Janissaries, navies & sieges
Military
The war machine that built the empire — the Janissary corps, the sipahi cavalry, the imperial fleet, and the great gunpowder sieges.
Ottoman Military and WarfareOverview
A comprehensive overview of the Ottoman military, from the early akıncı raiders and sipahi cavalry to the Janissary corps, gunpowder siege warfare, the imperial navy, and the 19th century reforms that ended the old order.
Ottoman Gunpowder Siege Warfare
Cannon, bombards, mining, and the great Ottoman sieges from the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 to the second siege of Vienna in 1683.
The Janissary Corps
The elite Ottoman infantry corps recruited from the Christian population through the devshirme, from its formation under Murad I to its abolition in the Auspicious Incident of 1826.
The Ottoman Navy
The Ottoman imperial fleet from its origins in the early 14th century, through the shipyards of the Golden Horn, the era of Barbaros Hayreddin, the battle of Lepanto in 1571, and the long decline of the fleet.
Hayreddin Barbarossa
Hayreddin Barbarossa, the famous Ottoman admiral of the 16th century, his career as a corsair, his service as Kapudan Pasha, and his brother Oruç.
The Battle of Gallipoli
The 1915-16 Gallipoli campaign of the First World War, the Ottoman defence of the Dardanelles against the Anglo-French expedition, and the rise of Mustafa Kemal.
The Devshirme System
The Ottoman 'blood-tax' by which Christian boys from the Balkans and Anatolia were collected for service as Janissaries and in the imperial palace school, from the late 14th century to the 17th.
The Great Siege of Malta
The 1565 siege of Malta by the Ottoman army of Suleiman the Magnificent, the heroic defence of the Knights of St John, and the failure of the Ottoman attempt to take the island.
The Provincial Sipahi Cavalry
The sipahis of the Ottoman provinces, the timariot horsemen who formed the mounted backbone of the classical Ottoman army, from the 14th century to the long decline of the timar system.
The Siege of Vienna
The 1529 and 1683 Ottoman sieges of Vienna, the two great operations that mark the high-water mark and the turning point of Ottoman expansion into central Europe.