Mehmed VI

Mehmed VI, original name in Turkish Latin alphabet Mehmed Vahdettin (January 14 1861 – May 16 1926) was the 36th and last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1918–1922. The brother of Mehmed V who died in four months before the end of World War I, he succeeded to the throne as the eldest male member of the House of Osman after the 1916 suicide of the heir to the throne. He was girded with the Sword of Osman on July 4, 1918, as the thirty-sixth padishah. He was deposed on November 1 1922 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the nation-state of Turkey, becoming the last ruler of a dynasty that had lasted for 641 years, the oldest in the world.

Historical Context

World War I had been a disaster for the Ottoman Empire. British forces had occupied Baghdad and Jerusalem during the war and most of the Empire was to be divided among the European allies. At the San Remo conference of April 1920, the French had been given a mandate over Syria and the British had been given one over Palestine and Mesopotamia. On August 10, 1920, Mehmed's representatives signed the Treaty of Sèvres, which recognized the mandates, removed Ottoman control over Anatolia and İzmir, severely reduced the extent of Turkey, and recognized Hejaz as an independent state.

Turkish nationalists were angered by the Sultan's acceptance of the settlement. A new government, the Turkish Grand National Assembly, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had been formed on April 23, 1920, in Ankara. The government of Mehmed VI was denounced and a temporary constitution was drafted.

The nationalists' successes meant that the sultanate was abolished on November 1, 1922, and Mehmed left Istanbul, aboard the British warship Malaya on November 17.

Exile

Bound for exile to Malta, Mehmed later lived in the Italian Riviera. Shortly before his death, he performed the hajj.

He died on May 16, 1926 in Sanremo, Italy, and was buried at the mosque of Sultan Selim I in Damascus. He was the "first Sultan since the fall of Constantinople who could not be buried in the city which his namesake had conquered." On November 19, 1922 his first cousin and heir Abdülmecid Efendi was elected Caliph, becoming the new head of the dynasty as Abdülmecid II. The Caliphate was abolished in 1924 and Abdülmecid II] was also sent into exile, with hardly a penny to his name.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Finkel, Caroline. 2006. Osman's dream: the story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465023967
• Freely, John. 1999. Inside the Seraglio: private lives of the sultans in Istanbul. London: Viking. ISBN 9780670878390
• Fromkin, David, 1989. A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East ISBN 0-8050-0857-8
• Goodwin, Jason. 1999. Lords of the horizons: a history of the Ottoman Empire. New York: H. Holt. ISBN 9780805040814
• Kinross, Patrick Balfour. 1977. The Ottoman centuries: the rise and fall of the Turkish empire. New York: Morrow. ISBN 9780688030933
• Palmer, Alan Warwick. 1994. The decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire. New York, NY: Barnes and Noble. ISBN 9781566198479
• Quataert, Donald. 2000. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. New approaches to European history, 17. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521633284
• Shaw, Stanford J., and Ezel Kural Shaw. 1976. History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521212809

External links

Template:Commonscat-inline

• interview with Neslişah Sultan, grand-daughter of the last emperor about her family's exile, on YouTube

House of Osman Born: January 14, 1861; Died: May 16, 1926
Regnal Titles
Preceded by: Mehmed V	Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Jul 3, 1918 – Nov 1, 1922	Monarchy abolished
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by: Mehmed V	Caliph of Islam Jul 3, 1918 – Nov 19, 1922	Succeeded by: Abdülmecid II
Titles in pretence
New Title Republic declared	* NOT REIGNING * Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Nov 1, 1922 – Nov 19, 1922)	Succeeded by: Abdülmecid II

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Mehmed VI  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Mehmed VI"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.