Mahmud II, son of Abd al-Hamid I, was an Ottoman sultan who came to the throne in 1223 AH 1. Al-Salabi dates his reign from 1223 to 1255 AH (1808–1839 CE) and says he acceded aged twenty-four, having gained from his confinement with Selim III, who showed him his reform plans 2. At first he was forced to give way to the Janissaries and ordered every reform cancelled; years filled with wars went by, among them one with Russia that ended in the Treaty of Bucharest 2.
Then, in al-Salabi's account, he gathered the state's notables and the senior Janissary officers in the mufti's house, where the grand vizier set out the need for modern military systems and the mufti gave a fatwa permitting action to put down the rebels 3. In Dhu al-Qa'da 1241 AH the Janissaries mutinied; the sultan advanced with the artillerymen to the At Meydani square, the guns ringed it and their barracks were burned, and the next day a decree abolished their corps and their name throughout the state 4. Al-Salabi says he was then free to develop his army: he adopted the fez in place of the turban, wore European dress, and ordered it to be the official dress of the state's military and civil officials 5 1. Al-Salabi counts this as following in the steps of Western civilisation and as a sign of a sense of psychological defeat; the judgement is his own 5. On his death in 1839 CE his son Abd al-Majid I succeeded him 6 7.
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