Early Life
He was born as Mihajlo Latas (Serbian: Михајло Латас) in Janja Gora, Croatian Military Frontier of Austrian Empire (in modern Plaški, Lika region, Croatia). Omar Pasha was an Orthodox Christian, an ethnic Serb or Croat. Educated in Gospić, and than at a military school in Zadar, he joined a frontier regiment. Latas fled to Bosnia in 1823 to escape charges of embezzlement. There he converted to Islam and would later return in authority in the year 1850 and executed, plundered and abolished the respected historical aristocracy of the Bosniaks.
His father Petar served in the Austrian Army and in time was appointed lieutenant-governor of the Ogulin district. Michael was an intelligent and lively child, if rather sickly. He developed a passion for the military, and on leaving school he was accepted as a cadet in his father's Ogulin Regiment. He had beautiful handwriting, and was assigned to clerical duties. There he might have languished, if his father had not upset someone along the corruption line and suffered a conviction for misappropriation. Michael felt that he couldn't stay with the Regiment, and he left for Bosnia.
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