Koca Yusuf Pasha

Yusuf Pasha (1788)

Koca Yusuf Pascha ( Arabic / Ottoman خوجة يوسف باشا, Turkish Koca Yusuf Paşa , DMG / İA Ḫoǧa Yūsuf Pāša ), formerly mostly Germanized Jussuf Pascha (*  1730 ; †  1800 ), was an Ottoman politician. He was considered a loyal supporter and close confidante of his political foster father, the Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pascha) Hassan Pascha .

Live and act

Yusuf Pasha was originally from Georgia , but had been taken to Istanbul by slave traders . There he converted to Islam and was ransomed around 1770 by Hassan Pascha, who may also be of Georgian descent. After the destruction of the Ottoman fleet in the Russo-Ottoman War, Hassan Pascha reformed the navy and built a new modern fleet. Succeeded Hassan Pasha, his pupil accommodate Yussuf first as chief steward, then in 1785 for governor of Morea (eyalet-i Mora, Peloponnese to let appoint), and finally the Sultan-Caliph him in January 1786 Abdulhamid I. as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire to recommend .

First Grand Vizier

As Grand Vizier Yusuf Pasha (like his predecessor Shahin Ali Pasha, also a Georgian) belonged to the anti-Russian war faction of the "falcons" at the Sultan's court. After Russia had repeatedly broken the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca concluded in 1774 (annexation of the Crimean Khanate and Georgia , disregard of the agreed special rights for the Crimean Tatar - Muslim ethnic group, establishment of a Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol ), the Grand Admiral and the Grand Vizier urged the Sultan, the until then, under the pressure of the other major European powers , had renounced countermeasures, in 1787 for war against Russia . As a result of the Russian-Austrian alliance , the Austrian Habsburg monarchy also intervened in the war. The Ottoman Empire in turn allied itself with Sweden against Russia, Russia in turn with Denmark against Sweden. Sweden attacked Russia in 1788 , and Yusuf Pasha, headed the Ottoman forces, invaded Austrian territory. He defeated the Austrians in August 1788 at Mehadia and in September 1788 at Slatina in the Banat, forced them to withdraw from Karánsebes and advanced to Lugoj ; when winter came, however, he had to withdraw again. In the spring of 1789 he resumed the campaign against the Austrians and penetrated Transylvania. In April 1789, however, Sultan Abdülhamid died, and his successor Selim III. not only ordered Yusuf to return, but also deposed him as Grand Vizier in May 1789. Yusuf Pasha initially remained Serasker (Commander-in-Chief), but was dismissed from this post after his defeat at Mehadia in August 1789.

Kapudan Pasha

Jussuf's successor, Kethüda Hassan Pascha, was far behind him in talent and experience and was beaten by the Austrians, who in return conquered Belgrade. At the end of 1789, Grand Admiral Hassan Pascha was appointed Grand Vizier in Kethüda's place, and Yusuf Pascha was apparently briefly his successor as Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pascha). From this point on, some historians noted that there were contradictions between Yusuf Pasha and Hassan Pasha.

Grand Vizier again

After Hassan's death (March 1790) and Sweden withdrew from the war, the situation became critical for the Ottomans. Since France, traditional ally of the Porte , was preoccupied with its own problems by the French Revolution , the Porte formed an offensive alliance with Prussia (and Poland). Prussia's King Friedrich Wilhelm II urged Sultan Selim III. to remove the Grand Vizier, who had been in office since Hassan's death, and to reinstall Yusuf Pasha as Grand Vizier and Commander-in-Chief, and in February 1791 Yusuf Pasha was actually reappointed Grand Vizier. With diplomatic help from Great Britain and the Netherlands, Prussia had forced Austria to withdraw from the war after Denmark ( Reichenbach Convention , Armistice of Giurgiu, Peace of Sistowa ), but Russia continued the war and awaited the agreed military action by Prussia against Russia the Ottomans in vain. Yusuf Pasha mobilized a new army as agreed and was initially able to stop the advancing Russians despite a defeat at Galați . Left alone, after the defeat at Măcin in August 1791 , Yusuf Pasha was forced to accept the Russian armistice conditions ( preliminary peace at Galați). After the signing of the Peace of Jassy in January 1792, Hassan Pasha was finally recalled in May 1792. Unlike his predecessor, he was not executed, but only exiled to remote Jeddah . On the way there he was in Bursa in September 1793 , from where he campaigned for an alliance between the Ottoman Empire and the French Republic .

Remarks

1. ↑ Ali Pascha's nickname شاهین, Şahin , means "falcon".

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Heinrich August Pierer (Ed.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past , Volume 32, Page 81ff. HA Pierer, Altenburg 1846
2. ↑ ^{a b} Austrian National Library , Image Archive Austria: Koca Yusuf Pascha
3. ^ ^{A b} worldstatesmen.org: Turkey
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen : History of the Ottoman Empire in Europe - Turnaround of the inner life of the Ottoman Empire and oriental politics during the revolutionary period , Part 1 (from the peace to Kuchuk Kainardsche in 1774 to the peace with France in 1802), pages 574-874. Perthes, Gotha 1859
5. ^ Alan Palmer: The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire , page 52. Faber & Faber, Leipzig 2011
6. ^ Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters: Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire , p. 6. Infobase Publishing, New York 2010
7. ↑ ^{a b} Caroline Finkel: Osman's Dream - The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923 , pages (or footnotes) 41-58. John Murray (Hachette), London 2012
8. ↑ Michael Hüttler, Hans Ernst Weidinger: Ottoman Empire and European Theater , Part 1 (The Age of Mozart and Selim III, 1756-1808), pages 127-131. Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag, Vienna 2013
9. ^ Gereon Sievernich, Hendrik Budde: Europe and the Orient 800-1900 , pages 278 and 804-809. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Berlin 1989

predecessor	Office	successor
Şahin Ali Pasha	Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire January 25, 1786 - May 28, 1789	Cenaze Hasan Pasha
Çelebizade Şerif Hasan Pasha	Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire February 12, 1791 - 1792	Damat Melek Mehmed Pasha