24. Ottoman Sultan
Mahmud I
- Reign
- 1730 – 1754
- Born
- 1696
- Died
- 1754
The period in which Western-style reforms of the army began.
Sultan Mahmud I was born in Istanbul on 2 August 1696. His father was Sultan Mustafa II, his mother Saliha Valide Sultan. He grew up in the love and care of his grandmother Gülnuş Sultan. Although he had lived the cage life since the age of eight, his intelligence, good will and strong character saved him from ruining himself. From an early age he took lessons from various tutors and occupied himself with history, literature and poetry, and above all with music.
Mahmud I became sultan on 1 October 1730, at the age of thirty-five. He chose the most capable men of his age and brought them to office. He was a man of character: determined, kindly, merciful, careful and patient. He acted with the welfare of the nation in mind rather than his own pleasure, and so avoided the mistakes into which his father and his uncle had fallen. Having spent the last two years of his life ill, Mahmud I died on 13 December 1754 at the age of fifty-nine. He was buried in the tomb of Sultan Mustafa II at the Yeni Mosque.
Source: Osmanlı Tarihi Interaktif CD-ROM (Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları XXXI. Dizi-Sa.2)