Ahmed Muhtar Pasha

Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha (or Ahmed Muhtar Pasha) was a Turkish Ottoman grand vizier and general.

He was born at Bursa in Turkey and was educated in the Ottoman military college in İstanbul. He was promoted rapidly and eventually became professor and then governor of the school.

In 1856, he served as an adjutant during the Crimean War; in 1862, as a staff officer in the Montenegrin campaign; and in 1870-1871, quelled rebellions in Yemen. He gained the titles of Pasha and Marshal and in 1873 was made commander of the Second Army Corps. During the 1875 uprisings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he assumed control of the Turkish forces there; and on the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878, he was sent to take charge of operations in Erzurum. Although the Russians ultimately defeated the Turks in the war, Moukhtar's victories against them won in the eastern front won him the title "Ghazi" ("Victorious").

In 1879, he was appointed the commander of Turkey's frontier with Greece , before being sent in 1885 to serve as the Turkish High Commissioner in Egypt. His final promotion was to Grand Vizier in July 1912, largely due to his prestige as an old military hero, but he resigned on 29 October 1912, since the First Balkan War that had erupted early that month had caught his administration off-guard and he was blamed for the sudden defeats.

Ahmed Muhtar Pasha died in 1919. His son Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha was also a high-ranking commander in the Ottoman Navy and held ministerial posts.

See also

* List of Ottoman grand viziers

References