103 Facts About Jazzar Pasha

Jazzar Pasha ultimately fled to Syria, where he was tasked by the Ottomans with defending Beirut from a joint assault by the Russian Navy and Zahir al-Umar, the Acre-based ruler of northern Palestine.

Jazzar Pasha eventually surrendered and entered Zahir's service before defecting from him.

Jazzar Pasha pacified the Galilee and Mount Lebanon, which had been dominated by Zahir's kinsmen and the Druze forces of Yusuf Shihab, respectively.

In 1785, al-Jazzar Pasha was appointed to his first of four terms as governor of Damascus, each time gaining more influence in the province's affairs in opposition to his rivals from the Azm family.

In 1799, with the help of the British navy, al-Jazzar Pasha defended Acre from Napoleon, forcing the latter to withdraw from Palestine in disarray.

Jazzar Pasha was ultimately succeeded in Acre by his mamluk Sulayman Pasha al-Adil; until his suppression of a mamluk revolt in 1789, al-Jazzar had appointed mamluks to senior posts in his military and administration.

Al-Jazzar Pasha attempted to develop the areas under his control by improving road security and maintaining order.

Hekimoglu Ali Pasha had been appointed beylerbey of Egypt Eyalet and al-Jazzar became a member of his household, serving Hekimoglu Ali Pasha in the citadel.

Jazzar Pasha proceeded to set a trap for the Bedouin and ambushed them, killing around 70 tribesmen.

Thereafter, he became known as "al-Jazzar Pasha", which means "the Butcher" in Arabic.

Al-Jazzar Pasha arrived in Egypt as a freeman and was not a mamluk in the traditional sense.

Al-Jazzar Pasha was tasked with enforcing law and order in the province, but was assigned to discreetly eliminate Ali Bey's enemies.

Jazzar Pasha shared this task with Abu al-Dhahab at times.

Al-Jazzar Pasha was wary of killing his old friend and master, and proceeded to warn Salih Bey of Ali Bey's plot.

Salih Bey did not believe that Ali Bey, a close friend and ally, would have him killed and dismissed al-Jazzar Pasha's warning, going so far as to approach Ali Bey himself and report the matter.

Al-Jazzar Pasha was present among the hitmen, but did not participate in the actual assassination.

Ali Bey's men sought to arrest al-Jazzar Pasha and learned of his escape to the port of Alexandria and pursued him.

However, al-Jazzar Pasha managed to board a ship heading to Istanbul hours before the arrival of Ali Bey's men to the port.

However, by 1770 it was clear that al-Jazzar Pasha was in Deir al-Qamar, a Druze village in Mount Lebanon.

Jazzar Pasha was impoverished there to the point that he was forced to sell his clothes in order buy food.

Jazzar Pasha was then taken into the care of Yusuf Shihab, the emir of Mount Lebanon and leader of the region's Druze clans, who took an interest in al-Jazzar.

Jazzar Pasha did not have success finding work and left for Damascus, where he was unable to gain employment.

However, instead of defending Emir Yusuf's authority, al-Jazzar Pasha used Beirut as his own power base, justifying his presence as being in defense of the Ottoman Empire.

Emir Yusuf demanded al-Jazzar Pasha withdraw from Beirut, but the latter refused, prompting Emir Yusuf to appeal to al-Wakil.

Emir Yusuf then sought to form an alliance with Zahir to oust al-Jazzar Pasha, gaining Emir Yusuf the enmity of al-Wakil.

Al-Jazzar Pasha initially refused to surrender despite the heavy naval bombardment.

However, after the Russians managed to land artillery pieces near Beirut and cut the city off by land, al-Jazzar Pasha decided to surrender to Zahir, four months after the siege.

Al-Jazzar Pasha entered into Zahir's service, and the latter dispatched al-Jazzar Pasha and his men to help collect the miri from the area between Jaffa and Jerusalem.

Jazzar Pasha was appointed sanjak-bey of Afyon Sanjak in western Anatolia.

Jazzar Pasha was officially ranked as a pasha of three horsetails, the highest pasha rank, in the spring of 1776.

Part of the reason that al-Jazzar Pasha chose Acre as his headquarters was that the city's citadel provided him a more strategic advantage over Sidon in the event of a potential dismissal by the Ottoman authorities from his post; the central Ottoman authorities replaced provincial governors relatively quickly, either out of fear that a prolonged reign would lead to a governor's rebellion or in pursuit of bribes that aspiring governors often paid to gain appointment.

The most significant Zaydani opponent resisting al-Jazzar Pasha was Zahir's son Ali, who was based in Deir Hanna.

Al-Jazzar Pasha actively sought to dominate Mount Lebanon, which was controlled by the Druze clans.

Jazzar Pasha seized Beirut from Emir Yusuf despite Emir Yusuf's authority over the city being confirmed by Hasan Kapudan.

Al-Jazzar Pasha utilized Nasif's cavalry to combat rebellious groups of Bedouins and Turkmens in the province.

Al-Jazzar Pasha continued to lobby for appointment as wali of Sidon Eyalet and was approaching open rebellion against the Ottomans in protest at not receiving the post.

Al-Jazzar Pasha dispatched the commander of his Maghrebi troops in Sidon, Mustafa ibn Qara Mulla, to collect payments from the Druze clans and kill Emir Yusuf.

Thereafter, al-Jazzar Pasha commissioned Nasif to launch an assault against Sayyid-Ahmad and Afandi to restore Mount Lebanon to Emir Yusuf.

Beaufort's inhabitants were not harmed following their surrender, and al-Jazzar Pasha coordinated their flight to the Beqaa Valley.

Al-Jazzar Pasha had long sought the governorship of Damascus to be added to his realm.

Al-Jazzar managed to have one of his senior mamluks and treasurer, Salim Pasha al-Kabir, appointed wali of Sidon in his place, and another of his senior mamluks, Sulayman Pasha, appointed wali of Tripoli.

Sometime in 1785, the Sublime Porte sought al-Jazzar Pasha's advice regarding how to address the increasing autonomy of Egypt's Mamluk rulers, namely Murad Bey.

Al-Jazzar Pasha attempted to establish a monopoly on the grain trade in Hauran by having grain shipped solely through Acre, bypassing Damascus and thus provoking the ire of that city's grain merchants.

Al-Jazzar Pasha did not challenge the dismissal and returned to Acre to resume his duty as wali of Sidon.

Jazzar Pasha consequently cut off the arms of the mamluks who were headquartered in Acre's seraglio and had a number of women drowned at sea.

The mamluks who remained in Acre, namely the pre-adolescents, were then either killed by al-Jazzar Pasha or exiled to Egypt.

Jazzar Pasha's remaining military forces in the city consisted of around 200 Albanian troops commanded by Juwaq Uthman.

Al-Jazzar Pasha heeded Shaykh Muhammad's advice, but prepared a ship in Acre's harbor to escape in case of a rebel victory.

The rebellion and its suppression effectively marked the end of the mamluk household al-Jazzar Pasha had raised, and the end of the mamluks as a military institution during al-Jazzar Pasha's rule.

However, unlike his first term, al-Jazzar Pasha chose to remain in Acre and appointed one of his close advisers, Muhammad Agha, as mutasallim or qaimaqam of Damascus to administer the internal affairs of the province on his behalf.

Al-Jazzar Pasha still commanded the hajj caravan however, and officially remained the Wali of Sidon as well.

Al-Jazzar Pasha appointed al-Za'faranji as mutasallim of Hama, a stronghold of the Azms, which had supported Ibrahim Deli against him in 1788.

However, prior to his departure to command the hajj caravan in 1791, al-Jazzar Pasha had Muhammad Agha execute al-Za'faranji, likely out of fear that the latter, who was a popular commander and from the northern quarters, would conspire against al-Jazzar Pasha while he was away on the hajj.

In 1794, al-Jazzar Pasha dismissed Muhammad Agha and replaced him with the trustee of the Sinaniyya Mosque of al-Midan, Ahmad Agha.

Jazzar Pasha established an alliance with the Tuqan family, appointing Musa Bey Tuqan as mutasallim of Nablus in 1794, a move which the Jarrars challenged.

Al-Jazzar Pasha besieged them at their hilltop fortress at Sanur, but ended the siege in failure and with heavy casualties.

Al-Jazzar Pasha was dismissed from the governorship of Damascus in 1795, marking his second term as his longest tenure as Wali of Damascus.

Al-Jazzar Pasha was ultimately appointed to a post akin to caretaker governor of Damascus and his troops subsequently restored order in the city.

Al-Jazzar Pasha commanded his troops in Acre and personally scaled the town's walls and engaged in direct fighting with French soldiers.

Mass celebrations in Damascus and Aleppo followed his victory, and al-Jazzar Pasha became "the defender of the faith" in Muslim public opinion, while being credited by European observers as among the few to have defeated Bonaparte.

Yusuf Pasha restored Abdullah Pasha al-Azm to the governorship of Damascus in mid-1799, ending al-Jazzar's third and shortest tenure in Damascus.

In defiance of the Sublime Porte, al-Jazzar Pasha sought to oust Abu Maraq and immediately besieged Jaffa, which al-Jazzar Pasha considered to be of immense strategic importance to his rule in Acre despite the city being in the jurisdiction of the Damascus Eyalet.

Al-Jazzar Pasha dismissed the firman and continued his siege of Jaffa until Abu Maraq surrendered and fled the city in early 1803.

Al-Jazzar Pasha subsequently mustered large funds and directed his lobby of influence in Constantinople and managed to have imperial support for his rule restored.

Abdullah Jazzar Pasha did not accept his dismissal and mobilized troops from Hama to occupy Damascus, but his troops refused to fight because they were not paid their regular wage and because they did not want to challenge the Ottoman government.

Al-Jazzar Pasha assigned Shaykh Taha al-Kurdi and his Kurdish units to oversee Damascus on his behalf.

Al-Jazzar Pasha launched another siege against the Jarrar sheikhs of Sanur, but was again unable to oust them.

Al-Jazzar Pasha was afflicted with a tertian fever in August 1803 and the illness he suffered kept him inactive.

Jazzar Pasha was a man famous for his personal strength, his ferocious courage, his cruelty, and his insatiable avarice, as well as for the great power which the active exertion of all these qualities together procured for him.

Al-Jazzar Pasha used his experiences and knowledge from his career with the Mamluks of Egypt to set up the mamluk system of military rule in Acre.

Al-Jazzar had an emotional attachment to his mamluks and when his first mamluk, Salim Pasha al-Kabir, died in 1786 from the plague, al-Jazzar "cried like a child", according to the French consul in Acre.

Towards the end of the 18th century, al-Jazzar Pasha employed Haim Farhi, a Damascene Jew from a banking family, to serve as his treasury manager and administrative adviser.

At one point, al-Jazzar Pasha dismissed and arrested Farhi and had his eye gouged, and his ears and nose cut.

The units consisted of Maghrebi infantry, Arnaut and Bushnak cavalrymen from the Balkans who al-Jazzar Pasha purchased, and Kurdish Dalat cavalry units.

Al-Jazzar Pasha purchased individual mamluks, the majority of whom were of Georgian origin.

The mamluks served as his most senior commanders in the field, but following the destruction of the mamluks during their 1789 rebellion, al-Jazzar Pasha increasingly relied on the commanders of the Dalat cavalry and other military entrepreneurs for hire from disbanded Ottoman imperial army units.

Al-Jazzar Pasha typically remained in Acre and dispatched his commanders and their units on campaigns.

However, according to Philipp, "the truly great feats of the army occurred when al-Jazzar Pasha personally led his troops".

Arab chroniclers from the 18th century often suggested that al-Jazzar Pasha raised new troops during each military campaign that he launched, although Philipp believes this to be unlikely, "but partially true, especially considering the high casualties of his troops in many lost battles".

The vessels did not possess basic technical equipment and so al-Jazzar Pasha had such equipment, including compasses, stolen off French vessels.

Al-Jazzar Pasha owned three trading ships that routinely traveled between Acre and Damietta, a port city in Egypt.

Al-Jazzar Pasha understood well that in order to maintain his political and military dominance in Syria, his rule needed a solid economic foundation.

Al-Jazzar Pasha acquired his income from a variety of means, namely taxes, commerce, tolls and extortion.

Jazzar Pasha successfully suppressed marauding Bedouin tribes and thus increased security and maintained order in his territories.

Jazzar Pasha is sometimes just, great, and generous, at other times furious and bloody.

Al-Jazzar Pasha maintained a significant level of popularity and familiarity with the inhabitants of Acre, and would often invite the town's poorer residents to hear their complaints and console them.

Al-Jazzar Pasha is reputed to have walked around with a mobile gallows in case anyone displeased him.

French Orientalist Pierre Amedee Jaubert visited Acre in 1802 and wrote that al-Jazzar Pasha maintained a well-guarded prison whose doors he kept open so that residents could view the incarcerated prior to their torture or execution.

Al-Jazzar Pasha did not make an effort to end these attacks and instead took advantage of popular anger to order attacks against the Christians of Nazareth and Jerusalem.

Since then, no literary vilification of al-Jazzar Pasha could be bad enough.

European contemporaries of al-Jazzar Pasha often considered him the symbol of despotism and monstrosity, but acknowledged the complexities and paradoxes of his personality.

Philipp asserts that "al-Jazzar Pasha must have been a highly unpleasant ruler and probably did suffer towards the end of his life from paranoia, but there were different sides to his personality".

Jazzar Pasha was an avid gardener and later took up paper artwork as a hobby with which he entertained his guests and his harem.

Jazzar Pasha possessed considerable engineering ability, although it is not known how he gained that knowledge.

Al-Jazzar Pasha created a level of domestic security and economic prosperity in the land he ruled for nearly 30 years, mostly with the support of the Sublime Porte and occasionally in defiance.

Unlike his predecessor Zahir, al-Jazzar Pasha was a foreign ruler and a representative of the Ottoman state.

Three years later, al-Jazzar Pasha had a fifth mosque built, known then as the "White Mosque" or the "Friday Mosque", but known today as the el-Jazzar Pasha Mosque.

Al-Jazzar Pasha's fortifications included a significantly larger wall than Zahir's wall and one which was sloped and thus better placed to defend against the newer artillery of Jazzar Pasha's era.

The largest palace was where al-Jazzar Pasha spent most of his time in the day and occasional evenings.

Only al-Jazzar Pasha had the keys to the door of the harem and kept them on his person at all times.

Al-Jazzar Pasha attached significant importance to Acre's growing commercial economy and had the large Khan al-Umdan caravanserai built in 1784 and enlarged the Khan al-Shawarda, which was built by Zahir in the 1760s.

Al-Jazzar Pasha commissioned the construction of the Suq al-Jazzar Pasha bazaar and a number of relatively minor commercial structures as well.

In 1781, al-Jazzar Pasha had a large hamaam built in Acre.