Young Turk Revolution

See also: Young Turk Revolution, Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire), and Young TurksOpening of the first Ottoman Parliament (Meclis-i Umumî), at the Dolmabahçe Palace in 1877.Greek lithograph celebrating the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 and the restoration of the 1876 constitution in the Ottoman Empire

The national humiliation of the Macedonian conflict, together with the resentment in the army against the palace spies and informers, at last brought matters to a crisis.[31] The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a Young Turks organization that was especially influential in the Rumelian army units, undertook the Young Turk Revolution in the summer of 1908. Upon learning that the troops in Salonica were marching on Istanbul (23 July), Abdul Hamid capitulated. On 24 July an irade announced the restoration of the suspended constitution of 1876; the next day, further irades abolished espionage and censorship, and ordered the release of political prisoners.[31]

On 17 December, Abdul Hamid reopened the General Assembly with a speech from the throne in which he said that the first parliament had been "temporarily dissolved until the education of the people had been brought to a sufficiently high level by the extension of instruction throughout the empire."[31]

DepositionSee also: 31 March Incident and Adana massacreAbdul Hamid II's last ride through the streets of Istanbul after the 31 March Incident

Abdul Hamid's new attitude did not save him from the suspicion of intriguing with the state's powerful reactionary elements, a suspicion confirmed by his attitude toward the counter-revolution of 13 April 1909 known as the 31 March Incident, when an insurrection of the soldiers backed by a conservative upheaval in some parts of the military in the capital overthrew Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha's government. With the Young Turks driven out of the capital, Abdul Hamid appointed Ahmet Tevfik Pasha in his place, and once again suspended the constitution and shuttered the parliament. But the Sultan controlled only Constantinople, while the Unionists were still influential in the rest of the army and provinces. The CUP appealed to Mahmud Shevket Pasha to restore the status quo. Shevket Pasha organized an ad hoc formation known as the Action Army, which marched on Constantinople. Şevket Pasha's chief of staff was captain Mustafa Kemal. The Action Army stopped first in Aya Stefanos, and negotiated with the rival government established by deputies who escaped from the capital, which was led by Mehmed Talat. It was secretly decided there that Abdul Hamid must be deposed. When the Action Army entered Istanbul, a fatwa was issued condemning Abdul Hamid, and the parliament voted to dethrone him. On 27 April, Abdul Hamid's half-brother Reshad Efendi was proclaimed as Sultan Mehmed V.[20]

The Sultan's countercoup, which had appealed to conservative Islamists against the Young Turks' liberal reforms, resulted in the massacre of tens of thousands of Christian Armenians in the Adana province, known as the Adana massacre.[51]

After deposition[edit]The mausoleum (türbe) of Sultans Mahmud II, Abdulaziz, and Abdul Hamid II, located at Divanyolu street, Istanbul

Abdul Hamid was conveyed into captivity at Salonica (now Thessaloniki),[31] mostly at the Villa Allatini in the city's southern outskirts. In 1912, when Salonica fell to Greece, he was returned to captivity in Constantinople. He spent his last days studying, practicing carpentry, and writing his memoirs in custody at Beylerbeyi Palace in the Bosphorus, in the company of his wives and children. He died there on 10 February 1918, a few months before his brother Mehmed V, the reigning sultan. He was buried in Istanbul.

In 1930, his nine widows and thirteen children were granted $50 million from his estate after a lawsuit that lasted five years. His estate was worth $1.5 billion.[52]

Abdul Hamid was the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire to hold absolute power. He presided over 33 years of decline, during which other European countries regarded the empire as the "sick man of Europe".[53]