Abdülaziz

Abdülaziz inherited the Ottoman throne on 25 June 1861, son of Mahmud II and successor to his brother Abdulmejid, arriving during the empire's fragile resurgence after the Crimean War. In summer 1867 he became the first sultan to travel West in diplomatic capacity, visiting Paris, London, and Vienna as the Tanzimat reforms accelerated under his ministers Fuad Pasha and Aali Pasha - the Vilayet Law was passed, Western legal codes spread, millets restructured. After both men died in 1871, Abdülaziz turned reactionary and attempted personal rule, his autocracy and eccentricities drawing fire from the Young Ottomans who demanded a constitution. Famine, economic default, diplomatic isolation, and Christian uprisings spiraled into the Great Eastern Crisis. On 30 May 1876 his own ministers deposed him for mismanaging the economy. He was found dead six days later, the cause given as suicide.