Figure 1. From Ottoman Collapse to Modern Chaos — visual representation of historical fragmentation and modern entanglements.
From the Fall of Empires to the Fracture of Order
How the Ottoman Collapse Still Shapes Today’s Conflicts — and the New Probabilities Ahead
by J. André Faust (October 22, 2025)
Abstract
This essay applies a 4D probabilistic lens to show how the collapse of the Ottoman Empire produced a branching field of geopolitical possibilities whose aftershocks shape the Israel–Palestine crisis and parallel dynamics in Russia–Ukraine. Each historical moment contained multiple potential outcomes that were unknowable to actors within their timeframe. The essay argues that modern double standards and external interventions are not anomalies but structural continuities. Finally, it considers Donald Trump’s re-entry into high-stakes decision-making as a new uncertainty variable that alters the current probability landscape; the realised outcome will only be known after the fact.
When the Ottoman Empire fell in 1918, it released not only provinces but possibilities. Empires do not simply collapse; they disintegrate into probability fields where competing futures coexist until one is realised. In Palestine, imperial pluralism gave way to nationalist partition and occupation; identities hardened, and external powers redrew the map according to their interests (Cleveland & Bunton, 2024; UNGA, 1947; Yale Law School, 1916, 1917).
1) The Ottoman Root
Under the Ottoman millet system, Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived within an unequal but plural legal framework. When that umbrella vanished after the First World War, Britain and France filled the vacuum. The Sykes–Picot Agreement divided Ottoman lands into spheres, and the Balfour Declaration supported a Jewish national home while promising not to prejudice the rights of existing non-Jewish communities (Yale Law School, 1916, 1917).
2) From Mandate to Partition to Occupation
The British Mandate preserved aspects of Ottoman administration but inverted the political logic, catalysing Arab and Jewish national movements. The United Nations later endorsed partition in Resolution 181, accelerating a path toward war and long-term displacement (UNGA, 1947; Cleveland & Bunton, 2024). Ottoman land records still recur in disputes, a reminder that empire’s paperwork remains active evidence in the present.
3) The Parallel Case: Russia’s Imperial Successor
The 1991 dissolution of the USSR echoed Ottoman dynamics: multi-ethnic empire, ambiguous borders, minorities outside new states. NATO enlargement recast the security field and sharpened Russian threat perceptions, producing a frontier of chronic insecurity (NATO, 2024). As with Palestine, historical claims and contemporary security narratives collide with international law and power politics (International Criminal Court, 2023).
4) History as a Multiverse of Probabilities
Each junction — Sykes–Picot, Balfour, Partition, post-1967 policy — offered multiple possible futures. From within those moments, outcomes were uncertain. Decisions narrowed the field without eliminating uncertainty, much like observation collapsing a wave function. The 4D Dynamic Connectivity Model treats these as branching probability clouds that repeatedly collapse into realised sequences (Cleveland & Bunton, 2024).
5) Double Standards and External Power
Russia is sanctioned and isolated after annexations in Ukraine, while Israel’s occupation is condemned in principle but protected in practice by key allies. The asymmetry shows up in legal venues as well: the ICC issued arrest warrants in both situations (International Criminal Court, 2023; International Criminal Court, 2024), and the World Court has now advised that Israel must allow UN aid into Gaza and ensure basic needs are met (Reuters, 2025). The pattern reflects alliance structures more than neutral principle.
6) The Trump Variable: A New Uncertainty Node
Donald Trump’s re-entry adds a high-variance node to an already entangled system. Policy towards Israel–Palestine, NATO, and international courts may shift rapidly. Recent US measures targeting ICC officials show how great-power politics can re-weight legal processes and incentives across the field (U.S. Department of State, 2025). In probabilistic terms, this is a disturbance to the wave: multiple plausible futures coexist, and the actual outcome will only be known after observation resolves uncertainty.
7) The Living Wave of History
From Ottoman collapse to Soviet dissolution, from Partition to NATO enlargement, each decision re-entangles the global system. We do not predict a single future; we map probability flows. The Israel–Palestine and Russia–Ukraine crises are not anomalies. They are the latest collapses in a century-long superposition of outcomes. Until we address the structural inheritance of empire, we will keep reliving aftershocks rather than resolving the quake.
8) Conclusion
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and later of the Soviet Union, demonstrates that history behaves less like a line and more like a multidimensional field of probabilities. Each empire held diversity in suspension; its fall released competing forces that re-entangled the world in new configurations of power and identity. The resulting crises—from Gaza to Donbas—are not separate events but linked outcomes in a shared systemic chain.
Understanding this through the 4D Dynamic Connectivity Model helps us see that prediction is impossible in the strict sense: every decision, policy, or intervention is an observation that alters the field itself. Donald Trump’s renewed engagement in Middle Eastern and global policy represents the next observation point, one that could collapse the wave toward renewed conflict or an unexpected equilibrium. Only hindsight will reveal which branch of history we will inhabit.
References
- Cleveland, W. L., & Bunton, M. (2024). A history of the modern Middle East (7th ed.). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/A-History-of-the-Modern-Middle-East/Cleveland-Bunton/p/book/9780367516468
- International Criminal Court. (2023, March 17). Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and
- International Criminal Court. (2024, November 21). Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges
- NATO. (2024, October 3). Topic: Enlargement and Article 10. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49212.htm
- Reuters. (2025, October 22). World Court says Israel must allow U.N. aid to Gaza and ensure basic needs of Palestinians are met. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/world-court-give-opinion-israels-obligations-allow-aid-palestinians-2025-10-22/
- U.S. Department of State. (2025, August 20). Imposing further sanctions in response to the ICC’s ongoing threat to Americans and Israelis. https://www.state.gov/releases/2025/08/imposing-further-sanctions-in-response-to-the-iccs-ongoing-threat-to-americans-and-israelis
- United Nations General Assembly. (1947, November 29). Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine. Security Council Report archive PDF. https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/A%20RES%20181%20%28II%29.pdf
- Yale Law School. (1916). The Sykes–Picot Agreement. The Avalon Project. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/sykes.asp
- Yale Law School. (1917). The Balfour Declaration. The Avalon Project. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/balfour.asp
About the author
J. André Faust writes The Connected Mind, an inquiry into the structural entanglements of politics, economics, and society. The guiding idea is simple: trace feedback, weigh probabilities, and revise beliefs in light of new evidence.
