Mahmud II

Mahmud II was the 30th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who ruled from 1808 until his death in 1839. He is often described as "Peter the Great of Turkey" for his extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms that paved the way for the modernization of the empire. He ascended the throne after a coup that deposed his half-brother Mustafa IV, who had ordered his execution. He faced many challenges during his reign, such as wars with Russia, Greece, and Egypt, nationalist uprisings in the Balkans and the Arab provinces, and internal opposition from the conservative Janissary corps and the religious establishment. He managed to overcome these obstacles by implementing a series of reforms that aimed to centralize the state, strengthen the army, improve the bureaucracy, and promote Westernization. His most notable achievements include the abolition of the Janissary corps in 1826, which removed a major source of resistance to his reforms, and the introduction of the Tanzimat ("reorganization") decree in 1839, which granted equal rights and obligations to all subjects of the empire, regardless of their religion or ethnicity. He also reformed the legal system, the education system, the tax system, the currency, the dress code, and the arts. He was a patron of literature and poetry, and composed some verses himself. He died of tuberculosis in 1839, and was succeeded by his son Abdulmejid I, who continued his father's reforms. Mahmud II is regarded as one of the most influential and reformist sultans in Ottoman history.