The Sultan: The Life of Abdul Hamid II

"Abul Hamid, the Sultan of Miss Haslip's entrancing book, was born in a Turkish harem. His mother, a consumptive Circassian dancer, died when he was only seven years old, leaving him to fend for himself in the corrupt and scheming world of his father's court and to learn from his very early years the invaluable art of dissimulation. Called to the throne at the age of thirty-four, when his brother Murad was declared incapable through alcoholic deterioration of the brain, he ruled for thirty-three years as an absolute sovereign. He proved to be a consummate politician who kept his country going by setting the Great Powers one against the other. Too weak to oppose the aggressive policies of Russia by force, he thwarted them by playing upon Britain's fears for her Suez route to India and Austria's fears of a Slav-dominated Balkans. Realizing the Turkey's European possessions were a liability, he contrived to make their loss his gain by ensuring that the jealousies of Serb, Greek and Bulgar among the warring races of the peninsula should prevent the emergence of a united foe on his northern frontier. Miss Haslip has fully explored the devious intrigues of the period and the wily policies of Abdul Hamid, but she is as much concerned with the man as with the power he wielded and the means by which he secured his country's safety until his dependence upon Germany brought destruction in the First World War."--Jacket.