Abdul Hamid II or Abdülhamid II (; ; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) reigned as the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire - the last Sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. The time period which he reigned in the Ottoman Empire is known as the Hamidian Era. He oversaw a period of decline, with rebellions (particularly in the Balkans), and he presided over an unsuccessful war with the Russian Empire (1877–1878) followed by a successful war against the Kingdom of Greece in 1897.