Ancient discovery or mystery,Mahmud II, The Young Sultan in a Broken Empire (1808–1812)

The dears of the Sublime Porte had slightly failed when Mahmud II mounted the throne as the sole surviving heir at law of the Ottoman dynasty. He was only twenty- three, yet formerly he carried the scars of a continuance of bloodshed. His kinsman Selim III had been boggled before his eyes. His family Mustafa IV, who tried to kill him, had been executed at his command. His protection, the potent Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, had decomposed in a storm of fire. Istanbul lay in remains, its thoroughfares filled with ashes, and the Janissaries, though crippled, still strutted with arrogance through the capital. This was the conglomerate Mahmud inherited — a realm in extremity, torn between the history and the future.