The Auspicious Incident or Auspicious Event (Ottoman Turkish: وقعۀ خيريّه, romanized: Vak'a-i Hayriyye, lit. 'The Fortunate Event' in Constantinople; Vaka-i Şerriyye, lit. 'Event of Malignity' in the Balkans) was the forced disbandment of the centuries-old janissary corps by Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Why it matteredThe Ottoman Sultan disbanded the traditional Janissary corps by force, clearing the way for modern military reforms within the empire.
Quick facts
- Date15 June 1826
- LocationIstanbul, Ottoman Empire
- Ordered bySultan Mahmud II
- TargetThe Janissary corps
- Also calledVaka-i Hayriye ("the Fortunate Event")
- OutcomeJanissaries abolished; a new army created
- Replaced byAsakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye
Editor's Take:
The Auspicious Incident is a modernising reform carried out as a massacre. Mahmud II solved a problem that had defeated sultans for generations, but only by killing the soldiers who stood in his way. Its name depends on where you stood: "auspicious" in Istanbul, "malign" in parts of the Balkans. Either way, it cleared the ground for the Tanzimat reforms and the modern Ottoman state.
Profile
The Auspicious Incident: The End of the Janissaries
Istanbul, 15 June 1826
For almost five centuries, the Janissaries were the most feared soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. Once an elite infantry of disciplined slave-soldiers, by the 1800s they had become a powerful, privileged class that resisted every attempt at military reform.
They had already brought down one reforming sultan. In 1807 they helped overthrow Selim III, who had tried to build a modern army, and he was killed the following year.
His cousin Mahmud II waited nearly two decades to act. In May 1826 he announced a new, European-style force. On the night of 14–15 June, the Janissaries rose in revolt, overturning their great soup cauldrons in the traditional sign of rebellion.
This time the sultan was ready. He raised the sacred banner of the Prophet, rallied religious leaders and the people of Istanbul, and turned loyal artillery on the Janissary barracks. The barracks were set on fire and thousands of Janissaries were killed. Within days the corps was abolished across the empire.
Timeline
- 14th centuryJanissaries founded: elite Ottoman infantry
- 1807Selim III deposed: after Janissary revolt
- 1808Mahmud II becomes sultan: Selim III killed
- May 1826New army announced: the Eşkinci corps
- 14–15 JunJanissaries revolt: cauldrons overturned
- 15 JunBarracks destroyed: the corps crushed
- Jun 1826Corps abolished: a new army created
- 1839Tanzimat reforms: modernisation continues
Did you know?Janissary units were organised around cooking. Their officers had kitchen titles like "soup cook", and overturning their huge cauldrons was the signal that they rejected the sultan's food, and his rule.
Why the Janissaries had to go
By the 19th century, many Janissaries were part-time soldiers who ran shops and trades. Their pay tickets were bought and sold, and the corps defended its privileges with riots.
Ottoman defeats against Russia and the Greek uprising showed that the old army could no longer win wars. Even Muhammad Ali, the sultan's governor in Egypt, had built a more modern force.
How Mahmud prepared
Mahmud spent years quietly building support among religious scholars, loyal officers and the artillery corps. He chose the timing carefully so the public would see the Janissaries as rebels.
When they revolted, he had both the guns and public opinion on his side.
What came after
The new army, the Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad, was trained in European style. The Bektashi Sufi order, closely tied to the Janissaries, was also banned.
In the short term the empire was weaker. It lost its fleet at Navarino in 1827 and a war with Russia in 1828–29. But the path was open for the Tanzimat reforms that began in 1839.
The 201st anniversary falls on June 15, 2027.
