13 Facts About Hurshid Pasha

Hurshid Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman-Georgian general, and Grand Vizier during the early 19th century.

Hurshid Pasha was born in the Caucasus and was of Georgian descent.

Hurshid Pasha was kidnapped and taken to Constantinople as a youth, converted to Islam and enrolled in the Janissaries.

Hurshid Pasha, abandoned by his troops, was besieged in the Cairo Citadel, which he left only after he saw the Ottoman firman investing Muhammad Ali as Egypt's governor.

In 1808, Hurshid Pasha served as the governor of Rumelia.

Hurshid Pasha remained on campaign in Serbia as commander-in-chief, and brought the uprising to an end after recapturing Belgrade in October 1813.

Hurshid Pasha's fears were allayed when an assembly of Greek notables visited him on 8 November 1820 in Tripoli.

Hurshid immediately informed the Sultan of the events, and without waiting for instructions, reacted by sending Omer Vryonis and Kose Mehmed Pasha to suppress the revolt first in Central Greece and then to cross over to the Peloponnese and quell the uprising in its heartland.

Hurshid Pasha himself remained in Yanina to supervise the last stages of the siege.

Hurshid Pasha had sent 40,000,000 piasters, with a statement that they had been found in Ali's vaults, while the Sultan's ministers calculated Ali's fortune at over 500,000,000 piasters.

Hurshid Pasha was removed from his positions, and replaced as serasker and governor of Morea by Mahmud Dramali Pasha.

Hurshid Pasha was ordered to remain in Larissa to attend to the provisioning of Dramali's army.

When news began arriving in Constantinople of the failure of Dramali's expedition at Dervenakia, the Sultan ordered Hurshid Pasha to take matters in his own hand and salvage what he could of the situation.