- Topal Osman Pasha
Topal Osman Pasha (died 1733) was a
Grand Vizier in theOttoman Empire . Osman was born inMorea and was educated in theSeraglio atConstantinople . At the age of twenty-six he attained the rank ofBeylerbeyi ; and was sent on a mission to the Governor ofEgypt . On the voyage his ship encountered a Spanishcorsair and Osman was captured after a fight in the course of which he received a wound which lamed him for life, whence he obtained his name of Topal. He became Grand Vizier onSeptember 21 ,1731 . Topal Osman was superseded in the Grand Vizierate in 1732. Before Topal Osman had been long in retirement, the military victories of the Persian army ofNader Shah made the sultan again require his services; and he was sent into Asia as generaIissimo of the Turkish armies in that continent, and was invested with almost unlimited powers. He marched to encounter Nader and onJuly 19 , 1733, defeated him in a pitched battle, near the banks of theTigris close toBaghdad . The victory thus gained by Topal Osman on the Tigris, rescued Baghdad and he again defeated the Persians, near Leilan, in the same year. But in a third battle with Nader, nearKirkuk , the Turks were routed; and Topal Osman himself died fighting sword in hand. His body was borne off the field by some of his attendants, and was afterwards brought for burial to Constantinople.References
* Incorporates text from "History of Ottoman Turks" (1878)
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