The Sultan who built schools to prevent a revolution, only to train his successors
Abdul Hamid II was the last Ottoman Sultan to wield true power. While history often remembers him as the 'Red Sultan' for his repressive autocracy, his reign was a paradox of modernization and deep paranoia, defined by a massive expansion of education and infrastructure that ultimately fueled his own downfall.
Ascending the throne in 1876 following the deposition of his brother Murad V, Abdul Hamid II initially appeared to be a reformer. He promulgated the Empire's first constitution in December 1876, a move intended to ward off foreign intervention during the Great Eastern Crisis. However, after a disastrous war with the Russian Empire in 1877–78 and the subsequent loss of territories like Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro, the Sultan pivoted. By February 1878, he suspended the constitution and dismissed parliament, beginning three decades of autocratic rule from Yıldız Palace.
To maintain control over a fracturing state, he established a notorious system of censorship and secret police known as the Umur-u Hafiye. His governance was characterized by 'borrowed colonialism,' where he managed internal threats through centralized bureaucracy and population registration. To counter Western influence, he adopted a policy of pan-Islamism, asserting his title as Caliph to rally Muslims globally. This era saw significant infrastructure projects, including the expansion of the telegraph network and the construction of the Hejaz and Baghdad Railways, often with German assistance.
The Sultan's most enduring legacy, however, was his educational reform. He established 18 professional schools and a vast network of primary and military institutions, including the founding of Istanbul University (Darülfünûn) in 1900. Yet, this modernization proved a double-edged sword. The very students and teachers he trained became the intellectual engine of the Young Turks movement. This opposition, combined with the intense unrest following the Hamidian massacres of Armenians between 1894 and 1897, eventually led to the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and his deposition in 1909.
Source: Abdul Hamid II
