Bem, Józef Zachariasz

Born Mar. 17, 1794, in Tar-nów; died Dec. 10, 1850, in Halab (Aleppo), Syria. Polish general and political figure.

In 1812, Bern took part in the Napoleonic invasion of Russia. From 1815 to 1825 he was an officer in the army of the Polish crown, was dismissed for political unreliability, and emigrated to Austria. During the Polish Uprising of 1830–31, Bem commanded the artillery of the rebels and was a leader in the defense of Warsaw. After the rebellion was suppressed, he lived in France and in Portugal, where he tried to raise a Polish legion. He became close to the conservative aristocratic camp of Polish émigrés. During the Revolution of 1848–49, Bem took part in the October Uprising in Vienna and in the defense of the city against counterrevolutionary troops; he commanded the revolutionary Hungarian troops in Transylvania. After the defeat of the Hungarian Revolution in 1849, he fled to Turkey, where he converted to Islam and entered the Turkish Army under the name of Amurat-Pasha (Murat-Pasha).