The last leaf of the Tulip has fallen, Istanbul, January 1775
It has been the coldest winter in Constantinople for years. The People don’t go often in the streets due to the weather. However, enduring the cold weather went worse when the people heard about the recent illness of Sultan Mustafa III. On the 6th day of January, the tired Sultan Mustafa III finally closed his eyes never to be reopened again until the Apocalypse. Abdulhamid was called back to Constantinople after only staying a month or 5 in Athens. He remained at the side of his brother for nearly a week after
Sultan Mustafa III khan (1757-1775) died. The Sultan of the Tulips is dead. The Janissaries have made their way to the palace to greet the new Sultan and say farewell to the deceased Sultan. Abdulhamid remained strong, he kept his feelings for himself and became Sultan in front of all the government officials and military commanders. The rule of
Abdulhamid I Khan (1775-...) has started.
The first thing Abdulhamid I did was letting all of the government officials stay on their posts. Abdulhamid kept his brothers government active and sent Sehzade Murad to Bursa to become the governor there. Abdulhamid informed all ambassadors to that he continues the treaties his brother made and wished to continue the good relationship between Constantinople and all other European states. Mustafa’s war with Russia and his sudden displease with Louis XV peace proposal in which Mustafa believed he could have won. Abdulhamid was not sure about it but never told his brother. Abdulhamid sent several envoys to continue the treaty Mustafa and Ismail made. At last he considered the Crimean Khans offer for marriage between both Mustafa’s daughter and the Khans heir, the Khans daughter and Sehzade Murad. Murad was son of Mehmed and a twin. His twin brother Ibrahim which would actually be heir died in a hunting accident a few months before Mustafa died. The most popular Ibrahim died and was replaced by the rather unknown Murad. Abdulhamids sorrow for Ibrahims death prevented a worse reaction on his brothers death. Seeing both the orphans Ibrahim and Murad almost as his own children.
Abdulhamid on the second day went out to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque and was greeted by thousands of people. The people were positive about the Sultan. It seems that Abdulhamid won’t experience too much friction from the populace.
The Janissary problem, Vidin, 1775
As soon as Abdulhamid became sultan he abolished the law on giving the soldiers a sum of money. Abdulhamid saw it as a waste of money on those who were not interested in serving the Sultan. The Janissaries were unhappy. They considered it their right to get the money in which a conflict broke out between Government officials and Janissary Aga’s. As a punishment the Aga’s were sent to Vidin to perform Guard duty. The Janissaries here showed the first signs of what would be troublesome for the government. The exiled Janissaries in Vidin act like bandits. Taxing more from the locals while preventing the local Suleiman Pasha to tax for the Government. It went as bad as the Janissaries taking the control over Vidin. The Bandits of Vidin, although small in numbers, encouraged other Janissaries in the Area to behave as they wished. It went as far as illegally taxing to a murdering spree.
Abdulhamid was at first uneasy about what to think. He never had to deal with these problems even when he was on the front. In his presence there was Sehzade Selim. Selim did something what Princes would not actually dare. Selim advised the Sultan to put down the rebellion. The Pashas were horrified that a fourteen year old tells the Sultan what to do. However, Abdulhamid listened and sent his Gurcu (Georgian) Yunus Pasha to put down the rebellion with all that is necessary. Abdulhamid, not angry at all with Selim saw it as a net positive. If Selim ever would become a Sultan he would act immediately. Not be unsure what to happen. Yunus Pasha had an Army of 900 Regular Infantry and 300 Cavalry. With 1,200 men he went to put down the Janissary rebellion in Vidin. As soon as Yunus Pasha arrived he ordered a surrender in which the Janissaries refused. Yunus Pasha did not ask a second time and attacked immediately. The Janissaries were up to 900 men with around 1,300 irregulars who had supported them from the vicinity. Without any loss, Yunus Pasha regained Vidin and killed up to 600 men. Half of the victims died while trying to cross the Danube. Only a 100 men fled and the rest were taken captives to Constantinople. The leader of the rebellion, Haydar Aga fled to Bosnia in which he remained silent until the 1790s. The new governor of Vidin was Kara Ali Pasha. The brutal Pasha of Morea was experienced enough to prevent further rebellions. His harsh behavior for rebellious attitude and his zero tolerance policy kept Morea safe for quite some time.
Regardless of the success, the Corps showed signs of banditry and rebellious attitudes. It was a shock when Mehmed V was killed in which almost everybody suspected the Janissary Corps Aga’s prepared it. But twenty years further and some Janissaries are acting more like bandits than Soldiers. Abdulhamid is worried, his Pashas are worried, his heir is worried. And now the people may get worried as well.
The Bektashi Order as missionaries, Balkans & Caucasus, 1775
In the second half of the 18th century the Bektashi Order, supported by the Janissary Corps, started an active form of Missionary Activity. Especially among Bulgarians and Albanians. Their sudden activity did not come from nowhere. With the rising power of the Janissaries and, what the Order perceived as, declining loyalty of the Christian Clergy to the state, the Order began active missions for converts in the Balkans. Under protection of the Janissaries, the Order worked in towns and rural lands. In the 1775, after almost 20 years of their growing their missionary activity around 40,000 Albanians; 80,000 Bulgarians; 48,000 Greeks; 2,000 Croats; 78,000 Serbs; 102,000 Circassians; 38,000 Georgians and 4,000 Armenians converted. In 20 years, up to 392,000 Christians were converted. Many of them either Peasants, Slaves or Merchants. The Christian Nobles in Greece and Bosnia were almost entirely unconverted with a few exceptions.
This Missionary activity caused unrest among the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. Feeling that there was no possibility to have the Sultan to stop, the Greek Orthodox Church started their own missionary campaign but among Christians. Converting Muslims will by no means be accepted by the State and the Wrath of the Muslim elite is not desirable. The Greek Orthodox Church wants to strengthen the ties between the Orthodox Christians and the Church in which they believed it declined due to warfare and famines. The people have to regain trust in the Church. Not only among Orthodox Christians, the Church went as far as seeking converts among the Maronites in Mount Lebanon and the Alawites in Jebel Alawiyya. The Sultan tried to ease the tensions to reduce the Bektashi missionary campaign in The Caucasus with an exception on Armenians as well. The Order was not happy about it and neither were the Janissaries. The Sultan however feared that besides the tensions, the Order will get too powerful. They must be kept away from the Corps base in the Balkans. The conversions weren’t bad but the ties between the Corps and the Order need to weaken.
Flourishing region called Anatolia, 1776
Since the rule of Mehmed V there were concerns about the large lands of Anatolia being so underdeveloped. They have more potential yet the towns, cities and villages are poor. Mustafa made some efforts by letting more skilled people to settle in Anatolia. More Clergy were sent from the Balkans to Anatolia to have the populace being taught to read or write. The roads between Anatolian towns were renewed and expanded. Towns like Diyarbakir were no longer isolated from towns like Kayseri and Konya. The ties between Azerbaijan and Anatolia started to grow and the trade started to flourish as well. The Kurds in Eastern Anatolia who became wealthy due to trade started to leave Eastern Anatolia for Western Anatolia and the Balkans, buying lands. Greek and Jewish Merchants started take advantage of the growing Trade in Eastern Anatolia and started to settle there with their families. Egyptians who had a poor life in Egypt were offered land in Anatolia in which they could have in exchange of giving half their crops to the state. It would take almost 40 years until Anatolia would no longer be considered as the backwater of the Empire. The demographic and Economic growth of Anatolia had positive effects on the Neighbouring Mesopotamia and Levant as well. With People moving all around the Empire they learned more about it and the wealthy populace became more aware of their situation and that of the Empire. This had both positive as well as negative effects. The net positive of the People moving around the Empire was optimism to support the Sultans Armies in Wars while the negative was the growing corruption with the Autonomous Pasha’s and Janissary Aga’s. As far as Sehzade Murad could tell, Anatolia started to grow and will reach its place in the world it deserves. If fortunes do not look well for us, we will lose all lands except Anatolia. Where it all started…
Sultan Abdulhamid I Khan, (1775-...)
