Sultan Mahmud II and The End of The Janissaries

The book Sultan Mahmud II and the End of the Janissaries" is a classic study of political history. It is a documentary story of the first eighteen years of the thirteenth Ottoman sultan's rule, which began with his dramatic throne in July 1808 and ended with the "happy event," which was called the liquidation of the Janissary Corps in June 1826. The Factsheet detailed and accurately follow the course of the events. The long string of problematic situations draws the stages and scale of a spectacular battle for power in the Ottoman state. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire agonized. It loses wars and territories. In its provinces there is a complete anarchy in which ayans (leader, influential citizen, governor of the city and its surroundings) and provincial janissaries fight each other and fight the sultan's troops. In Istanbul, the real master is the capital Janitorial Odajak. With racketeering and robbery, the soldiers are harassing the inhabitants, and by riots and rebellions, the Vizier and the Sultans are changing. A narrow circle in the ruling elite sees the outcome of the imperial agony in reforms, and more specifically in the reform of the army. The Janissaries, who for centuries have been the main combat contingent and for centuries have been privileged castes, categorically reject the attempts and the very idea of reform. The fierce resistance to reforms raises them as the leader of all conservative forces in Ottoman society.

- Prof. Tzvetana Georgieva