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Ottoman weapons

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Turkish guns with miquelet locks, 1750-1800. Army Museum, Paris.
Yatağan (Ottoman long knife or sabre)

Military forces of the Ottoman Empire used a variety of weapons throughout the centuries. The armoury in Topkapı Palace has a large collection showing select items.

Yatagan

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The Yatagan (yatağan) makes its appearance in the second half of the 16th century, and is an infantry weapon in which the hilt is generally made of bone or ivory and the pommel is flared. Its short, slightly curved blade is sharp on one edge and comes to a fine point. This form continues unchanged until the end of the 19th century. The yatagan sword was widely used in both the Ottoman army and navy especially for the Janissaries as they were signature weapon for the corps.

Kilij

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Kilij

The Ottoman cavalry sabre, or kilij (Ottoman Turkish: قلج, romanized: kılıc, Ottoman Turkish pronunciation: [/cɯlɯtʃ/]), is the Ottoman variant of the Turko-Mongol sabres originating in Central Asia. It was designed for mounted close combat, which was preferred by Turkish and Mamluke troops. It was a one-handed saber with a slight curvature enough to cut and thrust effectively. The sharpened back edge at the final section of the blade, known as the salman, was specific to the kilij.

A kilij consists of a grooved blade, a hilt, a guard, and a scabbard. The sword of Sultan Mehmed II illustrates its basic form with its slightly curved blade that thickens at the back. During the reigns of the sultans Bayezid II and Suleiman the Magnificent, the kilij attained its classic form, becoming shorter, lighter, and straighter.

Bow

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Bows and arrows and maces

There are three kinds of recurve bow : war (tirkeş), target (puta), and long-range (menzil) bows. All three types were made of four materials: wood, horn, tendon and adhesive. A grip (kabza) is located at the center of each bow. They are generally decorated in lacquer technique.

The shaft of arrows was made of pine and the head of iron, brass, or bone. At the end of the arrow are feathers (telek) to stabilise flight and knotted nock (gez) to hold the arrow firmly against the bowstring.

Mace

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Ottoman style flanged mace

Maces were blunt force weapons used for crushing blows against the enemy. These weapons were effective against armored troops, and typically were smooth or had 3-12 flanges or blades protruding from the top of the weapon.

Firearms and artillery

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Origins

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The start of the use of artillery in the Ottoman Army is not very definite. Date estimates on when artillery entered Ottoman service vary, as most of the early history on Ottoman artillery was written in the late 15th century, long after the actual battles.[1] One of the arguments is that the Ottomans used cannons in the Battle of Kosovo (1389) and Nukap (1396) and most certainly by the 1420s.[2] However the other argument states that field guns entered service shortly after the Battle of Varna (1444) and more certainly used in the Second Battle of Kosovo (1448).[3]

The Balkans were used by the Ottomans as both a human and technical source concerning the advancement and the use of their artillery pieces.[4] Bosnia and Serbia particularly, along with Italy and Germany, were significant 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.[5] Although the payroll registry records were not good at keeping up with the number of gunners because the comrades of those deceased collected the money on their behalf. The table below gives us a clear view of the trends.[6]

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

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Early 16th-century Ottoman volley gun

Archival 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 to the massive Dardanelles Gun (the Şahi). These bombards 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 when massive stone-firing guns were used with some effect against British ships during the Dardanelles Operation, throwing 1000-1,000 lb (450 kg) marble with a range of 1 mi (1.6 km). Accuracy was achieved using wadded shots wrapped in sheepskin with ready-measured powder stacks. 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 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 breached the city's walls, ending the Byzantine Empire, according to Sir Charles Oman.[7]

See also: Prangi

The most commonly-used gun was a battering gun or darbzen. This gun fired 0.15–2.5 kg (0.33–5.51 lb) 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 weighed between 3.7–8.6 kg (8.2–19.0 lb). However, most riverboats had an armoury of cast-iron guns which fired 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) shots; on average they weighed between 20–40 kg (44–88 lb). The ‘balyemez’ was a medium-weight, long-range cannon which fired shots weighing 31–74 kg (68–163 lb). Şahalaz was a light cannon mainly used on riverboats, and was a cast-iron cannon firing 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) shots. The şayha was a gun of various sizes used predominantly on riverboats in the Danube. It weighed between 31–74 kg (68–163 lb). The 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 or petard.[8][9][10]

The first references to the use of what may have been matchlock arquebuses (tüfek) by the Janissary corps of the Ottoman Army are dated from 1394 to 1465.[11][12] The musket appeared in the Ottoman Empire by 1465.[13][11] Chinese writer Zhao Shizhen's book Shenqipu (1598) provides illustrations of Ottoman Turkish musketeers with detailed illustrations of their muskets, alongside European musketeers with detailed illustrations of their muskets.[14] There was also illustration and description of how the Chinese had adopted the Ottoman kneeling position in firing while using European-made muskets,[15] though Zhao Shizhen described the Turkish muskets as being superior to the European muskets.[16] The Wu Pei Chih (1621) later describes Turkish muskets that used a rack and pinion mechanism, which was not known to have been used in any European or Chinese firearms at the time.[17]

Method and production

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Tophane, 1890s.

The ammunition used by the bronze bombards were stone balls 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in diameter and weighing 400 kg (880 lb). The transportation of just two bombards proved to be a logistically challenging task. They were dragged to the Fall of Constantinople 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 t (44 long tons; 50 short tons) 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 is then poured into the clay mould where it is then chiseled and polished.[18]

Mehmed II erected many cannon-foundries in Istanbul, the most famous of which is the Tophane foundry which produced bronze cannons for siege warfare. It made large bombards which had a diameter of 60–100 cm (24–39 in) and in 1562 alone it cast a total of 1012 guns weighing all together 481 t (473 long tons; 530 short tons).[19]

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  • Length: 385 cm (152 in);– Calibre: 178 mm (7.0 in);– Weight: 2,910 kg (6,420 lb);– Projectile: Stone – Forged: In Alger 1581
    Length: 385 cm (152 in);– Calibre: 178 mm (7.0 in);– Weight: 2,910 kg (6,420 lb);– Projectile: Stone – Forged: In Alger 1581
  • Type: Ottoman Bronze – Cast Date: 1790–91 – Weight 5.2 t (5.1 long tons; 5.7 short tons);– Shot Fired: Stone shot of over 56 kg (123 lb).
    Type: Ottoman Bronze – Cast Date: 1790–91 – Weight 5.2 t (5.1 long tons; 5.7 short tons);– Shot Fired: Stone shot of over 56 kg (123 lb).
  • Bronze cast Ottoman bombard – Cast in the 15th–16th century – Fired shots of 1,000 lb (450 kg)
    Bronze cast Ottoman bombard – Cast in the 15th–16th century – Fired shots of 1,000 lb (450 kg)
  • Cannon batteries at the Siege of Esztergom 1543
    Cannon batteries at the Siege of Esztergom 1543
  • Miniature of an Ottoman gunner
    Miniature of an Ottoman gunner
  • Ottoman gunner badge
    Ottoman gunner badge
  • Ottoman artillery unit banner
    Ottoman artillery unit banner

See also

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Literature

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  • David Nicolle. Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1775-1820 (Men-At-Arms, No 314). Osprey Publishing (1998). ISBN 1-85532-697-3
  • 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 0-521-84313-8
  • DK Publishing. Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor. DK ADULT (2006). ISBN 0-7566-2210-7
  • Judith Herbst. The History Of Weapons (Major Inventions Through History). Twenty-First Century Books (CT) (2005) ISBN 0-8225-3805-9
  • Fanny Davis. Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. 1970. ASIN B000NP64Z2

References

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  1. ^ Agostan, Gabor. (2005) Behind the Turkish War Machine: Gunpowder Technology and War Industry in the Ottoman Empire, 1450--1700. in. eds., The Heirs of Archimedes: Science and the Art of War through the Age of Enlightenment. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press. Pp. 101-133.
  2. ^ Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774 By David Nicolle, Angus McBride Page 18
  3. ^ Firearms of the Islamic world in the Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait By Robert Elgood
  4. ^ Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774 By David Nicolle, Angus McBride
  5. ^ Firearms of the Islamic world in the Tare Rajab Museum, Kuwait By Robert Elgood
  6. ^ Guns for the sultan: military power and the weapons industry in the Ottoman ... By Gábor Ágoston Page 30
  7. ^ Holmes, p. 70
  8. ^ Ágoston, Gábor (2005). Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84313-3.
  9. ^ Elgood, Robert (1995). Firearms of the Islamic World: In the Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-85043-963-9.
  10. ^ Nicolle, David (1983). Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300–1774. Bloomsbury USA. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-85045-511-3.
  11. ^ a b Needham, Joseph (1986), Science & Civilisation in China, vol. V:7: The Gunpowder Epic, Cambridge University Press, p. 443, ISBN 0-521-30358-3
  12. ^ Ágoston, Gábor (2011). "Military Transformation in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, 1500–1800". Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. 12 (2): 281–319 [294]. doi:10.1353/kri.2011.0018. S2CID 19755686. Initially the Janissaries were equipped with bows, crossbows, and javelins. In the first half of the 15th century, they began to use matchlock arquebuses, although the first references to the Ottomans' use of tüfek or hand firearms of the arquebus type (1394, 1402, 1421, 1430, 1440, 1442) are disputable.
  13. ^ Ayalon, David (2013). Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom: A Challenge to Medieval Society (1956). Routledge. p. 126. ISBN 9781136277320.
  14. ^ Needham, Joseph (1986), Science & Civilisation in China, vol. V:7: The Gunpowder Epic, Cambridge University Press, pp. 447–454, ISBN 0-521-30358-3
  15. ^ Needham, Joseph (1986), Science & Civilisation in China, vol. V:7: The Gunpowder Epic, Cambridge University Press, pp. 449–452, ISBN 0-521-30358-3
  16. ^ Needham, Joseph (1986), Science & Civilisation in China, vol. V:7: The Gunpowder Epic, Cambridge University Press, p. 444, ISBN 0-521-30358-3
  17. ^ Needham, Joseph (1986), Science & Civilisation in China, vol. V:7: The Gunpowder Epic, Cambridge University Press, p. 446, ISBN 0-521-30358-3
  18. ^ War and society in the eastern Mediterranean, 7th-15th centuries By Yaacov Lev
  19. ^ War and society in the eastern Mediterranean, 7th-15th centuries By Yaacov Lev
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