Mehmed V
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Mehmed V | |||||
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Grand Viziers | |||||
Born | Old Çırağan Palace, | 2 November 1844||||
Issue | |||||
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Dynasty | Ottoman | ||||
Father | Abdulmejid I | ||||
Mother | Gülcemal Kadın (biological mother) Servetseza Kadın (adoptive mother) | ||||
Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||
Tughra |
Mehmed V Reşâd (
Reşad was the son of Sultan
The Ottomans entered
Early life
Prince Mehmed Reşad was born on 2 November 1844 at the Çırağan Palace,[4] Istanbul.[5] His father was Sultan Abdulmejid I, and his mother was Gülcemal Kadın. He had three elder sisters, Fatma Sultan,[6] Refia Sultan and Hatice Sultan (Refia Sultan's twin sister, died in infancy).[7] After his mother's death in 1851, he and his sisters were entrusted to the care of his father's senior consort Servetseza Kadın.[8][9] She had asked Abdulmejid to take the motherless children under her wing, and raised as her own, and carried out the duties of a mother who cares for her children with compassion and concern.[10]
In 1856, aged twelve, he was ceremoniously circumcised together with his younger half-brothers, Şehzade Ahmed Kemaleddin, Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin, and Şehzade Ahmed Nureddin.[11][12]
Reşad received his education at the palace. Halid Ziya, the chief clerk of the Chamberlain's office between 1909 and 1912, described this as being a poor one. Thanks to his comparatively high intelligence, however, he made good use of the education he had and used it to go further. He studied Arabic and Persian, and spoke the latter very well. He took piano lessons from an Italian pianist and calligraphy lessons from a famous Ottoman calligrapher, Kazasker Mustafa Izzet Efendi (1801–1876), who designed the giant pendant medallions of the Hagia Sophia. In addition to Persian literature, Mehmed was also interested in Mevlevi Sufism and the Masnavi.[13]
He enjoyed the company of his uncle Abdul Aziz. Mehmed became crown-prince in 1876 with the ascension of his brother Abdul Hamid II, but was essentially kept under house arrest in Dolmabahçe Palace, and was under close surveillance. Abdul Hamid made sure to not personally communicate with him.
After the lifting of many restrictions in the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution Mehmed earned popularity as crown prince by attending ceremonies that celebrated the constitution, much to the chagrin of his previously absolutist brother.[14]
Reign
His reign began at the conclusion of the
Enthronement and sword girding
His Cülûs ceremony was held in the Ministry of War building (now part of Istanbul University) in Beyazıt. The new sultan boarded the İhsaniye from Dolmabahçe Palace to Sirkeci, during which he received a gun salute that frightened him. As he was leaving Sirkeci to Beyazıt in the royal carriage, the people of Istanbul lined up on both sides of the road and enthusiastically applauded as he passed by. In his speech after the bay'ah prayer, he declared, "I am the first sultan of liberty and I am proud of it!" and from then on Mehmed V was known as the "Constitutional Sultan."[14] On May 10, 1909, the sultan boarded the yacht Söğütlü in front of Dolmabahçe and went to Eyüp. He was girded with the sword of Osman in the Eyüp Mausoleum by the Shaykh al-Islam Saygı Efendi and the Mevlevi Order leader Postnişini Abdülhalim Efendi. Mehmed V then boarded the royal carriage and visited the tomb of Mehmed the Conqueror in the Fatih Mosque, after which he returned to the Dolmabahçe. Since the sultan was not seen on the streets of Istanbul during the long years of Abdulhamid's reign, the new sultan's carriage trip around the city, during which he cheerfully greeted his subjects, created great excitement among the people of Istanbul.[14]
First years
Because of his house imprisonment, Mehmed sat on the throne at the age of 65 and with no experience in state affairs. Due to his meek and weak-willed personality and the strength of a resurgent Sublime Porte and Young Turkey movement, the government was firmly out of his hands. When the sultan was asked to take a more proactive approach to politics when partisanship took hold, Mehmed V responded "If I was to interfere in every matter during the Constitutional Monarchy administration, what was [my] brother's fault?" He also claimed that he had to be subservient to the Unionists in order to save the sultanate, otherwise the Unionists would have declared a republic.[16]
Despite its shaky foundations, the constitution was promulgated for the third time and final time when Mehmed ascended to the throne (it was retracted during the crisis). However the issue about what to with the 31 March perpetrators revealed who was really in power: Mahmud Şevket Pasha and the CUP. In the immediate aftermath of the 31 March Incident, Mehmed V persistently informed the members of the Chamber of Deputies that he would not approve the executions of common criminals and especially political criminals associated with the 31 March uprising.[17] Afterwards, he wasn't able to resist the insistence of the Unionist politicians, and eventually approved their hanging. This was the first of many examples of Mehmed Reşad's reluctant approval of many laws, decrees and wills during his reign against his personal convictions and the constitution, and he soon developed a disinterest in statecraft.[18]
On May 5, 1909, Ahmed Tevfik Pasha, Abdul Hamid II's last grand vizier who was appointed in the middle of the 31 March Crisis, resigned under the pressure from the CUP, and a new government more favorable to the committee was formed under the grand viziership of Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha.
The Albanian Revolt of 1910 broke out and was suppressed by the Şevket Pasha, now War Minister. The assassination of Ahmet Samim Bey and the Western-sponsored integration of the Cretan State into Greece, despite the Ottoman victory over the Greeks in the War of 1897, threw the sultan into a fit of depression.
In June 1911, he embarked on an imperial tour of Selânik (Salonica, today
In the backdrop of the
War
Under his rule, the Ottoman Empire lost all its remaining territory in North Africa (Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan) and the Dodecanese to Italy in the Italo-Turkish War and nearly all its European territories (except for a small strip of land west of Constantinople) in the First Balkan War. The Ottomans made some small gains in the following war, recapturing the peninsula comprising East Thrace up to Edirne, but this was only partial consolation for the Turks: the bulk of Ottoman territories that they had fought to keep had been lost forever.[19]
The sudden loss of these enormous swaths of land, which had been Ottoman territory for centuries and were ceded to the Empire's opponents within a span of only two years, was traumatic to the Turks and culminated in the
Despite his preference that the country stayed out of further conflict, Mehmed V's most significant political act was to
This was the last genuine proclamation of jihad in history by a
Mehmed V hosted
Death
Mehmed V died at
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Le Petit Journal, Mehmed V is proclaimed Sultan in 1909.
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Mehmed V arrives in Selânik (Thessaloniki), Ottoman Empire, 1909.
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Mehmed V arrives in Selânik (Thessaloniki), Ottoman Empire, 1909.
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Portrait of Sultan Mehmed V.
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Portrait of Sultan Mehmed V.
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Portrait of Sultan Mehmed V in Imperial Ottoman naval uniform.
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Portrait of Sultan Mehmed V.
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Wilhelm II, Mehmed V, Franz Joseph: The three emperors of the Central Powersin World War I.
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Sultan Mehmed V hosting Kaiser Wilhelm II in Constantinople during World War I.
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Mehmed V and Enver Pasha hosting Wilhelm II in Constantinople during World War I.
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Mehmed V and Enver Pasha hosting Wilhelm II in Constantinople during World War I.
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Ottoman Empire in 1914
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TheEyüp, Istanbul.
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Mehmet V Resat mausoleum
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Mehmet V Resat mausoleum exterior
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Mehmet V Resat mausoleum interior
Honours
- Ottoman honours
- Grand Master of the Order of the Crescent
- Grand Master of the Order of Glory
- Grand Master of the Order of the Medjidie
- Grand Master of the Order of Osmanieh
- Foreign honours
- Grand Cross of St. Stephen, in Diamonds, 1914 (Austria-Hungary)[24]
- Knight of the Military Order of Max Joseph (Bavaria)
- Grand Cross of the Star of Karađorđe[25] (Serbia)
Family
Mehmed V had a small harem, as well as few children. He was also the only sultan not to take new consorts after his accession to the throne.
Consorts
Mehmed V had five consorts:[26][27]
- Kamures Kadın (5 March 1855 – 30 April 1921). BaşKadin. She is also called Gamres, Kamres or Kamus. Of Caucasian descent, she married Mehmed when he was still Şehzade. She had a son.
- Dürriaden Kadın (16 May 1860 – 17 October 1909). Second Kadın. She born Hatice Hanim, she married Mehmed when he was still Şehzade. She was the aunt of Inşirah Hanim, who was a consort of Mehmed VI (Mehmed V's younger half-brother). She had a son.
- Mihrengiz Kadın (15 October 1869 – 12 December 1938). Second Kadın after Dürriaden's death. Circassian, born Fatma Hanım, married Mehmed when he was still Şehzade. She had a son.
- Nazperver Kadın (12 June 1870 – 9 March 1929). Third Kadın after Dürriaden's death. Born Rukiye Hanim, she was an Abkhazian princess of Çikotua family and niece of Dürrinev Kadın, chief consort of Sultan Abdülaziz, who educated her. She married Mehmed when he was still Şehzade. She had a daughter.
- Dilfirib Kadın (1890–1952). Fourth Kadın after Dürriaden's death. Circassian, she married Mehmed when he was still Şehzade. She was close friends with Safiye Ünüvar, a teacher at the Palace. She had no children by Mehmed, but after his death she remarried and had a son.
Sons
Mehmed V had three sons:[26][27]
- Şehzade Mehmed Ziyaeddin (26 August 1873 – 30 January 1938)–with Kamures Kadın. He had five consorts, two sons and six daughters.
- Şehzade Mahmud Necmeddin (23 June 1878 – 27 June 1913) – with Dürriaden Kadın. Born with kyphosis, he never married or had children.
- Şehzade Ömer Hilmi (2 March 1886 – 6 April 1935) – with Mihrengiz Kadın. He had five consorts, a son and a daughter. His great-granddaughter Ayşe Gülnev Osmanoğlu became an authress of historical novels about the Ottoman dynasty.
Daughters
Mehmed V had only one daughter:[28]
- Refia Sultan (1888–1888) – with Nazperver Kadın. She died in infancy.
References
- ^ "Asian, Ceramics & Works of Art: Antiquities, Islamic & Pre-Columbian Art". C.G. Sloan & Company. 2001.
- ^ Abdulmecid, Coskun Cakir, Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, ed. Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters, (Infobase Publishing, 2009), 9.
- ^ "Rusya Fransa ve İngiltere devletleriyle hal-i harb ilanı hakkında irade-i seniyye [Imperial Decree Concerning the Declaration of a State of War with the States of Russia, France, and the United Kingdom], Nov. 11, 1914 (29 Teşrin-i Evvel 1330), Takvim-i Vekayi, Nov. 12, 1914 (30 Teşrin-i Evvel 1330)" (PDF). Library of Congress.
- ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 209.
- ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 7, edited Hugh Chisholm, (1911), 3; "Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire…."
- ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 218.
- ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 220.
- ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 203.
- ^ Brookes 2020, pp. xvi, 245.
- ^ Brookes 2020, pp. 70–71.
- ISBN 978-9944-905-63-3.
- ISBN 978-975-7306-07-8.
- ^ Glencross & Rowbotham 2018, p. 125.
- ^ ISBN 975-329-300-3p. 486
- ^ "MEHMED V - TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi". TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ Küçük, Cevdet. "Mehmed V". İslâm Ansiklopedisi.
- ^ Uşaklıgil, Halit Ziya (2012 ilk baskı: ), Saray ve Ötesi, İstanbul: Özgür Yayınları, ISBN 9-754-47176=2
- ^ Uşaklıgil, Halit Ziya (2012 ilk baskı: ), Saray ve Ötesi, İstanbul: Özgür Yayınları, ISBN 9-754-47176=2
- ^ The Ottoman Empire: Three Wars in Three Years, 1911–13. New Zealand History. Retrieved 28 January 2020
- ISBN 978-0-230-29778-4.
- ^ Lawrence Sondhaus, World War One: The Global Revolution, (Cambridge University Press, 2011), 91.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. .
- ^ Mehmed V, Selcuk Aksin Somel, Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, 371.
- ^ "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1918, p. 56, retrieved 14 January 2021
- ^ Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 369.
- ^ a b Brookes 2010, pp. 284–291.
- ^ a b Uluçay 2011, pp. 260–261.
- ^ Brookes 2010, p. 284.
Sources
- Uluçay, M. Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ötüken. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.
- Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5.
- Brookes, Douglas S. (2020). On the Sultan's Service: Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil's Memoir of the Ottoman Palace, 1909–1912. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-04553-9.
- Glencross, Matthew; Rowbotham, Judith, eds. (2018). Monarchies and the Great War. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-89515-4.
External links
Media related to Mehmed V at Wikimedia Commons
- Newspaper clippings about Mehmed V in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW