Mahmud II destroys the janissary corps in the Auspicious Incident
The sultan baits his own elite troops into rebellion, then has artillery burn their barracks to the ground.
Quick facts
- Sultan
- Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839)
- Date
- 15-16 June 1826
- Ottoman name
- Vaka-i Hayriye (the Auspicious Incident)
- Result
- Janissary corps abolished after roughly 460 years
What happened
By the 1820s the janissary corps, founded through the devshirme system four centuries earlier, had become a politically obstructive force that had killed reforming sultans in the past, most recently helping depose and later kill Selim III over his attempts to modernize the army. Mahmud II spent years quietly building support among the ulema and appointing loyalists to hollow out janissary influence from within before creating a new auxiliary force, the Eskinci, drawn from the janissaries themselves as a pretext. On 15 June 1826 the janissaries rose in the rebellion Mahmud had been provoking; he was ready, and ordered artillery to bombard their barracks, killing thousands and forcing the survivors into exile or execution. Traditional janissary dress, including turbans, was banned immediately afterward and replaced with the fez and Western-style uniforms, a change extended to civil servants by 1829.
Why it matters
The Auspicious Incident, as it became known, removed the single institution that had blocked Ottoman military modernization for over a century, since previous sultans who tried to reform or replace the janissaries had been killed for the attempt. It let Mahmud II build a new, European-style army and pursue the administrative reforms that culminated in the Tanzimat era after his death.
How we know
World History Encyclopedia's biography of Mahmud II reconstructs the plan in detail, including his years of preparation, quoting an Ottoman description of his strategy as being 'like a master surgeon who ripens a raging boil with a poultice, right before making the final incision,' citing historian Kemal Beydilli.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Mahmud II: Reformist Sultan of the Ottoman Empire · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Ottoman Empire · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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