Auspicious Incident

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A Janissary musketeer. The entire Janissary corps was disbanded during the Auspicious Incident.

The Auspicious Incident (or Event[1]) (Turkish: (in Istanbul) Vaka-i Hayriye "Fortunate Event"; (in Balkans) Vaka-i Şerriyye, "Unfortunate Incident") was the forced disbandment of the centuries–old Janissary corps by Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826.[2][3] Most of the 135,000 Janissaries revolted against Mahmud II, and after the rebellion was suppressed, its leaders killed, and many members exiled or imprisoned, the Janissary corps was disbanded and replaced with a more modern military force.


Since the early 17th century, the Janissary corps had ceased to function as an elite military unit. Many Janissaries were not soldiers and simply extorted money from the Turkish state and dictated its government, adding to the steady decline of the Ottoman Empire. Any sultan who attempted to modernize the Ottoman military structure and replace the Janissaries was either immediately killed or deposed.[4] Over time it became clear that in order for the Ottoman Empire to compete with the military powers of Europe it needed to create a modern military and dismantle the Janissary. The number of Janissaries grew from 20,000 in 1575, to 49,000 (1591), and 135,000 in 1826.[5]


When Mahmud II began forming a new army and hiring European gunners, the Janissaries mutinied as usual and fought on the streets of the Ottoman capital, but the numerically superior Sipahis charged and forced them back into their barracks. Turkish historians claim that the counter–Janissary force, a force which was great in numbers, was dominated by local residents who had hated the Janissaries for years.[4]

Historians suggest that Mahmud II purposely incited the revolt, and have described it as the sultan's "coup against the Janissaries". The sultan informed them that he was forming a new army, the Sekban-ı Cedit, organized and trained along modern European lines (and that the new army would be Turkish–dominated). The Janissaries saw their institution as crucial to the well being of the Ottoman Empire, especially to Rumelia, and had previously decided they would never allow its dissolution. Thus as predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace. Mahmud II then brought out the sacred standard of the Prophet from inside the treasury, intending all true believers to gather beneath it and thus bolster the opposition to the Janissaries.[6] In the ensuing fight, the Janissary barracks were set in flames by artillery fire resulting in 4,000 Janissary deaths, more were killed in the heavy fighting on the streets of Constantinople (the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and the center of the Janissary order). The survivors either fled or were imprisoned, their possessions confiscated by the Sultan. By the end of 1826 the captured Janissaries, constituting the remainder of the force, were put to death by decapitation in the Thessaloniki fort that soon came to be called the "Blood Tower" (but which has been, since 1912, known as the White Tower). Roughly 100 other Janissaries fled to Cistern of Philoxenos where many drowned.[7]


The Janissary leaders were executed and their possessions confiscated by the Sultan. The younger Janissaries were either exiled or imprisoned. Thousands of Janissaries had been killed, and thus the elite order came to its end.[1][2] The Sufi Order of the Bektaşi Brotherhood, a core Janissary institution, was also disbanded, and its followers executed or exiled. A new modern corps, Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye ("The Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad") was established by Mahmud II to guard the Sultan and replace the Janissaries. Many ordinary Janissaries, especially in the provinces, began rogue revolts and demanded autonomy. Christians in the Balkans became very hostile to their Muslim convert neighbors and began to rally against the new Turkish armies sent from Constantinople.[citation needed] Some Janissaries survived by keeping a low profile and taking ordinary jobs.[1] Immediately following the destruction of the elite Janissary, Mahmud II ordered the court chronicler, Mehmet Esad Efendi (c. 1789–1848), to record the official version of events, Üss-i Zafer (Foundation of Victory), which was printed in Constantinople in 1828 and served as the main source for every other Ottoman account of this period.[8] The incident had a negative impact on the newly converted Muslims[clarification needed] and their communities in the Balkans, who lost their privileges, as rebellions broke out across Rumelia, especially in Bosnia and Albania.[citation needed]

Taking advantage of the temporary weakness in the military position of the Ottoman Empire following The Auspicious Incident, the Russian Empire forced the Ottomans to accept the Akkerman Convention on 7 October 1826.[9]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b c Goodwin, pp. 296–299.
  2. ^ a b Kinross, pp. 456–457
  3. ^ Shaw, pp. 19–20
  4. ^ a b
  5. ^ George F. Nafziger (2001). Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era. Scarecrow Press. pp. 153–54. 
  6. ^ Finkel, Caroline (2005). Osman's Dream. John Murray. p. 435. ISBN 0-465-02396-7. 
  7. ^ Barber, Noel (1973). The Sultans. pp. 135–136. ISBN 0-671-21624-4. 
  8. ^ Levy, Avigdor. "The Ottoman Ulama and the Military Reforms of Sultan Mahmud II." Asian and African Studies 7 (1971): 13 - 39.
  9. ^ Charles and Barabara Jelavich The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804-1920, University of Washington Press, 1986. ISBN 0-295-96413-8. pp. 48-51