Editing Mahmud II (section)

==Reign overview==
The vizier took the initiative in resuming reforms that had been terminated by the conservative [[coup d'état|coup]] of 1807 that had [[Ottoman coups of 1807–08|brought Mustafa IV to power]]. However, he was killed during a rebellion in 1808 and Mahmud II temporarily abandoned the reforms. Mahmud II's later reformation efforts would be much more successful.

===Russo-Turkish War of 1806–12===
{{Main|Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)}}
After Mahmud II became sultan, Turkish border wars with the Russians continued. In 1810, the Russians surrounded the Silistre fortress for the second time. When Emperor [[Napoleon I of France]] declared war on [[Russian Empire|Russia]] in 1811, Russian pressure on the Ottoman border diminished, a relief to Mahmud. By this time, Napoleon was about to embark on his [[French invasion of Russia|invasion of Russia]]. He also invited the Ottomans to join his march on Russia. However, Napoleon, who had invaded all of Europe except the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire, could not be trusted and accepted as an ally; Mahmud rejected the offer. The Bucharest Agreement was reached with the Russians on 28 May 1812. According to the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1812)]], the Ottoman Empire ceded the eastern half of [[Moldavia]] to Russia (which renamed the territory as [[Bessarabia]]), although it had committed to protecting that region. Russia became a new power in the lower Danube area, and had an economically, diplomatically, and militarily profitable frontier. In [[Transcaucasia]], the Ottoman Empire regained nearly all it had lost in the east: [[Poti]], [[Anapa]] and [[Akhalkalaki]]. Russia retained [[Sukhumi|Sukhum-Kale]] on the Abkhazian coast. In return, the Sultan accepted the Russian annexation of the [[Kingdom of Imereti]], in 1810.{{sfnp|Allen|2010|p=19}}{{sfnp|Coene|2010|p=125}} The treaty was approved by Emperor [[Alexander I of Russia]] on 11 June, some 13 days before Napoleon's invasion began. The Russian commanders were able to get many of their soldiers in the Balkans back to the western areas of the empire before the expected attack of Napoleon.

===War against the Saudi state===
{{main|Emirate of Diriyah}}

[[File:Image-Abdullah bin Saud FSS2.JPG|left|thumb|100px|[[Abdullah bin Saud]].]]

During the early years of Mahmud II's reign, his governor of Egypt [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali Pasha]] successfully waged the [[Ottoman-Saudi War]] and reconquered the holy cities of [[Medina]] (1812) and [[Mecca]] (1813) from the [[First Saudi State]].

[[Abdullah bin Saud]] and the [[First Saudi State]] had barred Muslims from the [[Ottoman Empire]] from entering the holy shrines of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]]; his followers also desecrated the tombs of [[Ali ibn Abi Talib]], [[Hassan ibn Ali]] and [[Husayn ibn Ali]]. Abdullah bin Saud and his two followers were publicly [[Decapitation|beheaded]] for their crimes against holy cities and mosques.<ref name=ssh>{{cite web|title=The Direct Instruments of Western Control over the Arabs: The Shining Example of the House of Saud|url=http://www.social-sciences-and-humanities.com/PDF/house_of_saud.pdf|publisher=Social sciences and humanities|access-date=4 June 2012|author=Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi}}</ref>

===Greek War of Independence===
{{main|Greek War of Independence}}
[[File:Tugra Mahmuds II.gif|thumb|The stylized signature of [[Sultan]] Mahmud II of the [[Ottoman Empire]] was written in [[Islamic calligraphy]]. It reads "Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious".]]
[[File:Giuseppe Mazzola - The Attack of Ibrahim Pasha against Messolonghi.jpg|thumb|[[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt]] attacks Missolonghi]]

His reign also marked the first breakaway from the Ottoman Empire, with Greece [[First Hellenic Republic|declaring independence]] following a [[Greek War of Independence|rebellion]] that started in 1821. In the wake of continued unrest he had ecumenical patriarch [[Gregory V of Constantinople|Gregory V]] executed on Easter Sunday 1821 for his inability to stem the uprising.<ref>Roel Meijer et al., ''Routledge Handbook of Citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa''</ref> During the Battle of Erzurum (1821), part of the [[Ottoman–Persian War (1821–1823)]], Mahmud II's superior force was routed by [[Abbas Mirza]], resulting in a Qajar Persian victory which got confirmed in the [[Treaties of Erzurum]].<ref>{{cite book |author=George Childs Kohn |title=Dictionary of Wars |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1135954949 |url={{Google books|qTDfAQAAQBAJ|page=506|plainurl=y}} |pages=506 ff}}</ref> Several years later, in 1827, the combined British, French and Russian navies defeated the Ottoman Navy at the [[Battle of Navarino]]; in the aftermath, the Ottoman Empire was forced to recognize Greece with the [[Treaty of Constantinople (1832)|Treaty of Constantinople]] in July 1832. This event, together with the [[French conquest of Algeria]], an Ottoman province (see [[Ottoman Algeria]]) in 1830, marked the beginning of the gradual break-up of the Ottoman Empire. Non-Turkish ethnic groups living in the empire's territories, especially in Europe, started their own independence movements.

===The Auspicious Incident===
{{main|Auspicious Incident}}
One of Mahmud II's most notable acts during his reign was the destruction of the [[Janissary]] corps in June 1826. He accomplished this with careful calculation using his recently reformed wing of the military intended to replace the Janissaries. When the Janissaries mounted a demonstration against Mahmud II's proposed military reforms, he had their barracks fired upon effectively crushing the formerly elite Ottoman troops and burned the Belgrade forest outside Istanbul to incinerate any remnants.<ref>{{Cite book|title=La Turquie et le Tanzimat|last=Engelhardt|first=Ed.|year=1882|location=Paris|page=11|publisher=A. Cotillon}}</ref><ref>A history of the Modern Middle East, Cleveland and Bunton p. 79</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2017}} This permitted the establishment of a European-style conscript army, recruited mainly from Turkish speakers of [[Rumelia]] and [[Asia Minor]]. Mahmud was also responsible for the subjugation of the [[Mamluk dynasty of Iraq|Iraqi Mamluks]] by [[Ali Ridha Pasha]] in 1831. He ordered the execution of the renowned [[Ali Pasha of Tepelena]]. Following the suppression of the [[Bosnian uprising (1831–1832)|Bosnian uprising]], he sent his [[Grand Vizier]] to execute the [[Bosniak]] military commander [[Husein Gradaščević]] and dissolve the [[Bosnia Eyalet]].

===Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29===
Another [[Russo-Turkish War (1828-29)]] broke out during Mahmud II's reign and was fought without janissaries. Marshal [[Hans Karl von Diebitsch|von Diebitsch]] was armed (in the words of Baron Moltke) "with the reputation of invincible success". He was to earn the name Sabalskanski (the crosser of the Balkans). Bypassing the Shumla fortress, he forcibly marched his troops over the Balkans, appearing before [[Edirne|Adrianople]]. Sultan Mahmud II maintained control of his forces, unfurled the banner of the prophet and declared his intention of taking command of the army personally. Preparing to do so, he appeared, ill-advisedly, not on horseback but in a carriage. In the [[Imperial Council (Ottoman Empire)|Divan]], British and French ambassadors urged him to sue for peace.
<gallery>
File:January Suchodolski - Akhaltsikhe siege.jpg|[[Battle of Akhalzic]] (1828), by [[January Suchodolski]]. Oil on canvas, 1839.
File:Kars 1828.jpg|Russian forces reach and cause the Siege of [[Kars]] (1828), by January Suchodolski.
</gallery>

===Government reforms===
[[File:II. Mahmud Türbesi 1860-1890 yılları.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The mausoleum of Sultan Mahmud II during the period of 1860–1890.]]

In 1839, just prior to his death, he began preparations for the [[Tanzimat]] reform era which included introducing a [[Council of Ministers (Ottoman Empire)|Council of Ministers]] [''Meclis-i Vükela''], and the [[Supreme Council of Judicial Ordinances]] [''Meclis-i Vâlâ-yı Ahkâm-ı Adliye''].<ref name="Shaw">{{Cite book |title=History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey Shaw |first1=Stanford J. |last1=Shaw |first2=Ezel Kural |last2=Shaw |year=1977 |volume=2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521291668 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofottoman00stan }}</ref>{{rp|49}} The Tanzimat marked the beginning of modernization in the Ottoman Empire and had immediate effects on social and legal aspects of life in the Empire, such as European style clothing, architecture, legislation, institutional organization, and land reform.

He was also concerned for aspects of tradition. He made great efforts to revive the sport of archery. He ordered archery master Mustafa Kani to write a book about the history, construction, and use of [[Turkish bow]]s, from which comes most of what is now known as [[Turkish archery]].<ref>Paul E Klopsteg. ''Turkish Archery and the Composite Bow''. Chapter I, "Background of Turkish Archery". 2nd ed., rev., 1947, published by the author, Evanston, IL</ref>

Mahmud II died of [[tuberculosis]], in 1839. His funeral was attended by crowds of people who came to bid the Sultan farewell. His son [[Abdülmecid I]] succeeded him and announce an intention of general reorganization (Tanzimat) with the [[Edict of Gülhane]].