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MAHMUD II

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 397 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAHMUD II . (1785—1839), See also:

sultan of See also:Turkey, was the son of See also:Abu-ul-Hamid I., and succeeded his See also:brother, Mustafa IV., in 1808. He had shared the captivity of his See also:ill-fated See also:cousin, the ex-sultan, See also:Selim III., whose efforts at reform had ended in his deposition by the See also:janissaries. Mahmud was thus See also:early impressed with the See also:necessity for dissembling his intention to See also:institute reforms until he should be powerful enough to carry them through. The reforming efforts of the See also:grand See also:vizier Bairakdar, to whom he had owed his See also:life and his See also:accession, See also:broke on the opposition of the janissaries; and Mahmud had to wait for more favourable times. Meanwhile the See also:empire seemed in danger of breaking up. Not till 1812 was the See also:war with See also:Russia closed by the treaty of See also:Bucharest, which restored See also:Moldavia and the greater See also:part of Wallachia to the See also:Ottoman See also:government. But though the war was ended, the terms of the treaty See also:left a number of burning questions, both See also:internal and See also:external, unsettled. This was notably the See also:case with the claim of Russia to See also:Poti and the valley of the Rion (Phasis), which was still outstanding at the See also:time of the See also:congress of See also:Vienna (1814—1815) and prevented the question of a See also:European See also:guarantee of the integrity of Turkey from being considered. Meanwhile, within the empire, ambitious valis were one by one attempting to carve out dominions for themselves at the expense of the central See also:power. The ambitions of Mehemet See also:Ali of See also:Egypt were not yet fully revealed; but Ali (q.v.) of Jannina, who had marched to the aid of the sultan against the rebellious See also:pasha Pasvan Oglu of Widdin, soon began to show his See also:hand, and it needed the concentration of all the forces of the See also:Turkish empire to effect his overthrow and See also:death (1822). The .pre-occupation of the sultan with Ali gave their opportunity to the Greeks whose disaffection had See also:long been organized in the See also:great See also:secret society of the Hetaeria Philike, against which Metternich had in vain warned the Ottoman government.

In 1821 occurred the abortive See also:

raid of See also:Alexander See also:Ypsilanti into the Danubian principalities, and in May of the same See also:year the revolt of the Greeks of the Morea began the war of See also:Greek See also:Independence (see See also:GREECE: See also:History). The rising in the See also:north was easily crushed; but in the See also:south the Ottoman power was hampered by the defection of the See also:sea-faring Greeks, by whom the Turkish See also:navy had hitherto been manned. After three abortive See also:campaigns Mahmud was compelled, infinitely against his will, to summon to his assistance the already too powerful pasha of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, whom he had already employed to suppress the rebellious See also:Wahhabis in See also:Arabia. The disciplined See also:Egyptian See also:army, supported by a well organized See also:fleet, rapidly accomplished what the See also:Turks had failed to do; and by 1826 the Greeks were practically subdued on See also:land, and See also:Ibrahim was preparing to turn his See also:attention to the islands. But for the intervention of the See also:powers and the See also:battle of See also:Navarino Mahmud's authority would have been restored in Greece. The See also:news of Navarino betrayed Mahmud into one of those paroxysms'of rage to which he was liable, and which on See also:critical occasions were See also:apt fatally to See also:cloud his usual See also:good sense. After in vain attempting to obtain an See also:apology for " the unparalleled See also:outrage against a friendly power " he issued on the loth of See also:December a See also:solemn hatti See also:sheriff summoning the faithful to a See also:holy war. This, together with certain outstanding grievances and the pretext of enforcing the See also:settlement of the Greek Question approved by the powers, gave Russia the excuse for declaring war against Turkey. After two hardly fought campaigns (1828, 1829) Mahmud was at length, on the 14th of See also:September 1829, compelled to sign the See also:peace of See also:Adrianople. From this moment until his death Mahmud was, to all intents and purposes, the " See also:vassal of Russia," though not without occasional desperate efforts to break his chains. (For the See also:political events of the See also:period between the first revolt of Mehemet Ali (See also:Sept. 1832) and the death of Mahmud see MEHEMET AL1.) The See also:personal attitude of the sultan, which alone concerns us here, was determined throughout by his overmastering hatred of the upstart pasha, of whom he had stooped to ask aid, and who now defied his will; and the importance of this attitude lies in the fact that, as the result of the success of his centralizing policy, and notably of the destruction of the janissaries (q.v.), the supreme authority, hitherto limited by the See also:practical power of the ministers of the See also:Porte and by the turbulence of the privileged military See also:caste, had become concentrated in his own See also:person.

It was no longer the Porte that decided, but the Seraglio, and the sultan's private secretary had more See also:

influence on the policy of the See also:Otto-See also:man empire than the grand vizier. This omnipotence of the sultan in deciding the policy of the government was in striking contrast with his See also:impotence in enforcing his views on his subjects and in his relations with See also:foreign powers. Mahmud, in spite of—or rather because of—his well-meant efforts at reform, was hated by his Mussulman subjects and stigmatized as an " infidel " and a traitor to See also:Islam. He was, in fact, a victim to those " See also:half-See also:measures " which See also:Machiavelli condemns as fatal to success. Ibrahim, the conqueror of See also:Syria, scoffed at the sultan's See also:idea " that reform consisted in putting his soldiers into tight See also:trousers and epaulettes." The See also:criticism is not entirely unjust. Mahmud's policy was the converse of that recommended by Machiavelli, viz. in making a revolution to See also:change the substance while preserving the semblance of the old See also:order. Metternich's See also:advice to Mahmud to " remain a Turk " was See also:sound enough. His failure to do so—in externals—left him isolated in his empire: rayahs and true believers alike distrusted and hated him. Of this hatred he was fully conscious; he knew that his subjects, even many of his own ministers, regarded Mehemet Ali as the See also:champion of Islam against the " infidel sultan;" he suspected the pasha, already See also:master of the sacred cities, of an intention to proclaim himself See also:caliph in his See also:stead. This, together with the weakness due to military reforms but recently begun, drove him to rely on foreign aid; which, in the actual conditions of See also:Europe, meant the aid of Russia. The long tradition of See also:French friendship for Turkey had been broken, in 1830, by the See also:conquest of See also:Algiers. See also:Austria was, for the time, but the faithful ally of the See also:tsar.

On the 9th of See also:

August 1832 Mahmud made, through See also:Stratford See also:Canning, a formal proposal for an See also:alliance with Great See also:Britain, which See also:Palmerston refused to consider for fear of offending See also:France. Mahmud bitterly contrasted the See also:fair professions of See also:England with the offers of effective help from Russia. His old ally having deserted him, he accepted the aid of his hereditary foe. The See also:Russian expedition to the See also:Bosporus, the See also:convention of See also:Kutaiah, and the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi (See also:July 8, 1833) followed. Mahmud was under no illusion as to the position in which the latter placed him towards Russia; but his fear of Mehemet Ali and his See also:desire to be revenged upon him out-weighed all - other considerations. He resented the See also:action of France and England in forcing the settlement of Kutaiah upon him, and remained shut up in his See also:palace, inaccessible to all See also:save his favourites and the representative of Russia. With his single aim in view he busied himself with the creation of a See also:national See also:militia, with the aid of See also:Moltke and other See also:German See also:officers. In 1834 the revolt of Syria against Ibrahim seemed to give him his opportunity. He pleaded the See also:duty of a sultan to go to the aid of his subjects when oppressed by one of his servants; but the powers were obdurate, even Russia, much occupied in affairs nearer See also:home, leaving him in the See also:lurch. He was astute enough to take See also:advantage of the offence given to the powers by Mehemet Ali's See also:system of monopolies, and in 1838 signed with Great Britain, and afterwards with others,a commercial treaty which cut at the See also:root of the pasha's system. A few months later his passionate impatience overcame his policy and his 'fears. The hand of death was upon him, and he See also:felt that he must strike now or never.

In vain the powers, now See also:

united in their views, warned him of the probable See also:con-sequences of any aggressive action on his part. He would rather See also:die, he exclaimed, or become the slave of Russia, than not destroy his rebellious vassal. On his See also:sole initiative, without consulting his ministers or the See also:council of the empire, he sent instructions to See also:Hafiz Pasha, commanding the Ottoman troops concentrated at Bir on the See also:Euphrates, to advance into Syria. The fatal outcome of the See also:campaign that followed he did not live to hear. When the news of Ibrahim's overwhelming victory at Nessib (See also:June 24, 1839) reached See also:Constantinople, Mahmud See also:lay dying and unconscious. Early in the See also:morning of the 1st of July his proud and passionate spirit passed away. Mahmud II. cannot be reckoned among the great sultans, neither had he any of the calculating statecraft which characterized Abd-ul-Hamid II.; but his qualities of mind and See also:heart, none the less, raised him far above the See also:mass of his predecessors and successors. He was well versed in See also:state affairs and loyal to those who advised and served him, personally brave, humane and kindly when not maddened by See also:passion, active and energetic, and always a man of his word. Unhappily, however, the taint of the immemorial corruption of See also:Byzantium had fallen upon him too, and the See also:avenue to his favour and to political power lay too often through unspeakable paths. In view of the vast difficulty of the task before him at his See also:succession it is less surprising that he failed to carry out his ideas than that he accomplished so much. When he came to the See also:throne the empire was breaking up from within; one by one he freed the provinces from the tyrannical rulers who, like All of Jannina, were See also:carving out See also:independent, or quasi-independent, empires within the empire. If he failed in his wider schemes of reform, this was only one more See also:illustration of a truth of which other " enlightened " sovereigns besides himself had experienced the force, namely, that it is impossible to impose any system, however admirable, from above on a See also:people whose deepest convictions and prejudices it offends.

There is a great See also:

deal of valuable material for the history of Mahmud and his policy in the unpublished F.O. records (1832-1839), volumes of See also:correspondence marked Turkey.—From See also:Sir Stratford Canning.—From Mr. See also:Mandeville.—From See also:Lord See also:Ponsonby. See further See also:works mentioned under TURKEY : History; and MEIEMET ALI. (W. A.

End of Article: MAHMUD II

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