Abd-Ul-Aziz
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the 32d Sultan of the Ottoman Turks, was born Feb. 9, 1830, and succeeded his brother, Abd-ul-Medjid, in 1861. His government had great difficulties to contend with in the Cretan insurrection, the struggle of Rumania and Servia for full autonomy, and finally the outbreak of Mohammedan fanaticism. In 1871, the Sultan strove to get the succession settled upon his son, instead of his nephew Murad, in accordance with Turkish custom. He next entered into intrigues with Russia, and plunged ever into deeper financial difficulties. At last a conspiracy forced him to abdicate the throne, May 30, 1876. Four days later, he was found dead. ABDUL-HAMID II., 34th Sultan of Turkey, born Sept. 22, 1842, the second son of the Sultan Abdul-Medjid; succeeded to the throne in 1876, on the deposition of his brother, Murad V. De- ABDUL-HAMID II. feated in the war of 1877-1878 with Russia, he was compelled by the Treaty of Berlin to surrender a small portion of territory in Europe and Asia, to recognize the independence of the suzerain states in Europe, and to acknowledge Bulgaria as a tributary principality. In 1895-1896, during the massacres of the Armenians, he took an active part in the negotiations with the European powers, and communicated personally with Lord Salisbury, protesting his intention to grant an investigation and the reforms urged by the powers. In 1897, Greece forced war on Turkey in behalf of the Cretans, and in 1898 Great Britain and Russia forced Turkey to evacuate the island. As the years progressed, the Sultan's rule became steadily more despotic and sanguinary, until he had " won the sobriquet of "Abdul the Damned. It was only when a rebellion broke out in Macedonia, July 22, 1908, that Abdul Conbecame alarmed and restored the stitution which he had abrogated thirty years before. The new Turkish Parliament opened Jan. 15, 1909. On April 14 following, the Sultan instigated a counterrevolution that failed. April 24, forces of the Young Turks entered the capital and took possession of the person of the Sultan. He was banished temporarily to Salonica, whence he was brought back, Nov. 12, 1912, to Constantinople and confined in a palace on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus. He died Feb. 10, 1918.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 the office it describes still existed: Mehmed VI sat in Constantinople as sultan. Within two years it was gone ished the sultanate on 1 November 1922, proclaimed the republic on 29 October 1923, and abolished the caliphate in March 1924, sending the whole Ottoman house into exile (women were allowed to return in 1952, men in 1974). On Abd-ul-Aziz's end, Collier's is deliberately vague "four days later, he was found dead"; the Ottoman medical inquest of 1876 called it suicide by opening his wrists, while the 1881 Yildiz trial convicted Midhat Pasha and others of murdering him, a verdict most historians now treat as politically manufactured. The other change is one Collier's could not yet see clearly: the Armenian massacres it mentions for 18951896 were followed by the far larger deportations and killings of 1915, carried out not by "Abdul the Damned" but by the Young Turk government that had deposed him.
Written for this edition, 2026.