Short answers, pulled from the story.
Mahmud II was born on the 20th of July 1785 and was confined to the Kafes prison section of the palace as a young prince. He faced a death sentence ordered by his half-brother Mustafa IV in 1808 but escaped execution with the help of Cevri Kalfa.
Mahmud II orchestrated the destruction of the Janissary corps in June 1826 by ordering his troops to fire upon their barracks and burning the Belgrad Forest to incinerate any remaining members. This event known as the Auspicious Incident allowed him to establish the European-style Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye army.
Mahmud II officially adopted the fez for the military in 1826 and ordered civilian officials to wear a similar plain fez to create a homogeneous look for Ottoman society. He reorganized the bureaucracy by abolishing old offices and introducing new lines of responsibility to increase administrative efficiency.
Mahmud II established the first newspaper published in the Ottoman Turkish language called Takvim-i Vekayi in 1831. This official gazette was required reading for all civil servants and marked a significant step in modernizing the empire's communication.
Mahmud II subjugated the Iraqi Mamluks by Ali Ridha Pasha in 1831 and executed the Albanian Ali Pasha of Yanina. He also dissolved the Bosnia Eyalet after suppressing a Bosnian uprising and executing the Bosniak military commander Husein Gradaščević.