Mehmed V Reşâd (Ottoman Turkish: محمد خامس, romanized: Meḥmed-i ḫâmis; Turkish: V. Mehmed or Mehmed Reşad; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) was the penultimate sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909 to 1918. Mehmed V reigned as a constitutional monarch. He had little influence over government affairs and his ministries showed little regard for the Ottoman constitution. The first half of his reign was marked by increasingly polarizing politics, and the second half by war and domination of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and the Three Pashas.
Reşad was the son of Sultan Abdülmecid I. He succeeded his half-brother Abdul Hamid II after the 31 March Incident. Coming to power in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt, his nine-year reign featured three coups d'etat, four wars, eleven governments, and numerous uprisings. The Italo-Turkish War saw the cession of the Empire's North African territories and the Dodecanese Islands, including Rhodes, during which the CUP was forced out of power by the military. This was followed by the traumatic loss of almost all of the Empire's European territories west of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the First Balkan War, and the return of a now radicalized CUP rule in another coup. Eastern Thrace was retaken in the Second Balkan War.
The Ottomans entered World War I in November 1914, upon which Mehmed declared a jihad against the Allies. In 1915, Ottoman forces successfully fended off an Allied invasion at Gallipoli and captured a large British garrison at Kut. During that year, the CUP initiated the Armenian genocide against the Sultan's wishes, though his private disapproval of his government's actions was inconsequential. By Mehmed V's death on 3 July 1918, defeat loomed on the Palestinian and Macedonian fronts. With military collapse in the field and the Arab Revolt spelling impending disaster, the Ottomans signed the Armistice of Mudros during the reign of his successor Mehmed VI.
Şehzade Mehmed Reşad was born on 2 November 1844, at the Çırağan Palace, Constantinople. His father was Sultan Abdulmejid I, and his mother was Gülcemal Kadın. He had three elder sisters, Fatma Sultan, Refia Sultan and Hatice Sultan (Refia Sultan's twin sister, died in infancy). After his mother's death in 1851, he and his sisters were entrusted to the care of his father's senior consort Servetseza Kadın. Abdulmejid allowed her to take motherless children under her wing, whom she raised as her own.
In 1856, aged twelve, he was ceremoniously circumcised together with his younger half-brothers, Şehzade Ahmed Kemaleddin, Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin, and Şehzade Ahmed Nureddin.
Şehzade Reşad received his education at the palace. Halid Ziya, the chief clerk of the Chamberlain's office between 1909 and 1912, described this as being a poor one. Thanks to his comparatively high intelligence, however, he made good use of the education he had. He studied Arabic and Persian, and spoke the latter very well. He took piano lessons from an Italian pianist and calligraphy lessons from a famous Ottoman calligrapher, Kazasker Mustafa Izzet Efendi, who designed the giant pendant medallions of the Hagia Sophia. In addition to Persian literature, Reşad was also interested in Mevlevi Sufism and the Masnavi.
He enjoyed the company of his uncle Abdul Aziz. Reşad became crown-prince in 1876 with the ascension of his half-brother Sultan Abdul Hamid II, but was essentially kept under house arrest in Dolmabahçe Palace under close surveillance. For a variety of reasons, especially superstitious ones, Abdul Hamid abhorred his half-brother. It was said that Abdul Hamid was afraid of the evil eye of his brother and that he had sacrifices made, held prayers, and incense burned immediately after he left the palace when he came to congratulate him on holidays. He was even heard to say, "I am doing my brother a great favor by not showing myself to the public," out of concern that his half-brother might be indiscreet. The belief in his bad luck began when he learned a favorite mare of his died hours after taking a walk around the palace stables with Prince Reşad. Abdul Hamid did have grounded reasons to be suspicious of Reşad, who maintained a correspondence with exiled Young Turks.
After the lifting of many restrictions in the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution Reşad earned popularity as crown prince by attending ceremonies that celebrated the constitution, much to the chagrin of his previously absolutist half-brother.
His reign began at the conclusion of the 31 March Incident on 27 April 1909, which resulted in the deposition of his half-brother Abdul Hamid II. Reşad came to the throne largely as a figurehead with no real political power. At the age of 65, Reşad was the oldest person to ascend the Ottoman throne. It was decided to use the name "Mehmed" as his regal name, not his more distinct name "Reşad". This was upon the suggestion of Ferik Sami Pasha, to establish a connection between Mehmed the Conqueror's entry into Constantinople with his army and Prince Mehmed Reşad's accession to the Sultanate upon the arrival of the Action Army to Istanbul. Although he ascended to the throne with the title of Mehmed V, he was called Sultan Reşad by the people.
Because of his house imprisonment, Reşad sat on the throne at the age of 65 and with no experience in state affairs. His time as a Şehzade was sheltered because of his bad relationship with his now deposed half-brother. Due to his meek, weak-willed, and naïve personality and the strength of the Committee of Union and Progress, the government was firmly out of his hands. When the CUP asked something from him he would immediately acquiesce without push back, typically replying "I am pleased!" or "I am humbled!" The Sultan was incredibly afraid of the men of action of the CUP, and the possibility he could end up like one of his predecessors: His uncle Abdul Aziz was deposed and died in suspicious circumstances, his half-brother Murad V was deposed by the Young Ottomans after suffering a nervous breakdown and held in house arrest for the rest of his life, and Abdul Hamid was now deposed (and held in house arrest in Salonika) after his palace and harem was ransacked.
The sultan complained to one of the few companions he had: Elif Efendi, Sheikh of the Sütlüce Sadi Sufi Order, of the situation he was in. “Everyone complains that I do not interfere in anything, and that I do not even use the rights given to me by the Constitution. However, if I did not do this, these guys [the Unionists] would send me to Konya and declare a republic. I am doing this for the survival of the sultanate that was the legacy of my ancestors.” When the sultan was asked to take a more proactive approach to politics as the CUP stirred up trouble, Reşad responded "Everyone tells me not to interfere in business. What was my brother’s crime if I interfered with the Constitutional Monarchy?"
Enthronement and sword girding
His Cülûs [Coronation] ceremony was held in the Ministry of War building (now part of Istanbul University) in Beyazıt. The new sultan boarded the İhsaniye from Dolmabahçe Palace to Sirkeci, during which he received a gun salute that frightened him. As he was leaving Sirkeci to Beyazıt in the royal carriage, the people of Istanbul lined up on both sides of the road and enthusiastically applauded as he passed by. In his speech after the bay'ah prayer, he declared, "I am the first sultan of liberty and I am proud of it!" and from then on Mehmed V was known as the "Constitutional Sultan." On May 10, 1909, the sultan boarded the yacht Söğütlü in front of Dolmabahçe, and was received in the Eyüp Sultan Mosque Complex by the Shaykh al-Islam Saygı Efendi and Postnişini Abdülhalim Efendi of the Mevlevi Order, and was girded with the sword of Osman. Sultan Reşad then boarded the royal carriage and visited the tomb of Mehmed the Conqueror in the Fatih Mosque, after which he returned to the Dolmabahçe. Since the sultan was not seen on the streets of Istanbul during the long years of Abdul Hamid's reign, the new sultan's carriage trip around the city, during which he cheerfully greeted his subjects, created great excitement among the people of Istanbul.