The Ottoman Empire: a Historical Encyclopedia [2 Volumes]
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In autumn 1658 Mehmed Köprülü focused his military campaigns on the rebellion staged by Abaza Hassan Pasha in Anatolia. The conditions that had given rise to the celāli revolts were reignited by the arrival of sipāhis and janissaries who were fleeing the regime of the new grand vizier in Istanbul. Despite efforts to suppress Abaza Hassan, the revolt gained momentum as an increasing number of officials and troops who were sent to Anatolia from Istanbul joined the rebels. As the grand vizier assumed command of the army, he paid his troops their wages in advance and distributed bribes among the members of the rebel army, forcing Abaza Hassan and his supporters to retreat eastward toward the Anatolian heartland. Forced to sue for peace, Abaza Hassan and his immediate followers were invited to a banquet on February 17, 1659, where they were slaughtered by their host and his armed agents. The rebellion crushed, the grand vizier sent his agents and troops to Anatolia, where they were ordered to kill every individual who might be entertaining antigovernment sympathies. Back in Istanbul, the ailing grand vizier, who had lost his mobility, resigned in favor of his son, Köprülüzade Fazil Ahmed Pasha, who rushed from his post as the governor of Damascus to replace his father, who passed away on October 29, 1661.
For the next 15 years Fazil Ahmed Pasha would dominate Ottoman politics. As his father had, Fazil Ahmed pursued a foreign policy aimed at checking the Habsburg intervention in Transylvania. After his demand for nonintervention was rejected by the Habsburgs, the grand vizier led a large army through Buda and conquered the fortress of Neuhäusel (Ujvar) on September 24, 1663. In response, a Holy League was organized under the leadership of Pope Alexander VII, allowing the Habsburgs to take the offensive. When the Christian army and Ottoman forces clashed near the village of St. Gotthard on August 1, 1664, the Ottomans were defeated and lost many more men and much more equipment than the troops of the Holy League, which included Habsburg, Spanish, and French units. However, when the peace treaty was negotiated at Vasvár on August 10, the Habsburgs agreed to evacuate their troops, and Ottoman rule over Transylvania was secured once again (Shaw: 1:212).
Following the signing of the treaty with the Habsburgs, Fazil Ahmed led the Ottoman fleet in an invasion of Crete. The Ottoman blockade of Iraklion (Herakleion), as well as the conflict between the Venetians and the French, allowed the grand vizier to secure the evacuation of the island by the Venetian defenders. The Ottoman-Venetian peace treaty of September 5, 1669, allowed the Ottomans to establish their rule over Crete.
Next, Fazil Ahmed marched north against Poland. After a series of wars with Russia over the control of the Dnieper Cossacks, the Poles had succeeded in establishing a strong military presence on the northern shores of the Black Sea, posing a direct threat to Ottoman hegemony. The Cossacks, however, rebelled against the Poles and made common cause with the Crimean Tatars, appealing to the sultan for support and assistance (Sugar: 198). Determined to resist Polish military might, Mehmed IV assumed leadership of the campaign against Poland, which would span five important years of his reign. In 1672 the sultan succeeded in establishing Ottoman rule over the strategic forts of Podolia (Podole). With Sweden threatening from the north and the Russian specter looming in the east, the Poles agreed to a peace treaty in 1672. However, the death of the Polish king Casimir in 1673 and the rise of the charismatic Jan Sobieski, who invaded Ukraine, broke the peace treaty. Ottoman forces crossed into Polish territory, defeating the Poles at the battle of Żurawno on September 27, 1676.
Shortly after the end of the Polish campaigns, the grand vizier Fazil Ahmed died and was immediately replaced by his foster-brother, Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. The new threat from Sweden forced Poland to agree to a peace treaty with the sultan, which was signed at Żurawno (Zorawno) on October 27. Poland ceded Podolia and western Ukraine to the Ottoman Empire (Sugar: 198). The conquest of western Ukraine forced the Ottomans to confront Russia. Indeed, the new grand vizier began his tenure with a new military campaign against Russia, which lasted from 1677 to 1681. Alarmed by the recent Ottoman territorial gains, Czar Alexis gained the support of Cossacks and struck back. Distracted by the anti-Habsburg uprising in Hungary and the prospect of using it as an opportunity to invade and conquer the city of Vienna, and having failed to establish a military foothold along the key region between the Dnieper and the Bug Rivers, the new grand vizier opted for a quick peace with Russia, renouncing the Ottoman claim to Ukraine (Kurat: 171). Signed in February 1681, the treaty established the Dnieper as the border between the two states. Kara Mustafa Pasha could now focus exclusively on Hungary, where the leader of the anti-Habsburg revolt, Imre Thököly, sought Ottoman protection and promised to accept the sultan’s suzerainty in return for his support (Kurat: 172). The anti-Habsburg uprising was also supported by France. Ironically, the Habsburgs’ attempt to avoid a military confrontation with the sultan and renew the Treaty of Vásvar was construed in the Ottoman camp as a sign of weakness.
Convinced that the Habsburg military was on the verge of collapse and encouraged by the French, who viewed an Ottoman invasion as essential to their victory in the west, Kara Mustafa Pasha moved with a large army against Vienna in June 1683. By July the Habsburg capital was under Ottoman siege. The Habsburg emperor, however, had organized a coalition that included the Poles led by Jan Sobieski, the pope, the Spaniards, and the Portuguese. The defenders’ determined resistance, the poor generalship of the Ottoman grand vizier, and a surprise attack by a German relief force and an even larger Polish army led by Sobieski, made an Ottoman defeat inevitable (Sugar: 199). The Ottoman forces were routed in a fierce battle on September 12 (Finkel: 286). The Ottoman army disintegrated and lost any semblance of organization and discipline, leaving behind its heavy cannons and badly needed supplies. The shocked grand vizier tried to rally his army in Belgrade, but it was already too late. His enemies in Istanbul had convinced Mehmed IV that his chief minister was solely responsible for the humiliating debacle at the gates of Vienna. On December 25, 1683, the grand vizier was executed (Finkel: 287).
A new Holy League was formed in 1684, which included the Habsburgs, Venice, Poland, the pope, Malta, Tuscany, and later Russia. The Habsburgs began to push southward, moving their forces into Hungary and capturing Buda in September 1686. With the disintegration of Ottoman defenses in Hungary, the troops, who were suffering from low morale and lack of pay, revolted. The devastating defeats exposed the weaknesses of the Ottoman Empire and opened the door to aggressive European campaigns on all fronts.
Despite the alarming situation, which threatened the very survival of the state, Mehmed IV continued with his daily hobbies of hunting and enjoying the pleasures of the royal harem. In the dying days of 1687 (November 8), in a gathering attended by prominent notables and the ulema of the capital, the şeyhülislam issued a decree deposing the sultan and replacing him with a new sultan, who ascended the Ottoman throne as Süleyman II. (Shaw: 1:219)
See also: Beys and Pashas: Köprülü Mehmed Pasha; Köprülüzade Fazil Ahmed Pasha; Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha; Sultans: Kösem Sultan; Süleyman II
Further Reading
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Kurat, A. N. “The Reign of Mehmed IV, 1648–87.” In A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730, edited by M. A. Cook, 157–177. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Naima, Mustafa (Mustafa Naim). Annals of the Turkish Empire from 1591 to 1659 of the Christian Era. Translated by Charles Fraser. New York: Arno Press, 1973.
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.
Mehmed V Reşad (Reshad) (1844–1918)
An Ottoman sultan who ruled from 1909 to 1918. He was born on November 2, 1844, in Istanbul. Mehmed was the son of the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid (Abdülmejid), who ruled from 1839 to 1861. Mehmed was a well-educ
ated prince. He had studied traditional Islamic sciences and Persian literature, as well as Islamic and Ottoman history and culture. Mehmed ascended the throne after his brother, Abdülhamid II (r. 1876–1909), was deposed in 1909. After the abdication of Abdülhamid the center of power shifted from the palace to the army and the parliament, dominated by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). Ruling as a constitutional monarch, Mehmed lacked the power to rule as an autocrat.
Between 1911 and 1912, in the war against Italy, the Ottoman Empire lost Libya. In 1911, on the advice of the CUP, Mehmed went on a goodwill tour to Thrace and Albania. A year later, however, the first Balkan War erupted, and the Ottomans lost most of their European possessions. In 1914, when World War I began, Mehmed was opposed to the Ottoman Empire entering it. The Ottoman government, dominated by the triumvirate of Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha, and Cemal (Jemal) Pasha, however, entered the war in November 1914 on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The ruling Young Turks demanded that Mehmed, as the caliph or the religious leader of the Islamic world, declare a jihad or a holy war against the Allied Powers of Britain, France, and Russia and call on all Muslims, particularly those ruled by the British, the French, and the Russians, to support the Ottoman Empire and its allies. By the time Mehmed V died on July 3, 1918, the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire had been occupied by the Allied forces. A few months after Mehmed’s death, the Central Powers called for an armistice, and soon after Istanbul fell under Allied military occupation.
The Ottoman sultan Mehmed V ascended the throne after Abdülhamid II was deposed in 1909. (Reynolds and Taylor. Collier’s Photographic History of the European War, 1916)
See also: Beys and Pashas: Cemal Pasha; Enver Pasha; Talat Pasha; Sultans: Abdülhamid II; Mehmed VI
Further Reading
Ahmad, Feroz. The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Hanioglu, Șükrü. A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.
Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Rogan, Eugene. The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East. New York: Basic Books, 2015.
Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Zürcher, Erik-Jan. Turkey: A Modern History. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
Mehmed VI (Mehmed Vahideddin) (1861–1926)
The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who ruled from 1918 to 1922. He was born on January 14, 1861. His father was Sultan Abdülmecid (Abdülmejid), who ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1839 to 1861. His mother was Gülüstü, an ethnic Abkhazian. Mehmed ascended the throne on July 4, 1918, after the death of his brother, Mehmed V, who had ruled the Ottoman Empire as a constitutional monarch since 1909. Mehmed VI inherited an empire on the verge of collapse. Lacking any real power, Mehmed watched the defeat and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire as the British seized Palestine and Syria. By October 1918 the Ottoman government had no choice but to request an armistice.
Intelligent and well-educated, Mehmed VI seized the reins of power after the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, and the leaders of the Ottoman government and army, Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha, and Cemal (Jemal) Pasha, fled Istanbul for Germany. On December 8, 1918, the Allied military administration was established in the Ottoman capital. Opposed to the nationalist ideology and policies of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which had taken the Ottoman Empire into World War I on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mehmed VI dissolved the parliament on December 21. He was determined to crush the nationalists and revive the autocratic rule of the Ottoman dynasty.
On May 15, 1919, with support from the British, the French, and the Americans, the Greek government, which had joined the Allies at the end of World War I, landed troops in Izmir (Mango: 217). In the midst of this chaos and humiliation, Mehmed VI appointed the Ottoman officer and the hero of Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, as “Inspector General of Ottoman forces in northern and northeastern Anatolia” (McCarthy: 377). Mustafa Kemal’s assignment was to disarm and disband the remaining Ottoman army units in eastern Anatolia (McCarthy: 377). By the time he arrived in Samsun on the northern coast of Anatolia on May 19, however, Mustafa Kemal had decided to disobey his orders and to organize a national resistance movement (Mango: 218–221). Support came from other Ottoman commanders and officers who shared his determination to remove all foreign forces from Anatolia.
Alarmed by the emergence of a popular movement in Anatolia, Mehmed VI entered into negotiations with the nationalists, and both sides agreed to an election, which was held late in 1919. The election resulted in a major victory for the nationalist forces. The Allied occupation forces responded to the election results by arresting and exiling the nationalists. Instead of siding with the nationalist movement, Mehmed VI dissolved the parliament on April 11, 1920. The nationalist movement responded to the closing down of the parliament by forming a provisional government in Ankara. On August 10, 1920, Mehmed signed the humiliating Treaty of Sèvres, which practically abolished the Ottoman Empire and forced the Ottoman government to renounce all its rights over its former Arab provinces in the Middle East. The treaty also called for the establishment of a “free and independent Armenia,” with its boundaries determined by “the President of the United States of America” (Hurewitz: 2:83). An autonomous Kurdish state (i.e., Kurdistan) was proposed for southeastern Anatolia, but the final decision was left to the League of Nations to determine whether the Kurds desired and deserved independence. The treaty also allowed Greece to establish a foothold in eastern Thrace and the western coast of Anatolia in the region surrounding the city of Izmir. Greece also was given control of the Aegean islands commanding the Dardanelles, while the straits were internationalized. France was granted the right to establish a mandate in Syria and Lebanon. A part of southern Anatolia was handed over to France as its sphere of influence. The British were allowed to establish the mandates of Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine. Southwestern Anatolia was designated as the sphere of influence of Italy. The only region left to the Ottoman government was a small area in northern Anatolia and the city of Istanbul, which remained under Allied control. The Treaty of Sèvres was denounced by the Turkish nationalists and their leader, Mustafa Kemal.
After launching a series of successful military campaigns against the newly established Armenian state in eastern Anatolia and the Greek forces in western Anatolia, the Turkish nationalists forced foreign troops to evacuate the “Turkish homeland” in the summer of 1922. The military victories of the nationalist movement resulted in a shift of attitude by the European powers, which recognized the new reality on the ground. Having witnessed the decisive defeat of Greek forces in August 1922 and realizing that their allies, particularly the French, did not intend to fight the Turkish nationalists, the British convinced the Greek government to withdraw from eastern Thrace and sign the Armistice of Mudanya with the Turks on October 11, 1922. On November 1, 1922, the Grand National Assembly in Ankara abolished the Ottoman sultanate. Sixteen days later, Mehmed VI boarded a British warship and departed for Malta. The last sultan of the Ottoman dynasty died in exile in San Remo, Italy, in 1926.
See also: Battles and Treaties: Sèvres, Treaty of; Beys and Pashas: Cemal Pasha; Enver Pasha; Talat Pasha; Empire and Administration: Atatürk, Kemal; Sultans: Mehmed V
Further Reading
Ahmad, Feroz. The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Hanioglu, Șükrü. A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.
Mango, Andrew. Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey. New York: The Overlook Press, 2002.
McCarthy, Justin. The Ottoman Turks: An Introductory History to 1923. London and New York: Wesley Longman Limited, 1997.
Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Rogan, Eugene. The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East. New York: Basic Books, 2015.
Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Zürcher, Erik-Jan. Turkey: A Modern History. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
Murad I (1326–1389)
An Ottoman sultan who ruled from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan Gāzi (r. 1326–1362), the second ruler of the Ottoman state, and the grandson of Osman I (r. 1290–1326), the founder of the Ottoman dynasty. Shortly after the death of his son, Süleyman, Orhan designated his second son, Murad, as the commander of all Ottoman forces in the west. Murad assumed the leadership of the Ottoman raids in southeast Europe, focusing his military campaign on consolidating Ottoman territorial gains in Thrace and capturing the important Byzantine city of Adrianople (Edirne). Under the direct command of Murad, the Ottoman forces stormed the city in 1361 and immediately proclaimed it the new capital of the Ottoman state. The fall of Edirne allowed the Ottoman forces to push into southern Bulgaria and Macedonia and confront the threat posed by the Serbian state, which had declined significantly since the death of its leader, Stephan Dušan, in 1355. With the accession of Murad to the throne in 1362, the new capital began to serve as the residence of the Ottoman sultan. In tightening the noose around Constantinople and consolidating the newly conquered Ottoman possessions in Thrace, Murad began to organize a campaign into the heart of the Balkans. Before moving against the Christian states of southeast Europe, however, he was forced to deal with a threat posed by the powerful Turkoman principality of Karaman in Anatolia. Murad’s quick and impressive victory against Karaman allowed the Ottomans to expand their territory eastward and served as a warning to other Turkoman principalities not to take advantage of the Ottoman preoccupation with Europe. Once the threat from Karaman was neutralized, Murad returned to Edirne to prepare his army for the conquest of the entire Balkan Peninsula.