Abdulhamid II

Abdul Hamid II عبد الحميد ثانی
Caliph of Islam Amir al-Mu'minin Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
Şehzade (Prince) Abdul Hamid in 1868.
26th Caliph of the Ottoman Caliphate 34th Ottoman Sultan (Emperor)
Reign	31 August 1876 – 27 April 1909 (32 years)
Sword girding	7 September 1876
Predecessor	Murad V
Successor	Mehmed V
Grand Viziers	See list Mütercim Mehmed Rüşdi Pasha Midhat Pasha İbrahim Edhem Pasha Ahmed Hamdi Pasha Ahmed Vefik Pasha Mehmed Sadık Pasha Saffet Pasha Tunuslu Hayreddin Pasha Ahmed Arifi Pasha Mehmed Said Pasha Kadri Pasha Abdurrahman Nureddin Pasha Kâmil Pasha Ahmed Cevat Şakir Pasha Halil Rifat Pasha Avlonyalı Mehmed Ferid Pasha Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha Ahmet Tevfik Pasha
Born	(1842-09-21)21 September 1842 Topkapı Palace, Istanbul
Died	10 February 1918(1918-02-10) (aged 75) Beylerbeyi Palace, Istanbul
Burial	Sultan Mahmud II Tomb
Consorts	Nazikeda Kadın Nurefzun Kadın Bedrifelek Kadın Bidar Kadın Dilpesend Kadın Mezidimestan Kadın Emsalinur Kadın Müşfika Kadın Sazkar Hanım Peyveste Hanım Pesend Hanım Behice Hanım Naciye Hanım
Full name Abdul Hamid bin Abdul Mecid Era name and dates Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire: 1828–1908
Dynasty	Osmanli (Ottoman)
Father	Abdülmecid I
Mother	Biological mother: Tirimüjgan Kadın Adoptive mother: Perestu Kadın
Religion	Sunni Islam
Tughra

Abdul Hamid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی‎, `Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i sânî; Turkish: İkinci Abdülhamit; 21 September 1842 – 10 February 1918) was the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the last Sultan to exert effective over the fracturing state. He oversaw a period of decline in the power and extent of the Ottoman Empire, including widespread pogroms and government-sanctioned massacres of Armenians and Bulgarians, as well as an assassination attempt, ruling from 31 August 1876 until he was deposed shortly after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, on 27 April 1909. In accordance with an agreement made with the republican Young Ottomans, he promulgated the first Ottoman constitution of 1876 on 23 December 1876, which was a sign of progressive thinking that marked his early rule. Soon, however, he claimed Western influence on Ottoman affairs and citing disagreements with Parliament, Abdul Hamid suspended both the short-lived constitution and Parliament in 1878 and seized absolute power, ending the first constitutional era of the Ottoman Empire. Abdul Hamid's 1909 removal from the throne was hailed by most Ottoman citizens, who welcomed the return to constitutional rule after three decades.

Despite his reactionary and despotic rule, some modernization of the Ottoman Empire occurred during Abdul Hamid's long reign, including reform of the bureaucracy, the extension of the Rumelia Railway and Anatolia Railway and the construction of the Baghdad Railway and Hejaz Railway, the establishment of a system for population registration and control over the press and the founding of the first modern law school in 1898. The most far-reaching of these reforms were in education: professional schools were established. The University of Istanbul, although shut down by Abdul Hamid himself in 1881, was reopened in 1900, and a network of secondary, primary, and military schools was extended throughout the empire. Railway and telegraph systems were developed by primarily German firms. Between 1871 and 1908, the Sublime Porte thus "reached a new degree of organizational elaboration and articulation."