AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Ağa (Kara Vâ'izzâde)

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 233 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya’nın Bâyezîd Paşa Mahallesi halkından Kara Vâ’iz Mûsâ Efendizâde Hızır Ağa’nın oğludur. Evâ’il-i hâlinde asker olup Nizip Muhârebesinde mülâzım, ba’dehû tedrîcen yüzbaşı kolağası ve 1281’de binbaşı ve dördüncü Batum taburu kumândânı olduğu halde 1287’de vefât etdi. Oğulları Mustafa Nuri, Mehmed Şükrü, Mahmûd Nazım Beylerdir.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was a man of the Bayezid Pasha quarter of Amasya, the son of Hızır Ağa, son of Kara Vâ'iz Mûsâ Efendi. In his youth he became a soldier, and he was a lieutenant at the Battle of Nizip, then in turn captain and kolağası, and he died in 1287 [1870-71] while serving, since 1281 [1864-65], as major and commander of the fourth battalion of Batum. His sons are Mustafa Nuri, Mehmed Şükrü and Mahmud Nâzım Bey.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • evâ'il-i hâl: youth, the early years of life
  • mülâzım: lieutenant; the lowest officer rank
  • tedrîcen: step by step, in turn
  • yüzbaşı, kolağası: officer ranks of the period; they are listed one after the other in the text
  • binbaşı: battalion commander, major
  • kumândân: commander

The Battle of Nizip

The Battle of Nizip was fought on 24 June 1839 between the Ottoman army and the Egyptian forces commanded by Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mehmed Ali Pasha, the governor of Egypt. The Ottoman army was led by Hafiz Mehmed Pasha; the staff officer Helmuth von Moltke served beside him as adviser. Each army numbered about forty thousand men; the Egyptian army had been trained in the new European methods in organisation, speed of movement and manoeuvre. The battle ended in a heavy defeat for the Ottoman army. Hüsameddin writes that Ahmed Ağa, son of Hızır Ağa, became a soldier in his youth and held the rank of lieutenant at Nizip; the details of the units from Anatolia that took part in this battle, and the unit in which Ahmed Ağa fought, could not be verified in the sources read.

The Batum Battalion

That Ahmed Ağa is named in 1281 (1864-65) as major and commander of the fourth battalion of Batum shows that Ottoman troops were stationed in Batum at that time. No information was found in the sources on the fourth Batum battalion, on the military situation of Batum in those years, or on Ahmed Ağa's service.

The Family

That he was the grandson of Mûsâ Efendi, known by the nickname Kara Vâ'iz, suggests the family's link with the tradition of preaching; but this inference rests on the sequence of names in the text. No information was found in other sources on the Bayezid Pasha quarter or on the family itself.

Bibliography

Volume 6 contents