Ottoman Campaign Research Articles

The Power and Weakness of the Sultan’s Army in the Description of the Allies of the Second Anti-French Coalition (the Asian Stage of the Campaign of 1799—1801)

The article is devoted to a little-studied event of the Napoleonic Wars: the Ottoman campaign of 1799—1801 against the French expeditionary force that captured Egypt. The events of this campaign are revealed in documents, some of which have not yet been published, and some written in Arabic and Ottoman languages are poorly introduced into scientific circulation. Of particular interest is the fact that the most informative source covering the Asian part of the campaign was Enrico Frankini, the Russian agent in the army of the Grand Vizier. Comparing the views of European and Ottoman campaign participants on the system of organization and management of the Sultan’s army, the relationship between the central and provincial authorities, the Ottomans and the Arabic-speaking population, the self-identification of Muslim soldiers and their attitude to “infidel” enemies or allies — all this allows us to better understand the mutual perception of Europeans preparing for colonial conquests in the Middle East, and the Ottoman society, which was on the verge of transformation. Realizing the need for modernization, Sultan Selim III (1789—1807) began to organize the regiments of the “new order”, but the military reform, as well as several other transformations, caused a sharp rejection of the traditional Ottoman elites. Involvement in the Napoleonic Wars, first as part of the anti-French coalition, and then on the side of France, had fatal consequences both for Selim III himself and for his reforms. A significant role in assessing the low combat capability of the Sultan’s army was played by the reports of Russian and British informants who participated in the Ottoman campaign in Egypt.

Ottoman Military Campaigns in the Peloponnese in the Second Quarter of the 15th Century: Military-Political Aspect

In this article, the author examines the causes, course and results of the Ottoman military campaigns in the Peloponnese in the second quarter of the 15th century. The author comes to the conclusion that the raids of the Ottoman commander Turahan Bey in 1423, 1431 and 1435 were rather local acts of aggression aimed at intimidating the Morean despots and were intended to prevent the expansion of Byzantine influence in Greece and in the north of the Peloponnese. At the same time, the Ottoman campaign against the Peloponnese in 1446 had the character of a punitive expedition. Sultan Murad II personally led the invasion of the Morea, which speaks of the desire of the Ottomans to eliminate the center of resistance in this region once and for all. The shameful vassalage, which the Despotate of Morea fell into after the sack of the Peloponnese by the Ottomans, actually put an end to the attempts of the despot Constantine Palaiologos to create a strong, independent and self-sufficient state in the place of the Morea.

Boundary determination studies in the treaty of Passarowitz (According to Esna-ı Musalahada Tevârüd Eden Mekâtib)

ÖZ: Araştırmanın ana kaynağını oluşturan Esnâ-ı Musâlahada Tevârüd Eden Mekâtib, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Revân Kitaplağında 1949, 1950, 1953 numaralarda kayıtlı olup üç nüshası mevcuttur. Ayrıca Suver-i Mekâtib-i Musâlaha-i Nemçe, Mukâvele-i Musâlame ve Mukâtaba-i Mukâleme ve Mecmu’a-i Mekâtib isimleriyle katalogda kaydedilmiş yazmaların da bu yazma ile büyük oranda benzer mektupları içermesi dolayısıyla bu yazmanın farklı nüshaları olduğu tespit edilmiştir.
 Yazmalar Pasarofça Anlaşması sürecinde Osmanlı delegelerinden gelen ve delegelere gönderilen mektuplar ile arabuluculuk yapan devletlerin elçilerinden ve Avusturya ve Venedik devletlerinden gelen ve bu devletlere gönderilen mektupları içermektedir. Mektupların içeriğinde o dönem Osmanlı diplomasisinin işleyişi, dış ilişkiler ile ilgili protokol kurallarına dair önemli ipuçları yer almaktadır. Ayrıca devlet görevlilerinden gelen mektupların içeriğinden Osmanlı Devletinde sefer esnasında ve sonrasında bilgi akışının nasıl sağlandığı ile ilgili bilgiler bulmak mümkündür. 
 Yazmadaki mektuplarda yer alan bir diğer önemli konu da sınır tespit çalışmaları ile ilgilidir. Bu mektuplardan o dönemde sınırların tespitinde izlenen yollar, anlaşmazlık meydana gelmesi durumunda bu problemlerin nasıl çözümlendiği ile ilgili bilgiler ihtiva etmektedir. Bu bilgileri ihtiva etmesi yazmanın değerini daha da arttırmaktadır. Son dönemde Osmanlı Devletinde sınır tahdidi ile ilgili çalışmalar yapılmaya başlanmıştır. Yazmanın içeriğindeki bu bilgiler aynı zamanda bu çalışmalara da ışık tutacaktır. Bu çalışma ile Esnâ-ı Musâlahada Tevârüd Eden Mekâtib isimli yazmada yer alan bilgilere göre sınır belirleme çalışmaları ortaya konulmaya çalışılacaktır.

Çalışmalar ve Anlamları

Prof. Erickson retired as professor of military history at the Command and Staff College, Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia. He briefly served as a Scholar-in-Residence in the Clark Center for Global Engagement at the State University of New York at Cortland, New York. Prof. Erickson is a retired regular US Army lieutenant colonel. He is the recipient of two Bronze Star medals, the Legion of Merit, and numerous other military awards. Prof. Erickson is widely recognized as one of the foremost specialists on the Ottoman Army during the First World War. Among the numerous books he has written are Ordered to Die, A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War; Defeat in Detail, The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912-1913; Gallipoli, The Ottoman Campaign; Ottomans and Armenians, A Study in Counterinsurgency; Gallipoli, Command under Fire; and Palestine, The Ottoman Campaigns 1914-1918. He is the co-author, with Prof. Mesut Uyar, of A Military History of the Ottomans, from Osman to Ataturk. His latest book co-authored by Prof. Mesut Uyar is titled Phase Line Attila, The Amphibious Campaign for Cyprus.

Дипломатическая активность Крымского ханства и ее экономические следствия в Восточно-Центральной Европе в XVI–XVIII веках

Research objective: The article is devoted to the discussion of the establish­ment and the development of diplomatic relations between the Crimean Khanate and the countries of East-Central Europe, with special attention paid to the political and economic influence of the Khanate in the European vassal states of the Ottoman Empire. Research materials: The study uses European and Ottoman chronicles, reports from Constantinople, and still unpublished documents from the Austrian, Romanian, and Hungarian archives. Results and novelty of the research: Ottoman studies has paid little attention to the diplomatic relations of the Crimean Khanate with East-Central Europe. Historical studies primarily emphasized the auxiliary role of Tatars in the Ottoman campaigns and did not pay attention to the fact that in their shadow the khans established and maintained diplomatic relations with the sovereign and vassal states of the region. After thorough research in the archives of the region, it was possible to compile a corpus of documents which revealed the process of the development of the khanate’s diplomatic relations, sometimes even leading to cooperation between the Muslim and Christian rulers. The analysis of the collected and systematized material made it possible to establish the role the khanate played in the policy of the Christian vassals of the Porte, and also the development of the taxation of vassal countries by the Tatars. In the case of Moldova and Wallachia, the sources made it possible to trace the formation of different types of obligations and the amount of tribute.

Commentaria archaeologica et historica (IV)

Commentaria archaeologica et historica (IV)

ОБОРОНА ПОГРАНИЧНЫХ КРЕПОСТЕЙ ОСМАНСКОЙ ИМПЕРИИ И КРЫМСКОГО ХАНСТВА В 1689 И 1695 ГГ. ПО ДАННЫМ ХРОНИКИ «ТАРИХ-И МЕХМЕД ГЕРАЙ»

In the article the fragments of the chronicle «Tarikh-i Mehmed Geray» of the Crimean historian Dervish Mehmed bin Mubarek Geray Chingizi, the content of which covers the description of the foreign policy of Peter the Great in the south at the end of the XVII century, are examined. The copy of the work has been preserved in the Austrian National Library. The material for analysis is the publication in Turkish of the master’s work of Ughur Demir «Tarikh-i Mehmed Giray» (assessment – transliteration of the text)» (consultant: Prof. Dr. Nejdet Oztürk, Istanbul, 163 pages). The translation from the Ottoman into Russian is carried out by R. Abduzhemilev. In the introductory part of the article, the source is described: the author’s personality, writing period, marking and volume of the manuscript, text script, and versatility of the contents. The works of the orientalists, where the chronicle is presented in the scientific-research context, are noted. The author focuses on the military campaigns during the reign of Peter I in the south at the end of the XVIIth century (the siege of the fortresses of Or, Dogan and Azak). The events described in the text: the struggle for the Or fortress, the refusal of Khan el-Haj Selim Geray to participate in the Ottoman campaign, the direction of the tsar’s troops from the north, the readiness of the troops of the Crimean Khanate to repel the siege, the negotiations of the parties, the siege of the Dogan fortress, the Azov fortress, an offensive from the sea, the defense of the strategic positions of the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire.

Three Ways of Locating the Global: Microhistorical Challenges in the Study of Early Transcontinental Diplomacy*

Reflections, echoes, connections: the sixteenth century abounds with transcontinental phenomena carrying the potential to challenge Eurocentric narratives in global history. Even as we look back on the now substantial historiography of early modern global flows and connections, new and surprising aspects catch our eye every time we delve into the sixteenth century. We may take almost any single year — for example, 1546, not a particularly remarkable one in the making of the new global order — and still be confronted with a series of events calling for novel enquiries into big, globally relevant processes. In Yucatan, 1546 brought a renewal of warfare following the conclusion of one of the most violent campaigns of Spanish territorial conquest at the end of the previous year.1 In Gujarat, an Ottoman-led coalition besieged the Portuguese fort of Diu, set up a decade earlier as a result of negotiations with violent turns that had led the sultan Bahadur Shah to concede this key Indian Ocean port. The siege — the second of its sort, preceded by a first one in 1538 — forced the Estado da India to muster all its military and diplomatic might to defend itself. This involved ships and troops brought in from outposts including the semi-official Portuguese trading community of Meliapor, which had prospered on the Coromandel Coast of south India by participating in trade with south-east Asian ports such as Patani and Melaka.2 The siege of Diu may also be read in connection with the dynamics of the Ottoman campaigns in Hungary at the time and the suspension of hostilities in Italy, linked to the Anglo-French truce agreed in the Treaty of Ardres. Further events might be added to the picture, but with every addition, the challenge increases to explain what such concurrences should mean to us as historians.

The 1913 Ottoman Military Campaign in Eastern Thrace: A Prelude to Genocide?

ABSTRACTThis article argues that the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) experimented with methods of mass expulsion for the first time during the Balkan Wars in 1912–1913. The success of these methods of mass violence contributed to their renewed application in World War I. Much has been written about the crimes committed against civilians by Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek armies in this period, but little about the Ottoman operations in Eastern Thrace in 1913. Neither European nor Turkish historiography has examined the issue closely, partly because the Ottoman campaign in Eastern Thrace was very short and of relatively little military significance, and partly because historians interested in the study of violence in the late Ottoman Empire have devoted their attention to the Armenian genocide, which began less than two years after the recapture of Thrace. And yet, it is during this brief period, from July to September 1913, that the Unionist leadership of the Ottoman Empire developed a very specific, new and systematic form of violence that would later be used against other Christian populations, including the Armenians. In this context, the 1913 Ottoman campaign is worth examining closely not just as an important aspect of the Balkan Wars, but also as a prelude to practices that would later be tragically used on a wider scale during World War I and World War II.

Palestine: The Ottoman Campaigns of 1914-1918

Palestine: The Ottoman Campaigns of 1914-1918

Egyptian Soldiers in Ottoman Campaigns from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries

Despite being annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1517, Egypt’s military maintained many Mamluk traditions. These continued, though there were some changes, into the early nineteenth century. This article will examine how the Ottoman authorities dealt with the existing special status and how complementary issues of corruption were handled. How effective was Egypt’s contribution to the Ottoman Army? Campaigns from the first half of the eighteenth century provide illustrative examples. Source material for this article comes from the Ottoman Archives and period chronicles.

Introducing Edirne

Introducing Edirne Amy Singer The history of Edirne has not attracted the attention one might assume it deserves , given that the city was an Ottoman capital, a seasonal imperial residence , a chief military rallying point for Ottoman campaigns to the Balkans, one of the largest European cities in the empire, a center of Muslim learning, and a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional commercial city, to name only a few of its more obvious attributes. In addition, its historic core has preserved its Ottoman shape, including an extraordinary roster of monuments, more visibly than most other cities in Turkey today. While a critical scholarly history of Ottoman Edirne remains to be written, there is no lack of sources from which to write the history of the city. Reasons for Edirne’s relative historiographical neglect may stem from its more diminished role in later Ottoman history (though it retained strategic and symbolic importance) and from Edirne’s speci fic trajectory and character in the history of Republican Turkey. Until fairly recently, Edirne has been remarkably absent from scholarly research for almost all periods of Ottoman history. It is worth noting that this is also the case for research on Byzantine Adrianople. For the most part, it seems, the importance of Adrianople/Edirne was defined by Constantinople/ Istanbul, the imperial city to the east, and largely overshadowed by it. Even when scholars of Ottoman history in recent decades have revolted against the focus on the imperial center and looked more closely at Ottoman peripheries, it has turned out that they mostly looked beyond Edirne. Was it too close to Istanbul to count as “periphery” or “province” or “margin”? Too central in spite of being a distinctly separate location from Istanbul, one with its own specificities and narratives?1 The collection of articles presented here contributes to the proposition that Edirne was more important to Ottoman history than the current bibliography 1. This question is considered at greater length in my article “Ottoman Edirne: Moving from the Center to the Edge,” in Ottoman World: Foundational Coexistences, ed. Devrim Umit (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, forthcoming). Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 3–5 Copyright © 2016 Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association. doi:10.2979/jottturstuass.3.1.02 of published works would indicate. It was something more than a chronological moment called “the second Ottoman capital,” a stopping point on a map or a rallying site for the army. Stéphane Yerasimos observed that the city was associated with the heroic frontier ethos of the gazi warriors,2 and yet it was a more concrete and complex entity than its characterization as eternal home of the gazis suggested in the late fifteenth-century Ottoman narrative of Aşıkpaşazade. Something of its legendary identity seems to have endured to the end of the empire, since the Ottomans refused to leave the city in foreign hands and reconquered it repeatedly throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to ensure that this eastern corner of Thrace remained part of the Turkish Republic, even if just barely. Perhaps as a result of the shifting status and character of the city in the past twenty to thirty years, scholarly interest in Edirne seems now to be gradually on the rise. At the CIEPO XX congress (Rethymno, Crete, 2012), the panel “From Byzantine Adrianople to Ottoman Edirne” attracted a sizeable crowd of interested listeners. That panel examined Edirne in its transition from one imperial sphere to another. The articles presented here originated in an expanded and equally well-attended follow-up panel entitled “New Perspectives on Ottoman Edirne” at the CIEPO XXI congress (Budapest, 2014), which had a much broader chronological and topical focus. These panels and the articles are all part of a longer-term project to reinsert Edirne into the writing of Ottoman history across the entire imperial timeline from the fourteenth to the twentieth century and across a broad range of topics. The articles presented here focus on the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the earliest period of Edirne’s history as part of the Ottoman Empire. They consider the physical fabric of the city and its evolving spatial...

Georgius Huszthius, a traveller from Croatia, and his account of the Ottoman naval campaign in India (1538–1539)

This paper analyses the description of the Ottoman naval campaign in India (1538–1539) in the travelogue of the Croatian traveller Georgius Huszthius, a trumpeter in the fleet of Hâdım Süleyman Pasha during the Indian campaign; thus he is an excellent witness to these events. The aim is to compare Huszthius’s account with other primary sources for the mentioned events and secondary sources published up to now. Huszthius’s travelogue named Descriptio peregrinationis Georgii Huszthii and published in 1881 is historically significant, because it gives us new information about the mentioned Ottoman campaign and also corroborates the testimonies of the Portuguese chroniclers and of an anonymous Venetian author whose journal Viaggio di un comito Veneziano da Alessandria all’ assedio di Diu was published in Venice in 1540. Huszthius’s and the unknown Venetian’s works represent the only two first-hand accounts of the Indian campaign from the side of the crew of the Ottoman fleet. Their works confirm Portuguese primary sources and give us a more balanced view on Hâdım Süleyman Pasha’s naval campaign. Huszthius’s travelogue’s section concerning the Ottoman naval campaign in India and the siege of Diu still has not been fully examined by Turkish historians and this paper is an attempt to ameliorate that situation.

Osmanlı Sefer Organizasyonunda Pratik Çözümler: 1634-1635 (H.1044) Tarihlerinde Karahisar-ı Şarki’de “Mükellefiyet Şeklinde Yürütülen İştira” ile Zahire Temini

Providing food supplies for the army on campaign was one of the most crucial problems -particularly to ensure success in the campaign- in Ottoman State. Among the solutions to this problem were “Avariz-i Divaniye” taxes and obligations such as sursat that were imposed on rayah as well as purchases within market conditions. In addition, Ottoman State occassionally increased the obligations imposed upon rayah in order to provide food supplies for the army, a vital issue that could not be put at risk for the success of the campaign and welfare of the state. The subject of our study is the food supply method that was formed within this inclination of the state. This study will focus on the fundamentals of “obligatory purchase” which was conducted in Karahisar-i Sarki Province independent from market conditions and in line with the criteria determined. From this point of view, the method and process of “obligatory puchase” implemented during Ottoman campaigns will be identified.

Krimtatarische Spionage Im Osmanisch-Habsburgischen Grenzgebiet Während Des Feldzuges Im Jahre 1663

The Crimean Tatars who acted as Ottoman reinforcements on the Hungarian front during the 16th and 17th centuries had the task of making attacks and incursions on their enemy’s borders. The Turkish and Tatar sources hardly make any reference to the tools they had at their disposal and to how they collected information about the lands they had to attack and the armies they were likely to encounter. From the little evidence that we have one can only presume that the Tatars got their information directly from the theatre of war by forcing people of the conquered territories to spy and make guidance for the Tatar army. The knowledge that we present here has been gained from a report of 15 September 1663 made on the basis of the testimony of a captured spy working for the Tatars. From his testimony it becomes evident that the Tatars had an extensive spying network which had been organised by a German soldier in their pay, and that the Tatars paid the spies for their service and also rewarded them with a portion of their spoils. The captured spy’s testimony refers not only to the 1663 Ottoman campaign but also provides answer for an old historiographical problem. The Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi reported on what he knew about the Tatars’ incursions and while doing so he attempted to give information on similar activities in far away territories like Brandenburg, Holland and even Sweden. Researchers agree that Evliya Çelebi never actually visited these countries, but one can suppose that he gleaned information from discussions with spies who worked for the Ottomans and Tatars.

Lightning over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign (1569-71) being a translation from the Arabic of Part III of al-Barq al-Yamani fi al-Fath al-'Uthmani by Qut b al-Din al-Nahrawali al-Makki as published by H amad al-Jasir (Riyadh, 1967). Translation, with introduction and notes, by Clive K. Smith

Lightning over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign (1569-71) being a translation from the Arabic of Part III of al-Barq al-Yamani fi al-Fath al-'Uthmani by Qut b al-Din al-Nahrawali al-Makki as published by H amad al-Jasir (Riyadh, 1967). Translation, with introduction and notes, by Clive K. Smith

Lightning over Yemen: a history of the Ottoman Campaign (1569-71)

Lightning over Yemen: a history of the Ottoman Campaign (1569-71)

The Population of Turkey After The War of Independence

The people of Turkey at the end of the War of Independence could hardly have imagined the long era of peace and national development that was to follow. They had just been through more than a decade of struggle to survive against the odds of warfare abroad and at home, epidemics, and serious interferences with the normal material means of livelihood. Loss of life and permanent disability were legacies for many families of the 1911–1922 period. Practically every community was affected in some life-threatening way by the ambitions of outside powers and their local allies or by the last Ottoman campaigns (the Balkans, North Africa, Gallipoli, the Russian front, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and the Hejaz). Only the independence struggle itself finally resolved the issues of territoriality, governance, and the right to reside in peace. The new Republic was founded in 1923.