Auspicious Incident

Historians{{Which|date=May 2024}} suggest that Mahmud II purposely incited the revolt and have described it as the sultan's "coup against the Janissaries". The sultan informed them that he was forming a new army, the ''Sekban-ı Cedit'', organized and trained along modern European lines, and that the new army would be [[Turkish people|Turkish]]-dominated. The janissaries saw their institution as crucial to the well-being of the [[Ottoman Empire]], especially to [[Rumelia Eyalet|Rumelia]], and had previously decided they would never allow its dissolution. Thus, as predicted, they mutinied and began to march towards the [[Topkapı Palace]].

Historians{{Which|date=May 2024}} suggest that Mahmud II purposely incited the revolt and have described it as the sultan's "coup against the Janissaries". The sultan informed them that he was forming a new army, the ''Sekban-ı Cedit'', organized and trained along modern European lines, and that the new army would be [[Turkish people|Turkish]]-dominated. The janissaries saw their institution as crucial to the well-being of the [[Ottoman Empire]], especially to [[Rumelia Eyalet|Rumelia]], and had previously decided they would never allow its dissolution. Thus, as predicted, they mutinied and began to march towards the [[Topkapı Palace]].

Mahmud II then brought out the [[Sacred Relics (Topkapi Palace)#Holy Banner|Holy Banner]] of the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] from inside the [[Sacred Relics (Topkapı Palace)|Sacred Trust]], intending all true believers to gather beneath it and thus bolster opposition to the Janissaries.{{cite book|last=Finkel|first=Caroline|title=Osman's Dream|year=2005|publisher=John Murray|isbn=0-465-02396-7|pages=435}} Turkish historians{{Which|date=May 2024}} claim that the counter-Janissary force, which was great in numbers, included the local residents who had hated the janissaries for years.

Mahmud II then brought out the [[Sacred Relics (Topkapi Palace)#Holy Banner|Holy Banner]] of the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] from inside the [[Sacred Relics (Topkapı Palace)|Sacred Trust]], intending all true believers to gather beneath it and thus bolster opposition to the janissaries.{{cite book|last=Finkel|first=Caroline|title=Osman's Dream|year=2005|publisher=John Murray|isbn=0-465-02396-7|pages=435}} Turkish historians{{Which|date=May 2024}} claim that the counter-Janissary force, which was great in numbers, included the local residents who had hated the janissaries for years.

In the ensuing fight the Janissary barracks were set ablaze by artillery fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary deaths; more were killed in the heavy fighting on the streets of [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] (the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the center of the Janissary order). The survivors either fled or were imprisoned, their possessions confiscated by the Sultan. By the end of 1826 the captured janissaries, constituting the remainder of the force, were put to death by decapitation in the [[Thessaloniki]] fort that soon came to be called the "Blood Tower" (but which has been known since 1912 as the [[White Tower of Thessaloniki|White Tower]]). Roughly 100 other janissaries fled to the [[Cistern of Philoxenos]], where many drowned as they tried to cross.{{cite book|last=Barber|first=Noel|title=The Sultans|url=https://archive.org/details/sultansbarb00barb|url-access=registration|year=1973|isbn=0-671-21624-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sultansbarb00barb/page/135 135–136]|publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

In the ensuing fight the Janissary barracks were set ablaze by artillery fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary deaths; more were killed in the heavy fighting on the streets of [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] (the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the center of the janissary order). The survivors either fled or were imprisoned, their possessions confiscated by the Sultan. By the end of 1826 the captured janissaries, constituting the remainder of the force, were put to death by decapitation in the [[Thessaloniki]] fort that soon came to be called the "Blood Tower" (but which has been known since 1912 as the [[White Tower of Thessaloniki|White Tower]]). Roughly 100 other janissaries fled to the [[Cistern of Philoxenos]], where many drowned as they tried to cross.{{cite book|last=Barber|first=Noel|title=The Sultans|url=https://archive.org/details/sultansbarb00barb|url-access=registration|year=1973|isbn=0-671-21624-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sultansbarb00barb/page/135 135–136]|publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

==Aftermath==

==Aftermath==