Jazzar Pasha
Ahmed Pasha al-Jazzar was the Acre-based Bosniak Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet from 1776 until his death in 1804 and the simultaneous governor of Damascus Eyalet in 1785–1786, 1790–1795, 1798–1799, and 1803–1804. Having left his native Bosnia as a youth, he began a military career in Egypt in the service of mamluk officials, eventually becoming a chief enforcer for Ali Bey al-Kabir, Egypt's practical ruler. Al-Jazzar fell out with Ali Bey in 1768 after refusing to take part in the assassination of another of his former masters. He ultimately fled to Syria, where he was tasked by the Ottomans with defending Beirut from a joint assault by the Russian Navy and Daher al-Umar, the Acre-based ruler of northern Palestine. He eventually surrendered and entered Daher's service before defecting from him.
After the Ottomans defeated and killed Daher, they appointed al-Jazzar as their garrison commander in Acre. He pacified the Galilee and Mount Lebanon, which had been dominated by Daher's kinsmen and the Druze forces of Yusuf Shihab, respectively. In 1776 or 1777, he was appointed governor of Sidon, but relocated the provincial capital to Acre, which he strongly fortified. In the following years, he defeated his erstwhile Shia Muslim ally, Nasif al-Nassar, consolidating his control over Jabal Amil. In 1785, al-Jazzar was appointed to his first of four terms as governor of Damascus, each time gaining more influence in the province's affairs in opposition to his rivals from the Azm family. In 1799, with the help of the British navy, al-Jazzar defended Acre from Napoleon, forcing the latter to withdraw from Palestine in disarray. His successful defense of Acre earned him prestige in the empire and made him well known in Europe.
Al-Jazzar died in office in 1804. He was ultimately succeeded in Acre by his mamluk Sulayman Pasha al-Adil; until his suppression of a mamluk revolt in 1789, al-Jazzar had appointed mamluks to senior posts in his military and administration. Al-Jazzar attempted to develop the areas under his control by improving road security and maintaining order. However, his domestic military expeditions and stringently enforced and exploitative taxation policies precipitated high emigration, although the cities of Acre and Beirut prospered. The former became a powerful regional center rivaling Damascus and until today contains many architectural works commissioned by al-Jazzar, such as its walls, the el-Jazzar Mosque and the Khan al-Umdan caravanserai.
Early life and career
Origins
Al-Jazzar was a Bosniak. He was born to a poor family in the Sanjak of Herzegovina. Native writers from Bosnia and Herzegovina hold that he was born in Fatnica to the Bosniak Pervan family, and thus claim that Ahmed Pervan was his birth name. Kosta Hörmann, founder and first editor of the Gazette of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in his study of folk tales of the Bosniaks of Herzegovina, noted that the "old folk" of Stolac claimed that Ahmed was a Pervan from Fatnica. Hörmann noted that Ahmed likely never disclosed information about his family himself One source lists the year of his birth as 1720, but Philipp believes it is more likely that he was born in the 1730s.At the age of 20, or in his late adolescent years, around 1755, he moved to Constantinople. In al-Jazzar's biography by Volney in Voyage, al-Jazzar fled Bosnia at the age of 16 because he raped his sister-in-law, while in Olivier's account, al-Jazzar fled at age 17 after stabbing a woman who did not accede to his desires. According to Olivier, he then began work as a sailor and drifted throughout Anatolia before selling himself to a Turkish slave trader. Al-Jazzar subsequently converted to Islam in Egypt.
Service with the Mamluks of Egypt
In 1756, al-Jazzar departed Constantinople for Egypt with Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha as a barber in his entourage. Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha had been appointed beylerbey of Egypt Eyalet and al-Jazzar became a member of his household, serving Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha in the citadel. In 1758, possibly as a result of a dispute with another of Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha's men or upon his own intuition, he accompanied Salih Bey al-Qasimi, a Mamluk and the amir al-hajj to Mecca. There, the two men developed a close friendship, and al-Jazzar subsequently entered into Salih Bey's service. After returning to Cairo, al-Jazzar, entered the service of the Mamluk Abdullah Bey, who was a retainer of another Mamluk, Ali Bey al-Kabir, the shaykh al-balad, a powerful post in Egypt with unclear duties, between 1760 and 1766.During his time in Abdullah Bey's service, al-Jazzar learned how to speak Arabic, learned the skills and knowledge of the Mamluks and adopted their dress. When Abdullah Bey was later killed in an attack by Bedouin tribesmen, al-Jazzar decided to avenge his death. He proceeded to set a trap for the Bedouin and ambushed them, killing around 70 tribesmen. Thereafter, he became known as "al-Jazzar", which means "the Butcher" in Arabic. While later European writers believed al-Jazzar gained his name because of his cruel nature, the name was given to him as a sign of respect. The term "al-Jazzar" as an epithet was typically reserved for those who slaughtered Bedouin raiders.
Al-Jazzar arrived in Egypt as a freeman and was not a mamluk in the traditional sense. However, the respect and admiration he gained from the Mamluks of Egypt for his loyalty to his Mamluk master and the revenge he took on the Bedouin for his death earned him a welcome into the Mamluk ranks. Among those impressed with the loyalty and courage of al-Jazzar was Ali Bey al-Kabir, who adopted al-Jazzar as his protégé. Ali Bey appointed al-Jazzar sanjak-bey of Cairo, and he became known as "Ahmad Bey al-Jazzar". Al-Jazzar was tasked with enforcing law and order in the province, but was also assigned to discreetly eliminate Ali Bey's enemies. He shared this task with Abu al-Dhahab at times.
In September 1768, Ali Bey instructed al-Jazzar and Abu al-Dahab to assassinate Salih Bey because Ali Bey perceived him as a threat to his power. Al-Jazzar was wary of killing his old friend and master, and proceeded to warn Salih Bey of Ali Bey's plot. Salih Bey did not believe that Ali Bey, a close friend and ally, would have him killed and dismissed al-Jazzar's warning, going so far as to approach Ali Bey himself and report the matter. Ali Bey denied the plot and informed Salih Bey that he was only testing the loyalty of al-Jazzar. Salih Bey was indeed ambushed and killed by Ali Bey's men. Al-Jazzar was present among the hitmen, but did not participate in the actual assassination. Abu al-Dahab, who was also present, reported al-Jazzar's lack of enthusiasm in the operation to Ali Bey.
Fearing for his life in light of his betrayal of Ali Bey, al-Jazzar fled Cairo dressed as a Maghrebi. Before leaving his home, he instructed his family to tell anyone who inquired about him that he was ill and could not see visitors. Ali Bey's men sought to arrest al-Jazzar and learned of his escape to the port of Alexandria and pursued him. However, al-Jazzar managed to board a ship heading to Constantinople hours before the arrival of Ali Bey's men to the port.
Early career in Syria
Information about al-Jazzar between 1768 and 1770 is unclear; according to historian Thomas Philipp, he "may have drifted through Anatolia to Aleppo". According to the chronicler al-Jabarti, al-Jazzar returned to Egypt and allied himself with a Bedouin tribe to confront Ali Bey, but fled the province for a second time. However, by 1770 it was clear that al-Jazzar was in Deir al-Qamar, a Druze village in Mount Lebanon. He was impoverished there to the point that he was forced to sell his clothes in order buy food. He was then taken into the care of Yusuf Shihab, the emir of Mount Lebanon and leader of the region's Druze clans, who took an interest in al-Jazzar. For an undefined period of time, al-Jazzar remained in Mount Lebanon before searching for employment in the coastal cities. He did not have success finding work and left for Damascus, where he was also unable to gain employment. For a third time, al-Jazzar traveled to Egypt, this time to retrieve money and other valuables from his home in Azbakiya. To avoid detection by the authorities, he dressed as an Armenian. His trip to Egypt was short and he subsequently returned to Syria.In 1772, the Ottoman commander-in-chief of the Syrian provinces, Uthman Pasha al-Wakil, and Emir Yusuf besieged Sidon to oust the forces of Sheikh Daher al-Umar, the Arab strongman of northern Palestine, and Nasif al-Nassar, a powerful Shia Muslim sheikh in Jabal Amil. Daher consequently requested the Russian fleet bombard Beirut, which was under Emir Yusuf's control, to distract the Ottoman forces. The siege was lifted in June prior to the Russians' arrival in Beirut. On 18 June, the Russians began to bombard Beirut, but Emir Yusuf paid them to end their assault on 28 June. Fearing that Daher would occupy Beirut, Emir Yusuf requested al-Wakil bolster Beirut's defenses. In response, al-Wakil dispatched al-Jazzar with a force of Maghrebi soldiers and appointed him muhafiz of Beirut. Al-Jazzar upgraded Beirut's fortifications. According to Philipp, "Beirut became the first stepping stone of Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar's career in Syria".
Meanwhile, in a sign that enmity for al-Jazzar by the Mamluks of Egypt was still strong, Abu al-Dhahab offered 200,000 Spanish reals to Emir Yusuf to kill al-Jazzar in 1772. Emir Yusuf refused the offer. However, instead of defending Emir Yusuf's authority, al-Jazzar used Beirut as his own power base, justifying his presence as being in defense of the Ottoman Empire. Emir Yusuf demanded al-Jazzar withdraw from Beirut, but the latter refused, prompting Emir Yusuf to appeal to al-Wakil. The latter did not accept Emir Yusuf's request for assistance. Al-Wakil viewed al-Jazzar as a reliable representative whose control of Beirut would prevent another important Syrian port city from falling to Daher and provide a launch point for an offensive against Daher.
Emir Yusuf rallied his Druze forces to dislodge al-Jazzar, but the latter was able, through bribes, to manipulate the deeply factional Druze clans against each other and stave off Emir Yusuf's attempts. Emir Yusuf then sought to form an alliance with Daher to oust al-Jazzar, gaining Emir Yusuf the enmity of al-Wakil. A punitive expedition sent by al-Wakil targeting Emir Yusuf in September 1773 was repelled by Daher. Daher's success prompted Emir Yusuf to seek the assistance of the Russian fleet by appealing to Daher, the Russians' ally, to intercede with the Russians on Emir Yusuf's behalf. The Russians agreed to the request and began bombarding Beirut on 2 August. Al-Jazzar initially refused to surrender despite the heavy naval bombardment. However, after the Russians managed to land artillery pieces near Beirut and cut the city off by land, al-Jazzar decided to surrender to Daher, four months after the siege. Fearing that Emir Yusuf would kill him in custody, al-Jazzar only agreed to surrender if placed in Daher's custody because the latter promised to protect him and his Maghrebi garrison.
Escorted by an envoy of Daher, al-Jazzar subsequently headed for Daher's headquarters in Acre. Al-Jazzar entered into Daher's service, and the latter dispatched al-Jazzar and his men to help collect the miri from the area between Jaffa and Jerusalem. Al-Jazzar decided to defect from Daher's service by requesting employment by Ibrahim Pasha, the sanjak-bey of Jerusalem, but the latter refused al-Jazzar entry into the city due to suspicions that his request was a ploy by Daher to enter the city without resistance and conquer it. With the miri money that he stole, al-Jazzar departed for Damascus, where he was welcomed by al-Wakil. Al-Jazzar then left for Constantinople. There, he used his charisma to gain the favor of sultans Mustafa III and Abdul Hamid I. He was subsequently appointed sanjak-bey of Afyon Sanjak in western Anatolia.