Author's note: This is my first TL here on this site, so hi! I may know some of you from AH.com, and here's my profile there if you want - here.
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Abdul Hamid II's Ottoman Empire – A TL
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Chapter 1
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1902
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A History of the Modern Ottoman Empire
Jason MacDonald, London University Press
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"During the turn of the 19th century into the 20th century, for all intents and purposes, the entire world and mainly the European Continent regarded the Ottoman Empire as a failing state and was consequently named the 'Sick Man of Europe'. The name had gained traction throughout the world ever since the devastating defeats of the Ottomans at the hands of the Russians, and the Slavs since the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. After that, the Ottomans received a string of humiliating defeats at the hands of the nationalist Balkan nations and the Russians as well, with the only breather for the Imperial nation being the Crimean War which the Ottoman Empire had won with aid from the Second French Empire and the British Empire."
"However the most influential war during the 19th century in which the Ottoman Empire participated in was the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. The war was initially a stalemate with the Turks clamping down on the Serbian revolts easily, however as Russia intervened and won the Battle of Plevna, the Ottoman stance and position deteriorated. The Treaty of San Stefano imposed humiliating terms to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had failed to use the old Turkophilia of the British and the massacres of Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire had made the British public opinion turn against the Ottoman Empire making any sort of intervention on part of the British nigh impossible. However the Treaty of San Stefano was too lopsided, and the Congress of Berlin of 1881 retracted a good amount of losses that the Ottomans faced in the Treaty of San Stefano. However the humiliation was still there, and sat there festering as a deep wound within the Ottoman mindset."
"The defeat of 1877-78 coupled with the humiliation at Berlin, made a severe detrimental effect in the mindset of the Sultan, Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire. He dissolved the Parliament and rolled back many of the reforms made by the Tanzimat era, at least in the political sector, and took direct control of the empire from the Grand Vizier and the Parliament, bringing the Constitutional Era to a close in the Ottoman Empire."
"Abdul Hamid II thereafter ruled with an iron fist throughout the Ottoman Empire, with all challenges to his rule being crushed down to the ground and killed. Many refugees from the Ottoman Empire, be they Moslem or Christian found their way into Europe, as they fled the tyrannical nature of Abdul Hamid II's reign over the Sublime Porte. He was during his reign, known as perhaps the most hated Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, through his constant massacres of Armenians and Bulgarians. However to be fair to the man, the man was a reactionary at heart, and he only reacted when reacted upon, and much of his massacres against the Armenians and Bulgarians were results of revolts and dissension. However the discontent that seeped towards him from Europe was more along the lines of a perceived active persecution of Christians. This was further heightened by Abdul Hamid II's policies of 'Islamism' within the Ottoman Empire. However in reality, the situation was quite different. Be they Moslem or Christian, anyone found to be rebelling against the Sublime Porte were put down viciously by the Porte and the Sultan. Indeed, the Maronite Christians living in Lebanon were largely content with their day to day workings and were kept autonomous in many internal workings. However the problem remained that it was the Christians who mostly rebelled against the Sublime Porte provoking harsh reaction from the Sultan, which resulted in massive massacres."
"It was due to this fact that Mahmud Pasha, one of the multiple claimants to the Ottoman Imperial Throne fled the country for his anti-Hamidian views. He established the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) or more popularly known as the 'Young Turks' in exile in France. He was joined in Paris by an earlier exile of the Ottoman Empire, Ahmet Riza. The man was much talented and was considered by many to be a polymath, and he became a member of the exiled Young Turks. However quickly friction erupted within the Young Turks. Mahmud Pasha had died in early 1902 leaving the leadership of the party to the maverick Prince Sabahaddin, who called for the intervention of the European powers to depose the Ottoman Sultan to aid the Young Turks. This was a massive mistake on part of the young maverick prince. All the followers of his 'liberal' faction of the CUP quickly disintegrated, as much of the members believed that European intervention would only mean a more weakened Ottoman state, which none of them neither liked nor advocated."
"Whilst the young Prince's ideas of European style social equality and religious tolerance were much popular among the Committee of Union and Progress, his entire rhetoric of inviting European powers for intervention within the Ottoman Empire made his supporters dwindle everyday until he slowly started to lose influence in the party to Ahmet Riza. However Ahmet Riza wasn't exactly the epitome of a healthy man either; both in his physical and mental state. He was subject to much criticism over his denouncement of Islamism as a whole, and whilst many believed that Riza's words that Islam must move along with the times was true, his radical rhetoric towards Islamism was something that no reformer could accept as it would risk alienating the entirety of the pro-islamic faction of the Committee of Union and Progress."
"One night on October 27th, 1902, in the streets of Paris, the man, Ahmet Riza was intercepted by a pro-islamic group of the CUP and ambushed into the alleyways of the city where the poor man was butchered to death by the radical pro-islamists, and the man was dead before his dead body fell to the ground with a dull thud."
"In Konstanniye, one sultan, Sultan Abdul Hamid II looked at the proceedings within the CUP and Paris as a whole with extreme satisfaction and excitement."
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