in the Auspicious Incident. This led to what was known as The Tanzimat era, which lasted from 1839 to 1876. This era was defined as an effort of reform to distribute power from the Sultan (even trying to remove his efforts) to the newly formed government led by a Parliament. These were the intentions of the Sublime Porte, which included the newly formed government. The purpose of the Tanzimat era was reform, but mainly, to divert power from the Sultan to the Sublime Porte. The first indefinable act of the Tanzimat period was when Sultan Abdülmecid I issued the Edict of Gülhane. This document or statement expressed the principles that the liberal statesmen wanted to become an actual reality. The Tanzimat politicians wanted to prevent the empire from falling completely into ruin. During this time the Tanzimat had three different sultans: Abdülmecid I (1839–1861), Abdülaziz I (1861–1876), and Murad V (who only lasted three months in 1876). During the Tanzimat period, the man from the Ottoman Empire with the most respect in Europe was Midhat Pasha. Midhat dreamed of an Empire in which "there would be neither Muslim nor non-Muslim but only Ottomans". Such ideology led to the formation of groups such as the Young Ottomans and the Committee of Union and Progress (who merged with the Ottoman Unity Society). These movements attempted to bring about real reform not by means of edicts and promises, but by concrete action. Even after Abdulhamid II suspended the constitution, it was still printed in the , or yearbooks made by the Ottoman government. Johann Strauss, author of "A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire: Translations of the Kanun-ı Esasi and Other Official Texts into Minority Languages", wrote that the Constitution of Belgium and the Constitution of Prussia (1850) "seem to have influenced the Ottoman Constitution". Aim The Ottoman Porte believed that once the Christian population was represented in the legislative assembly, no foreign power could legitimize the promotion of her national interests under pretext of representing the rights of these people of religious and ethnic bonds. In particular, if successfully implemented, it was thought that it would rob Russia of any such claims. However, its potential was never realized and the tensions with the Russian Empire culminated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). Framework After Sultan Murad V was removed from office, Abdul Hamid II became the new Sultan. Midhat Pasha was afraid that Abdul