To Save an Empire

R Gall Allan

Description

In 1877, when Russia attacks the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Abduelhamit II must fight a devastating war to preserve his ethnically diverse territories that stretch across three continents. At home, he feels threatened from within by Mithat Pasha, a respected reformer, who has popular support for a constitution that would curb the sultan's authority and give the people a voice in their government. Aware of these challenges, Abduelhamit's Belgian wife, Flora Cordier, hopes to remain his confidante and helpmate as he decides how to govern: the iron-fisted rule of his ancestors, the democracy proposed by Mithat, or the diplomacy that exposes his weakened military power. No matter his choice, he is responsible for the suffering of his people.To Save an Empire explores the impact of religious and ethnic conflict in the Ottoman Empire of the late 19th century on the lives of ordinary people-Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Refugees flee atrocities that incite revenge, but also arouse charity and love. A story of love found and lost, of war and its consequences. Today's Balkans and Middle East emerge from the era's political forces of terrorism, imperialism, nationalism, and religion. It is a modern story.______________________________________________________________________________"[Gall]...artfully brings to life the political intrigues of an empire sliding into irrelevance. The Ottoman Empire emerges as a kind of protagonist all its own, eager to become strengthened by its embrace of modernity and the West, but also anxious about surrendering its cultural and religious identity. ... A magnificently researched tale of a troubled empire that's also dramatically captivating." - Kirkus reviews "Fiction as only history can tell it, all the more moving because we know it is not fiction. ...a compelling story." - Bulent Atalay, physicist and author of Math and the Mona Lisa and Leonardo's Universe

Informations

• Publié par: Allan R. Gall
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912643080
• Langue: English

Extrait

2018 Allan R. Gall
Allan R. Gall has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by Allan R. Gall
First published in 2018
ISBN: 978-1-91264-308-0
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
CONTENTS
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
Fifty-Two
Fifty-Three
Fifty-Four
Fifty-Five
Fifty-Six
Fifty-Seven
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Author’s Notes
Pronunciation Guide and Glossary
About the Author
PROLOGUE
The Ottoman Empire was a hereditary autocracy based on the lineage of Osman I, who ruled a relatively small principality in western Anatolia at the end of the thirteenth century. His descendants made it an empire, capturing the seat of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, and extending their suzerainty west as far as Vienna and east as far as Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Morocco. The Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea were Ottoman seas. The sultan’s rule extended into three continents. At the height of Ottoman power in the sixteenth century under Sultan Süleyman, called “The Magnificent” by the West and “The Lawgiver” by the Turks, the Ottoman Empire was the world’s military superpower and the apex of the world’s sumptuousness. The sultan of the Ottoman Empire claimed the title “Caliph of Islam.”
When the chief protagonist of this novel ascends the throne as Sultan Abdülhamit II in 1876, the empire’s land mass is moderately reduced, but its power is greatly reduced. Europe has ascended, and the Ottomans are turned westward for cultural, political, and military currency.
Maps and a glossary of Turkish words are found at the back of the book. The maps are provided to help the reader visualize the relative geographic locations of sites and events that are mentioned in the novel. Where place names have changed such that a reader would not be able to find them on a modern map, I have indicated their current name.
ONE
“The time has come,” Hüseyin announced, addressing his guest, Mithat. It was just past midnight, May 30, 1876.
Mithat had waited for this moment, the moment when they would launch an event that could change the future of their country. He would have said the words himself, but as a guest in Hüseyin’s home, he deferred to him. “Yes, let’s go,” Mithat responded, his voice reflecting his relief and resolve. Tonight they would carry out Mithat’s plan. He had convinced the Council of Ministers and the Council of State, of which he was president, that tonight’s action was necessary; and he asked Hüseyin, who was minister of war, to be his partner. The soldiers would do as Hüseyin ordered.
Hüseyin rose and called to a servant, “Have Agim meet us at the dock.”
Hüseyin was of moderate height and build, but his military bearing and uniform gave him the appearance of a taller man. Mithat was tall and also stood erect. They left the room, stepped out of their indoor slippers—Mithat into his European-style shoes and Hüseyin into his polished military boots—and walked down the steps to the dock under the house.
Only when he stepped into the small kayık rowboat with which they would cross the Bosphorus did Mithat feel anxious. The steady rain—unexpectedly cold for the end of May— made him shiver, and he gripped the sides of the kayık tightly as he sat down on the forward bench.
The strong Bosphorus current dictated the point on the opposite shore that a small kayık could reach, based on the strength, number, and skill of the rowers. Mithat suggested they use two oarsmen, but Hüseyin insisted on using only his most trusted personal servant.
“Agim’s rowed me across the Bosphorus many times. I didn’t tell him our purpose, and, if asked, he’ll know nothing,” Hüseyin said, but, of course, he knew that under torture every man knew something.
Agim edged the kayık out of the dock, pulled hard on the oars, and sent them out from under the house, onto the black waters, into the rain, and on to their mission to save the Ottoman Empire.
Already, Mithat felt the effect of the unforeseeable. He was not dressed for the unseasonably cold rain. The dampness triggered involuntary shivers, as though he were afraid. The rage of the current was apparent even in the starless dark through which Agim forced the kayık . The Bosphorus was no man’s friend. As fast as the current flowed on the surface, it flowed faster in the opposite direction below.
Many died in the Bosphorus. Everyone knew the stories of harem girls and women tied in rock-weighted sacks and thrown into the Bosphorus with no one to ask what their offense had been or why forgiveness had been left to Allah. Even the strongest swimmers succumbed to the Bosphorus. Drownings were regularly reported in summers when hubris led young men out into the current from the indentations of shoreline that protected swimmers. Mithat gripped the sides of the kayık tightly and looked away from the water, hoping to see the opposite shore. He could not.
But from the shore they had just left, Mithat could still see light from one of the windows of Hüseyin’s house, a yalı on the Asian side of the Bosphorus in the seaside village of Kandilli. Light from a single window came from the upper floor that extended out above the water, drawing Mithat’s eyes to the yalı ’s dark outline. The image hovered over the water, a one-eyed vulture, watching, waiting for the little kayık to make an error, to give up the lives it cradled.
After what seemed twice as long as he knew it had been, Mithat made out the welcome beam of the lighthouse and the shadow of the opposite shore. They were approaching slightly up-current from a dock, so that Agim had only to ease off the oars for the kayık to deliver them to their destination. Agim was a master. They were wet and cold, but the first step of the plan had gone perfectly.
“Where are the carriages?” Hüseyin’s voice revealed a trace of anxiety. “Agim, see if they’re at the next dock. I was very clear that we’d be landing at this dock,” he added, as though to absolve himself.
They waited in silence in the dock’s passenger shelter. They needed one carriage to take Hüseyin to the palace, where the guards would do as he ordered. Mithat would take the second carriage to the Ministry of War, and on the agreed-upon signal, he would announce the change in government to the officers and the troops in the barracks. There would be no opportunity for opposition.
Mithat was the driving force behind what they were about to do. Sultan Abdülaziz was no longer carrying out his responsibilities as head of state. He was closeted with a seventeen-year old odalisque and was squandering the empire’s wealth in a sumptuous palace inhabited by thousands of functionaries, women, children, and slaves.
Mithat chafed at the anachronism that was his country, an empire with the bureaucratic and military trappings of a modern state, but one that remained a medieval theocracy headed by an autocrat. The sultan was also the Caliph, the acknowledge figurehead of the faithful, and he appointed the Sheikh Ul-Islam. But, ironically, among the powers of the Sheikh Ul-Islam was the power to depose the sultan who appointed him. Mithat reflected on this irony with amusement. It allowed him to bring down Sultan Abdülaziz with the stroke of Sheikh Ul-Islam Hasan Hayrullah’s pen. His fetva of deposition was with Hüseyin Pasha and read:
If the Chief of the Faithful gives proof of mental derangement … and if his continuance in power becomes injurious to the nation, may he be deposed? Answer: The Sharia says, yes. Signed: Allah’s humble servant, Hasan Hayrullah, to whom may Allah grant his indulgence.
Mithat’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of horses’ hooves and carriage wheels on the cobbled street. Running toward the carriages, Mithat shouted to Hüseyin, “May Allah be with you. I’ll wait for your signal.”
“And with you, my brother. I’ve sent word that you’re coming with orders from me,” Hüseyin responded.
“With the help of Allah, we will serve our country.”
“I commend you to Allah.”
The rain and cold did not relent, and the black streets revealed nothing of what lay ahead. Yet in the carriage, Mithat was warmed by the comfort of steps taken as planned, of fitting in a puzzle piece that made selecting the next one obvious. Tonight was only the first of many steps needed to prevent the collapse of the empire. But on tonight’s base, he would build a stairway; he would climb it; and he would pull the nation up behind him.
******
Prior to tonight, Mithat had met with Murat, the nephew of Sultan Abdülaziz and the next in line, to get his measure, to confirm Murat’s reputation as progressive and informed on the state of the empire and on its relations with other countries, principally Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia—countries that exercised power—indeed, called themselves “the Powers.” Mithat did not s