His younger brother Mehmet Nakyettin Bey was the father of Kâzım Taşkent the founder of Yapı Kredi, the first nationwide private bank in Turkey.

Esad spent the first seventeen years of his life in Yanya before attending the Kuleli Military High School at Monastir (modern Bitola, North Macedonia) in 1880.

After a period of service in a regiment, he was selected for the Ottoman Military College in 1887, graduating top of his class as a General Staff officer in 1890.

As he found working in the General Staff not to his liking, he took up the less prestigious position a year later as a teacher at the Mekteb-i Erkân-ı Harbiyye-i Şâhâne (Imperial Military College).

[5] At this time there were a number of young officers in various secret organisations under the leadership of Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) conspiring against the authoritarian regime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

Although the conspiracy in the form of the Young Turk Revolution was eventually successful and forced the Sultan to accept their demands Esad did not benefit and was instead treated as a functionary of the old regime and demoted to the rank of Mirliva (Major General).

[4] Upon the outbreak of the First Balkan War Esad was immediately detached from his divisional command and placed in charge of the newly activated independent Yanya Corps, tasked with defending the well-fortified city and the wider region of Epirus.

[2] Efficiently organising his limited resources he pursued an active defence Esad succeeded in defending Yanya for three months against the Greek Army with constant counter-attacks, before being finally forced to capitulate after the Battle of Bizani on 4–6 March 1913.

Despite the demanding conditions and eventual defeat Esad gained valuable insight into modern warfare in particular the importance of defence and the issues caused by a poorly prepared offensive.

[3] Almost immediately upon his return from captivity, not only did he receive credit for his defense of Yanya but he also avoided the large-scale purge at the end of the war of the army officer corps.

[4] Esad's identification and development of capable officers combined with the fighting experience that had been gained by corps units and soldiers during the wars and the initiation by Esad of an extensive training program allowed the III Corps to quickly establish itself as one of the most combat-worthy formations in the Ottoman Army.

As a result, when the Ottoman Army mobilized on 2 August 1914 at the commencement of World War I, the III Corp was the only one to do so within the prescribed timeframe.

[5] The III Corps (which had a total strength of 43,000 men plus logistics and commissariat troops) was assigned the task of reinforcing the Gallipoli Peninsula and Asiatic coast to defend against enemy landings.

[4] On 3 November 1915, Esad was appointed as CO of First Army, succeeding Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz, who was being dispatched to the Mesopotamian front.