Pasha

An Ottoman title for high commanders and officials, ranking generals and admirals of the empire for six centuries.

Overview

Pasha, from padishah, lord, was the Ottoman title of generals, admirals, governors, and viziers, marked by the horsetail standards, two or three tails by grade, carried before the holder in ceremony. Commanders like Barbarossa, the corsair admiral who became Kapudan Pasha of the whole Ottoman fleet, and the viziers of the Porte held the title with absolute provincial authority. European writers adopted the word for any Ottoman grandee. The rank structure faded with the Tanzimat reforms and the republic abolished imperial titles in 1922 to 1924, but pasha remains in Arabic and Balkan usage as an honorific memory of Ottoman command.