Abdulhamid Sultan Biography

Sultan Abdulhamid - a genius or a villain? The personality of this ruler is quite contradictory. The overwhelming part of European historians negatively characterizes his rule, as well as his personality, comparing Abdulhamid with tyrants and despots of that time. If we turn to Turkish historiography, then here the attitude to the personality and heritage of Abdulhamid is very controversial - some of the historians idealize his personality, offering him to heaven, others in every possible way belittle his role in history, accusing the despotism and usurpation of power.

One thing is clear - Abdulhamid, who managed to manage a rather unstable state at the sunset of its existence for 33 years, was far from an ordinary eastern, narrow -minded despot, which we can see dozens in the Arab East. Prince Abdulhamid was born in the year, his father of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmedzhid - died at the age of 38. He was remembered by the beginning of the Tanzimat era in the Ottoman Empire.

Abdulhamid's mother is Timyuzhgan Kadyn Efendi - originally from the North Caucasus, she died when Prince Abdulhamid was 10 years old. The death of the mother left a deep mark in the minds of young Abulhamid. He made love for her through his whole life. From his mother, he remained several gold dining rooms. As contemporaries describe, these devices were always present on his table, until his death he did not part with them.

After the death of his mother Abdulhamid grew up an orphan in the care of one of the childless wives of the Sultan Abdulmede. The throne did not shine him, since he had an older brother. Immediately after the death of his father, his father’s brother, Sultan Abdulaziz, ascended to the Ottoman throne. The heir became Prince Murad, the half -brother of Abdulhamid. However, a series of events, in particular, the overthrow and murder of the Sultan Abdulaziz, the short-term 93 days the reign of Prince Murad, who was removed from power due to mental insanity, threatened the power of the Ottoman dynasty and those who, during the reign of Ottomans, reached great heights in the empire.

Thus, the authors of the previous palace coup and the accession to the throne of Prince Murad, led by Mithat Pasha, were forced to turn their eyes to the modest prince Abdulhamid. Abdulhamid ascended the throne in the summer in a very difficult, I would even say, a critical period for the empire and dynasty - economic and political troubles, local wars in the Balkans.

To all this, the Russian-Turkish war of the years was added, putting the very fact of the existence of the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps then the Ottoman Empire could finally break up and would be divided into parts between European states and Russia. However, the victory of Russia, whose troops reached the walls of Istanbul, did not suit France, Britain and Austria-Hungary, which took a number of steps to level Russian victories.

In the process, Europeans also quenched their appetites at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. So, Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovin, Britain took away Cyprus to the hands, and France occupied the Tunisia, which was then under formal sovereignty ports. Taking advantage of the external defeats of Mithat Pasha and his associates, Abdulhamid removed them from power, dismissed the parliament and concentrated all power in his hands.

During his reign, a powerful intelligence apparatus and police forces was created. Intelligence Abdulhamid actively worked in all key European capitals, and the police apparatus instructed the critics of the regime within the country. Abdulhamid remembered how he overthrew his uncle - Sultan Abdulmeda, so special attention was paid to the secret police and intelligence organization.

At present, Abdulhamid’s reign would be called “dictatorship”, but, unlike classical oriental dictators, Abdulhamid often preferred to bite his enemies or send them to exile. Abdulhamid was also remembered by the fact that during his reign he approved the extremely small number of deaths. Through the agent network created by him, the Sultan could receive the necessary information about the state of affairs of enemies and straightforces between them in time.

The brilliant ability to analyze and the excellent knowledge of the real geopolitical alignment in the world helped him to maneuver between powers, using their disagreements and exorbitant appetites. At the same time, Abdulhamid understood that it would not work to constantly maneuver and delay certain processes. Based on this, he strengthened the army as far as possible, carried out administrative reforms.

During the reign of Abdulhamid, a large number of military and civilian universities were created and modernized according to the Western model, new railway tracks were built, which, among other things, could be used to deliver troops and ammunition in the event of war. Abdulhamid was well aware that sooner or later world powers would want to redraw the world again, including at the expense of the lands of his empire.He could not build allied relations with France, Britain or Russia, as these countries openly claimed the “Ottoman inheritance” and were often sponsors and organizers of riots and uprisings in the Ottoman Empire.

Based on this, Abdulhamid decided to bet on the German Empire gaining power. Germany, unlike other European powers, was not a colonial empire and did not seek to seize the Ottoman territories. The Sultan decided to give preferences to German capital in the empire. For the ever -increasing ambitions of Germany, this was also a very profitable union, since it received a very favorably located ally and a large sales market for its products.

Anticipating the upcoming troubles, Abdulkhamid modernized and re -equipped of the Ottoman artillery forces located in the Dardanella Strait, is natural that the modernization process continued after it. The beginning of the First World War and the allied attempts to capture the straits showed the timeliness and relevance of the decisions of the Sultan. Having no enough opportunities to stop the inflammatory and subversive activities of the Western powers on its territory, Abdulhamid contrasted the Western expansion of his policy of pan -andishamma.

Using his Caliph title, Abdulhamid sent the mission and help Muslims to different corners of the world - from Western China to East Africa and Southeast Asia. Most of all, the Paninishamma policy, pursued by Abdulhamid, disturbed Great Britain in colonial possessions in which millions of Muslims lived. Abdulhamida response to the intervention of the Western powers in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire.

Of course, the Sultan did not have as much means and effort as, for example, France or Britain, but he nevertheless created certain problems to his enemies.

For which he was hated in Europe - as in power circles, so often in the circles of the intelligentsia. It was hardly the European political establishment that would not love him so if he were a spineless ruler, in all the indulgent European powers. In order to understand how the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the European powers developed, I will give one small example.

In the year, the French government demanded that the Ottoman Empire pay the debt to two French bankers. As it turned out, the loans were provided to the supporters of Prince Murad and, in fact, were used to overthrow the Sultan of Abdulaziz. Since Murad ruled only 93 days, and then Abdulhamid replaced him on the throne, the debt, of course, was not paid and surfaced many years later.

Negotiations regarding the payment of the debt between Abdulhamid and the French ambassador were unsuccessful by the success of the Sultan wanted a delay in payment, and the French ambassador left Istanbul in protest. A month after the ambassador departure, as in November, the French military fleet will occupy the island of Lesbos and establish control of customs located on the island.

The French side said that the island will remain under their control until they make up for the debt. In addition, the French put forward the requirements for the provision of additional preferences for French schools and other French institutions in the Ottoman Empire. The French deuced the island only after paying the debt and fulfilling their requirements for the receipt of additional preferences.

It is worth noting that, given the plight of the treasury, part of the funds for paying the debt, Abdulhamid borrowed from his wife Fatma Pesend Kadyn-Efendi. In such conditions, the Sultan tried to extend the life of the state and, if possible, maintain its integrity. The Sultan paid special attention to the army and the formation of officers. Over time, a fairly wide displeased layer formed among the officers of the Ottoman army.

These were mainly young educated, ambitious officers, dissatisfied with the autocratic rule and politics of the Sultan Abdulhamid. Officers were increasingly being interested in politics and contact with Turkish revolutionary societies. Over time, the backbone of the organization “Ittihat and the attack” “Unity and Progress” was formed. In the year, youngsters moved to active actions.

As a result of the mass disobedience of officers, the army de facto emerged from the subordination of the Sultan. Abdulhamid was forced to make concessions, in particular, this concerned the restoration of the Constitution and the work of the Mejlis of the Parliament. In a certain period of the year, dual power was observed in the country. The denouement occurred in April, when the forces faithful to the Sultan tried to organize a counter -revolutionary coup and restore the power of the Sultan.

Although at first they were accompanied by success, the leaders of the youngsters were able to mobilize the military units deployed in the European part of the empire and transfer them to Istanbul. Soon, the counter -revolutionary rebellion was suppressed, the Sultan was locked in his residence in the Yildiz Palace. A few days later, at the Extraordinary meeting of the Ottoman parliament, a decision was made to depose Abdulhamid.

Already the former Sultan decided to send them to the sealoniki.Instead of Abdulhamid M Ottoman Sultan and M Islamic caliph, his brother Mehmet V. Up to a year, Abdulhamid lived in Thessaloniki, then, after the fall of the city, he was transported to Istanbul and settled in the Baylerbei palace, where he died on February 10. It is noteworthy that it was in this palace that the mother of Abdulhamid died in the year.

Many experts and historians, among whom are critics of Abdulhamid, agree that his rule and measures taken by him extended the life of the Ottoman Empire for years. The wide layers of the Ottoman intelligentsia subjected the sultan in sharp criticism and were in opposition to him, among them one can indicate such a highly famous person of his time as a poet, the future author of the words of the Turkish anthem Mehmet Akif Ersoy.

He devoted a whole series of poems defaming the Sultan to Abdulhamid. However, among the intellectuals who once opposed the monarch were those who, after some time, changed their minds. For example, the famous critic Abdulhamida, historian and writer Ahmed Rasim, after the death of the Sultan, wrote the following words: “If you are not even you, and your lifeless body will become a sultan to us, even if your coffin ascends to the Ottoman throne, it will be better than now.” The life and activities of Abdulhamid with his successes and defeats, with his mistakes and shortcomings - this is the topic of a separate book, and maybe books.

It is difficult to enter into one article the whole inheritance that Abdulhamid left for 33 years of his very contradictory rule. I just tried to conduct a small analysis of his activities and touched the main aspects.