Bashir Shihab II
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Bashir Shihab II (born 1767 in Ghazir, died 1850 in Constantinople) was a Lebanese emir who ruled Lebanon in the first half of the 19th century and was as such the second ruler who managed to do this (the first one was Fahkr-al-Din II in the 17th century).
Bashir was born into a noble Shihab family which came to power in 1697 when Ahmad Maan, the last member of the Maan family, died. Despite his noble roots he was born into poverty and married into a rich family. In 1788, after abdication of his predecessor, he was elected an emir and would rule under Ottoman suzerainty, being appointed wali or governor of Mount Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley and Jebel Amil, together forming about two thirds of modern day Lebanon. He would reform taxes and attempt to break the feudal system, in order to undercut rivals, the most important of which was also named Bashir: Bashir Jumblatt, whose wealth and feudal backers equaled or exceeded Bashir II – and who had increasing support in the Druze community. In 1799 Bashir refused to assist either Napoleon or al-Jazzar during Napoleon's siege on Acre, causing Napoleon to return to Egypt. In 1822 the Ottoman wali of Damascus went to war with Acre, which was allied with Muhammad Ali, the pasha of Egypt. As part of this conflict one of the most remembered massacres of Maronite Christians by Druze forces occurred, forces that were aligned with the wali of Damascus. Jumblatt represented the increasingly disaffected Druze, who were both shut out from official power and angered at the growing ties with the Maronites by Bashir II, who was himself a Maronite Christian (initially the Shihab family belonged to Sunni Islam and converted to Christianity at the end of the 18th century, although Bashir was always trying not to emphasize his own faith)
Bashir II was overthrown as wali when he backed Acre, and fled to Egypt, later to return and organize an army. Jumblatt gathered the Druze factions together, and the war became sectarian in character: the Maronites backing Bashir II, the Druze backing Bashir Jumblatt. Jumblatt declared a rebellion, and between 1821 and 1825 there were massacres and battles, with the Maronites attempting to gain control of the Mt. Lebanon district, and the Druze gaining control over the Beqaa valley. In 1825 Bashir II defeated his rival and killed him after the battle of al Simqaniya. Bashir II was not a forgiving man and repressed the Druze, particularly in and around Beirut.
Bashir II, who had come to power through local politics and nearly fallen from power because of his increasing detachment from them, reached out for allies, allies who looked on the entire area as “the Orient” and who could provide trade, weapons and money, without requiring fealty and without, it seemed, being drawn into endless internal squabbles. Trying to obtain greater degree of autonomy he supported Muhammad Ali's rise against the Ottoman Empire and allied with Ali's son Ibrahim Pasha who occupied Syria on his father's behalf. This way United Kingdom's and Austrian interests were threatened, so in 1840 they both helped the Ottomans to drive Ibrahim Pasha from Syria. Bashir was captured and sent into exile to Malta. For a short time the direct Ottoman rule over Lebanon was imposed until Bashir shihab III, another member of the Shihab family, was appointed an emir.
One of the most remarkable Bashir's monuments is a magnificent palace in Beit ed-Dine which he started building immediately after taking power in 1788. He moved his government from Deir al-Qamar to Beit ed-Dine when he had executed (as a part of his many Intrigues) a popular Maronite prince and caused riots in Deir al-Qamar.
Today, the Shihabs are still one of the prominent families in Lebanon, better known as Chehab as spelt in French.
