Sultan Mahmud II

His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms he instituted, which culminated into the Decree of Tanzimat (“Reorganization”) that was carried out by his sons Abdülmecid I and Abdülaziz I. Often described as “Peter the Great of Turkey”, Mahmud’s reforms included the 1826 abolition of the conservative Janissary corps, which removed a major obstacle to his and his successors’ reforms in the Empire.