Abdülmecid I in the context of "Mehmed V"

The Tanzimat (Ottoman Turkish: تنظيمات, Turkish: Tanzimât, lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha, and Fuad Pasha, under Sultans Abdul Mejid and Abdul Aziz, the reforms sought to reverse the empire's decline by modernizing legal, military, and administrative systems while promoting Ottomanism (equality for all subjects). Though secular courts, modern education, and infrastructure like railways, were introduced, the reforms faced resistance from conservative clerics, exacerbated ethnic tensions in the Balkans, and saddled the empire with crippling foreign debt. The Tanzimat’s legacy remains contested: some historians credit it with establishing a powerful national government, while others argue it accelerated imperial fragmentation.

Different functions of government received reform, were completely reorganized, or started from scratch. Among institutions that received significant attention throughout this period included legislative functions, trade policy, secularization and codification of the legal system, crackdowns on the slave trade, education, property law, law enforcement, and the military. Ottoman statesmen also worked with reformers of the many confessional communities of the empire, millets, to codify — and in some cases democratize — their confessional governments.

The Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerifi ("Supreme Edict of Gülhane") or Tanzimât Fermânı ("Imperial Edict of Reorganization") was a proclamation by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I in 1839 that launched the Tanzimât period of reforms and reorganization in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after Gülhane Park, where the edict was first proclaimed. The 125th anniversary of the edict was depicted on a former Turkish postcard stamp.

The proclamation was issued at the behest of reformist Grand Vizier Mustafa Reşid Pasha. It promised reforms such as the abolition of tax farming, reform of conscription, and guarantee of rights to all Ottoman citizens regardless of religion or ethnic group. The goal of the decree was to help modernize the empire militarily and socially so that it could compete with the Great Powers of Europe. It also was hoped the reforms would win over the disaffected parts of the empire, especially in the Ottoman controlled parts of Europe, which were largely Christian. At the time of the edict, millets (independent communal law-courts) had gained a large amount of religious autonomy within the empire, threatening the central government. This edict, along with the subsequent Imperial Reform Edict of 1856, was therefore an early step towards the empire's goal of Ottomanism, or a unified national and legal Ottoman identity. It was published in the Takvim-i Vekayi in Ottoman Turkish. In addition, it was published in Greek and French, the latter in Le Moniteur ottoman, and François Alphonse Belin, a dragoman, created his own French version, published in the Journal Asiatique.

An ultimatum (Latin for 'the last one'; /ˌʌltɪˈmeɪtəm/; pl.: ultimata or ultimatums) is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance (open loop). An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series of requests. As such, the time allotted is usually short, and the request is understood not to be open to further negotiation. The threat which backs up the ultimatum can vary depending on the demand in question and on the other circumstances.

The word is used in diplomacy to signify the final terms submitted by one of the parties in negotiation for settlement of any subject of disagreement. It is accompanied by an intimation as to how refusal will be regarded. English diplomacy has devised the adroit reservation that refusal will be regarded as an "unfriendly act", a phrase which serves as a warning that the consequences of the rupture of negotiations will be considered from the point of view of forcing a settlement. This opens up a variety of possibilities, such as good offices, mediation, the appointment of a commission of inquiry, arbitration, reprisals, pacific blockade and war.

Hatt-i humayun (Ottoman Turkish: خط همايون ḫaṭṭ-ı hümayun, plural خط همايونلر, ḫaṭṭ-ı hümayunlar), also known as hatt-i sharif (خط شریف ḫaṭṭ-ı şerîf, plural خط شریفلر, ḫaṭṭ-ı şerîfler), was the diplomatics term for a document or handwritten note of an official nature composed and personally signed by an Ottoman sultan. These notes were commonly written by the sultan personally, although they could also be transcribed by a palace scribe. They were written usually in response to, and directly on, a document submitted to the sultan by the grand vizier or another officer of the Ottoman government. Thus, they could be approvals or denials of a letter of petition, acknowledgements of a report, grants of permission for a request, an annotation to a decree, or other government documents. Hatt-i humayuns could also be composed from scratch, rather than as a response to an existing document.

After the Tanzimat era (1839–1876), aimed at modernizing the Ottoman Empire, hatt-i humayuns of the routine kind, as well as fermans, were supplanted by the practice of irade-i seniyye, or irade (Ottoman Turkish: اراده سنیه irâde-i seniyye; French: iradé or less standardly iradèh, meaning 'ordinance'), in which the sultan's spoken response to his Grand Vizier's recommendations was recorded on the document by his scribe.

The Hurva Synagogue (Hebrew: בית הכנסת החורבה, romanized: Beit ha-Knesset ha-Hurva, lit. 'The Ruin Synagogue'), also known as Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid (Hebrew: חורבת רבי יהודה החסיד, lit. 'Ruin of Rabbi Judah the Pious'), is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

It was originally founded in the early 18th century by followers of Judah HeHasid on the ruins of a 15th century synagogue and adjacent to the 14th century Sidna Omar mosque, but it was destroyed in 1721 by local lenders over a debt dispute. The plot became known as "The Ruin", or Hurva, where it lay desolate for 116 years until it was resettled in 1837 by members of the Ashkenazi Jewish community, known as the Perushim. In 1856, the Ottoman Sultan Abdelmecid issued a firman authorizing the construction of a synagogue at the site, and the sultan's chief architect, Assad Bey, designed it and oversaw its construction. Construction began in 1864, and although officially named the Beis Yaakov Synagogue, it retained its name as the Hurva. It became Jerusalem's main Ashkenazi synagogue, until it was destroyed on May 27, during the fighting of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Israel claims Arabs deliberately destroyed it, while Jordanian and Palestinian sources state the Jordanian army was forced to shell the synagogue after the Zionist forces used its high rooftops for military purposes.

The Herzegovina uprising (Serbian: Херцеговачки устанак, romanized: Hercegovački ustanak) was an uprising led by the Christian Serb population against the Ottoman Empire, firstly and predominantly in Herzegovina (hence its name), from where it spread into Bosnia and Raška. It broke out in the summer of 1875, and lasted in some regions up to the beginning of 1878. It was followed by the Bulgarian April Uprising of 1876, and coincided with Serbian-Turkish wars (1876–1878), all of those events being part of the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1878).

The uprising was precipitated by the harsh treatment under the beys and aghas of the Ottoman province (vilayet) of Bosnia—the reforms announced by the Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I, involving new rights for Christian subjects, a new basis for army conscription and an end to the much-hated system of tax-farming were either resisted or ignored by the powerful Bosnian landowners. They frequently resorted to more repressive measures against their Christian subjects. The tax burden on Christian peasants constantly increased.