Topal Osman Pasha
Topal Osman Pascha (* around 1663 in Morea (today Peloponnese ), † 1733 near Kirkuk ) was an Albanian officer and administrative officer. At the age of 24 he became provincial governor and, as a general, commanded the Ottoman army in campaigns against the Republic of Venice and the Habsburg Monarchy . In 1731/32 he became Grand Vizier . After his release he was provincial governor again but soon led the Ottoman troops in the Ottoman-Persian War (1730-1735) against the Persian Empire. He managed to defeat Nader Shah and to save Baghdad from the Persians in 1732, but was decisively defeated when they met again the following year and fell in the Battle of Kirkuk.
Life
Osman was born in the Ottoman province of Morea around 1663 to Albanian parents. The family had lived for a long time in Konya , Anatolia , where their father Bekir Ağa worked in the Ottoman administration. Osman entered the palace service early on and became a member of the kozbekçi and then the infantry unit of the pandurs . At the age of 24 he rose to the rank of beylerbey .
When the Sultan sent the young Beylerbey on a mission to the provincial governor of Eyâlet Egypt , his ship was attacked in the open sea by a Spanish privateer . Osman was captured after a fight in the course of which he was wounded and paralyzed on one foot for a lifetime, earning him the nickname Topal ( Turkish limp foot ).
Initially deported to Malta, he was soon released on payment of a ransom and returned to Istanbul. He took part in the 1710/11 war on Prut , which the Ottoman Empire won, and was promoted to kapıcıbaşı . The Sultan then sent him to the Eyâlet Rumelien , where he was the leader of the Christian militias of the Armatoles . In this role he served in the Ottoman-Venetian War (1714-18) in the campaigns of 1715 and was able to solve Morea from the rule of the Republic of Venice. As an award, he was promoted to Pasha with two Rossschsweifen and served as governor of the Sanjak of Tirhala . During the first battles against the Austrians in the Venetian-Austrian Turkish War (1714-1718) he was responsible for supplying the army in 1716, but returned to Morea at the end of 1716 as a pasha with three horse tails and Serasker to suppress local revolts and Venetian attempts to prevent restoration of the province.
In 1720 the Sultan appointed him governor of Eyâlet Bosnia before he was transferred to Rumelia the next year. He stayed in this post until 1772, when he was governor of Bosnia again for two years. In 1729 he was provincial governor in Rumelia again and went back to Bosnia in 1730, but was transferred back to Rumelia the next year. During this time he killed the surviving supporters of the rebel Patrona Halil , who had sought refuge in the Western Balkans, particularly in Albania.
On September 10, 1731 he was appointed Grand Vizier by Sultan Mahmud I. Although he only served as Grand Vizier for six months, he attempted reforms to calm the situation in the capital, Istanbul, by stabilizing prices, restoring order and ensuring the city's food supplies. He also supported the efforts of the French-born army officer Claude Alexandre de Bonneval to reform the artillery corps based on Western models.
After his dismissal as Grand Vizier Topal Osman Pasha acted as provincial governor of the Eyâlets Trebizond and Tbilisi . Soon he was recalled and was appointed as an experienced soldier of the Ottoman Empire to Seraskan Anatolia in the Ottoman-Persian War (1730-1735) . In July 1733 he inflicted a decisive defeat on the Persians who had invaded Iraq under Nader Shah and besieged Baghdad in a hard-fought battle north of Baghdad. Due to Osman's clever strategy, the Ottomans were able to defeat Nader Shah's army and kill more than 30,000 soldiers while the Ottoman Empire lost 20,000 men. It was the only time the Nader Shah lost a battle.
The next year, however, Nader Shah repeated his invasion. Topal Osman's army in Kirkuk had been weakened by the Ottoman government because experienced men had been transferred west and replaced by simple recruits. Nonetheless, the Ottoman army retained its numerical superiority. In the following battle near Kirkuk, Topal Osman was killed and his army routed. A Persian soldier cut off Topal Osman's head and took it to Nader Shah. He ordered the opponent's body to be searched and handed over the remains to the Ottomans out of respect for the pasha's achievement. Topal Osman Pasha were buried with full honors in the Imam Qasim Mosque in Kirkuk.
family
Topal Osman Pasha's son Ahmed Ratib Pasha married Aişe Sultan, a daughter of Sultan Ahmed III. His great-grandson was the well-known writer and political activist of the young Ottomans, Namık Kemal .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Topal Osman Paşa , TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, accessed on April 27, 2020
- ↑ R. Mantran: Ṭopal ʿOt̲h̲mān Pas̲h̲a, 1st Grand Vizier (1663-1733) . In: PJ Bearman, Th. Bianquis, CE Bosworth, E. van Donzel, WP Heinrichs (eds.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam . Volume X: T-U, EJ Brill. Leiden 2000, ISBN 90-04-11211-1 , pp. 564f., Here p. 564
- ↑ a b Mantran (2000), p. 564
- ↑ Mantran (2000), pp. 564f.
- ↑ a b c d e Mantran (2000), p. 565
- ↑ Michael Axworthy : The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant . IB Tauris, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-85043-706-2 , pp. 131-134
- ↑ Axworthy (2006), pp. 139-141
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Kabakulak Ibrahim Pasha |
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire September 10, 1731 - March 12, 1732 |
Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Topal Osman Pasha |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Ottoman provincial governor, military commander and grand vizier |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1663 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Morea |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1733 |
| Place of death | at Kirkuk |