List of campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent
The imperial campaigns (, "sefer-i humāyūn") of Suleiman the Magnificent were a series of campaigns led by Suleiman, who was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He is known in the Western world as "Suleiman the Magnificent", and in the East as "the Lawgiver" (), for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. During his reign from 1520 to his death in 1566, the Ottoman Empire became the most powerful state in the world. At its height, the Empire stretched from Hungary to Yemen.
Bezmiâlem Sultan
She is said to have been buxom and a bath attendant before entering the imperial harem. She had a beautiful face and extraordinary white and beautiful hands. She was married to Sultan Mahmud II in 1822. As mother of Sultan Abdülmecit I, she was Valide Sultan from 1839 to 1853. One source says Mahmud II died of alcoholism, rather than tuberculosis, and she is reported to have convinced Abdülmecit I to destroy his father's wine cellars. She was thirty one and was still young enough to despise and mistrust the elder non statesman who had made himself minister. She advised her son to allow Hüsrev to incur the odium of seeking terms from M. Ali but urged him to resist the Grand Vizier's attempts to advance his nominees to important offices of the state. Abdülmecit duly played for time, awaiting Reşit's return from England before taking any major decisions on policy. His mother had given sound counsel. So shrewd was her judgement of men and their motives that the Valide Sultan continued to influence the choice of ministers until shortly before her death fourteen years later. Bezmialem also recommended Reşit to Abdülmecit because she believed he understood what Mahmut had been seeking to achieve in his reform programme.