Abstract
Mahmud II's actions in the years following the abolition and destruction of the Janissary Corps were part of two fundamental dynamics. The first, and more traditional, was to reform the state, increasing the performance and efficiency of the army and, to a certain extent, the administration, especially the tax administration. In this, he does not really differ from some of his predecessors, notably Selim III, whose " New Order " had similar aims. Mahmud II differs from this ill-fated attempt by the success that crowns his own enterprise, but above all by the scope and radical nature of his reform project. It was not simply a question of reforming the military and bureaucratic apparatus, but of reforming the system, in the sense of an almost total overhaul of the state. This is why it is appropriate to attribute a revolutionary character to it, while emphasizing, of course, that this revolution is often an upheaval and that it is carried out from above, by coercive and sometimes violent means. The sultan himself is at the heart of this process : he takes center stage, setting an example and becoming personally involved in the main events of the project. As we have seen, this is a departure from the tradition of the " hidden " or invisible sultans, and he himself becomes a bearer of symbolism and modernity.
Unsurprisingly, the overhaul of the state begins with the army, which is at the very center of events. It was the army that wiped out the Janissaries ; it was the army that became the project's first guinea pig, in terms of organization, training and, of course, the European-style costume that the sultan himself donned the day after the " Happy Event ". The sultan's presence and visibility grew in intensity and soon reached unprecedented proportions. In 1827, he embarked on a steamboat and traveled to Crete, thus setting himself apart from his predecessors who rarely left the palace. He did it again, making six imperial journeys that took him to Rodosto/Tekirdağ (1830), Andrinople/Edirne (1831), Nicomédie/İzmit (1833 and 1835) and as far as Bulgaria (1837).
