The Military of the Ottoman Empire

Military of the Ottoman Empire

The history of military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years between 1300 and 1453 , the classical period covers the years between 1451 and 1606 , the reformation period covers the years between 1606 and 1826 ,...

 used a variety of weapon

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

s in their conquests throughout the centuries. The armoury in Topkapı Palace

Topkapi Palace

The Topkapı Palace is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years of their 624-year reign....

 has a large collection of which it shows select items.

Armour

Plated mail

Plated mail is a type of mail with embedded plates. Armour of this type has been used in the Middle East, Japan, China, Korea, Central Asia, Greater Iran, India, Eastern Europe, and by the Moors.-Types of plated mail:In Russia there are three known varieties of this armour...

 

Ottoman armour

Armour

Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...

  of the 15th and 16th centuries was made with interlocking rings of flattened metal and was reinforced at the front, underarms and back with rectangular steel plates, similar to the Coat of Ten Thousand Nails. This had several advantages. It permitted a wider range of motion and its open structure allowed air to circulate freely, keeping the wearer cooler. Additional garments could be worn over the mail for protection against the weather. During the Middle Ages the Turks invented an advanced helmet called the Zischagge which was later worn by German soldiers in the 30 years war and Roundhead

Roundhead

"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...

 Ironside

Ironside

-Entertainment and literature:*Ironside , an American television series starring Raymond Burr*Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale, an urban fantasy novel by Holly Black-People:...

 cavalry during the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

Yataghan 

The Yataghan (yatağan) makes its appearance in the second half of the 16th century, and is an infantry weapon in which the hilt

Hilt

The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard,grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case...

 is generally made of bone or ivory and the pommel is flared. Its short, slightly curved blade

Blade

A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...

 is sharp on one edge and comes to a fine point. This form continues unchanged until the end of the 19th century. The yataghan was widely used in both the Ottoman army and navy.

Kilij

Kilij

A kilij is a type of saber used by the Turks throughout history starting from late Hsiung-nu period to Avar Empire and Göktürk Khaganate, Uyghur Khaganate, Seljuk Empire, Timurid Empire, Mamluk Empire, Ottoman Empire, and later Turkic Khanates of Central Asia...

 

The Ottoman cavalry sabre "kilij is the final evolution of central asian Turko-Mongol saber

Dao (sword)

Daois a category of single-edge Chinese swords primarily used for slashing and chopping , often called a broadsword in English translation because some varieties have wide blades. In China, the dao is known as one of the four major weapons, along with the gun , qiang , and the jian , and referred...

 to produce a design more useful in the mounted close combat preferred by the Turkish and Mamluke troops. It was a one-handed saber with a slight curvature enough to cut and thrust effectively; Sharpened back edge at the final section of the blade known as "yalman" was specific to kilij.

A (kılıç) consists of a blade which is usually grooved, a hilt, guard and scabbard. Its basic form is illustrated by the sword of Sultan Mehmed II

Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from...

, with its slightly curved blade that thickens at the back. During the reigns of Sultan Bayezid and Suleiman I, the Turkish sword attained its classic form, becoming shorter, lighter and straighter. These changes made it a more effective and efficient weapon. Swords are usually embellished with inscriptions and motifs typical of the period.

Bow

Turkish bow

The Turkish bow is a recurved composite bow used in the Ottoman Empire.The construction was that of the classic Asiatic composite bow, with a wooden core , animal horn on the side facing the archer, and sinew on the back. Animal glue held it together...

 

There are three kinds of bows

Bow (weapon)

The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...

 : war (tirkeş), target (puta), and long-range (menzil) bows. All three types were made of four materials: wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

, horn

Horn (anatomy)

A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...

, tendon

Tendon

A tendon is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae as they are all made of collagen except that ligaments join one bone to another bone, and fasciae connect muscles to other...

 and adhesive

Adhesive

An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...

. A grip (kabza) is located at the centre of each bow. They are generally decorated in lacquer

Lacquer

In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...

 technique.

Arrow

The shaft of arrow

Arrow

An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:...

s was made of pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 and the head of iron, brass, or bone. At the end of the arrow are feathers to stabilise flight and knoted nock (gez) to hold the arrow firmly against the bowstring.

Helmet

The typical helmet

Helmet

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...

 (miğfer) in the 15th and early 16th centuries was conical in form, swelling gently from the base and curves as it tapers to its apex. At the front it had a visor and nasal and along the sides and back a neck guard of chain mail. In the 16th century under Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 influence it assumed a more conical and smaller form. This shape continued throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

Musketeers

Although the Ottoman army began using musket

Musket

A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....

s (tüfek) in the 16th century, the earliest examples of Turkish manufacture date to the early 17th century. By the middle of the 17th century, most of these muskets, with their simple matchlock

Matchlock

The matchlock was the first mechanism, or "lock" invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. This design removed the need to lower by hand a lit match into the weapon's flash pan and made it possible to have both hands free to keep a firm grip on the weapon at the moment of firing,...

 firing mechanisms were converted to use the Spanish style patilla miquelet lock

Miquelet

Miquelet Lock is a modern collector/auctioneer/curator term, largely used by and for the benefit of the English speaking world, widely applied to a distinctive form of snaplock, originally as a flint-against-steel ignition form, prevalent in the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas, North...

. These continued to be used until the end of the 19th century, undergoing minor changes as a result of Western influence.

Origins

The start of the use of artillery in the Ottoman Army is not very definite. One of the arguments is that the Ottomans used cannons in the Battles of Kosovo (1389) and Nukap (1396) and most certainly by 1420s. However the other argument states that field guns entered service shortly after the Battle of Vanna (1444) and more certainly used in the Second Battle of Kosovo (1448).

The Balkans was used by the Ottomans as both a human and technical source concerning the advancement and the use of their artillery pieces. Bosnia and Serbia particularly along with Italy and Germany was an important cog for the Ottoman Army. Specialist ‘topcu’ or artillery units were formed mainly of Christians; units such as tayfa-i efreciye . In the siege of Baghdad where the Ottomans retook the city from the Persians (1638), gunners of European descent served on the lines. Although the payroll registry records were not good at keeping up with the number of gunners because the combrades of those deceased collected the money on their behalf. The table below gives us a clear view of the trends.

The Size of the Ottoman Artillery Corps 1514-1769

Date	1514	1527	1567	1574	1598	1609	1660	1669	1687	1699	1702	1739	1769
Gunners	348	695	1204	1099	2827	1552	2026	2793	4949	4604	1269	7279	1351
Artillery Carts	372	943	678	400	700	684	282	432	670	1074	470	2274	180
Weapons Smith	451	524	789	625	3000	5730	4180	4789	3503	9629	2462	9877	3691
Total	1171	2162	2671	2124	6527	7960	6488	8014	9122	15307	4201	19430	5222

One of the greatest advancements in Ottoman fire arms came in the reign of Beyazid II who improved the design of field artillery pieces and many other firearms ranging from muskets to ‘tufeks’. To add to this the 16th century brought the latest technical advancements in gun making to the Ottomans; in the form of Jews fleeing from the Spanish Inquisition.

Types

Archivial evidence supports the notion that the Ottoman artillery was famous for the size of its cannon, and their number; from the highly mobile antipersonnel Abus gun

Abus Gun

The Abus gun is an early form of howitzer or more likely a bazooka created by the Ottoman empire. They were small, but often too heavy to carry, and many were equipped with a type of tripod...

 to the massive Great Turkish Bombard

Great Turkish Bombard

The Dardanelles Gun or Great Turkish Bombard is a 15th century siege cannon, specifically a super-sized bombard, which saw action in the 1807 Dardanelles Operation.- History :...

.These bombars were a product of specialised study in the production of 'giant guns' known literally as castle smashers 'kale-kob'.Although such weapons being primarily used in sieges; where they were cast on site due to the logistical difficulties attributed to transport them there, they were used as late as 1809 massive stone-firing guns were used with some effect against British ships during the Dardanelles Operation

Dardanelles Operation

The Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose British demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War ....

, throwing 1000-pound

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

 marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

 with a range of 1 mile. Accuracy was achieved by using wadded shots wraped in sheep skin with ready measured stacks of powder. Unlike the European powder, the Ottoman powder is thought to be better for upon firing it produced white smoke rather than black smoke.

The most famous battle in which these bronze 'bombards' were used is at the siege of Constantinople

Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...

 in 1453. The bombards weighed 19 tons, took 200 men and sixty oxen to emplace, and could fire just seven times a day. The Fall of Constantinople was perhaps "the first event of supreme importance whose result was determined by the use of artillery" when the huge bronze cannons of Mehmed II

Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from...

, made by the Hungarian Orban

Orban

Urban, also known as Orban, was a Hungarian gunfounder who cast superguns for the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453.In 1452 he originally offered his services to the Byzantines, but emperor Constantine XI could not afford his high salary nor did he possess the materials necessary for...

, breached the city's walls, ending the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

, according to Sir Charles Oman

Charles Oman

Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering...

.

The most commonly used gun is known as a battering gun (darbzen). This gun fired 0.15-2.5 kg shots in weight. These guns were used more in fortresses as the emphasis was given to small to medium calibre guns. Small calibre bronze pieces were also used on galleons and river boats, they weight between 3.7-8.6 kg. However most river boats had an armoury of cast iron guns which fired 500g shots, on average they weighed between 20–40 kg.The ‘balyemez’ was a medium weight, long raged cannon which fired shots weighing 31–74 kg.‘Şahalaz’ was light cannon, this was mainly used on river boats and was a cast iron cannon firing 500g shots. ‘Şayha’ was a gun of various sizes used predominantly on riverboats mainly in the Danube. It weighed between 31–74 kg. 16th and 17th centuries gave rise to other types of cannons which the Ottomans used such as the‘Saçma topu’ (grapeshot) and the ‘Ağaç topu’ (petard).

Method and Production

The ammunition used by the bronze bombards were stone balls, 1 meter in diameter and weighed 400 kg. The transportation of just two bombards proved to be a logistically challenging task. They were dragged to the Fall of Constantinople

Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...

 by 70 oxen and 1000 men. The casting of these bombards are described by Kritoboulos 1467. He describes the clay mould and the core which was strengthened by iron, wood, earth and stone. 45 tonnes of copper and tin are said to be placed in two furnaces constructed out of large stone blocks, laid with cement and covered by fire bricks and smeared in clay. Logs of wood along with charcoal are placed inside the furnace and all the holes except the tapping channels are closed. Then bellows are put to work until the metal inside is in a fluid state. The liquid bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 is then poured in to the clay mould where it is then chiseled and polished.

Mehmet II erected many cannon-foundries in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, the most famous of which is the Tophane

Tophane

Tophane is a neighborhood in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey. It has a coastline with the Bosporus. In the Ottoman era it was the city's oldest industrial zone.- History :...

foundry which produced bronze cannons for siege warfare. It made large bombards which had a diameter of 60 to 100 cm and in 1562 alone it cast a total of 1012 guns weighing all together 481 tonnes.

Literature

• David Nicolle. Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1775-1820 (Men-At-Arms, No 314). Osprey Publishing (1998). ISBN 1855326973
• Gábor Ágoston. Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. Cambridge University Press (2005). ISBN 0521843138
• DK Publishing. Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor. DK ADULT (2006). ISBN 0756622107
• Judith Herbst. The History Of Weapons (Major Inventions Through History). Twenty-First Century Books (CT) (2005) ISBN 0822538059
• Fanny Davis. Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. 1970. ASIN B000NP64Z2