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A M H O ILITARY ISTORY OF THE TTOMANS A M H O ILITARY ISTORY OF THE TTOMANS From Osman to Atatu¨rk Mesut Uyar and Edward J. Erickson P S I RAEGER ECURITY NTERNATIONAL An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC Copyright2009byMesutUyarandEdwardJ.Erickson Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData AmilitaryhistoryoftheOttomans:fromOsmantoAtatu¨rk/byMesutUyarandEdwardJ.Erickson. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978–0–275–98876–0(hardcopy:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–05603–1(ebook) 1. Turkey.Ordu—History.2. Turkey—History,Military.3. Turkey—History—OttomanEmpire, 1288–1918. I.Erickson,EdwardJ.,1950–II.Title. UA812.U89 2009 355.00956—dc22 2009020872 13 12 11 10 9 1 2 3 4 5 ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook. Visitwww.abc-clio.comfordetails. ABC-CLIO,LLC 130CremonaDrive,P.O.Box1911 SantaBarbara,California93116-1911 Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Tomywifeandmydaughter ˙IlkayandDilara withprofoundlove Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii NoteonTransliteration xv 1EarlyMiddleEasternMilitarySystemsandtheFoundationofthe 1 OttomanMilitary,1300–1453 2ClassicalPeriod,1451–1606 31 3TransformationandReformEfforts,1606–1826 81 4FightingforSurvival,1826–1858 129 5TheBeginningoftheEnd,1861–1918 175 Conclusion 281 Notes 285 SelectedBibliography 355 Index 365 Aphotoessayfollowspage174. Preface ThehistoryoftheOttomanmilitaryinthewesternworldtendstobeepisodicand focused on particular periods, leaders, or wars. A recent comprehensive guide to theliteratureofmilitaryhistorycontainsnospecificentrybeginningwiththeword ‘‘Ottoman.’’1Thereareinsteadthefollowing:KemalAtatu¨rk;BalkanWars;Crimean War; Greece—War ofIndependence; Habsburg-Ottoman Wars; Islamic Warfare; NearEastWarfare;Russo-TurkishWar;SuleimantheMagnificent;Turkey—armed forces;WorldWarI(WW1):armedforces,Turkey;WW1:Balkans;WW1:Darda- nelles;WW1:Mesopotamia;andWW1:Palestine.Moreover,theexistingnonspe- cialistwesternhistoriographywas writtenfromtheEuropeanperspectiveandwas oftenthederivativeproductoffaultyorbiasedcontemporaryobservationsbyEuro- peansaboutwhattheOttomansweredoing.Sometimestheliteraturewastaintedby alingeringmemoryof‘‘theterribleTurk,’’whichpresentedtheOttomansasthelast ofalonglineofraciallyAsiandestroyersofwesterncivilization.Eventhoughthehis- toryoftheOttomanmilitaryisbynomeanswhollylackingineitherscholarshipor ideas,noonehasyetundertakenageneralsurveyoftheOttomanmilitaryfromthe verybeginninguntiltheend. AMilitaryHistoryoftheOttomans:FromOsmantoAtatu¨rkisintendedtorectify thislacuna(or,moreproperly,terraincognita)inmilitaryhistorybytellingthestory ofthefoundation,development,andtransformationoftheOttomanmilitary.How- ever, itisnotamilitary history oftheOttoman stateand itsarmy—rather, itis a militaryhistoryoftheOttomanarmy.Theauthorsrecognizethatsinceitisnota campaignandbattle-orientedstudy,itmaydisappointsomereaders,butwepresent theideathatanunderstandingofanarmymustcomebeforedescriptionsofwhatit did. Limitations of space have kept us from providing details, and we have been forcedtosummarizemoreoftenthanwewouldhaveliked.Wehavenotattempted tocovernavalaffairs,forexample,inspiteofthefactthattheywerecloselyrelated with some of the issues covered in the text. We also had to sacrifice most of the descriptivefootnotesthatwouldhavebeenimportanttothespecialists.Regrettably, nohistoricalsurveyofsovastasubjectastheOttomanmilitarycanpossiblyprovide definitecoverageofeverytopicitincludes.Therefore,thisbookisamodestattempt toilluminatehowtheOttomansbuilt,trained,organized,led,andsustainedtheir armyoveraperiodofnearly700years. TheOttomanarmyhadasignificanteffectonthehistoryofthemodernworld and particularly onthatoftheMiddleEastand Europe. Astheworld’sdominant militarymachinefrom1300tothemid-1700s,theOttomanarmyledthewayin