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The Turkish Army in 1854

© John Barham

The Turkish Army, some 220,000 strong, was one of the oldest standing armies in Europe. The Army of the Ottoman Empire, it was a cosmopolitan force, including Egyptians, Sudanese, Tunisians and Europeans from the Baltic and Eastern European dependencies. As such its potential and reliability was variable, although on the whole its fighting record was creditable. Ethnic Turkish troops were respected for their fighting qualities by all who had seen them in action.

In the past, the backbone of the Army had been provided by the elite Corps of Janissaries (lit. 'yani-tcheri' meaning 'new troops') recruited mainly from Bosnia, Albania and Bulgaria. Around 60,000 strong at their peak, their numbers had reduced by the beginning of the 19th Century, but they had grown in arrogance and indiscipline. Their perception of their power led to open disrespect for the Sultan, and when displeased about something, they liked to set fire to Constantinople. In 1806 Sultan Selim III decided he had had enough and he set out to fire them and replace them by a new ethnic Turkish force. The subsequent upheaval cost him his throne. A pitched battle saw the Artillery preventing the Janissaries from massacring their intended replacements, but these had to be disbanded, leaving the Janissaries still in place, although rather irritated by the whole episode.

By 1826 matters had come to a head, and Sultan Mahmud II determined to settle matters once and for all. He formed another Corps of intended elite regulars, known as the Eshkenjis. In June the Janissaries attempted a coup, hoping to carry the Eshkenjis with them. They failed, and their revolt was doomed. They were surrounded and pounded by artillery; when they refused to surrender they were shot down and their barracks burnt. In carnage on a massive scale some 10,000 Janissaries died, and surviving ringleaders hanged. The remaining rank and file were discharged and the Corps was disbanded.

Mahmud had solved his main problem, and he set about a radical redesign of the Army. A Military Academy was established in 1834, staffed at senior levels by highly competent foreign instructors. On his death in 1839 he was succeeded by Abdul Mejid, who pledged to continue the reform programme. More military schools were opened, and limited periods for conscription replaced the previous life sentence approach.

But the programme could only proceed at the pace which funding and active support at key levels would allow. The Sultan was only sixteen when he assumed power, and he displayed all the hedonistic vigour of gilded youth, doing his best to squander the family fortunes in the process. He almost succeeded in draining the last piastre from the Treasury, building a vast 300 room palace on the banks of the Bosphorus, including the world's largest ballroom, with a centrepiece chandelier weighing 4 tons. The government hit on the idea of debasing the coinage as an intended pain-free way of financing a huge budget deficit; the piastre went into 500% freefall. As a result, the ever-present kick-backs which had built themselves into the economy as part of standard costs, suddenly accelerated in scale and variety, and the Army saw its funding slow from a trickle to a drip. Officers themselves were used to a piece of the action, and were obliged to pocket more public money than before to try to keep their promotion bribery nest-egg up with the asking rate.