The Ottoman Empire: a Historical Encyclopedia [2 Volumes]

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  Much of Mahmud’s reign was spent fighting the Iranians in the east and the Habsburgs and the Russians in the west and the north. The wars with Iran were centered on control of Iraq, eastern Anatolia, and southern Caucasus. In Iran, the Safavid prince Tahmasp had declared himself the shah. The real power, however, rested with the shah’s charismatic army commander, Nader. After pushing Ottoman forces out of Iran, Nader had been forced to abandon his campaign and return to northeastern Iran to quell a rebellion. In his absence, Tahmasp attacked the southern Caucasus in 1731 but suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Ottomans near Hamadan. The territories that Nader had regained from the Ottomans were lost. This defeat allowed Nader to portray the shah as weak and incompetent. He denounced the treaty that the shah had signed with the Ottomans and sent an ultimatum to Mahmud I demanding the restoration of the provinces Iran had lost. Nader then marched to the Iranian capital, Isfahan, in 1732, and removed the shah from the throne, replacing him with an infant son. He then proclaimed himself the regent and led his army in another war against the Ottomans. Nader’s first target was Baghdad, which he surrounded in 1733. In response, the Ottomans assembled a large force in northern Iraq. The decisive battle took place near Kirkuk in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan. In the first confrontation between the Ottoman and Iranian armies, Nader was soundly defeated by the Ottoman commander, Topal Osman Pasha, near Mosul. To the shock and amazement of his commanders, however, Nader decided to reinforce his army and attack the Ottoman forces three months later, at a time when Topal Osman Pasha had fallen victim to palace intrigues in Istanbul and had not received the men, arms, and provisions he had requested. When the two armies joined battle again in northern Iraq, the resupplied and reenergized Iranian force routed the Ottomans. Topal Osman Pasha was captured and killed by Nader’s men (Sykes: 2:252).

  Mahmud I organized a new army and dispatched it against Nader, who immediately laid siege to Tbilisi, Yerevan, and Ganja (Ganjeh) in the southern Caucasus with the hope of forcing the Ottomans into an open engagement. The Ottomans took the bait and moved against Nader, who defeated them in battle. The Ottoman commander was captured and killed, and the southern Caucasus was once again occupied by Iran. In October 1736 the two powers finally agreed to a peace treaty, which restored Iranian control over the southern Caucasus and recognized the borders as defined by the Treaty of Qasr-i Shirin (Kasr-i Șirin) in 1639.

  The Iranian victory over the Ottomans served to convince the Russians to withdraw their remaining troops from Iran. Nader removed the infant Safavid monarch and ascended the throne as Nader Shah Afshar in 1736. Although both sides were exhausted by continuous campaigns, the Ottomans were determined to punish Nader and regain the territory they had lost. Nader had also demanded that the Ottomans recognize the Ja’fari Shia School as the fifth legal school of jurisprudence in Islam. The Ottoman sultan Mahmud I responded by raising another army, which marched from Kars in eastern Anatolia against Iranian positions in Armenia. After several days of fierce fighting, Nader once again defeated the larger Ottoman force. The Ottoman artillery was captured by Nader, and thousands of Ottoman soldiers were killed. The Ottoman sultan had no choice but to sue for peace. The two sides agreed to sign a peace treaty in September 1746, restoring the borders established in the Treaty of Qasr-i Shirin, which had been signed between Murad IV and the Safavids over a century earlier.

  While the conflict with Iran raged on, the Ottoman Empire became involved in military campaigns against Russia and the Habsburgs. Russia was determined to impose its rule over the northern shores of the Black Sea and subdue the Crimean Tatars. The Habsburg objective was to push the Ottomans as far south as they could and incorporate Bosnia-Herzegovina into their empire. With the two European powers agreeing to divide the spoils of war, the Russians attacked the Crimea and captured Azov in May 1736. Their rapid advance, however, cut them off from their supply lines and caused famine and death among their troops. The Ottoman defenses also held them back from pushing into Moldavia in 1737. The Ottomans organized a counteroffensive against the Habsburgs, who had invaded Bosnia and Serbia, recapturing Banja Luka, Vidin, and Nish in the summer of 1737. The Habsburgs did not have any alternative but to retreat to Transylvania. Building on these victories, the Ottomans refused French mediation and attacked, capturing Belgrade. Recognizing that the war with the Ottoman Empire would allow Russia to invade and occupy Moldavia, the Habsburgs signed the Treaty of Belgrade on September 18, 1739. The peace between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs forced the Russians, who had moved their forces through Polish territory into Moldavia and Wallachia, to stop their advance. They recognized that peace with the Habsburgs would allow the Ottomans to concentrate their forces against the Russian army. Even without an Ottoman counteroffensive, the Russians were suffering from a shortage of supplies. Therefore the czar renounced his territorial ambitions and agreed to evacuate Azov. In return, the sultan agreed to prevent future attacks by the Tatars against Russian territory. The sultan also consented to permit Russian subjects to conduct trade in his domains and visit Christian holy places.

  With the end of the wars with Russia and the Habsburgs, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of peace. In the last years of Mahmud’s reign, as well as the reigns of the next two sultans, Osman III (r. 1754–1757) and Mustafa III (r. 1757–1774), the Ottomans refused to play a role in the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) (Jelavich: 68). Even the murder of Nader Shah in 1747 could not entice Mahmud I to invade the rapidly disintegrating Iran.

  See also: Beys and Pashas: Ibrahim Pasha; Empire and Administration: Nader Shah Afshar; Sultans: Ahmed III

  Further Reading

  Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Vol.1. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Olson, Robert W. The Siege of Mosul and Ottoman-Persian Relations 1718–1743. London: Routledge, 1997.

  Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

  Sajdi, Dana, ed. Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee, Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2007.

  Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

  Somel, Selçuk Akșin. Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.

  Streusand, Douglas E. Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2010.

  Sykes, Sir Percy. History of Persia. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1951.

  Mahmud II (1784–1839)

  A sultan of the Ottoman Empire who ruled from 1808 to 1839. The long reign of Mahmud was marked by nationalist revolts in Serbia and Greece and the growing power and intervention of Russia in the Balkans. Mahmud tried to impose the authority of the central government over provinces by attacking the powerful āyāns who had established themselves as autonomous rulers. His attack on Ali Pasha of Janina allowed the Greek nationalists to revolt and gain independence with the support of Russia, France, and Britain. In 1826 the sultan dissolved the janissary corps. The conflict between Mahmud and the governor of Egypt, Mehmed Ali (Muhammad Ali), resulted in a series of military campaigns that ended with the defeat of Ottoman forces in 1833. The Egyptian victory forced Mahmud to seek the support of the Russian government by signing the Treaty of Hünkar İskelesi, which greatly increased the power and influence of the Russian state over the Ottoman Empire. Despite military defeats and territorial losses, Mahmud remained committed to the implementation of important political, military, economic, and educational reforms until his death in 1839.

  Mahmud was the son of Abdülhamid I (r. 1774–1789) and a cousin of Selim III (r. 1789–1807). He was born in 1784. He ascended the Ottoman throne in 1808 after the powerful notable Alemdar Mustafa Pasha overthrew the reigning sultan, Mustafa IV (r. 1807–1808). The new sultan was exceedingly weak and depended for his survival
on Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, who acted as the power behind the throne. After Alemdar Mustafa Pasha was killed in an uprising on November 15, 1808, Mahmud began to assert his authority.

  Throughout Mahmud’s reign the Ottoman Empire had to confront the double threats posed by the rise of powerful provincial magnates, who were challenging the authority of the central government, and the nationalist uprisings among the Christian subjects of the sultan in the Balkans. The first nationalist movement to challenge the Ottoman power in the Balkans emerged in Serbia. The revolt in Serbia had already begun in April 1804 during the reign of Mahmud’s predecessor, Selim III (r. 1789–1807). The leader of the revolt was Djordje Petrović, also known as Kara George (Black George), the founder of the Karadjordjević dynasty. Despite support from the Russian government for the Serbian nationalists, the Ottoman army suppressed the revolt in October 1813. Two years later, in March 1815, a new revolt erupted, this time under the leadership of Miloš Obrenović, who demanded autonomy for a Serbian principality. To neutralize the rebellion, Mahmud II reached a compromise with Obrenović and granted autonomy to a Serbian principality between Belgrade and Nish.

  Portrait of Mahmud II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 to 1839. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

  The second nationalist revolt to challenge Ottoman rule began in Greece in 1821 and culminated in the establishment of an independent kingdom of Greece in 1832. The Greek revolt was organized and led by Philiki Etaireia (Society of Friends/Friendly Society), which was founded in Ukraine in 1814. The revolt began in March 1821, when the leader of Philiki Etaireia, Alexandros (Alexander) Ypsilantis, crossed the Pruth River into Moldavia. Ypsilantis was quickly defeated by the Ottomans, but on March 25 a series of attacks were staged against Ottoman rule in the Peloponnese in present-day southern Greece. By January 1822 the Greek nationalists, who had seized the Peloponnese, were ready to declare the independence of Greece. In responding to the threat posed by the Greek nationalist movement, Mahmud II requested military support from Mehmed Ali (Muhammad Ali), the Ottoman governor of Egypt. With support from Egyptian naval forces led by Mehmed Ali’s son, Ibrahim Pasha, the Ottomans recaptured the Peloponnese. They seized Missolonghi in April 1826 and Athens in August of the same year. The Greek revolutionaries were saved after Russia, France, and Britain destroyed the Ottoman fleet at Navarino on October 20, 1827. The destruction of the Ottoman fleet and intense pressure from Russia and Great Britain forced Mehmed Ali to withdraw his troops from Greece. Despite the devastating blow at Navarino, Mahmud II refused to accept defeat. This refusal sparked the Russo-Ottoman war of 1828–1829. Russian armies crossed into the Romanian-populated principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. They then invaded Bulgaria. Another Russian force seized the western Caucasus and entered northeastern Anatolia. The collapse of the Ottoman defenses forced Mahmud II to sue for peace. The Treaty of Edirne, signed in September 1829, forced the sultan to recognize the independence of Greece and the autonomy of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Serbia.

  In 1826, in the midst of the Greek War of Independence, Mahmud concluded that he could not establish the authority of the central government without building a new and modern army. He attacked and destroyed the janissaries. The forces loyal to the sultan bombarded the barracks of the janissaries stationed in the Ottoman capital and hunted down and murdered janissaries wherever they found them. The day after the massacre, the janissary corps was officially abolished. The destruction of the janissaries by Mahmud was celebrated by the Ottoman state as the Vak’ayi Hayriye or the Auspicious Incident (Zürcher: 40).

  If the loss of Greece struck a devastating blow to Ottoman prestige and power, it was the revolt of Mehmed Ali (Muhammad Ali), the governor of Egypt, that brought the empire to the verge of political extinction. Mehmed Ali had emerged as the master of Egypt after building a strong and modern army with direct assistance and support from France. Mahmud, who was fully aware of Mehmed Ali’s successes and his newly acquired military capability, asked for his support when the Greek revolution erupted. The defeat at Navarino, however, forced the governor of Egypt to withdraw his forces. Initially, Mehmed Ali had thought of building his own kingdom in North Africa by attacking Algeria and Tunisia, but the French had acted faster by attacking and occupying Algiers in July 1830. With North Africa falling into the hands of the French, Mehmed Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha, who acted as his father’s army commander, turned their attention eastward and attacked Palestine and Syria in October 1831. In May 1832 the town of Acre fell, followed by Damascus in June. By July Ibrahim Pasha had routed Ottoman forces twice, establishing his rule over the entire country. As in the case of the Greek revolution, the sultan refused an offer for a negotiated settlement. With offers of peace rejected, the Egyptian army pushed into Anatolia and, in a battle near Konya in December, defeated the Ottoman army that had been sent from Istanbul. On February 2, 1833, the Egyptians reached Kütahya in western Anatolia (Hale: 24). Mahmud responded to the defeat by opening negotiations with the European powers, with the aim of securing their support against his rebellious and ambitious subject. When the British and the Austrians turned down the request, the sultan asked for military intervention from Russia. While the arrival of the Russian fleet in February 1833 prevented Mehmed Ali from marching his troops to Istanbul, it could not dislodge the Egyptian forces from their newly conquered territories in Anatolia. To end the crisis, the sultan agreed to sign the Treaty of Kütahya in April and appoint Mehmed Ali governor of Syria. On July 8 he also signed the Treaty of Hünkar Iskelesi with Russia, an eight-year defense pact (Hale: 24). According to this treaty, Russia received a promise from the sultan that the Ottoman government would close the straits to all ships during a time of war between Russia and a foreign power. Thus, Russia succeeded in using the Ottoman Empire as a means of blockading any future attack by a hostile European power against its positions and establishing naval supremacy in the Black Sea.

  Despite the peace with Mehmed Ali, the sultan was anxious to strengthen his army and strike back at the disloyal governor of Egypt. The British, who were greatly alarmed by the growing power and influence of Russia, viewed Mehmed Ali as an ally of France whose aggressive and expansionist policies toward the Ottoman Empire would force the sultan to depend on the Russians for his survival. Meanwhile, Mahmud II hoped to utilize British anxiety over Mehmed Ali to gain their support for a campaign against him. However, in 1834, when an Ottoman army began to move toward Syria, the British cautioned the sultan against the attack.

  In 1838 the tension between the sultan and Mehmed Ali erupted again when the latter stated his intention to declare his independence from the Ottoman Empire. When this ambitious and provocative move was opposed by his closest ally, the French, Mehmed Ali backed down. The sultan was now determined to secure the support of Great Britain in a campaign to destroy Mehmed Ali. Using this opportunity to expand its economic and commercial interests in the region, the British prime minister, Palmerston, convinced the Ottoman sultan to sign a commercial treaty in August 1838. This treaty confirmed British capitulatory privileges and opened the Ottoman markets to British investment and trade (Shaw: 2:50; Zürcher: 38).

  In 1839 Mahmud mobilized a force that was sent against Mehmed Ali’s army in Syria. When the Ottoman army attacked Aleppo in June 1839, Egyptian forces under the command of Ibrahim Pasha destroyed it, killing most of the Ottoman soldiers and officers. Less than a week later, Mahmud died in Istanbul after a long battle with tuberculosis. It is believed that the news of the devastating defeat in Syria arrived after the ailing sultan had taken his last breath.

  Despite his many failures on the battlefield, Mahmud II introduced a number of important political, military, judicial, educational, and cultural reforms, which transformed the Ottoman Empire and laid the foundation for a group of government officials to push a far more ambitious program of reforms from 1839 to 1876. Indeed, one of the fundamental differences between the reforms of Mahmud and those that were introduced before his reign was the underlying c
ommitment of the sultan to abandon the old institutions and replace them with new structures that were borrowed from various European countries.

  Mahmud II was described by the English author and traveler Julia Pardoe, who observed the sultan during a royal procession to the grand mosque in Istanbul, as “a man of noble physiognomy and graceful bearing, who sat his horse with gentlemanlike ease, and whose countenance was decidedly prepossessing. He wore in his fez an aigrette of diamonds, sustaining a cluster of peacock’s feathers; an ample blue cloak was flung across his shoulders, whose color was one mass of jewels, and on the third finger of his bridle hand glittered the largest brilliant that I ever remember to have seen” (Pardoe: 173). According to Pardoe, Mahmud was not “a handsome man,” but his features were “good and strongly marked, and his eye bright and piercing” (Pardoe: 175). His “jet black hair, seen in heavy curls beneath the fez,” which he wore “drawn down low upon his forehead; and his bushy and well-trimmed beard,” added “considerably to the dignity of his appearance, as well as giving to him a look of much greater youth” (Pardoe: 175).

  SULTAN MAHMUD II ATTENDS PRAYERS AT THE GRAND MOSQUE

  Julia Pardoe (1806–1862) was an English writer and poet, best known for her books on the Ottoman Empire. In 1836 she accompanied her father, Major Thomas Pardoe, to Istanbul. A keen observer of the peoples and cultures of the Ottoman Empire, Pardoe published The City of the Sultan in 1836. In 1839, in collaboration with the artist William Henry Bartlett, she published an illustrated account of Constantinople entitled The Beauties of the Bosphorus (1839). Reproduced here is her description from The City of the Sultan of Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839) at prayer:

  Crowds of decorated individuals closed the procession; and in five minutes more Sultan Mahmoud dismounted and entered the mosque.