish Sunnis formed the ruling majority
– Kurdish and Arab Muslims added regional diversity
– Shi’a Muslims, primarily Persian-speaking Azeris from Tabriz

Christian Communities:
– Greeks constituted nearly a quarter of the population
– Armenians, though diminished after 1890s violence, remained influential in commerce and government
– Smaller populations of Bulgarians and other Eastern Orthodox groups

Jewish Residents:
– Approximately 52,000 Jews called Constantinople home
– Including two future Israeli leaders – David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi – then law students blending into the city’s cosmopolitan fabric

This ethnic mosaic celebrated its traditions through vibrant festivals that temporarily transformed neighborhoods. The Muslim Eid al-Fitr saw three days of gift exchanges (sweets, tobacco, imperial porcelain) and secular entertainments like manual carousels and boat-shaped swings. For Shi’as, the Ashura commemorations of Hussein’s martyrdom featured dramatic processions of men wielding bloody swords. Greek Orthodox Easter sometimes turned raucous with gunfire into effigies of Judas, while January’s Epiphany blessing of the waters saw daring swimmers retrieve golden crosses from the icy Bosporus.

The Urban Fabric: Between East and West

Constantinople’s physical layout reflected its cultural duality, divided by the Golden Horn waterway:

South of the Golden Horn (Stamboul):
– The old city with its Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace (now abandoned), and iconic mosques
– Hagia Sophia stood as the most potent symbol – a church for 11 centuries before becoming a mosque
– Narrow, winding streets where “wood and marble city full of dust” created what British writer Robert Hichens called “houses that looked as if they had been run up in a night”

North of the Golden Horn (Galata and Pera):
– The European quarter established by Genoese and Venetian merchants centuries earlier
– Home to foreign embassies, Western-style hotels like the Perra Palace, and modern amenities
– Where the first gas lamps (1856), cinema (1895), and subway (1875) made their debut
– Dubbed “Frengistan” (Land of the Franks) by traditional Turks

The Galata Bridge spanning these worlds served as the city’s true center. Italian writer Edmondo De Amicis had decades earlier described the spectacle:

“Albanians in white robes with pistols in their belts brushed past Tatars in sheepskin…a Turkish guide in magnificent attire made his way between two lines of camels…Armenian women from Trebizond all in black…a kaleidoscope of races, costumes and religions.”

The Young Turk Revolution and Its Aftermath

The political backdrop to 1913 Constantinople was the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that had restored constitutional government after Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s autocratic rule. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), formed in 1889 by reformist bureaucrats, military officers, and professionals, had grown into a potent political force advocating:

– Constitutional government
– Modernization along Western lines while preserving Islamic identity
– Centralized authority to maintain the fracturing empire

After initial euphoria following the 1908 revolution (including unprecedented political participation by women and minorities), challenges mounted:

– A 1909 Islamist counterrevolution temporarily overthrew the Young Turks
– Military intervention restored CUP authority, deposing Abdul Hamid II
– Subsequent reforms attempted modernization while suppressing dissent

By 1913, the Young Turks faced their greatest test as the empire suffered catastrophic losses in the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). When the government appeared ready to surrender Edirne (Adrianople), Young Turk officers staged a coup on January 23, assassinating the war minister and forcing a more militant cabinet. Their gamble paid off militarily – by July 1913, Ottoman forces recaptured Edirne – but left the empire smaller and more ethnically Turkish than ever before.

The Looming Storm: Constantinople in a Changing World

As 1913 ended, Constantinople stood at a crossroads:

Signs of Modernization:
– Electrical infrastructure expanding with the Silahtarağa power station
– Electric trams replacing horse-drawn cars
– Telephone exchanges planned across the city
– German military mission arriving to modernize the army

Persistent Challenges:
– Massive refugee influx from lost Balkan territories
– Questions about the empire’s multi-ethnic future
– Growing Arab nationalist sentiment
– European powers circling the weakened empire

The city’s enduring symbolic power remained undeniable. As German travel writer Hermann Barth rhapsodized, it was the “thrice-named city, jewel of our common human heritage.” Whether as Byzantium, Constantinople, or Istanbul, the metropolis had survived Roman, Christian, and Islamic incarnations. Now, as the Ottoman Empire entered what many suspected might be its final act, the city faced its greatest transformation yet – one that would ultimately see it become the Turkish nationalist capital of a very different state following World War I.

In 1913, few could imagine that within five years, the Ottoman Sultanate would collapse, the last caliph would depart, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk would establish a secular republic. Yet the tensions visible that year – between East and West, tradition and modernity, empire and nation-state – already hinted at the dramatic changes to come for this eternal city at the crossroads of continents and civilizations.