ABD-UL-HAMID II, 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire : b. 22 Sept. 1842, second son of Abdul-Medjid, reigned from 1876 to 1909, when he was deposed and made a state pris oner for life. His uncle, Abdul-Aziz, a prof ligate debauchee, was dethroned by Midhat Pasha (q.v.) in 1876, and was found shortly after with the veins of. his wrists cut open with a pair of scissors. Whether it was a case of suicide or murder has never been decided. Abdul-Hamid's brother Murad V ascended the throne, but was deposed again in a few months' time owing, it was said, to a disordered men tal condition, and Abdul-Hamid reigned in his stead. Up -to that time he was known as a debauched weakling, brought up in the luxuri ous atmosphere of the harem. No sooner, however, had he grasped the reins of power, than he proved himself a despotic ruler of the strongest type, and developed into one of the cleverest and most unscrupulous diplomatists of his age. At the time of his accession, the country was in a deplorable condition. Torn by revolution, corruption and bankruptcy within her borders, Turkey was threatened with war outside by her hereditary enemy, Russia. Even the European powers who had labored and fought to keep the ((Sick Man of Europe' alive, were clamorously demanding the introduction of long-promised and neces sary reforms. By a skilful policy of apparent acquiescence in every demand made upon him, the new ruler managed for a time to relieve the external pressure and devoted his immense energy to reorganizing the army and the finances of the state. He speedily crushed the insurrection in Herzegovina and Bosnia; by galvanizing his tottering empire with new life and vigor, he showed an astonished world that the Turk was not so as his numerous doctors imagined. A rejuvenated Turkey was the last thing that Russia desired, and Alexan der II lost no time in declaring war. Abdul Hamid accepted the challenge and conducted the war with remarkable ability. But his en emy was too strong for him, and he committed the fatal error of interfering too much with his generals. The surrender of Osman Pasha at Plevna (q.v.) to the Russians and Rumanians opened a clear passage for the victors to Con stantinople. As before in the Crimean War, Great Britain again came to the rescue. Dis raeli ordered the British Fleet to the Darda nelles and mobilized the fighting forces of the whole British Empire. This unexpected move checked the Russian advance; the Treaty of San Stefano (q.v.) was nullified by the Berlin Congress, and a totally undeserved new lease of life was granted to the worst-ordered state in modern history.
The of Berlin deprived Turkey of her Balkan principalities : Herzegovina, Bos nia, Kars and Batum, but she was still per nutted to retain her suzerainty over Eastern Rumelia.
The gloom of the Hamidian era settled like a pall over the land of the Osmanli. The con stitution and parliament inaugurated by Midhat were abolished ; the control of every depart ment of state was centralized in the hands of the Sultan, and the liberal grand vizier, Mid hat Pasha, was exiled to Arabia and strangled. He was too honest and too democratic to please his imperial master. European jealousy had hindered Russia from wiping out the plague spot of Europe, and Abdul Hamid was clever enough to utilize that jealousy by playing one power off against the other. His one aim was to maintain absolute autocracy at home and to evade the demands of the ((infidels' abroad. The methods he employed in the process were truly Oriental: espionage, bribery, murder and terrorism. Many powerful persons who disa greed with him were quietly removed and never heard of again. High positions were conferred upon unscrupulous tools or sold to the highest bidder. The governors of provinces were per mitted to squeeze and tyrannize over the unhappy people they were supposed to govern; whole sale massacres of Christian subjects were en couraged — or at least tolerated. Hordes of
savage Kurds exterminated Armenians by the thousand; unspeakable atrocities sent many a thrill of horror throughout the civilized world; international representations and diplomatic were simply showered upon the hermit Sultan, who smilingly accepted them all and calmly pursued the uneven tenor of his way. Nemesis, however, prepared a belated instru ment of vengeance to compass his downfall— the Young Turk Party. Persecuted, imprisoned and judicially murdered at home, the survivors of the party carried on their propaganda as the °Committee of Union and Progress' in Paris, Geneva and London, whilst secret agents canvassed among those without whose help nothing could be done — the Turkish army officers. The Albanians, the finest soldiers in that army, went over in a body to the revolu tionary movement. The hour struck on 22 July 1908, when Majors Niazi Bey and Enver Bey raised the flag of military revolt at Resna, in Macedonia, where they were stationed in command of the troops. They proclaimed the Constitution and threatened to march on Con stantinople. Seeing that he could no longer count on the loyalty of his soldiers, Abdul Hamid became thoroughly alarmed and capitu lated at once. Making a virtue of necessity, he immediately restored the Constitution he had abrogated in 1878. Great rejoicing pre vailed, especially when, on 1 August the Sultan issued a Hatt-i-Humayun assuring to the people those elementary principles of freedom and jus tice they had never before enjoyed. The revived Turkish Parliament opened on 15 Jan. 1909. Kiamil Pasha, the aged grand vizier, referred to the "wise and prudent policy° of the Sultan "in putting himself at the head of the revolu tion.° The Government soon resigned, however, owing to internal dissensions. Serious disturb ances broke in the provinces ; in Ardana, Asia Minor, thousands of Armenians and /wo Ameri can missionaries were massacred. The spirit of Abdul-Hamid inspired his followers to restore the old order of things, and there is no reason to doubt that he instigated the mutiny that broke out (14 April 1909) among the troops still loyal to him. They seized the Parlia ment House, telegraph offices and bridges of the city. Two members of the Committee were murdered and several others arrested. The minister of justice was killed and the minister of marine wounded. For the moment it seemed that Abdul-Hamid would emerge victorious from the crisis, but the Committee of Union and Progress promptly sent troops to Constan tinople to crush the counter-revolution. On 24 April Gen. Mahmud Shefket Pasha entered the city with a "constitutional" army. Consider able street fighting developed with the "loyal ists,° who were easily overcome by the Young Turkey leaders. It was then decided to de pose the Sultan and replace him by his younger brother Mohammed Reshad Effendi, who had for many years been kept in isolation to pre vent the very event which was now to happen. (See MOHAMMED V). The ringleaders of the counter-revolution were court-martialled and 40 of them hanged in the principal public squares of the city. Abdul-Hamid was ban ished to Salonica with his dogs, birds, car penter's tools, and a few members of his harem. An expert cabinet-maker, he frequently pre sented writing desks of his own make to foreign diplomatists. Many uncomplimentary epithets were applied to him during his dark reign, such as "The Great Assassin,° "Abdul the Damned,° and "The Unspeakable Turk° Consult Pears (Sir) E., Hamid) (in Makers of the Nineteenth Century Series, New York 1917).