Edhem Pasha ( tr, Ethem Paşa; 1844–1909) was an Ottoman field marshal and leading figure in the propagation of the Ottoman military doctrine.

Life and career

Edhem was born to a

Greek Muslim Greek Muslims, also known as Grecophone Muslims, are Muslims of Greek ethnic origin whose adoption of Islam (and often the Turkish language and identity) dates to the period of Ottoman rule in the southern Balkans. They consist primarily of th ...

family in

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...

in present-day

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. He was the deputy of Gazi Osman Pasha during the siege of Plevna in 1877. He was the leading commander of the Ottoman army that defeated the Greek army on the

Thessalian Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thess ...

front during the

Greco-Turkish War (1897) The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War ( el, Ατυχής πόλεμος, Atychis polemos), was a w ...

, which would end in a decisive Turkish victory. Edhem Pasha was especially successful in the Battle of Domokos on the front. He captured Larissa and

Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...

, but other European states intervened in favor of Greece because of the danger that Turks again could once again capture the rest of the

Morea The Morea ( el, Μορέας or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used for the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottom ...

. As a result, the Greco-Turkish War resulted in a strategic stalemate despite the Turkish military victory on the field. Edhem Pasha died in Constantinople (modern-day

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

) in 1909.

References

1844 births 1909 deaths People from Trabzon Ottoman military personnel of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) Ottoman military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1897) Field marshals of the Ottoman Empire Pashas {{Ottoman-bio-stub