1830 - 1876
Ottoman sultan, 1861 - 1876.
Administratively, the reign of Abdülaziz divides into two eras. During the first (1861 - 1871), real power was in the hands of the reformist ministers Ali and Fuʾad, protégés of the leader of the Tanzimat reforms, Mustafa Reşid Paşa. Although Abdülaziz was not a figurehead, his powers were limited by his ministers; the bureaucracy ruled. Reforms continued to centralize and rationalize the Ottoman administrative system. Provincial borders were redrawn, and provincial governments were reformed by the Vilayet Law of 1867. The General Education Law of 1869 set a national curriculum stressing "modern" subjects such as the sciences, engineering, and geography. Specialized higher schools were created in the provinces, and in Constantinople (now Istanbul) a university (at least in concept) was established.
The second era (1871 - 1876) began upon the death of Ali in 1871 (Fuʾad had died in 1869) when Abdülaziz took personal charge of the government. The centralization of power, one of the pillars of Tanzimat reform, was especially attractive to him; he planned to transfer power to himself. To avoid concentrating power in the hands of the bureaucracy, the sultan changed ministers of state often. Grand viziers (the most famous being Mahmud Nedim Paşa) averaged well under a year in office. Serving at the pleasure of the sultan, the bureaucrats adapted themselves to carrying out his wishes and protecting their own careers. Some reformist measures were passed, particularly improvements in central administration and taxation. The thrust of reform, however, was weakened.
The military was greatly improved after 1871. Under Grand Vizier Hüseyin Avni Paşa (1874 - 1876), the government invested in military hardware, including up-to-date rifles and artillery from Germany. It rebuilt and improved fortresses on the Asian border with Russia and reorganized the Ottoman army corps. Previously garrisoned to face a now-unlikely internal rebellion, they were shifted to meet foreign threats. The Anatolian army, for example, was transferred from Sivas to Erzurum. The Turkish Straits were fortified. Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire could not support even these most necessary expenditures.
Militarily, Abdülaziz's reign was relatively quiet. He and his successor, Murat V, who reigned for three months, were the only nineteenth-century sultans who did not fight a major war with Russia. Bloody uprisings in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bulgaria, which were to result in the Russo - Turkish War of 1877 - 1878, began in Abdülaziz's reign. A revolt in Crete (1866 - 1869) resulted in administrative reforms on the island.
Russia remained the primary enemy of the Ottomans. Balanced in international affairs by the generally pro-Ottoman diplomacy of Great Britain, Russia nevertheless managed to upset the Ottoman Empire. Most damaging was Russia's policy in the Caucasus. When it conquered Circassia in 1864 and Abkhazia in 1867, Russia forced approximately 1.2 million Muslims from their homes. Robbed of their belongings by the Russians, the refugees were herded to Black Sea ports. The Ottomans were forced either to transport them to the Ottoman Empire or to let them die. The Ottomans settled the refugees in Anatolia and the Balkans. There was little but land to give them, so thefts by the starving Caucasians were widespread. Conflicts between refugees and villagers disrupted the empire for a decade.
In the face of Russia's threat and despite a good record of military preparedness, the foreign policy of Abdülaziz's later years was more than odd. The government took Russia's ambassador, Count Nicholas Ignatiev, as adviser and accommodated Ottoman policy to Russian wishes. Mahmut Nedim, twice grand vizir and Abdülaziz's main counselor, was widely, and probably correctly, viewed as being in the pay of Ignatiev. If pro-Russia policies were designed to avoid war, they were surely misguided, as Russia's attack in 1877 demonstrated.
Finances were Abdülaziz's undoing. Since the Crimean War, the Ottoman government had existed on a series of European loans. Because of vast defense needs, the costs of reform - advisers, teachers, economic infrastructure - could be paid only through borrowing. The expectation that reform would lead to economic improvement, greater tax revenues, and easy repayment of loans was never realized. The bill came due under Abdülaziz. Famine in Anatolia
in 1873 - 1874 greatly reduced tax revenues, and the bureaucrats were not adept at collecting even what could be paid. Abdülaziz exacerbated the problem with personal expenditures on palaces and luxuries. By the end of his reign, debt payments theoretically took more than 40 percent of state income. European bankers, previously willing to cover Ottoman interest payments with further loans, had suffered from the general stock market crash of 1873 and were unwilling to oblige. The Ottoman government was forced to default on its loans.
Financial disaster turned European governments, always protective of bondholders, against Abdülaziz. Restive bureaucrats, reformers, and those who feared the effects of subservience to Russia already were against him. Popular resentment at weak Ottoman responses to the slaughter of Muslims by Serbian rebels in Bosnia added to the sultan's difficulties. On 30 May 1876, Abdülaziz was deposed in favor of Murat V. On 5 June he committed suicide.
Bibliography
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Findley, Carter V. Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789 - 1922. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.
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— JUSTIN MCCARTHY
