In lieu of an abstract: Few of the belligerent nations’ capitals could escape the destruction and turmoil of World War I, but Istanbul alone endured a lengthy post-war occupation. Though the Mudros Armistice of October 30, 1918, officially ended Ottomans’ participation in the war, it was a brief respite. Two weeks later a convoy of British, French, Italian and Greek warships reached Istanbul (fig. 1), while succeeding conflicts continued to afflict Ottoman and neighboring lands largely unabated until 1923. Overlapping claims to sovereignty, authority, and allegiance on the part of the city’s multiple communities and local and foreign powers prolonged the ambiguity and uncertainty facing the residents of Istanbul until the Allies’ departure in October 1923 and beyond.