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Kapıkulu
''Kapıkulu'' ( ota, قپوقولو اوجاغی, ''Kapıkulu Ocağı'', "Slaves of the Sublime Porte") was the collective name for the Household Division of the Ottoman Sultans. They included the Janissary infantry corps as well as the Six Divisions of Cavalry. Unlike provincial levies such as the timariots and irregular forces (''levend''), the ''kapıkulu'' were professional, standing troops, mostly drawn through the devshirme system. They formed the backbone of the military of the Ottoman Empire during its "classical period", from the 15th century until the Auspicious Incident that lead to the abolition of the kapıkulu during the 19th century Tanzimat The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. .... References Sources * {{cite book, last1=Uyar, first1=Mesut, last2=Ericks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devshirme
Devshirme ( ota, دوشیرمه, devşirme, collecting, usually translated as "child levy"; hy, Մանկահավաք, Mankahavak′. or "blood tax"; hbs-Latn-Cyrl, Danak u krvi, Данак у крви, mk, Данок во крв, Danok vo krv, bg, Кръвен данък, Kraven Danak.) was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects. Those coming from the Balkans came primarily from noble Balkan families and rayah classes. It is first mentioned in written records in 1438, but probably started earlier. It created a faction of soldiers and officials loyal to the Sultan. It counterbalanced the Turkish nobility, who sometimes opposed the Sultan. The system produced a considerable number of grand viziers from the 1400s to the 1600s. This was the second most powerful position in the Ottoman Empire, after the sultan. Initially, the grand viziers were exclusively of Turk origin, but after there wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottoman Army In The 15th–19th Centuries
The Ottoman army was the military structure established by Mehmed II, during his reorganization of the state and the military. This was the major reorganization following Orhan's standing army of janissaries that were paid by salary rather than booty or fiefs. This army was the force during the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The organization was twofold, central (''Kapıkulu'') and peripheral (''Eyalet''). This army was forced to disband by Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826 in what is known as Auspicious Incident, which followed a century-long reform effort. The Ottomans were one of the first states to maintain a standing army in Europe since the Roman Empire. The force originated in the 14th century. Units Infantry Janissaries The Janissaries were elite infantry units created by Sultan Murad I. They formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards and became a famed force in 1383. They began as an elite corps of Slavs, Bulgarian and other Christian ethnic boys, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavery In The Ottoman Empire
Slavery in the Ottoman Empire was a lawful institution and a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's economy and traditional society. The main sources of slaves were wars and politically organized enslavement expeditions in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, the Balkans, and Africa. It has been reported that the selling price of slaves decreased after large military operations.Spyropoulos Yannis, Slaves and freedmen in 17th- and early 18th-century Ottoman Crete, ''Turcica'', 46, 2015, p. 181, 182. In Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), the administrative and political center of the Ottoman Empire, about a fifth of the 16th- and 17th-century population consisted of slaves. Statistics of these centuries suggest that Istanbul's additional slave imports from the Black Sea have totaled around 2.5 million from 1453 to 1700. Even after several measures to ban slavery in the late 19th century, the practice continued largely unabated into the early 20th century. As late a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Six Divisions Of Cavalry
The Six Divisions of Cavalry ( tr, Altı Bölük Halkı), also known as the Kapıkulu Süvarileri (" Household Slave Cavalry"), was a corps of elite cavalry soldiers in the army of the Ottoman Empire (Sipahi). There were not really six, but four, divisions in the corps. Two of the six were sub-divisions. The divisions were: * Sipāhiyān ( ota, سپاهيان, roughly, "Armymen") * Silah-dārān (From Persian, translated roughly as "weaponbearers") * Ulufeciyān ( tr, Ulufeciler; translated as " stipendiaries"), organised into two sub-divisions: ** ( ota, علوفه جي يسار) ** ( ota, علوفه جي يمين) * Garibān ( tr, Garipler; translated roughly as "strangers"), organised into two sub-divisions: ** Garips of the Left ** The elite cavalry was the mounted counterpart to the Janissaries and played an important part in the Ottoman Army. The Six Divisions were probably founded during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1451–1481), but the Sipahis had existed since 1326 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janissaries
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan (1324–1362), during the Grand vizier, Viziership of Alaeddin Pasha (vizier), Alaeddin. Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of Ghilman, child levy, by which Christians, Christian Albania under the Ottoman Empire, Albanians, Romanians, Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenians, Ottoman Bulgaria, Bulgarians, Croats, Ottoman Greeks, Greeks and Ottoman Serbs, Serbs were taken, levied, subjected to Forced circumcision, circumcision and Forced conversion#Islam, conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army. They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sublime Porte
The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name has its origins in the old practice in which the ruler announced his official decisions and judgements at the gate of his palace. This was the practice in the Byzantine Empire and it was also adopted by Ottoman Turk sultans since Orhan I, and therefore the palace of the sultan, or the gate leading to it, became known as the "High Gate". This name referred first to a palace in Bursa, Turkey. After the Ottomans had conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, the gate now known as the Imperial Gate ( tr, Bâb-ı Hümâyûn), leading to the outermost courtyard of the Topkapı Palace, first became known as the "High Gate", or the "Sublime Porte". When Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sealed an alliance with King Francis I of France in 1536, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Household Division
Household Division is a term used principally in the Commonwealth of Nations to describe a country's most elite or historically senior military units, or those military units that provide ceremonial or protective functions associated directly with the head of state. Historical development In medieval Western Europe, the most able warriors were pressed into service as the personal bodyguards to the monarch and other members of the royal or imperial household; as a result, Household troops are commonly referred to as Guards. From this origin developed the practice of designating a country's finest military units as forming Household or Guards regiments. Members of the Household Divisions would accompany the monarch to protect him when he ventured into the public. Hence, as kingdoms grew larger and more politically complex, the Household Divisions naturally became part of the public spectacle of the state. Their uniforms, weapons and even personal attributes such as height were sele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottoman Sultan
The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its height, the Ottoman Empire spanned an area from Hungary in the north to rebel in the south and from Algeria in the west to Iraq in the east. Administered at first from the city of Söğüt since before 1280 and then from the city of Bursa since 1323 or 1324, the empire's capital was moved to Adrianople (now known as Edirne in English) in 1363 following its conquest by Murad I and then to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) in 1453 following its conquest by Mehmed II. The Ottoman Empire's early years have been the subject of varying narratives, due to the difficulty of discerning fact from legend. The empire came into existence at the end of the 13th century, and its first ruler (and the namesake of the Empire) was Osman I. According to l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timariots
Timariot (or ''tımar'' holder; ''tımarlı'' in Turkish language, Turkish) was the name given to a Sipahi cavalryman in the Ottoman army. In return for service, each timariot received a parcel of revenue called a timar, a fief, which were usually recently conquered plots of agricultural land in the countryside. Far less commonly, the sultan would grant a civil servant or member of the imperial family a timar. Also non-military timar holders were obliged to supply the imperial army with soldiers and provisions. The timariots provided the backbone of the Ottoman cavalry force and the army as a whole. They were obligated to fight as cavalrymen in the Ottoman military when called upon. The timariots had to assemble with the army when at war, and had to take care of the land entrusted to him in times of peace. When at war, the timariot had to bring his own equipment and in addition a number of armed retainers (''cebelu''). The timariot was granted feudatory with the obligation to go m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Levend
Levend or levendi (Arabic ''lawend'') was a name for irregular soldiers. The term originated with the Ottoman Navy, but eventually spread to encompass most irregular troops. The origin of the term is probably from Italian ''levanti'', and was used by the Venetians for the various local troops they raised in the coasts of the Balkans, i.e. Christian Greeks, Albanians, and Dalmatians, to serve in the Venetian navy or as auxiliary troops. The Ottomans, who relied on the same manpower pool (eventually along with Muslim Anatolian Turks), borrowed the name. Gradually, as the Ottoman navy became more professional, the undisciplined ''levends'' started to be replaced by regular troops. The name however survived as a generic name for naval troops, particularly the riflemen (''tüfekdji''). Thus the Imperial Arsenal in Constantinople contained two barracks for ''levends''. Thus in the 17th and 18th centuries, ''levend'' came to refer to irregular mercenaries, mostly infantry but also cav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Of The Ottoman Empire
The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years between 1300 (Byzantine expedition) and 1453 (Conquest of Constantinople), the classical period covers the years between 1451 (second enthronement of Sultan Mehmed II) and 1606 (Peace of Zsitvatorok), the reformation period covers the years between 1606 and 1826 ( Vaka-i Hayriye), the modernisation period covers the years between 1826 and 1858 and decline period covers the years between 1861 (enthronement of Sultan Abdülaziz) and 1918 (Armistice of Mudros). The Ottoman army is the forerunner of the Turkish Armed Forces. Foundation period (1300–1453) The earliest form of the Ottoman military was a steppe-nomadic cavalry force.Mesut Uyar, Edward J. Erickson, ''A Military History of the Ottomans: From Osman to Atatürk'', Pleager ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auspicious Incident
The Auspicious Incident (or EventGoodwin, pp. 296–299.) (Ottoman Turkish: ''Vaka-i Hayriye'', "Fortunate Event" in Constantinople; ''Vaka-i Şerriyye'', "Unfortunate Incident" in the Balkans) was the forced disbandment of the centuries-old Janissaries, Janissary corps by Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826.Kinross, pp. 456–457Shaw, pp. 19–20 Most of the 135,000 Janissaries revolted against Mahmud II, and after the rebellion was suppressed, most of them were executed, exiled or imprisoned. The disbanded Janissary corps was replaced with a more modern military force. Background The Janissaries were first created by the Ottoman Sultans in the late 14th century and were employed as household troops. Janissaries began as an elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child slavery, by which young Christian boys, notably Serbs, Albanians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Croats, Greeks, Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonians, Slovenians and Romanians, Armenians were taken from the Bal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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