Art, literature & culture

Birth of Abdul Hamid II

21 September 1842

Abdul Hamid II was born on 21 September 1842 in Istanbul. The thirty-fourth sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II came to the throne in 1876 and promulgated the first Ottoman constitution, but suspended it and parliament in 1878 and ruled as an autocrat for three decades. He sought to hold the empire together by emphasizing his role as caliph, built railways, including the Hejaz Railway, and telegraph networks, and expanded education. His reign saw territorial losses in the Balkans, Egypt and Tunisia, and the massacres of Armenians in the 1890s, which earned him the name Red Sultan. He was deposed after the Young Turk Revolution and the counter-coup of 1909.

Open on the timeline

Before and after

More in Art, literature & culture

The era

This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.