Abdul Hamid II

General
Information
Date of Birth: 16th Sha’ban 1258 (21st
September 1842)
Date of Death: 29th Rabi Al Thani 1336 (10th
February 1918, 75 years)
Reign – 11th Sha’ban 1293 – 7th Rabi Al
Thani 1327 (31st August 1876 – 27th April
1909 (32 years, 7 months, 27 days)
Positions: Caliph, Sultan of The Ottoman
Empire, Custodian Of The Two Holy
Mosques
Government of Realm: Absolute Monarchy
Early Life

• Abdul Hamid II was born on 21st September 1842 in

Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (then called Constantinople,
which was then the capital of the Ottoman State)
• His father was Abdul Mejid I (1823 – 1861) and one of his
consorts Tirimüjgan Kadın (1818 – 1852)
• When he was 10 years old, his mother would die of
Tuberculosis. From then on he was cared for by the legal
wife of his father Peretsu Kadın (1830 – 1906)
• Abdul Hamid II received a good education from various
teachers in the palace. During the reigns of his uncle and
father (1839 – 1861, 1861 – 1876), he lived comfortably in
his mansion in Maslak
• In 1867 Abdul Hamid accompanied his uncle Abdulaziz in
his trip to Europe. They departed from Constantinople in
June and returned in August.
Rise to power
• Abdul Hamid II was not the crown prince initially. His older brother Murad was.
• In 1876 his uncle Abdulaziz was deposed by a group of constitutionalists
supported by Murad, who would ascend to the Ottoman throne as the 33rd Sultan
of the Empire. However, he would only be a figurehead as an Ottoman
parliament and constitution was established following Abdulaziz’s deposition.
• Murad V started to show strange behaviour and severe signs of mental illness.
Due to this and Abdul Hamid II’s seemingly liberal ideas Murad was deposed after
93 days, and Abdul Hamid ascended to the throne as the 34th Sultan and 99th
Caliph on the 30th August 1876. The year of 1876 is often known in Turkey as the
year of three emperors due to three sultans reigning in that year (Abdulaziz,
Murad V and Abdul Hamid II
 Russo Turkish War
1877 - 1878
• At the start of Abdul Hamid II’s reign, there were rising tensions
in the Balkans due to Serbian, Romanian and Bulgarian desires
for independence. This was supported by Russia, a starch
enemy of the Ottomans in which rivalry between the states had
been going on for 300 years prior.
• Mithat Paşa, one of the leading statesman at the time and
grand vizier was a supporter of war with Russia. Eventually the
situation escalated and on 24th April 1877, Russia declared war
on the Ottoman Empire.
• What followed was one of the biggest military disasters in
Ottoman history. Russian forces surged through the Balkans
and Constantinople was nearly captured, only saved by the
stubborn 5-month defence of Plevna by the Ottoman
commander Osman Paşa.
• On 3rd March the treaty of San Stefano was signed, humiliating
the Ottoman Empire and taking almost all their territory in
Europe. However, the great powers of the age including
Germany, France and Britain intervened and Russia was forced
to milden the peace deal at the congress of Berlin.
From democracy
to Autocracy
• Disgruntled by the constitution’s mismanagement
of the state, Abdul Hamid II sacked Mithat Paşa as
grand vizier and suspended the Ottoman
parliament in 1878. For the next three decades the
Sultan would hold absolute power and reign from
his palace at Yildiz.
• Despite the congress of Berlin seemingly saving
the Ottoman empire from more major
concessions, even more disaster was to follow for
the state.
• In 1881, France and Britain invaded Tunisia and
Egypt respectively. Tunisia would become a French
colony while Egypt would be occupied by the
British, only still being part of the Ottoman Empire
on paper.
• All these failures were arguably caused by
mismanagement by the constitution, which
justifies Abdulhamid’s seizing of absolute power.
Efforts to reform the
state
• Noticing how backwards the Ottoman state was
compared to the rest of Europe, Abdul Hamid II decided
to improve the state of his empire
• In 1880 an intelligence agency was opened and
multiple schools and welfare programs in the empire
were opened and launched.
• Abdul Hamid also commissioned for the construction of
the ‘Hijaz railway’. Construction started around 1900,
and the railway would be opened to the public in 1908.
The objective of the project was to connect the seat of
the caliphate Constantinople, to the holy cities of
Makkah and Madinah. However, the railway only goes
from Damascus to Madinah as construction was halted
due to the outbreak of WWI
The Armenian
question
• During his reign in the 1890’s, there was lots of
tension in the east of his empire between the
Muslim and Armenian Christian populations.
• Lots of the time conflict and massacres
happened, which led Abdul Hamid II to be
blamed for it by European press. He was
dubbed ‘The Red Sultan’ by Europeans. The
massacre of Armenians during the 1890’s is
known as ‘The Hamidian massacres’ by the
west.
• In 1905 an attempted assassination of Abdul
Hamid II was carried out by Armenians.
However, the assassination failed due to Abdul
Hamid arriving late for the public appearance
and the bomb was blown off too early.
 The Young Turk
Revolution and Abdul
Hamid’s deposition
• In the state there was a faction that opposed Abdul Hamid II known
as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). This party was made
up of people and army officers from the Rumelian part of the empire
(European) and they desired for the Ottoman Constitution to be
restored.
• In July, they declared the Young Turk Revolution and on 24th July,
Abdul Hamid II capitulated when informed that they were marching
on the Constantinople. He was then forced to restore the
Constitution and the parliament was reopened.
• However, many rivals of the CUP were not happy with the new
government. In 1909, in an incident known as the 31st March
incident groups from conservative factions overthrew the CUP
government in Constantinople. Abdul Hamid II resumed absolute
power there and once again shut down the parliament.
• The CUP though still had control in all other parts of the state. They
then decided to respond by marching on Constantinople and on 7th
April 1909, Abdul Hamid II was deposed in favour of one of his
younger brothers, Mehmed V. He would go on to reign until 1918.
Following deposition

• Abdul Hamid was then sent to Thessaloniki, where he

would stay at until 1912. When Thessaloniki fell to Greece
during the Balkan Wars, Abdul Hamid was sent to
Beylerbeyi Palace in Constantinople, where he spent time
practicing carpentry and writing his memoirs. He died in
the company of his wives on children on 10th February
1918.
• Abdul Hamid II was against the entrance of the Ottoman
Empire into World War One, as his policy was letting the
Great European Powers fight while not interfering. The
Ottoman Empire would be dissolved due to loss in World
War One 4 years after his death.
• Abdul Hamid II had 16 consorts over his life, 8 sons and
13 daughters. His legal wife for most of his reign was
Nazikeda Kadın (1848 – 1895).
Main ideas and
Foreign Policy
• During his reign Abdul Hamid was known to be an islamist,
and he was a practitioner of sufism, a mystical branch of
islam. He was influenced by the Libyan Shadhili Madani
Sheikh, Muhammad Zafir Al Madani. Before his accension
to the throne he would attend his lessons in disguise.
• Abdul Hamid II supported Pan – Islamism and he tried to
use his position as caliph to support his goals of unity in the
Muslim lands. He rejected his father’s idea of ‘Tanzimat’
believing the way to unite people was through religion and
not nationalism.
• In 1901 Abdul Hamid II rejected Theodore Herzl’s proposal
to pay of all Ottoman debt in exchange for a Zionist state in
Palestine. The sultan remarked that it was not his, but the
land of the muslims who had fought blood for it.
• Abdul Hamid tended to gravitate towards Germany due to
British and French aggression in Africa. During his reign
relations between the two countries prospered as Germany
helped and aided the Ottoman State with many projects
and in military power as well.
Final thoughts
• In the west Abdul Hamid II is often regarded as a dictator due to his absolute rule
from 1878 – 1908 and his sensory of the press. He is also blamed for the massacre of
the Armenians and is thus called the ‘Red Sultan’. To add to that he had the most land
lost out of all Ottoman sultans.
• In the views of a vast number of Muslims Abdul Hamid is remembered as a champion
of Islamic unity and a glorious caliph and leader.
• In defence of him in my opinion I believe that most of the land lost was due to
mismanaging of the empire done by the First Ottoman Parliament. Thus, I believe
that Abdul Hamid in fact extended the longevity of the Ottoman state by a few
decades. Although known as the ‘sick man of Europe’ during his reign, The Ottoman
Empire made noticeable progress in the fields of healthcare and education during his
reign, which is why I believe he was a good ruler for his people.
• Abdul Hamid was also known as a skilled diplomat by ambassadors, with many
complimenting his kindness and shrewdness.
• Overall, I believe that dictator or not, Abdul Hamid II was one of the greatest
Ottoman sultans and an embodiment of the term ‘last stand.’