Abdulaziz

Abdulaziz was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 25 June 1861 until he was overthrown in a government coup on 30 May 1876, a son of Sultan Mahmud II who succeeded his brother Abdulmejid I. His reign began amid the empire's resurgence following the Crimean War and the Tanzimat reforms, though it remained dependent on European capital, and he was the first Ottoman sultan to travel diplomatically to Western Europe, visiting Paris, London and Vienna in 1867. Ministers Fuad Pasha and Aali Pasha drove reorganization through the 1870s, including the Vilayet Law and restructuring of the millets, but after their deaths by 1871 Abdulaziz turned to reactionary rule, and his last years brought famine, economic default, diplomatic isolation and Christian minority uprisings that culminated in the Great Eastern Crisis; he was deposed by his ministers over economic mismanagement and was found dead by suicide six days later.