Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha (1667 – 5 August 1716), also called Silahdar Ali Pasha, was an Ottoman general and Grand Vizier. His epithet ''

silahdar The Silahdar Agha was a palace office of the Ottoman Empire, denoting the principal page of the Ottoman Sultan. As such its holders were persons of great influence, and provided many senior officials and even Grand Viziers. The title derives fro ...

'' means arms bearer and ''

damat Damat ( tr, damat, from fa, {{nq, داماد (dâmâd) "bridegroom") was an official Ottoman title describing men that entered the imperial House of Osman by means of marriage, literally becoming the bridegroom to the Ottoman sultan and the d ...

'' means bridegroom, because he married Fatma Sultan.

Early life

Ali Pasha was born to a Turkish family in Iznik (ancient

Nicaea Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...

), in modern

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 ...

. His father's name was Hacı Hüseyin. He was trained in the Enderun palace school in

İstanbul ) , 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_in ...

and during the reign of Mustafa II he was appointed to be the personal secretary of the sultan. In 1709, he was engaged to the daughter of Ahmet III, gaining the title ''

'' ( en, bridegroom) and was appointed as the Second Vizier. On 27 April 1713, he became the Grand Vizier.

Term as Grand Vizier

Shortly after his appointment, he succeeded in ratifying the Treaty of Pruth with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, thus securing the northern frontiers of the Ottoman Empire at

Dnieper River } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...

. By early 1714, his attention shifted to 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 ...

, which had been held by the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

since the

Morean War The Morean War ( it, Guerra di Morea), also known as the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War, was fought between 1684–1699 as part of the wider conflict known as the " Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military ...

and the 1699

Treaty of Karlowitz The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed in Karlowitz, Military Frontier of Archduchy of Austria (present-day Sremski Karlovci, Serbia), on 26 January 1699, concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by th ...

. The Ottomans had never been reconciled to its loss. When the Venetians gave refuge to Serbian rebels from

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

and Herzegovina in their Dalmatian province, and some of their merchants were involved in disputes with Ottoman vessels, the

Ottoman Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name ...

(government) swiftly used this as a pretext to declare

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. The subsequent campaign in 1715, led by Silahdar Ali Pasha himself, was an overwhelming success, as the entire Morea fell quickly and with little bloodshed to the Ottoman army. However, Habsburg Austria, an ally of Venice, also declared war against the Ottomans. In 1716, Ali Pasha moved to Austrian front where he commanded the Ottoman army against the Austrian forces led by Prince

Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. He ...

at the

Battle of Petrovaradin The Battle of Petrovaradin also known as the Battle of Peterwardein, took place on 5 August 1716 during the Austro-Turkish War when the Ottoman army besieged the Habsburgs-controlled fortress of Petrovaradin on the Military Frontier of the Hab ...

(5 August 1716). During the battle Ali Pasha lost his life.Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: ''Türkiye tarihi Cilt III'', AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 268-269 His

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

is in Belgrade. After his death he was called Şehit Ali Pasha (Şehit means ''martyr'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Pasha, Silahdar Damat 1667 births 1716 deaths 18th-century Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire Pashas Ottoman military personnel killed in action Turks from the Ottoman Empire People from İznik Damats Ottoman people of the Ottoman–Venetian Wars Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)

Early life

Term as Grand Vizier

See also

References