Selim III: Ottoman Emperor from 1789 to 1807

From 1789 until 1807, Sultan Selim III ruled the Ottoman Empire. Despite his reputation as a wise ruler, the Janissaries removed and imprisoned him, putting his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV. Selim was later assassinated by a gang of assassins. Sultan Mustafa III and his wife Mihrişah Sultan had a son named Selim III. His mother, Mihrişah Sultan, was born in Georgia and was instrumental in revamping government schools and organizing political corporations when she became the Valide Sultan. His father, Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III, was a well-educated man who believed in reform. During peacetime, Mustafa III aspired to build a large force of professional, well-educated troops. His fear of a Russian invasion was the driving force for his decision. He became ill during the Russo-Turkish War and died of a heart attack in 1774. Sultan Mustafa was well aware that military reform was required. He issued new military laws and established academies of maritime and artillery warfare. Mysticism had a strong influence on Sultan Mustafa. His son Selim was promised to be a world conqueror by the oracles, so he planned a seven-day feast to celebrate. Selim had received a thorough education in the palace. Sultan Mustafa III named his son his successor, but Abdul Hamid I, Selim's uncle, ascended the throne following Mustafa's death. Selim was well-cared for by Sultan Abdul Hamid I, who placed a high value on his education. Selim, who was only 27 years old, succeeded Abdul Hamid after his death on 7 April 1789. Sultan Selim III was an avid reader and calligrapher, and many of his works may be found on the walls of mosques and convents. He composed many poems, many of which were concerning Russia's occupation of Crimea. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Old Bulgarian. Selim III placed a strong emphasis on patriotism and religion. He outshone in poetry and music, and he enjoyed the fine arts and the army.

Strategies of Reforms

Selim III's talents and drive had endeared him to the people, and his accession was greeted with high expectations. He had spent a lot of time with foreigners and was convinced that his country needed to reform. However, Austria and Russia left him with no time for anything other than defence. It wasn't until the Peace of Iaşi (1792) that he was given some breathing room in Europe, while Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria demanded the empire's best efforts. Following Napoleon's campaign, Ottoman provinces from Egypt to Syria began to adopt French policies and began to diverge from Istanbul. Selim III took advantage of the respite to abolish military tenure of fiefs; he instituted beneficial reforms in the administration, particularly in the fiscal department; he sought well-thought-out plans to expand the spread of education, and engaged foreign officers as instructors, by whom a small corps of new troops known as nizam-i-jedid were gathered and drilled in 1797. This team was made up of Anatolian peasant teenagers and was equipped with modern weapons. These forces held their own against dissident Janissaries in Balkan provinces like the Sanjak of Smederevo against its appointed Vizier Hadi Mustafa Pasha, where disgruntled governors had no qualms about using them against the reforming sultan. Selim III, encouraged by his victory, issued an order that in the future, selected soldiers from the Janissaries be taken annually to serve in the nizam-i-jedid. However, Selim III could not incorporate the nizam-i jedid into the rest of the army, limiting its function in the state's defence.

Overseas Relations

When Selim III took the throne, he saw that the Ottoman Empire shrunk dramatically due to external battles. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774 gave Russia control over the Black Sea from the north. Selim recognized the value of diplomatic contacts with other countries and lobbied for permanent ambassadors in the courts of all of Europe's leading powers, a complicated undertaking given religious hostility against Muslims. Resident embassies were formed in Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria, despite religious objections. Selim, a learned poet and musician, corresponded with Louis XVI for a long time. The Ottoman government was comforted by French diplomats in Constantinople, who retained the goodwill of many influential persons despite establishing the republic in France. However, on 1 July 1798, French forces landed in Egypt, prompting Selim to declare war on France. The Turks remained in recurrent combat with the French on both land and water until March 1801, when they allied with Russia and Britain. In June 1802, peace was declared. However, trouble erupted in the Balkans the following year. A sultan's word had little force in distant provinces for decades, requiring Selim's military reforms to reimpose central control. This wish was not granted. The Austrian-backed Osman Pazvantoğlu, whose invasion of Wallachia in 1801 prompted Russian involvement, resulting in more autonomy for the Dunubian provinces, was one such insurgent leader. The situation in Serbia has also deteriorated. With the return of the despised Janissaries, who had been expelled eight years before, things took a turn for the worst. These forces assassinated Selim's enlightened governor, putting an end to the province's best leadership in the previous 100 years. Neither armies nor diplomacy was able to reestablish Ottoman rule. The sultan defied St. Petersburg and London, and Turkey joined Napoleon's Continental System due to French influence with the Sublime Porte (the Ottoman state's European diplomatic name). On 27 December 1807, war was declared on Russia, and in March 1807, war was proclaimed on the United Kingdom.

Janissary Revolution

The Sultan's most ambitious military project was the establishment of a whole new infantry corps, adequately educated and equipped to European standards. This unit, known as the nizam-i jedid (new order), was founded in 1797 and followed an unusual recruitment pattern for imperial forces: it was made up of Turkish peasant youths from Anatolia, indicating that the devshirme system had failed. The nizam-i jedid were equipped with sophisticated weapons and French-style clothing and were commanded and taught by Europeans. By 1806 the new army had grown to roughly 23,000 men, including a modern artillery corps, and its battalions were doing well in minor engagements. However, Selim III's inability to integrate the force with the regular army, as well as his unwillingness to use it against internal opponents, hampered its ability to defend the state it was meant to protect. The Janissaries had considered this entire military reform program a threat to their independence from the outset of Selim's reign. As a result, they refused to serve alongside the new army in the field. In addition, the sultan's method of funding his new troops frightened the strong derebeys: he confiscated timars and directed the rest of the earnings to the nizam-i jedid. The ulama and other ruling elite members also objected to Selim's military reforms based on European models. These forces, led by the Janissaries, got together in 1806, ousted Selim III, and chose Mustafa IV as his successor, promising not to tamper with their rights. The deposition decree accused Selim III of disrespecting the Ottoman culture and the Islamic religion. The embassies in Europe were disassembled during the following year. The nizam-i jedid warriors were dispersed, and the deposed sultan, whose careful military reforms were intended to do little more than protect Ottoman tradition, was assassinated.

Austro-Turkish Combat

The Austro-Turkish War of 1787 was a bloody conflict between the Austrian and Ottoman empires that ended in a draw. During the reign of Ottoman Sultan Selim III, it occurred concurrently with the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792.

Russo-Turkish Combat

After Turkey insisted that Russia's monarch, Catherine II the Great, refrain from participating in Poland's internal affairs, the first major Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) began. The Russians went on to defeat the Turks in a series of spectacular wins. They conquered Azov, Crimea, and Bessarabia, and overran Moldavia and fought the Turks in Bulgaria under Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev. The Turks were forced to seek peace, which they did in the Küçük Kaynarca Treaty. The Crimean khanate became independent of the Turkish sultan, and the Russian frontier was advanced due to this pact. Catherine conquered the Crimean Peninsula entirely in 1783, putting Russia in a far stronger position to expand. In 1787, war broke out, with Austria siding with Russia once more. The Russians scored significant wins under General Alexander Suvorov, gaining control of the lower Dniester and Danube rivers. More Russian victories forced the Turks to sign the Treaty of Jassy on 9 January 1792. Turkey handed the entire western Ukrainian Black Sea coast to Russia as part of this pact. When Turkey removed the Russophile governors of Moldavia and Walachia in 1806, war erupted once more, if briefly, because Russia was hesitant to commit significant forces against Turkey while its relations with Napoleonic France were tense. In 1811, however, with the possibility of a conflict between France and Russia looming, Russia desired a rapid resolution on its southern border. The Turks were obliged to sign the Treaty of Bucharest on 18 May 1812 after a successful Russian field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov in 1811–12. This peace agreement established the Ottoman cession of Bessarabia to Russia, bringing an end to a conflict that began in 1806. The Serbs who had been rising against Turkish rule were also granted amnesty and promised autonomy by the Russians, but Turkish garrisons were handed control of the Serbian fortifications. Several disagreements delayed the treaty's implementation, and Turkish troops invaded Serbia again the following year.

Relations with Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan was an independent ruler of the Sultanate of Mysore who held the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II in great respect. During the Third Anglo-Mysore War, in which he had suffered an irrevocable defeat, he had urgently solicited Ottoman assistance. Tipu Sultan began to strengthen his ties with France after that. Napoleon invaded Ottoman Egypt in 1798 in an attempt to unite with Tipu Sultan, raising a stir in Constantinople. The British then asked Selim III to write to Tipu Sultan, demanding that the Sultanate of Mysore terminate its fight with the British East India Company. Selim III then wrote Tipu Sultan a letter in which he chastised the French and informed him that the Ottomans would act as a go-between for the Sultanate of Mysore and the British. Tipu Sultan wrote to Selim III twice, rejecting Ottoman counsel. Still, the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out before most of his letters could reach Constantinople, and Tipu Sultan was slain during the Siege of Seringapatam (1799).

The 1806 Edirne Incident was an armed conflict in Thrace in 1806 between Ottoman Sultan Selim III's New Order Troops (Nizam-i Djedit) and a coalition of Balkan magnates ayans, and the region's Janissary garrisons. Selim III attempted to expand the New Order's permanent presence in Rumelia by establishing New Order barracks in the region's cities, which resulted in the incident. The final result of the battle was the retreat of imperial forces back to Istanbul and Anatolia, thereby putting an end to Selim III's plans to grow his reformed army and undermining his legitimacy. His deposition would follow in May as a result of his degraded image.

On the other hand, Selim III was heavily influenced by the French envoy to the Porte Horace Sébastiani, and the fleet was forced to withdraw without completing its mission. But the instability, whether overt or covert, that existed throughout the provinces was too much for Selim III to handle. On 29 May 1807, the Janissaries rose again, persuaded the Sheikh ul-Islam to give a fetva against the reforms, dethroned and imprisoned Selim III, and installed his cousin Mustafa as Mustafa IV (1807–08). Alemdar Mustafa, the ayan of Rustchuk and a staunch reformer, gathered a force of 40,000 soldiers and marched on Constantinople with the intention of restoring Selim III, but he arrived too late. Chief Black Eunuch and his soldiers had stabbed the ill-fated reforming sultan in the seraglio. Bairakdar's only option when he arrived in the city was to exact vengeance on Mustafa IV and install Mahmud II (1808–1839), the last remaining member of the Osman family, on the throne. According to another version of his assassination, Selim stayed at the Harem at the time of his deposition. He was with his favourite wife, Re'fet Kadın, and a lady-in-waiting, Pakize Hanım, on the night of Thursday, 28 July 1808. Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, a Selim supporter, was marching into the city with his army to reinstall Selim. As a result, Mustafa IV ordered the assassination of him and his brother, Prince Mahmud. The assassins were presumably a gang of men, including Fettah the Georgian, Treasury steward Ebe Selim, and a black eunuch named Nezir Ağa, the Master of the Wardrobe. When Selim saw their swords ready, he seemed to sense his demise. Pakize Hanım tried to put herself between them and her lord, but her hand was sliced. Another slave girl hurried in fainted as she saw what was about to happen, and Re'fet Kadın began screaming in terror. After a scuffle, the former sultan was assassinated, his final words presumably being "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great"). Re'fet Kadın jumped on the body but was hauled away. A quilt was swiftly draped around the corpse. The assassins went on to find Prince Mahmud and slay him as well. He was lucky in that he was later able to order the killers to be executed. Selim III would go down in history as the only Ottoman ruler to be assassinated by the sword. He was buried near his father's tomb in the Laleli Mosque.

Sultan Selim III was a talented composer and musician, as well as a great music lover. He devised fourteen makam-s (melodic kinds), three of which are still in use. Selim III wrote sixty-four compositions, some of which are part of the regular repertory of Turkish classical music performers. Selim III played the ney (reed flute) and tanbur and created music (long-necked, fretted lute). Selim III's fascination with music began when he was a prince (shahzade) when he studied with Kırımlı Ahmet Kamil Efendi and Tanburi İzak Efendi. He was very appreciative of Tanburi İzak Efendi, and it is said that when Tanburi İzak Efendi entered the court, the sultan rose in homage. Selim III sponsored musicians of the time, such as Dede Efendi and Baba Hamparsum, as patrons of the arts. Selim's commissioned Hamparsum notation system became the standard notation for Turkish and Armenian music. Because of the resurrection and rebirth of music at his court, his name is associated with a school of Classical Turkish Music. Selim III was also a fan of western music, and in 1797 he invited an opera troop to give the Ottoman Empire's first opera performance. Selim's poetry is collected in a divan under the pseudonym ′′İlhami′′.  Şeyh Galib, considered one of the four finest Ottoman poets, was a regular visitor to his court. Galib is today thought to have been not just a personal friend of the sultan, as they were both of similar age, but also a strong supporter of the sultan's new military reforms, as seen by Galib's poetry. Selim III was a member of the Mevlevi Organization of Sufi Whirling Dervishes, and he joined the order as ′′Selim Dede" in the Galata Mevlevihanesi. In makam Suzidilara, he composed a Mevlevi ayin, a long and intricate liturgical form performed during the semâ (religious rituals) of the Mevlana (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi) Tariqah of Sufi Whirling Mystics. In 1795, he selected Antoine Ignace Melling as the court architect, and he expanded his patronage to him. Melling designed and built several palaces and other structures for the sultan and engravings of modern-day Constantinople.