Mahmud II

Mahmud II, 1784–1839, Ottoman sultan (1808–39), younger son of Abd al-Hamid I. He was raised to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) upon the deposition of his brother, Mustafa IV, and continued the reforms of his cousin, Selim III. During his reign, the Eastern Question assumed increasing importance. Mahmud inherited the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–12, which ended with Turkey's loss of Bessarabia. However, Russia was obliged to end its support of the Serbian rebels under Karageorge, and Serbia returned (1813) to Turkish control. In 1817, Mahmud recognized Miloš as prince of Serbia, a Turkish vassal. He suppressed (1822) the rebellion of Ali Pasha and defeated the Greeks in the first phase of the Greek War of Independence. At the height of his power he ruthlessly carried out (1826) a long-cherished project—the destruction of the Janissaries. The Turkish successes in Greece were largely due to the troops sent by the viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, under the command of Ibrahim Pasha. British, Russian, and French intervention led to the destruction (1827) of the Egyptian fleet at Navarino, the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29, a humiliating peace (see Adrianople, Treaty of), and the independence of Greece. The sequel of the Greek war was the invasion of Turkey by Ibrahim Pasha after Mahmud had refused to give Syria to Muhammad Ali as reward for his aid against the Greeks. At Konya, the Turkish army was completely routed (1832), and Constantinople was saved only by the intervention of a Russian fleet. Mahmud was obliged to accede (1833) to Muhammad Ali's demands and, by a secret agreement with Russia, promised to close the Dardanelles to all warships hostile to Russia. In 1839, war with Egypt was resumed, and on the day of Mahmud's death, news came of the ignominious surrender of the Turkish fleet in the harbor of Alexandria. Mahmud's son and successor, Abd al-Majid, granted Egypt virtual independence.

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Mahmud II 

(Mahmut II). Born July 20, 1784; died July 1, 1839, in Istanbul. Turkish sultan from 1808 to 1839.

Mahmud II carried out a series of reforms to overcome feudal disunity, create a centralized governmental and administrative apparatus, and bring a chiefly superficial “Europeanization” to the country. His most important reforms, implemented in the 1820’s and early 1830’s, included the abolition of the Janissary Corps, liquidation of the military fief system, establishment of ministries of the European type, elimination of the governor-generals’ right to maintain their own troops, and the establishment of some secular schools and military academies. However, these reforms failed to eliminate the root causes of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and its gradual loss of economic and political independence. The rise of the anti-Turkish national liberation movement in the Balkans and the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29 led to independence for Greece and autonomy for Serbia, Moldavia, and Walachia. Mahmud II suffered serious defeats in armed conflicts with the Egyptian pasha Muhammad Ali (in 1831-33 and 1839). Military defeats combined with the privileges granted by Mahmud II to Great Britain and France in the trade agreements of 1838 led to an increase in Turkey’s dependence upon the European powers.