This book explores an event described by The Times as 'one of the greatest and most sensational political conspiracies of modern times'. On 21st July 1905, just after the Friday Prayer at the Yildiz Hamidiye Mosque in Istanbul, a car bomb exploded and left 26 dead with another 58 wounded. Sultan Abdulhamid II, the target of the attack, remained unscathed. The Ottoman police soon discovered that Armenian revolutionaries were behind the plot and several people were arrested and convicted, among them the Belgian anarchist Edward Joris. His incarceration sparked international reaction and created a diplomatic conflict. The assassination attempt failed, the events faded from memory, and the plot became a footnote in early twentieth-century history. This book rediscovers the conspiracy as a transnational moment in late Ottoman history, opening a window on key themes in modern history, such as international law, terrorism, Orientalism, diplomacy, anarchism, imperialism,nationalism, mass media and humanitarianism. It provides an original look on the many trans- and international links between the Ottoman Empire, Europe and the rest of the world at the start of the twentieth century.

“This tightly focused collection of essays on the attempted assassination of Sultan Abdülhamid II in Istanbul in 1905 is the best argument I’ve seen in a long time for historical collaboration. A gripping story of a Flemish anarchist who participates as a member of an Armenian terrorist cell in the first car bombing, as told by this “collective of authors coordinated by a trio of editors,” the local history becomes global and the micro history all encompassing.” (Janet Polasky, Presidential Professor of History, University of New Hampshire, author of Revolutions Without Borders: The Call to Liberty in the Atlantic World)

“The attempted assassination of Abdülhamid II on 21 July 1905 seemed to be condemned to remain a minor footnote in the history of the 19th-century Ottoman Empire until the publication of this book. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, To Kill A Sultan stands as an outstanding example of micro history set in a world context. The work of nine international scholars,it brings together fascinating details about the actual planning of the attentat, that reads like a spy novel, combined with magisterial overviews that engage current debates about Orientalism, international law, and the nature of ‘revolutionary terror’.” (Selim Deringil, Professor of History, Lebanese American University, author of The Well-Protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1909)

Sheds light on a less well known episode in the history of Ottoman–European relations at the turn of the twentieth century Explores the ‘entangled’ history of interstate dealings, nationalist and revolutionary movements, and various other international actors Reinvigorates the field of international history, while also contributing to areas such as the history of radicalization, terrorism, and humanitarianism Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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