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[edit] Strength of Ottoman army
The Ottoman and Tatar army strenght have been highly exaggerated so I changed it back to realistic numbers. It was claimed that 15,000 Jannisaries took part in the expedition, while according to sources this is impossible because the total number of Jannisaries in the entire Ottoman empire was according to sources not more than 14,000. See Jannissary article. That would mean that the entire Jannisary corps was sent on this expedition to Astrakhan, this is impossible because the major part of Jannisaries stayed in the Ottoman capital or were guarding important fortresses, while it is known from sources that the total number of Jannisary troops that took part in the Battle of Vienna in 1683 were not more than 12,000, which was a major expedition, it becomes clear that it is impossible that a number higher than 2,000 would take part in a minor expedition. However it is probably that 1,500 is also an exaggeration and only 150 Jannisaries were actually sent, because they were considered an elite corps which was never more than 10% or a insignificant part of an army on the battlefield.
What I wrote about the Jannisaries number being exaggerated is also valid for the Sipahi and Azap, see the article Military of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had not unlimited manpower and the sources show this.
The Crimean Tatars were ruling the Crimea and the Steppes but they did not have a large population. but it is common to see in many articles exaggerated numbers about their armies, 50,000 100,000 are frequently used. This article claimed there were 50,000 Tatar cavalry this is an impossible number and a good example of exaggeration. The total Tatar population(male, female, children) in the Crimea and adjoining steppes was estimated in 18th century to be 300-400,000 this number was ofcourse less in the 16th century. Total Tatar population was probably 200,000 in the 16th century. 50,000 Tatar cavalry would mean that 25% of the entire Tatar population or almost all adult Tatar men took part in this expedition, this is ridiculous and impossible. Majority of the people stay with their families, on their farms,herds or protect the garrisons. There have also never been an huge Tatar cavalry army seen in the 18th century and they were then much more numerous than they were in the 16th century. It seems that the high numbers are innacurate medieval estimates, the realistic numbers were probably not more than some several thousand Tatar horsemen on a single expedition throughout the ages. And even this seems to be a very high number. § — Preceding unsigned comment added by DragonTiger23 (talk • contribs) 12:54, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
- I would have removed any numbers(unless they are sourced) and kept the "large force" part which can be found in sourced material. --Kansas Bear (talk) 22:51, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
