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SELIM III

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 607 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SELIM III . (1762–1808) was a son of See also:Sultan Mustafa III. and succeeded his See also:uncle Abd-ul-Hamid I. in 1789. The talents and See also:energy with which he was endowed had endeared him to the See also:people, and See also:great hopes were founded on his See also:accession. He had associated much with foreigners, and was thoroughly persuaded of the See also:necessity of reforming his See also:state. But See also:Austria and See also:Russia gave him no See also:time for anything but See also:defence, and it was not until the See also:peace of See also:Jassy (1792) that a breathing space was allowed him in See also:Europe, while See also:Bonaparte's invasion of See also:Egypt and See also:Syria soon called for See also:Turkey's strongest efforts and for the time shattered the old-See also:standing See also:French See also:alliance. Selim profited by the See also:respite to abolish the military See also:tenure of fiefs; he introduced salutary reforms into the See also:administration, especially in the fiscal See also:department, sought by well-considered plans to extend the spread of See also:education, and engaged See also:foreign See also:officers as instructors, by whom a small See also:corps of new troops called See also:nizam-i-jedid were collected and drilled. So well were these troops organized that they were able to hold their own against rebellious See also:Janissaries in the See also:European provinces, where disaffected See also:governors made no See also:scruple of attempting to make use of them against the reforming sultan. Emboldened by this success, Selim issued an See also:order that in future picked men should be taken annually from the Janissaries to serve in their ranks. Hereupon the Janissaries and other enemies of progress See also:rose at See also:Adrianople, and in view of their number, exceeding Io,000, and the violence of their opposition, it was decided that the reforms must be given up for the See also:present. See also:Servia, Egypt and the principalities were successively the See also:scene of hostilities in which Turkey gained no successes, and in 1807 a See also:British See also:fleet appeared at See also:Constantinople, See also:strange to say to insist on Turkey's yielding to Russia's demands besides dismissing the See also:ambassador of See also:Napoleon I. Selim was, however, thoroughly under the See also:influence of this ambassador, See also:Sebastiani, and the fleet was compelled to retire without effecting its purpose. But the anarchy, See also:manifest or latent, existing throughout the provinces proved too great for Selim to See also:cope with.

The Janissaries rose once more in revolt, induced the Sheikhul-See also:

Islam to See also:grant a fetva against the reforms, dethroned and imprisoned Selim (18o7), and placed his See also:nephew Mustafa on the See also:throne. The See also:pasha of See also:Rustchuk, Mustafa Bairakdar, a strong See also:partisan of the reforms, now collected an See also:army of 40,000 men and marched on Constantinople with the purpose of reinstating Selim. But he came too See also:late; the See also:ill-fated reforming sultan had been strangled in the seraglio, and Bairakdar's only resource was to wreak his vengeance on Mustafa and to See also:place on the throne Mahmud II., the See also:sole surviving member of the See also:house of See also:Osman. For authorities see TURKEY: See also:History.

End of Article: SELIM III

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