Topal Osman Pasha

Topal Osman Pasha (1663–1733) was an Ottoman military officer and administrator. A capable man, he rose to the rank of beylerbey by the age of 24 and served as general against the Venetians and the Austrians and as governor in several provinces. His career eventually brought his appointment to the position of Grand Vizier in 1731–32. After his dismissal, he was sent to a provincial governorship, but was soon recalled to lead the Ottoman troops in the Ottoman–Persian War of 1730–35. He succeeded in defeating Nader Shah and saving Baghdad in 1732, but was decisively beaten and fell in the Battle of Kirkuk (1733) where he clashed with Nader for a second time, the next year.

Osman was born ca. 1663 in the Morea (Peloponnese) peninsula in Greece, but his family hailed from Konya in Anatolia. At a young age he entered the Sultan's service, enrolling in the corps of the kozbekçi and then the pandurs. By the age of 24, he had already risen to the rank of beylerbey. Sent on a mission to the Governor of Egypt, his ship was attacked en route by a Spanish privateer. Osman was captured after a fight, in the course of which he received a wound which left him lame in one foot for life, earning him the epithet "Topal" (Turkish for "lame").

Taken initially to Malta, he was soon ransomed and returned to Istanbul. He then participated in the 1710–11 Pruth River Campaign, was appointed to the honorary post of kapıcıbaşı, and then sent to the Rumeli Eyalet where he served as commander of the Christian irregular militia, the armatoloi. In this role he served in the 1715 campaign that recovered the Morea from the Venetians, where he so distinguished himself that he was promoted to the rank of pasha with two horse-tails, and appointed governor of the Sanjak of Tirhala. During the opening operations of the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18, he was in charge of supplying the army, but soon returned to the Morea (late 1716) as a pasha with three horse-tails (the highest rank) and serasker (commander-in-chief) of the Morea Eyalet, in order to suppress local revolts and prevent any Venetian attempts at recovering the province.

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