(born Sept. 21, 1842, Constantinople—died Feb. 10, 1918, Constantinople) Sultan (1876–1909) of the Ottoman Empire under whose rule the Tanzimat reform movement reached its climax.
After initially promoting the first Ottoman constitution (primarily to ward off foreign intervention), he suspended it 14 months later and ruled thereafter as a despot. He used Pan-Islamism to rally Muslim opinion outside his empire; the Hejaz Railway was built with foreign contributions. Discontent with his absolutist rule and resentment over European intervention in the Balkans resulted in his overthrow by the Young Turks in 1908. &Seealso; Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; Enver Pasha; Midhat Pasha.
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