Ahmed I
Ahmed I (Ahmed I Bakhti) (April 18, 1590 - November 22, 1617). Ottoman sultan (r. 1603-1617). He was born on April 18, 1590, in Manisa. His mother was Valide Sultan Handan Sultan, originally named Helena (Eleni), a Greek. In 1603, he became sultan (at the age of 13) after the death of Mehmed III (Muhammad III). Ahmed I succeeded his father Mehmed III (1595–1603) at the age of 13. Ahmed broke with the traditional fratricide and sent his brother Mustafa to live at the old palace at Bayezit along with their grandmother Safiye Sultan.
In the earlier part of his reign Ahmed I showed decision and vigor, which were belied by his subsequent conduct. The wars which attended his accession both in Hungary and in Persia terminated unfavorably for the empire, and its prestige received its first check in the Treaty of Zsitvatorok, signed in 1606, whereby the annual tribute paid by Austria was abolished. Georgia and Azerbaijan were ceded to Persia. In 1606, pursuant to the Peace of Zsitvatorok, Ahmed was also forced to give commercial privileges to France, Venice and Netherlands inside the empire. This was a blow to Ottoman prestige.
Ahmed I died of typhus on November 22, 1617. He was succeeded by Mustafa I. However, altogether three of his sons would become sultan: Osman II, Murad IV, and Ibrahim.
The rule of Ahmed I was dominated by wars, internal rebellions and bad government. The internal rebellions took the form of viziers aiming at enriching themselves without the interests of the state in mind. Ahmed dealt with these with the hardest of means, and had many executed. Another important issue for Ahmed was improving land administration within the Ottoman Empire.
Ahmed was a pious sultan, more interested in protecting the holy places of Islam, than building infrastructure in the empire. He adorned holy structures of Mecca and Medina, and he had the Blue Mosque built, a structure which is considered to be one of the greatest architectural achievements of Islam and a structure which bears Ahmed’s name.
Ahmed was also known for his skills in fencing, horseback riding, and fluency in numerous languages. Ahmed was a poet who wrote a number of political and lyrical works under the name Bakhti. He was devoutly religious, spending much of his wealth to support the works of scholars and pious men. He also attempted to enforce conformance to Islamic laws and traditions, restoring the old regulations that prohibited alcohol and he attempted to enforce attendance at the Friday Mosque prayers and paying alms to the poor in the proper way.
Today Ahmed I is remembered mainly for the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque), one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture. The area in Istanbul around the Mosque is today called Sultanahmet. He died at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul and is buried in a mausoleum right outside the walls of the famous mosque.
He was married twice, to Valide Sultan Mahfiruze Hatice Sultan, originally named Maria, a Greek and the mother of Osman II, and to Valide Sultan Kadinefendi Kösem Sultan (or Mahpeyker), originally named Anastasia, a Greek and the mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I. He also had Bayezid and Suleiman.
Ahmed I Bakhti see Ahmed I
Ahmed I (Ahmed I Bakhti) (April 18, 1590 - November 22, 1617). Ottoman sultan (r. 1603-1617). He was born on April 18, 1590, in Manisa. His mother was Valide Sultan Handan Sultan, originally named Helena (Eleni), a Greek. In 1603, he became sultan (at the age of 13) after the death of Mehmed III (Muhammad III). Ahmed I succeeded his father Mehmed III (1595–1603) at the age of 13. Ahmed broke with the traditional fratricide and sent his brother Mustafa to live at the old palace at Bayezit along with their grandmother Safiye Sultan.
In the earlier part of his reign Ahmed I showed decision and vigor, which were belied by his subsequent conduct. The wars which attended his accession both in Hungary and in Persia terminated unfavorably for the empire, and its prestige received its first check in the Treaty of Zsitvatorok, signed in 1606, whereby the annual tribute paid by Austria was abolished. Georgia and Azerbaijan were ceded to Persia. In 1606, pursuant to the Peace of Zsitvatorok, Ahmed was also forced to give commercial privileges to France, Venice and Netherlands inside the empire. This was a blow to Ottoman prestige.
Ahmed I died of typhus on November 22, 1617. He was succeeded by Mustafa I. However, altogether three of his sons would become sultan: Osman II, Murad IV, and Ibrahim.
The rule of Ahmed I was dominated by wars, internal rebellions and bad government. The internal rebellions took the form of viziers aiming at enriching themselves without the interests of the state in mind. Ahmed dealt with these with the hardest of means, and had many executed. Another important issue for Ahmed was improving land administration within the Ottoman Empire.
Ahmed was a pious sultan, more interested in protecting the holy places of Islam, than building infrastructure in the empire. He adorned holy structures of Mecca and Medina, and he had the Blue Mosque built, a structure which is considered to be one of the greatest architectural achievements of Islam and a structure which bears Ahmed’s name.
Ahmed was also known for his skills in fencing, horseback riding, and fluency in numerous languages. Ahmed was a poet who wrote a number of political and lyrical works under the name Bakhti. He was devoutly religious, spending much of his wealth to support the works of scholars and pious men. He also attempted to enforce conformance to Islamic laws and traditions, restoring the old regulations that prohibited alcohol and he attempted to enforce attendance at the Friday Mosque prayers and paying alms to the poor in the proper way.
Today Ahmed I is remembered mainly for the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque), one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture. The area in Istanbul around the Mosque is today called Sultanahmet. He died at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul and is buried in a mausoleum right outside the walls of the famous mosque.
He was married twice, to Valide Sultan Mahfiruze Hatice Sultan, originally named Maria, a Greek and the mother of Osman II, and to Valide Sultan Kadinefendi Kösem Sultan (or Mahpeyker), originally named Anastasia, a Greek and the mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I. He also had Bayezid and Suleiman.
Ahmed I Bakhti see Ahmed I
Ahmed II
Ahmed II (February 25, 1643 - February 6, 1695). Ottoman sultan (r. 1691-1695). He was born on February 6, 1695, in the Topkapi Palace, the son of Sultan Ibrahim I by Valide Sultan Khadija Muazzez.. In 1691, after being imprisoned for years, Ahmed II became sultan, succeeding his brother Suleiman II. Ahmed's best act was to confirm Mustafa Kuprulu as grand vizier. However, in the first year of his reign, the Ottoman forces were defeated by the Austrians (under Margrave Louis William of Baden) at Slankamen and the Grand Vizier Mustafa Kuprulu died in the battle. Subsequently, the Ottoman Empire lost large parts of Hungary. In 1692, Venice attacked Crete which had been seized by the Ottomans during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim. In 1694, The Venetians gained control of Chios. The next year, on February 6, 1695, Ahmed II died in Edirne, worn out by disease and sorrow.
Ahmed II was only in power for four years, and his years in prison left him unprepared for the sultanate. He proved to be a sultan with little strength and independence. However, his reign (administered by able viziers) did manage to leave some achievements. The most important accomplishment was the encouragement of tribal settlement in Anatolia by nomadic Turkmen tribes, and modernizing the land administration system. Nevertheless, his years were marked by the unsuccessful war against Austria and Venice, where important lands were lost. Additionally, internally, there were uprisings in Syria, Hijaz and Iraq.
Ahmed II (February 25, 1643 - February 6, 1695). Ottoman sultan (r. 1691-1695). He was born on February 6, 1695, in the Topkapi Palace, the son of Sultan Ibrahim I by Valide Sultan Khadija Muazzez.. In 1691, after being imprisoned for years, Ahmed II became sultan, succeeding his brother Suleiman II. Ahmed's best act was to confirm Mustafa Kuprulu as grand vizier. However, in the first year of his reign, the Ottoman forces were defeated by the Austrians (under Margrave Louis William of Baden) at Slankamen and the Grand Vizier Mustafa Kuprulu died in the battle. Subsequently, the Ottoman Empire lost large parts of Hungary. In 1692, Venice attacked Crete which had been seized by the Ottomans during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim. In 1694, The Venetians gained control of Chios. The next year, on February 6, 1695, Ahmed II died in Edirne, worn out by disease and sorrow.
Ahmed II was only in power for four years, and his years in prison left him unprepared for the sultanate. He proved to be a sultan with little strength and independence. However, his reign (administered by able viziers) did manage to leave some achievements. The most important accomplishment was the encouragement of tribal settlement in Anatolia by nomadic Turkmen tribes, and modernizing the land administration system. Nevertheless, his years were marked by the unsuccessful war against Austria and Venice, where important lands were lost. Additionally, internally, there were uprisings in Syria, Hijaz and Iraq.
Ahmed III
Ahmed III (December 30/31, 1673 - July 1, 1736). Ottoman sultan during the Tulip Era (r. 1703-1730). Ahmed III was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV (1648–87). His mother was Valide Sultan Mah-Para Ummatullah Rabia Gül-Nush, originally named Evemia, a Greek. He was born at Hajioglupazari, in Dobruja. He succeeded to the throne in 1703 on the abdication of his brother Mustafa II (1695–1703). Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha and his daughter, Princess Hatice (wife of the former) directed the government from 1718 to 1730, a period referred to as the Tulip Era.
Ahmed III maintained good relations with France, doubtless in view of Russia's menacing attitude. He awarded refuge in Ottoman territory to Charles XII of Sweden (1682–1718) after the Swedish defeat at the hands of Peter I of Russia (1672–1725) in the Battle of Poltava of 1709. King Charles XII of Sweden escaped to the Ottoman Empire after losing the Battle of Poltava against the Russians, which was a part of the Great Northern War. In 1710 he convinced the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III to declare war against Russia, and the Ottoman forces under Baltacı Mehmet Pasa won a major victory at the Battle of Prut. In the aftermath, Russia returned Azov to the Ottomans and agreed to demolish the fortress of Taganrog and others in the area, and to stop interfering into the affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Forced against his will into war with Russia, Ahmed III came nearer than any Ottoman sovereign to breaking the power of his northern rival, whom his grand vizier Baltacı Mehmet Paşa succeeded in completely surrounding near the Prut River in 1711.
However, the Ottoman advance was halted as a report reached Constantinople that the Safavids were invading the Ottoman Empire, causing a period of panic, turning the Sultan's attention away from Russia. Sultan Ahmed III had become unpopular by reason of the excessive pomp and costly luxury in which he and his principal officers indulged. On September 20, 1730, a mutinous riot of seventeen janissaries, led by the Albanian Patrona Halil, was aided by the citizens as well as the military until it swelled into an insurrection in front of which the sultan was forced to give up the throne.
Ahmed voluntarily led his nephew Mahmud I (1730–54) to the seat of sovereignty and paid allegiance to him as Sultan of the Empire. He then retired to the apartments in the palace previously occupied by Mahmud and died at Topkapi Palace after six years of confinement.
The reign of Ahmed III, which had lasted for twenty-seven years, although marked by the disasters of the Great Turkish War, was not unsuccessful. The recovery of Azov and the Morea, and the conquest of part of Persia, managed to counterbalanced the Balkan territory ceded to the Habsburg Monarchy through the Treaty of Passarowitz, after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18. In 1716, he sent an army of 33,000 men to capture Corfu from the Republic of Venice.
Ahmed III left the finances of the Ottoman Empire in a flourishing condition, which had remarkably been obtained without excessive taxation or extortion procedures. He was a cultivated patron of literature and art, and it was in his time that the first printing press authorized to use the Arabic or Turkish languages was set up in Constantinople, operated by Ibrahim Muteferrika (while the printing press had been introduced to Constantinople in 1480, all works published before 1729 were in Greek).
It was in the reign of Ahmed III that an important change in the government of the Danubian Principalities was introduced. Previously, the Porte had appointed Hospodars, usually native Moldavian and Wallachian boyars, to administer those provinces; after the Russian campaign of 1711, during which Peter the Great found an ally in Moldavian Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, the Porte began overtly deputizing Phanariote Greeks in that region, and extended the system to Wallachia after Prince Stefan Cantacuzino established links with Eugene of Savoy. The Phanariotes constituted a kind of Dhimmi nobility, which supplied the Porte with functionaries in many important departments of the state.
Admed III married Valide Sultan Amina Mihr-i Shah, and Valide Sultan Rabia Sharmi. By his first wife he had Mustafa III and by second wife he had Abdul Hamid I.
Ahmed III (December 30/31, 1673 - July 1, 1736). Ottoman sultan during the Tulip Era (r. 1703-1730). Ahmed III was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV (1648–87). His mother was Valide Sultan Mah-Para Ummatullah Rabia Gül-Nush, originally named Evemia, a Greek. He was born at Hajioglupazari, in Dobruja. He succeeded to the throne in 1703 on the abdication of his brother Mustafa II (1695–1703). Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha and his daughter, Princess Hatice (wife of the former) directed the government from 1718 to 1730, a period referred to as the Tulip Era.
Ahmed III maintained good relations with France, doubtless in view of Russia's menacing attitude. He awarded refuge in Ottoman territory to Charles XII of Sweden (1682–1718) after the Swedish defeat at the hands of Peter I of Russia (1672–1725) in the Battle of Poltava of 1709. King Charles XII of Sweden escaped to the Ottoman Empire after losing the Battle of Poltava against the Russians, which was a part of the Great Northern War. In 1710 he convinced the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III to declare war against Russia, and the Ottoman forces under Baltacı Mehmet Pasa won a major victory at the Battle of Prut. In the aftermath, Russia returned Azov to the Ottomans and agreed to demolish the fortress of Taganrog and others in the area, and to stop interfering into the affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Forced against his will into war with Russia, Ahmed III came nearer than any Ottoman sovereign to breaking the power of his northern rival, whom his grand vizier Baltacı Mehmet Paşa succeeded in completely surrounding near the Prut River in 1711.
However, the Ottoman advance was halted as a report reached Constantinople that the Safavids were invading the Ottoman Empire, causing a period of panic, turning the Sultan's attention away from Russia. Sultan Ahmed III had become unpopular by reason of the excessive pomp and costly luxury in which he and his principal officers indulged. On September 20, 1730, a mutinous riot of seventeen janissaries, led by the Albanian Patrona Halil, was aided by the citizens as well as the military until it swelled into an insurrection in front of which the sultan was forced to give up the throne.
Ahmed voluntarily led his nephew Mahmud I (1730–54) to the seat of sovereignty and paid allegiance to him as Sultan of the Empire. He then retired to the apartments in the palace previously occupied by Mahmud and died at Topkapi Palace after six years of confinement.
The reign of Ahmed III, which had lasted for twenty-seven years, although marked by the disasters of the Great Turkish War, was not unsuccessful. The recovery of Azov and the Morea, and the conquest of part of Persia, managed to counterbalanced the Balkan territory ceded to the Habsburg Monarchy through the Treaty of Passarowitz, after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18. In 1716, he sent an army of 33,000 men to capture Corfu from the Republic of Venice.
Ahmed III left the finances of the Ottoman Empire in a flourishing condition, which had remarkably been obtained without excessive taxation or extortion procedures. He was a cultivated patron of literature and art, and it was in his time that the first printing press authorized to use the Arabic or Turkish languages was set up in Constantinople, operated by Ibrahim Muteferrika (while the printing press had been introduced to Constantinople in 1480, all works published before 1729 were in Greek).
It was in the reign of Ahmed III that an important change in the government of the Danubian Principalities was introduced. Previously, the Porte had appointed Hospodars, usually native Moldavian and Wallachian boyars, to administer those provinces; after the Russian campaign of 1711, during which Peter the Great found an ally in Moldavian Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, the Porte began overtly deputizing Phanariote Greeks in that region, and extended the system to Wallachia after Prince Stefan Cantacuzino established links with Eugene of Savoy. The Phanariotes constituted a kind of Dhimmi nobility, which supplied the Porte with functionaries in many important departments of the state.
Admed III married Valide Sultan Amina Mihr-i Shah, and Valide Sultan Rabia Sharmi. By his first wife he had Mustafa III and by second wife he had Abdul Hamid I.
Ahmed al-Jazzar
Ahmed al-Jazzar [Ahmad al-Jazzar] (Arabic أحمد الجزار, Turkish " Cezzar Ahmet Paşa") (b. 1720 (or 1708) in Stolac, Bosnia Eyalet - b. 1804 in Acre, Sidon Eyalet) was the Ottoman ruler of Acre and the Galilee from 1775 until his death.
Jazzar was a Christian slave boy from Herzegovina who, escaping after committing a murder, sold himself to the slave-markets of Constantinople. There he was bought by an Egyptian ruler who converted him to Islam and used him as his chief executioner and hit-man. He began his rise as governor of Cairo but made his name defending Beirut against Catherine the Great's navy. Beirut was honorably surrendered to the Russians after a long siege and the sultan rewarded al-Jazzar with promotion to Governor of Sidon, and sometimes also that of Damascus. Jazzar set up his capital in Acre after the fall of Dhaher al-Omar. He earned the nickname "the Butcher" for his bravery and brutal effort to defeat his enemies. He is reputed to have walked around with a mobile gallows in case anyone displeased him.
Jazzar led a ruthless 'holy war' (jihad) campaign against non-Muslims. Under his ruled, Christians were forced to "accept" Islam. He oppressed minorities in Palestine including Christians (who were massacred) and Jews.
Jazzar is best known for defending Acre against Napoleon Bonaparte during the siege of Acre in 1799. After Napoleon's capture of Egypt, then an Ottoman territory, the French army attempted to invade Syria and Palestine. Although the French captured Al-Arish and Jaffa, and won every battle they fought against the Ottomans on an open field, they were unable to breach the fortifications of Acre. Their army was weakened by disease and cut off from resupply. The success was due to the English Commodore William Sidney Smith too, who sailed to Acre and helped the Turkish commander reinforce the defenses and old walls and supplied him with additional cannon manned by sailors and Marines from his ships. Smith also used his command of the sea to capture the French siege artillery being sent by ship from Egypt and to deny the French army the use of the coastal road from Jaffa by bombarding the troops from the sea.
Though both Napoleon and Jazzar requested assistance from the Shihab leader, Bashir, ruler of much of present-day Lebanon, Bashir remained neutral. After several months of attacks, Napoleon was forced to withdraw and his bid to conquer Egypt and the East failed.
With the help of his chief financial adviser, Haim Farhi, a Damascus Jew, Jazzar embarked on a major building program in Acre that included fortifying the city walls, refurbishing the aqueduct that brought spring water from nearby Kabri, and building a large Turkish bath. One of the most important landmarks built by Jazzar was the mosque that bears his name, a massive building in the Turkish style. Built over a Crusader church, the Al-Jazzar Mosque incorporates columns brought from Roman and Byzantine ruins in Caesarea and Tyre, and included a school for Islamic religious studies, later used as a religious court. Al-Jazzar and his adopted son and successor Suleiman Pasha, were buried in the courtyard.
Ahmed, Fakhruddin 'Ali
Ahmed, Fakhruddin 'Ali. See Fakhruddin 'Ali Ahmed.
Ahmed, Fakhruddin 'Ali. See Fakhruddin 'Ali Ahmed.
Ahmed Gran
Ahmed Gran. See Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.
Ahmed Gran. See Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.
Ahmedi, Taj al-Din Ibrahim
Ahmedi, Taj al-Din Ibrahim. See Taj al-Din Ibrahim Ahmedi.
Ahmedi, Taj al-Din Ibrahim. See Taj al-Din Ibrahim Ahmedi.
Ahmed Jewdet Pasha
Ahmed Jewdet Pasha (1822-1895). Ottoman writer and statesman. He was five times the Minister of Justice. The most important of his works are historical covering the nineteenth century.
Jewdet Pasha, Ahmed see Ahmed Jewdet Pasha
Ahmed Jewdet Pasha (1822-1895). Ottoman writer and statesman. He was five times the Minister of Justice. The most important of his works are historical covering the nineteenth century.
Jewdet Pasha, Ahmed see Ahmed Jewdet Pasha
Ahmed Khan
Ahmed Khan (Sayyid Ahmed Khan) (Sayyid Ahmad Khan) (October 17, 1817 - March 27, 1898). Educational reformer and founder of Islamic modernism in India. {See Ahmad Khan, Sayyid.}
Sayyid Ahmed Khan see Ahmed Khan
Sayyid Ahmad Khan see Ahmed Khan
Ahmad Khan, Sayyid see Ahmed Khan
Ahmed Khan (Sayyid Ahmed Khan) (Sayyid Ahmad Khan) (October 17, 1817 - March 27, 1898). Educational reformer and founder of Islamic modernism in India. {See Ahmad Khan, Sayyid.}
Sayyid Ahmed Khan see Ahmed Khan
Sayyid Ahmad Khan see Ahmed Khan
Ahmad Khan, Sayyid see Ahmed Khan
Ahmed Midhat
Ahmed Midhat (1844-1913). Ottoman Turkish writer. He played an important role in the development of Turkish journalism and wrote an enormous number of books.
Midhat, Ahmed see Ahmed Midhat
Ahmed Midhat (1844-1913). Ottoman Turkish writer. He played an important role in the development of Turkish journalism and wrote an enormous number of books.
Midhat, Ahmed see Ahmed Midhat
Ahmed Pasha Bonneval
Ahmed Pasha Bonneval (Claude-Alexandre Comte de Bonneval) (July 14, 1675 - March 23, 1747). French count who converted to Islam and entered Ottoman military service.
Claude Alexandre was a French army officer who later went into the service of the Ottoman Empire, eventually converting to Islam and becoming known as Humbaracı Ahmet Pasha (Ahmed Pasha).
He was the descendant of an old family of Limousin. At the age of thirteen he joined the Royal Marine Corps. After three years he entered the army, in which he rose to the command of a regiment. He served in the Italian campaigns under Catinat, Villeroi and Vendôme, and in the Netherlands under Luxembourg, giving proofs of indomitable courage and great military ability. His insolent bearing towards the minister of war was made matter for a court martial (1704). He was condemned to death, but saved himself by fleeing to Germany.
Through the influence of Prince Eugene of Savoy he obtained a general's command in the Austrian army, and fought with great bravery and distinction against France, and afterwards against Turkey. He was present at the Battle of Malplaquet, and was severely wounded at Peterwardein. The proceedings against him in France were then allowed to drop, and he visited Paris, and married a daughter of Marshal de Biron. He returned, however, after a short time to the Austrian army, and fought with distinction at Belgrade.
He might have risen to the highest rank, had he not made himself disagreeable to Prince Eugene, who sent him as master of the ordnance to the Low Countries. There his ungovernable temper led him into a quarrel with the Marquis de Prié, Eugene's deputy governor in the Netherlands, who answered his challenge by placing him in confinement. A court martial was again held upon him, and he was condemned to death; but the emperor commuted the sentence to one year's imprisonment and banishment. Bonneval was returned to Vienna, stripped of his rank, titles and honors, and exiled to Venice.
Soon after his release, Bonneval offered his services to the Turkish government, professed Islam, and took the name of Ahmed. He was made a pasha, and appointed to organize and command the Turkish artillery, eventually contributing to the Austrian defeat at Nis and the subsequent end of the Austrian-Ottoman war marked by the Treaty of Belgrade, where Austria lost Northern Serbia with Belgrade, Lesser Wallachia, and territories in northern Bosnia. In Constantinople, he met the young Giacomo Casanova, who was then a Venetian naval officer stationed there. He was also close friends with a well-respected local mullah, Ismail Pasha.
He rendered valuable services to the sultan in his war with Russia, and with the famous Nadir Shah. As a reward he received the governorship of Chios, but he soon fell under the suspicion of the Porte, and was banished for a time to the shores of the Black Sea. He died at Constantinople in March 1747.
Bonneval, Ahmed Pasha see Ahmed Pasha Bonneval
Bonneval, Claude-Alexandre Comte de see Ahmed Pasha Bonneval
Ahmed Pasha Bonneval (Claude-Alexandre Comte de Bonneval) (July 14, 1675 - March 23, 1747). French count who converted to Islam and entered Ottoman military service.
Claude Alexandre was a French army officer who later went into the service of the Ottoman Empire, eventually converting to Islam and becoming known as Humbaracı Ahmet Pasha (Ahmed Pasha).
He was the descendant of an old family of Limousin. At the age of thirteen he joined the Royal Marine Corps. After three years he entered the army, in which he rose to the command of a regiment. He served in the Italian campaigns under Catinat, Villeroi and Vendôme, and in the Netherlands under Luxembourg, giving proofs of indomitable courage and great military ability. His insolent bearing towards the minister of war was made matter for a court martial (1704). He was condemned to death, but saved himself by fleeing to Germany.
Through the influence of Prince Eugene of Savoy he obtained a general's command in the Austrian army, and fought with great bravery and distinction against France, and afterwards against Turkey. He was present at the Battle of Malplaquet, and was severely wounded at Peterwardein. The proceedings against him in France were then allowed to drop, and he visited Paris, and married a daughter of Marshal de Biron. He returned, however, after a short time to the Austrian army, and fought with distinction at Belgrade.
He might have risen to the highest rank, had he not made himself disagreeable to Prince Eugene, who sent him as master of the ordnance to the Low Countries. There his ungovernable temper led him into a quarrel with the Marquis de Prié, Eugene's deputy governor in the Netherlands, who answered his challenge by placing him in confinement. A court martial was again held upon him, and he was condemned to death; but the emperor commuted the sentence to one year's imprisonment and banishment. Bonneval was returned to Vienna, stripped of his rank, titles and honors, and exiled to Venice.
Soon after his release, Bonneval offered his services to the Turkish government, professed Islam, and took the name of Ahmed. He was made a pasha, and appointed to organize and command the Turkish artillery, eventually contributing to the Austrian defeat at Nis and the subsequent end of the Austrian-Ottoman war marked by the Treaty of Belgrade, where Austria lost Northern Serbia with Belgrade, Lesser Wallachia, and territories in northern Bosnia. In Constantinople, he met the young Giacomo Casanova, who was then a Venetian naval officer stationed there. He was also close friends with a well-respected local mullah, Ismail Pasha.
He rendered valuable services to the sultan in his war with Russia, and with the famous Nadir Shah. As a reward he received the governorship of Chios, but he soon fell under the suspicion of the Porte, and was banished for a time to the shores of the Black Sea. He died at Constantinople in March 1747.
Bonneval, Ahmed Pasha see Ahmed Pasha Bonneval
Bonneval, Claude-Alexandre Comte de see Ahmed Pasha Bonneval
Ahmed Rasim
Ahmed Rasim (1864-1932). Turkish writer whose works include novels, carefully prepared historical compilations, and textbooks.
Rasim, Ahmed see Ahmed Rasim
Ahmed Rasim (1864-1932). Turkish writer whose works include novels, carefully prepared historical compilations, and textbooks.
Rasim, Ahmed see Ahmed Rasim
Ahmed Wefiq Pasha
Ahmed Wefiq Pasha (1823-1891). Ottoman statesman and a leading Turcologist. He published the first Turkish dictionary in Turkish and adapted sixteen comedies of Moliere.
Wefiq Pasha, Ahmed see Ahmed Wefiq Pasha
Ahmed Wefiq Pasha (1823-1891). Ottoman statesman and a leading Turcologist. He published the first Turkish dictionary in Turkish and adapted sixteen comedies of Moliere.
Wefiq Pasha, Ahmed see Ahmed Wefiq Pasha
Ahrar, Khwaja ‘Ubayd Allah
Ahrar, Khwaja ‘Ubayd Allah. See Khwaja ‘Ubayd Allah Ahrar.
Ahrar, Khwaja ‘Ubayd Allah. See Khwaja ‘Ubayd Allah Ahrar.
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