Abdul Hamid II (, ; ; 21 September 1842 – 10 February 1918) was the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the last Sultan to exert effective autocratic control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a period of decline in the power and extent of the Ottoman Empire, including widespread pogroms and government-sanctioned massacres of Armenians, Kurds, Bulgarians, as well as an assassination attempt, ruling from 31 August 1876 until he was deposed shortly after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, on 27 April 1909. He promulgated the first Ottoman constitution of 1876 on 23 December 1876, primarily to ward off foreign intervention, which was a sign of progressive thinking that marked his early rule. But due to his conviction of Western influence on Ottoman affairs, and the parliament's push for the war with Russia, which he opposed, Abdul Hamid suspended the short-lived Ottoman Constitution and parliament in 1878 and seized absolute power, ending the first constitutional era of the Ottoman Empire. Abdul Hamid's 1909 removal from the throne was hailed by most Ottoman citizens, who welcomed the return to constitutional rule after three decades.