Mahmud I

(1696–1754)

   Mahmud I was the 24th Ottoman Sultan (1730–1754). A revolt of the Janissaries put him on the throne of the Ottoman Empire. After restoring order to the empire in Istanbul in 1730, Mahmud I suppressed the Janissary rebellion in 1731 and waged war against Persia between 1731 and 1746. The Ottomans managed to retain control of Baghdad but lost Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to the Persians. He led successful wars against Russia in 1736 and Austria in 1737, concluded by the treaty of Belgrade in 1739, which restored North Serbia and Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire. He was a patron of the arts and also carried out reform of the army.

   FURTHER READING:

    Fleet, Kate, ed. The Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century. Roma: Instituto per l’Oriente, 1999;

    Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

   MOSHE TERDMAN