Mahmud II
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Mahmud II Ottoman Period |
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| Preceded by Mustafa IV |
Ottoman Sultan 1808–39 |
Succeeded by Abdülmecid I |
Mahmud II (Ottoman Turkish: محمود ثان Mahmud-ı sānī) (July 20, 1785 – July 1, 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death. He was the son of Sultan Abdülhamid I.
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[edit] His reign in general
In 1808, Mahmud II's predecessor (and half-brother) Mustafa IV (1807–08) ordered his execution along with that of a cousin, the deposed Sultan Selim III (1789–1807), in order to defuse a rebellion. Selim III was killed, but Mahmud was safely hid by his mother and was placed on the throne after the rebels deposed Mustafa IV. The leader of this rebellion, Mustafa Bayrakdar, then became Mahmud II's vizier.
The vizier took the initiative in resuming reforms that had been terminated by the conservative coup of 1807 that had brought Mustafa IV to power. However, soon the vizier was killed by Ibrahim's army, and Mahmud II temporarily abandoned the reforms. Later in his reign, Mahmud II's efforts at reform were more successful.
During his reign, the first breakaway from the Ottoman Empire occurred, with Greece gaining its independence in an open rebellion that started in 1821 and ended with the recognition of Greece in the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. This event marks the beginning of the gradual break-up of the Ottoman Empire, as other non-Turkish peoples of the empire began their own independence movements.
His most notable achievements were the abolition of the Janissary corps in 1826 and establishment of a modern Ottoman Army, and the preparation of the Tanzimat reforms in 1839 which started the modernization of Turkey and had immediate effects such as European style clothing, architecture, legislation, institutional organization and land reform.
Mahmud II died from tuberculosis in 1839. His funeral was crowded by throngs of people who came to bid the Sultan farewell. His son Abdülmecid succeeded him.
[edit] Reforms
[edit] Legal Reform
Among his reforms are the edicts (or Firmans), by which he closed the Court of Confiscations, and took away much of the power of the Pashas.
Previous to the first of the Firmans the property of all persons banished or condemned to death was forfeited to the crown; and a sordid motive for acts of cruelty was thus kept in perpetual operation, besides the encouragement of a host of vile Delators.
By the second, it was rendered no longer in the power of a Turkish governor to doom men to instant death by his will; the Paşas, the Ağas, and other officers, were enjoined that "they should not presume to inflict, themselves, the punishment of death on any man, whether Raya or Turk, unless authorized by a legal sentence pronounced by the Kadi, and regularly signed by the judge." He also created an appeal system by a criminal to one of the Kazaskers of Asia or Europe, and finally to the Sultan himself, if the criminal chose to persist in his appeal.
About the same time that Mahmud II ordained these just and humane changes, he set personally an example of reform by regularly attending the Divan, instead of secluding himself from the labors of state, according to the bad practice, which had been introduced as long ago as the reign of Suleiman I, and which had been assigned as one of the causes of the decline of the empire by a Turkish historian nearly two centuries before Mahmud II's time.
Mahmud II also addressed some of the worst abuses connected with the Vakifs, by placing the revenues under the administration of the state, but he did not venture to apply this vast mass of property to the general purposes of the government.
In dealing with the complicated questions caused by the embarrassed finances of his empire, and by the oppression and vexatiousness with which certain imposts pressed upon particular classes, Mahmud II showed the best spirit of the best of the Köprülüs. A Firman of February 22, 1834, abolished the vexatious charges which public functionaries, when traversing the provinces, had long been accustomed to make on the inhabitants. By the same edict all collection of money, except for the two regular half-yearly periods, was denounced as abuses. "No one is ignorant," said Sultan Mahmud II in this document, "that I am bound to afford support to all my subjects against vexatious proceedings; to endeavour unceasingly to lighten, instead of increasing their burdens, and to ensure peace and tranquillity. Therefore, those acts of oppression are at once contrary to the will of God, and to my imperial orders."
The haraç, or capitation-tax, though moderate in and exempting those who paid it from military service, had long been made an engine of gross tyranny, through the insolence and misconduct of the government collectors. The Firman of 1834 abolished the old mode of levying it, and ordained that it should be raised by a commission composed of the Kadı, the Muslim governors, and the Ayans, or municipal chiefs of Rayas in each district. Many other financial improvements were effected, the narration of which would be too long for introduction here. By another important series of measures, the administrative government was simplified and strengthened, and a large number of sinecure offices were abolished, and the Sultan gave a valuable personal example of good sense, and economy, organising the imperial household, and mercilessly suppressing all titles without duties, and all salaried officials without functions.
[edit] Military Reform
- For more details on this topic, see Ottoman military reform efforts.
With the military fiefs, the Tımars and the Ziamets, he dealt more boldly. These had long ceased to furnish the old effective military force, for the purpose of which they were instituted and by attaching them to the public domains, Mahmud II materially strengthened the resources of the state, and put an end to a host of corruptions. One of the most resolute acts of his ruling was the suppression of the Dere Beys, the hereditary local chiefs (with power to nominate their successors in default of male heirs), which, by one of the worst abuses of the Ottoman feudal system, had made themselves petty princes in almost every province of the empire.
The reduction of these insubordinate feudatories was not effected at once, or without severe struggles and frequent insurrections. Mahmud II steadily persevered in this great measure and ultimately the island of Cyprus became the only part of empire in which power, not emanating from the Sultan, was allowed to be retained by Dere Beys.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Incorporates text from "History of Ottoman Turks" (1878)
| Sultans of the Ottoman Empire | |
|---|---|
| Rise (1299–1453) | Osman I - Orhan I - Murad I - Bayezid I - Mehmed I - Murad II - Mehmed II |
| Growth (1453–1683) | Bayezid II - Selim I - Suleiman I - Selim II - Murad III - Mehmed III - Ahmed I - Mustafa I - Osman II - Murad IV - Ibrahim I - Mehmed IV |
| Stagnation (1683–1827) | Suleiman II - Ahmed II - Mustafa II - Ahmed III - Mahmud I - Osman III - Mustafa III - Abdul Hamid I - Selim III - Mustafa IV - Mahmud II |
| Decline (1828–1908) | Abdülmecid - Abdülâziz - Murad V - Abdul Hamid II |
| Dissolution (1908–1923) | Mehmed V - Mehmed VI |
