Halil Hamid Pasha

Who was Halil Hamid Pasha?

Halil Hamid Pasha, also Halil Hamit Paşa was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 31 December 1782 to 30 April 1785. He was especially instrumental in inviting foreign experts, especially French ones, to the Ottoman Empire from 1784.

As a result French missions were sent to the Ottoman Empire to train the Turks in naval warfare and fortification building. Up to the French revolution in 1789, about 300 French artillery officers and engineers were active in the Ottoman Empire to modernize and train artillery units.

From 1784, André-Joseph Lafitte-Clavé and Joseph-Monnier de Courtois instructed engineering drawings and techniques in the new Turkish engineering school Mühendishâne-i Hümâyûn established by Halil Hamid Pasha. Mostly French textbooks were used on mathematics, astronomy, engineering, weapons, war techniques and navigation.

Halil Hamid Pasha had argued for a path towards modernization for the Ottoman Empire, and a conciliatory stance against Russia, but he was ultimately suspected of plotting for the succession of Abdul Hamid I and future ruler Selim III, due to reactionary intrigues and the rise of the anti-French sentiment. Secret correspondence between Selim III and Louis XVI was discovered, and a plot against the current ruler was alleged. Halil Hamid Pasha was beheaded, and the war party rose to power, leading the Ottoman Empire to war with Russia in the Russo-Turkish War.