Military of the Ottoman Empire
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This article details the military of the Ottoman Empire.
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[edit] Origins
The first military of the Ottoman Empire was an army that was organized by Osman I from Turkish tribesmen inhabiting western Anatolia in the late 14th century. These horsemen became an irregular force of raiders used as shock troops, armed with simple weapons like bows and spears. They were given fiefs called timars in the conquered lands, and were later called timariots. In addition they acquired booty during campaigns. Orhan I organized a standing army paid by salary rather than booty or fiefs. The infantry were called yayas and the cavalry was known as müsellems. The force was made up by foreigner mercenaries for the most part, and only a few Turks were content to accept salaries in place of booty. Foreign mercenaries were not required to convert to Islam as long as they obeyed their Ottoman commanders.
"One officer was left, who made to the grave-diggers and spectators a speech of a moving simplicity. "Brothers," he said, "here are men of every nation - Turks, Albanians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews; but they died together, on the same day, fighting under the same flag. Among us, too, are men of every nation, both Mohammedan and Christian; but we also have one flag and we pray to one God. Now, I am going to make a prayer, and when I pray let each one of you pray also, in his own language, in his own way."
[edit] Janissaries
The Janissaries comprised infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguard. The force originated in the 14th century; it was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826. The Timar system, which organised the Janissary acquisition, was a land based system that extended through out the Empire. The first Janissary units comprised war captives and slaves. After the 1380s Sultan Mehmet I filled their ranks with the results of taxation in human form called devshirmeh: the Sultan’s men conscripted a number of non-Muslim, usually Christian, boys – at first at random, later, by strict selection – to be trained. Initially they favoured Greeks, Albanians (who also supplied many gendarmes), usually selecting about one in five boys of ages seven to fourteen but the numbers could be changed to correspond with the need for soldiers. Next the devshirmeh was extended to also include Serbs, Bosnians and other Balkan countries, later especially Ukraine and southern Russia.
For all practical purposes, Janissaries belonged to the Sultan, carrying the title kapıkulu ("door slave") indicating their collective bond with the Sultan. Janissaries were taught to consider the corps as their home and family, and the Sultan as their de facto father. Only those who proved strong enough earned the rank of true Janissary at the age of twenty four or twenty five. The regiment inherited the property of dead Janissaries, thus amassing wealth (like religious orders and foundations enjoying the 'dead hand').
[edit] Nizamis
The Nizamis (Nizam-ı Cedid) were the Ottoman soldiers who replaced the Janissaries. This army was established at the beginning of the year 1842.
[edit] Military Band
Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching band in the world. Though they are often known by the Persian-derived word mehter (مهتر) in the West, that word, properly speaking, refers only to a single musician in the band.
[edit] The Kapıkulu
This regular army was commanded and paid by some important fief-holders who gained power and became a sort of noble class. The mercenaries became a tool for their rise to predominance over the sultan, who simply could not afford to hire so many mercenaries that they would outnumber his nobles'. Therefore, in the middle of the 14th century, Murad I built his own personal slave army called the kapıkulu. The new force was based on the sultan's right to a fifth of the war booty, which he interpreted to include captives taken in battle. The captive slaves were converted to Islam and trained in the sultan's personal service. The most famous branch of the kapikulu was the Janissary corps who were recruited among young Christian boys by the devshirmeh tax, but there were also several other troops types such as the Halberdier corps (Baltaçi). Their numbers increased rapidly and this force became the most important element of the Ottoman army. In order to man the force, Murad II developed the devşirme system of recruiting youths in form of taxes from Christians in the empire. Murad used the strength of the Janissaries and played them off against the nobility, forcing them to pay taxes or land so that the treasury could obtain the money it needed to maintain the kapikulu army.
[edit] Conscription
In 1389 a system of conscription was introduced in the Ottoman military. In times of need every town, quarter, and village should present a fully equipped conscript at the recruiting office. The new force of irregular infantrymen was called Azabs and it was used in a number of different ways. They supported the supplies to the front-line, they dug roads and built bridges. On rare occasions they were used as cannon fodder to slow down enemy advance. A branch of the Azabs were the bashi-bazouk (başıbozuk). These were specialized in close combat and were sometimes mounted. They became notorious for being brutal and indisciplined and were recruited from homeless, vagrants and criminals.
[edit] Elite Cavalry
An important part of the Ottoman warfare was also the Six Divisions of Cavalry (Altı Bölük), a mounted élite force. The most important of these divisions was the Spahis. A force of professional raiders called akıncıs pillaged enemy territory ahead of the regular army. They also served as scouts.
[edit] Introduction of Firearms
The Ottomans began using guns sometime between 1444 and 1448. Following that, other troop types began to appear, such as the regular rifle infantry (Piyade Topçu, literally "foot artillery"), regular cavalry armed with rifles (Süvari Topçu Neferi, literally "mounted artillery soldier") and bombardiers (Kumbaracı), consisting of grenadiers that threw explosives called khımbara and the soldiers that served the artillery with maintenance and powder supplies.
[edit] Ottoman navy
The Ottomans began to develop a navy during the late 14th century following the first Ottoman in 1453 and for more than one hundred years from that point the Ottoman navy was one of the foremost naval powers in the world, effectively controlling most of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 marked the first major victory for Christians against Ottoman forces. In terms of long-term effects, it was more symbolic than anything, for the Ottomans rebuilt their fleet the next winter to resume their command of the Mediterranean. The Ottoman navy would continue be a significant power until the introduction of newer European warships in the 18th century.
From the mid-19th century onward, the Sultans sought to establish a modern fleet. This grew from steam-powered ironclads in the 1860s to a force including battleships, cruisers, and destroyers by World War I. Even after this reorganization, the Ottoman Navy was underpowered in relation to its enemies and could not be compared to the might of its ally, the German Navy.
Despite this, the British and French Navies could not pass through the Strait of Gallipoli (Çanakkale Boğazı) in 1915 thanks to the heavy Turkish fortifications lining the strait and fierce resistance from the Turkish soldiers, who were well aware that they were resisting the capture of Istanbul. Had the Allies passed the strait, they would have captured İstanbul (then Constantinople), which would have changed the course of World War I. Following the war, the Ottoman Navy was reduced to a small coastal force.
[edit] External links
- History of the Ottoman Military Music
- See World War I ship list Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk.
- TheOneTree Miniatures—manufacturer of 15mm Ottoman Empire miniatures, contains wargaming information, flags, publications for the Ottoman Empire during the period 1787- 1820
- Frederick Engels (1855), The Turkish Army ja:オスマン帝国軍
