Still with the episodes of the Ottoman Empire, and we have arrived, with the nightmare of Ottoman backwardness, at the "Crimean War".

England was determined, at any price, to preserve the Ottoman Empire, which was called at the time "the sick man of Europe".. a weak, ridden state controlled by England a little and France a little.

The war began with Russia sending 40 thousand soldiers, and occupying Romania.. and Romania was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In this era, after the destruction of the Ottoman army at the hands of "Ibrahim Pasha", England had helped it form a new army.. and there were English and German mercenary generals..

England demands that Russia withdraw from Romania, but Russia tells England that this is not an occupation.. it does indeed intend to withdraw, but as soon as the Ottoman Sultan recognises the rights of the Orthodox in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.. it will withdraw at once.

Of course Russia had no intention of withdrawing at all.. and England and France had no intention of entering this war.. the Ottomans would fight and exhaust the Russians by proxy on their behalf.. why would they fight themselves?

And so in the beginning of August, of the year 1853, the Russian forces meet the Ottoman forces at the Danube River.. and the newborn, inexperienced Ottoman forces are defeated.. because this is the first battle they enter in practice.. and they retreat, and decide to call on "Shamil Al-Daghestani".

And "Shamil Al-Daghestani".. they used to call him "Imam Shamil".. all his life his people had been fighting the Russians after they occupied their lands in Chechnya and Dagestan.. this "Shamil" was a just, stern imam.. to the point that once, his mother threw something at one of her servants, so he ordered the penalty for slander to be applied to his mother, and it was eighty lashes, and then he himself received the punishment in her place because she was his mother. "Shamil" and his people had a noble goal at the beginning in their struggle against an occupier, but unfortunately...

Over time England put its hands on "Shamil" and his administration and his people, and began funding them.. and Queen "Victoria" sent them the flag of their state embroidered with 3 stars.. which were the regions they wanted to liberate from the Russians.. and those regions were Chechnya, Georgia and Dagestan.

So over time "Shamil" lost the legitimacy of resistance, and turned in his turn into something resembling a mercenary, and with the defeat of the Ottomans, England signalled him to support them.. so off he went, placing his men under the command of the Ottoman Empire, and this time, the Ottomans won with "Shamil" and his men against the Russians.. and the Ottomans entered Romania a second time.

The Ottoman Empire was not happy with the results of this battle despite winning it.. and it felt that the Russians would not stay silent and would advance and crush it.. so it tried to push England and France to enter the war at any price.. exactly as today "Erdogan" is trying to drag NATO into his wars.. but who is the boy and who is the master? The European master is using the Ottoman boy to get beaten in his place.. not the other way round.

So here the Sultan resorts to a very cunning move.. and decides to sacrifice a few soldiers for the sake of his plan.. so he ships 2,000 Ottoman soldiers.. on warships of the fleet, and sends them to the Turkish port of "Sinop". This port directly faces the Crimean peninsula, and this move means that he is coming to attack Crimea without a doubt.

And indeed the Russian fleet attacked the Ottoman ships, and they sank them and all the soldiers on board died to the last man.. and the Ottoman Sultan went crying to England and France.. the Tsar of Russia is sinking my ships for me.. and so if he destroys my fleet and enters the straits and controls them.. I am not responsible.. and the plan succeeds and England and France sign with him on 12 March 1854, the "Treaty of Istanbul".. under which.. no one of the three states may make a separate peace with Russia, and the three states shall coordinate in the war against Russia, and the English and French units and their ships in Istanbul shall be subject to Ottoman laws.

And accordingly England and France announce, alongside the Ottoman Empire, war on Russia.. always remember these treaties when someone tells you "Europe was against the Muslim Ottomans" and "Muhammad Ali was a European creation to destroy Ottoman Islam".. no one stood by the Ottoman Empire in its wars with the Egyptians and the Russians as much as Europe did.

This war continues for a full year.. from September 1854 to September 1855.. and very many victims fall on both sides.. three months before it ends.. in July 1855, the Tsar of Russia dies, and with his death Russian morale declines and deteriorates, so not long passes before the three states control "Sevastopol", the most important city of Crimea...

With the death of "Nicholas I", the Tsar of Russia, and the accession of his son "Alexander II".. he decides that he will not be able to continue the war against the three states together.. so he signs the "Treaty of Paris 1856".. in which they declare the Black Sea a "neutral zone".. and thus, for the first time, the Black Sea becomes entirely for the Ottomans.. and everyone returns to the pre-war borders.. and the Ottoman Empire confirms France in the administration of the holy places in Jerusalem.

In the year 1861, Sultan "Abdulmejid I" dies, and because of the wars he left behind debts estimated at thirty-five million francs.. and an Ottoman currency worth nothing.. and his brother "Abdulaziz I" takes his place.. and his period was very emotional.. the Montenegrin revolution.. the Serbian revolution.. the Cretan revolution.. the Salonika incident.. demonstrations by students and sheikhs of the religious institutes in Constantinople. And he used to pacify the revolutions with money.. I mean Prince "Danilo", the Prince of Montenegro, accepted the rank of field marshal and an annual stipend.. and fell silent.. the one who came after him, "Prince Nikola", did not accept the bribe.. so "Abdulaziz" suppressed his revolution with the Ottoman army.. and he did the same in Crete.. and in Serbia he lost his war against the rebels, and was forced to sign a surrender agreement.. under which the Ottoman Empire gives up the four fortresses in the land of Serbia and withdraws all Ottoman forces from them.

The Salonika incident was different.. a beautiful Bulgarian girl.. arrived in the city.. so an insane Salafi Ottoman went and abducted her and decided to marry her.. and forced her to embrace Islam by force.. but his first wife grew jealous of her.. so she leaked the news to a group of Christians.. so they fell upon the house and smashed its door.. and freed the Bulgarian girl.. and fled with her.

Our brother, the one who had abducted her, then went and brought groups of Muslims.. and they went and besieged the house of the people who had rescued her.. so these people called on other Christians to stand up to the abductor and his companions.. and the matter turned into a horrifying sectarian strife.. so those Salafist groups at the time went and assassinated the consuls of Germany and France considering them "infidels" and so on.. so France was enraged at the killing of its consul.. and sent its fleet to besiege Istanbul.. and Germany went and crossed the border with thirty thousand soldiers.. and the matter ended peacefully with "Abdulaziz" accepting the imposition of guardianship over the Ottoman Empire in this matter.. and an international council was set up to monitor the affairs of the Christians of the Ottoman Empire.. and to guarantee respect for the rights of minorities.

And in April 1876.. the students of the religious institutes and their sheikhs revolt in Istanbul.. and they demand the closing of the brothels, and the removal of the pimp Mufti, "Hasan Fehmi Effendi", and the Grand Vizier "Mahmud Nedim Pasha", whose injustice made people boil.. the police fail to disperse them.. and tens of thousands of people join them.. and "Hasan Fehmi" and "Nedim Pasha" flee from Istanbul.. and the demonstrators besiege the Sublime Porte palace.

And after meetings and negotiations and push and pull.. "Abdulaziz" submits to the people.. so he appoints "Khairullah Effendi" as Mufti.. and "Rashdi Pasha" as Grand Vizier.. and he refuses to close the brothels.. but since he responded to the more important demands.. the siege of the palace is lifted.. and the demonstrators disperse.

A defence minister named "Suleiman" Pasha had appeared.. and he became head of the military school.. and another named "Midhat Pasha".. and he too wanted to save the state by any means.. and both were honourable men with different views.. so they advised the Sultan that he withdraw from some places that were in fact beyond the capabilities of the Ottoman Empire.. especially the distant places that were draining money.. and that he spend from the palace's private wealth.. and pay off most of the debt.. and set matters right.. but the Sultan refused.

Over time conditions worsen further.. and the Ottoman Empire is almost bankrupt.. so it borrows more.. and in order to pay off the loans it borrows in order to pay the instalments.. and "Abdulaziz" tried to squeeze the expenses of the palace, so he abolished the harem wing, and merged it into his palace.. and then this story did not work, so he abolished the endowments.. and then he went and withdrew the debt bonds after paying 40% of their value.. and issued new bonds worth 60%.. and in December 1865.. the maturity date of the bonds came.. and there was not enough money.. so he took 8 million pounds sterling from England.. and then 7 million francs from France.. and then he went and stretched his hand to the finances of the Ottoman Bank.. which pays the salaries and runs the state's facilities.. and then he went and printed currency.. so inflation occurred and his currency cheapened more and more.. and because of these wise financial policies.. and in the end the Grand Vizier "Mahmud Nedim Pasha" announced on 5 November 1875 the official bankruptcy of the Ottoman Empire.

And here.. Europe lent him 30 million francs, at 25% annual interest.. meaning if he borrowed a million he would repay a million and a quarter.. and he agreed.. and he pressed the people more with taxes.. so his income reached 380 million francs.. the instalments of the loans and bonds upon him together were 310 million.. so nothing was left for the state to pay its salaries and run its facilities and import and do all that it had except 70 million francs.

He asks "Suleiman Pasha" a second time to spend from his private wealth and set matters right a little.. and when he refuses "Midhat Pasha" pushes him on it.. and he was one of his advisers.. so he refuses as well and begins smuggling his wealth outside the state.. until "Midhat" and "Suleiman" decide to move.. so they resort to the Mufti.. they put the matter before him...

And after deliberations with the Mufti that lasted two days.. "Abdulaziz" is surprised by a fatwa from the Mufti.. the Sheikh of Islam "Khairullah Effendi" that he is a corrupt sultan, whose harm is greater than his benefit, and that there is no blame in rebelling against him and deposing him.

And on the evening of 29 May 1876, Suleiman Pasha, the head of the military school, set off with soldiers and cut the roads leading to the "Dolmabahçe" palace.. the residence of Sultan "Abdulaziz".. and the commander of the Ottoman fleet "Ahmed Pasha" moves and cuts the sea routes, so that no English or French reinforcement could reach "Abdulaziz".. and he besieges the palace by sea.. and "Suleiman" heads with his men to storm it, so the Sultan's guard engages them.. and "Suleiman" defeats them.. and the rest surrender when "Ahmed Pasha" threatens to shell the palace from the sea with artillery.

And "Suleiman Pasha" enters the palace, with him the new Ottoman Sultan "Murad V".. and he deposes "Abdulaziz" by force.. and seats "Murad" on the throne in his place.. and they fire a hundred artillery rounds in celebration of his sitting on the throne.. and "Abdulaziz" wakes from his sleep to the sound of the artillery rounds, at dawn on 30 May, 1876.

And this "Murad" was a successful, intelligent young man who spoke languages and was cultured.. and several times the consuls of the foreign states praised him.. so "Abdulaziz" grew jealous of him and imprisoned him and restricted his residence in the palace for a period of 14 years.. and he would not even go out to walk in the garden, nor speak to anyone.. as if it were a revival of the old "cages of Safiye".

"Abdulaziz" did not resist his deposition at all.. he had simply woken from sleep to find himself deposed.. and they moved him to the "Topkapi" palace and restricted his residence there.. and he indeed stayed a few days.. and he asked to be moved to another palace.. because he did not like "Topkapi".. so "Murad" agreed.. and in his new palace.. newspapers were brought in to him and food was brought to him.. until he asked for scissors to trim his beard, so they brought him scissors.. and when they went out.. he cut the arteries of his hand with the scissors.. and he became the first caliph to die by suicide.

As for "Murad".. he sat on the throne 3 months.. and then they discovered that he was completely insane.. and his imprisonment alone throughout those years had cost him his mind.. and he could not tell the ministers apart.. nor the values of the different currencies.. so they brought him an Austrian psychiatrist.. who announced to them that he was mad.. and would not be cured. So they went and deposed him too.. and seated in his place "Abdul Hamid II".

And "Abdul Hamid II" found no way to save himself from this terrible swamp of debt.. in which he almost drowned from the first day.. except to open the road to the Zionists, to obtain Palestine.. in exchange for paying off the debts.. and he carried out the Armenian massacre.. and carried out another massacre no less horrific than it, against the Muslim Albanians.. people forget it and do not dwell on it much.

And these stories we will explain, God willing, next time.

And the talk.. has a remainder.

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- Previous posts in the first comment

- The picture is of Abdulaziz I.. the first caliph to die by suicide.

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#The_Ottoman_Caliphate 41.