Kara Mustafa Pasha

Early life and career

Kara Mustafa Pasha was of Turkish origin. However, he was brought up in the Köprülü family, of Albanian origin. He was born in the village of Mirince/Marınca near Merzifon (now called Karamustafapaşa after him), the son of a sipahi (cavalry man). His father is said to have served under Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. Possibly as a way to increase his opportunities to pursue an administrative career, he was introduced into the Köprülü household, where he was educated by Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, and married into the Köprülü family. How he entered the family and the details of his marriage are unclear. Within the household's inner service (enderun), he held the positions of letter-carrier (telhisci, or assistant to the grand vizier) to Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, and of silahdar (armourer). He then entered the household of the Sultan as mirahor-i-sani (master of the horse). It is said that while growing up differently from his adoptive Köprülü brothers, he disliked alcohol, as well as Europeans and other non-Muslims. A contemporary French account says he had two children with the little Köprülü princess, who both died young, and that his wife died shortly after their death, at 31. He had four concubines (Fatma, Emine, Ayşe, Zeynep) and by them at least two sons: Yusuf and Mehmed. According to another contemporary report by Giovanni Benaglia, secretary of the Austrian ambassador in Istanbul, he divorced his "beloved Köprülü princess" after their engagement and after they had many children, and he gave her to a French renegade, one of his favourites. An account by a contemporary who visited his household, Claudio Angelo di Martelli, reports of three sons who survived his death: Yusuf, Mehmed and (the youngest) Ali.

He conformed to the Islamic custom of not wearing silk and never wore silver or gold, which was a largely unenforced requirement. Europeans who met him (with few exceptions, such as Colyer, who initially described him as a man of "most agreeable nature") variously described him as greedy, humorous but terse, avid, intransigent, perfidious, covetous, unwilling to accept bribes yet concerned with improving his own well-being, and completely devoted to the Ottoman state. Later accounts by Giovanni Morosini di Alvise, Venetian bailo of Istanbul from 1675 to 1680, speak of a man "born in an obscure place of Asia, in Trebisonda, to castigate the nations" and describe him as "wholly venal, cruel and unfair." The English ambassador to Istanbul, John Finch, also describes him as greedy and a "grievous oppressor of Christendom." He was particularly "unbearable to Europeans", especially for the heavy taxes that he imposed (a "stream of avanias in the years 1676-1683"). Even though his adoptive siblings also imposed notable avanias, their reputation with Europeans was not as bad.

Merlijn Orlon notes that his bad reputation does not do him justice and explains that he worked to maintain the House of Osman's supremacy in its own territories and clashed with ambitious foreign ministers, which resulted in his bad reputation. He dealt differently with the Dutch for political reasons, which resulted in Colyer's more positive account of him. As the French wars ended, a preferential treatment of the Dutch became useless, and as a result, Mustafa's relationship with Colyer grew troubled. He had also made many enemies in the Ottoman army and palace because of his terse attitude and stubbornness. He was rumoured to be a talented general and commander but too fond of fame and glory, arrogant, and rude.

In 1659, he had become a governor of Silistria and subsequently held a number of important posts. Within ten years, he was acting as deputy for his brother-in-law, the grand vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha when absent from the Sultan's court.

He served as a commander of ground troops in a war against Poland, negotiating a settlement with John Sobieski in 1676 that added the province of Podolia to the empire. The victory enabled the Ottomans to transform the Cossack regions of the southern Russian Empire into a protectorate. When his brother-in-law Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha died that same year, Mustafa succeeded him as grand vizier.

Kara Mustafa led several successful campaigns into the Tsardom of Russia, attempting to shore up the position of the Cossack state, then an Ottoman vassal. He established Ottoman garrisons in many of Ukraine's cities, and conquered the traditional Cossack capital of Chyhyryn, which had been under Russian occupation.

During his campaign, he successfully conquered the fortress of Chigirin. He pursued Grigory Romodanovsky and met him in the battle of the Dnieper River between August 14 and 20. Despite the losses on both sides, neither commander achieved a decisive victory over the other, and both were forced to retreat. Mustafa was forced to retreat because of severe logistical difficulties incurred from campaigning in the steppe and so was convinced by his commanders to retreat. After the battle, he conquered the powerful fortress of Kaniv by siege.