Halil Hamid Pasha

Halil Hamid Pasha (* 1736 in Isparta, † 1785 in Bozcaada ) was 1782-1785 Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and has operated an outspoken reform policy.

Life

He was born in Southwestern Anatolia. In Constantinople, Opel, he joined the administrative service of the Ottoman Empire and made on the basis of his abilities career. In 1782 he was appointed Grand Vizier.

His tenure was 1783, the Russian annexation of the Crimea. Halil Hamid had to accept this because the military power of the Ottoman army was too small.

The weakness of the empire he wanted to overcome through a comprehensive reform policy in many areas. He was based in many cases on the European model. To overcome the technical backwardness of the empire, he was anxious to import new insights. He reorganized the schools of engineering and he recruited French and Prussian specialists to modernize the army, including the Janissary corps '.

A basic problem of the empire was, in his view, the economic inferiority in comparison with the European countries. Therefore, he tried to prevent the import of luxury goods in particular of textiles from Europe and India. Instead, he encouraged domestic production of those goods. He was planning a major reform of agricultural production. In order to break the economic supremacy of the Russians in the Black Sea, he opened this area for international trade.

Also administrative reforms he planned, in particular the reform of the pay, tax and recruitment system of the state. Halil Hamid tried to ban trade with wage bills of the Janissaries, who acted as fixed income securities.

With this policy, he makes enemies among those who had benefited from the previous system. Among them were such as the Grand Admiral Gazi Hassan Pasha Cezayirli who were quite willing to make changes in their area. A fundamental reform would threaten the foundations of their influence. Politically, both were on different sides. While Hassan Pasha was an aggressive approach against Russia, Halil Hamid advocated a peaceful course. Since the Grand Admiral had the full confidence of the Sultan Abdulhamid I., planned Halil Hamid, the overthrow Sultan by a cabal and his place later Selim III. to set. This attempt failed. He was deposed and later executed.

In a way, he laid the foundations for his policy reforms under Selim III.