Osman II
Osman II was the
sultan of the
Ottoman Empire from
1618 to his death on
May 20,
1622. He ascended the throne at the age of early age of 14 as the result of a coup d'etat against his uncle Mustafa I. Despite his youth, Osman soon sought to assert himself as a ruler and personally led the Ottoman invasion of Poland. Heavily defeated at Chotin by the Polish hetman Jan Chodikiewicz (1619), Osman returned to Constantinople in shame, blaming the cowardice of the Janissaries for his humiliation. Probably the first Sultan to identify and attempt to tackle the Janissaries as a praetorian institution doing more harm than good to the modern empire, Osman closed their coffee shops (the gathering points for consiracies against the throne) and drafted loyal troops into the capital. The result was a palace uprising under the leadership of Mustafa I's mother. Osman was taken prisoner and strangled with a bowstring.
Osman was certainly hotheaded, known to be vindictive and at times sadistic. However, as a ruler he was perceptive and energetic. Compared to most of his successors he compares favourably. His worst fault as a politician was probably that he tried too much too soon.