Mahmud Shevket Pasha

Mahmud Shevket Pasha was an Ottoman generalissimo and statesman, who was an important political figure during the Second Constitutional Era. He graduated from the Cadet School in Constantinople as a staff captain in 1882 and served on the general staff of the Ministry of War. He joined a commission sent to Germany to supervise the manufacture of war matériel for the Ottoman army and worked as an assistant to Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz. He rose through the ranks and achieved the rank of general in 1886. He became the commander of the 3rd Army at Salonika in 1908, after the Young Turk Revolution that brought the Committee of Union and Progress to power. In 1909, he crushed a religious uprising against the Young Turk government, known as the 31st of March Incident, and deposed the sultan, who favoured a return to absolutism. He then became the inspector general of the first three army corps and minister of war, acquiring a position of great strength. He played a leading role in military reform and the establishment of the Ottoman Air Force. He also participated in several wars and conflicts, such as the Macedonian Struggle, the Albanian Revolt of 1910, the Yemeni Revolt, and the First Balkan War. In January 1913, when a group of army officers led by Enver Pasha overthrew the government of the Liberal Union Party and restored the Committee of Union and Progress to power, Shevket became grand vizier. He was assassinated six months later by a group of assassins in Istanbul. He was a respected scholar and a pioneer in his field. He was of Georgian or Chechen origin and spoke Turkish, Arabic, French, and German.