Early Modern Military Architecture in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

Strongholds with firearms remained significant in the Ottoman frontier from the fifteenth until the nineteenth century. The employment of firearms technology resulted in military strongholds at strategic passages. That Sultan Mehmed II employed large cannons effectively during the siege of Constantinople was reported by many eyewitnesses. Sultan personally inspected firearms, from the foundry and ballistic calculations, to topographic position and related administration. There existed various European experts and craftsmen in the Ottoman palace who also contributed to the Ottomans’ use of cannons. Fortifications in the third quarter of the fifteenth century were equipped with cannons and other firearms, and architecture as well was created according to the new technology. This article discusses how Kilid-ul Bahir and other fortifications arrived at their unique geometry in the fifteenth century by taking historical accounts and illustrations as documentary evidence. It shows that fifteenth-century Ottoman military architecture follows a clear path where logical translation from firearms technology to the architecture can be observed.