Selim III - The 28th Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire

Selim III (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثالث Selīm-i sālis) (24 December 1761 -- 28 or 29 July 1808) was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV. Selim was killed by a group of assassins subsequently after a Janissary revolt.

Selim III was the son of Sultan Mustafa III and Mihrisah Sultana. His mother originated in Georgia, she participated in reforming the government schools and establishing political corporations. His father Sultan Mustafa III was very well educated and believed in the necessity of reforms. Mustafa III attempted to create a powerful army during the peacetime with professional, well-educated soldiers. This was primarily motivated by his fear of a Russian invasion. During the Turko-Russian War he fell ill and died of a heart attack in 1774. Sultan Mustafa was aware of the fact that a military reform was necessary. He declared new military regulations and opened maritime and artillery academies. Sultan Mustafa was very influenced by mysticism. Oracles predicted his son Selim would be a world-conqueror, so he organized a joyous feast lasting seven days. Selim was very well educated in the palace. Sultan Mustafa III bequeathed his son as his successor; however, Selim's uncle Abdulhamid I ascended the throne after Mustafa's death. Sultan Abdulhamid I took care of Selim and put great emphasis on his education. After Abdulhamid's death Selim succeeded him on 7 April 1789, in his 28th year. Sultan Selim III was very fond of literature and calligraphy; many of his works were put on the walls of mosques and convents. He wrote many poems, especially about Crimea's occupation by Russia. He spoke Arabic and Persian fluently. Selim III was very religious, and very patriotic. He was a poet, a musician and very fond of fine arts. Selim was a very modern man and a reformist ruler. He planned to modernize the Ottoman Empire. Prince Selim developed plans for modernizing the Ottoman Army. Selim came to the throne during the 1787--92 war with Austria and Russia and had to postpone serious reform efforts until its completion. Selim's early efforts to modernize the Janissary corps created such opposition that thereafter he concentrated on creating a new European-style army, using modern weapons and European tactics. Officers and military experts sent by the different European powers trained in Istanbul and in a number of Anatolian provincial centers. This new force never numbered more than 10,000 active soldiers. In order to avoid disrupting the established Ottoman institutions, it was financed by an entirely new treasury whose revenues came from taxes imposed on previously untaxed sources and from the confiscation whose holders were not fulfilling their military and administrative duties to the state. Under the guidance of European technicians, factories were erected to manufacture modern weapons and ammunition and technical schools were opened to train Ottoman officers. Limited efforts were also made to rationalize the Ottoman administrative machinery, but largely along traditional lines. The older military corps, however, remained intact and hostile to the new force, and Selim was therefore compelled to limit its size and use. Selim III left the throne to Mustafa on 29 May 1807. A year and 2 months later he was killed by Alemdar Pasha under the order of Selim's cousin, and successor, Mustafa IV. He was buried in Laleli Mosque near his father's tomb. Selim had 11 wives, Nef-i Zar, Husn-i Mah, Zib-i Fer, Afitab, Re'fet, Nur-i Shems, Gonca-nigar, Dem-hosh, Tab-i Safa, Ayn-i Safa, Mahbube

He was a son of Mustafa III (1757--74) and succeeded his uncle Abdülhamid I (1774--89). He was born in Constantinople. His mother was Valide Sultan Mihr-i shah.

The talents and energy with which Selim III was endowed had endeared him to the people, and great hopes were founded on his accession. He had associated much with foreigners, and was thoroughly persuaded of the necessity of reforming his state.

However, Austria and Russia gave him no time for anything but defense, and it was not until the Peace of Iaşi (1792) that a breathing space was allowed him in Europe, while Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria soon called for Turkey's strongest efforts.

Selim III profited by the respite to abolish the military tenure of fiefs; he introduced salutary reforms into the administration, especially in the fiscal department, sought by well-considered plans to extend the spread of education, and engaged foreign officers as instructors, by whom a small corps of new troops called nizam-i-jedid were collected and drilled.