The Sultan's Fleet
The Sultan's Fleet

Author: Christine Isom-Verhaaren

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-12-02

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 0755641728

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While the Ottoman Empire is most often recognized today as a land power, for four centuries the seas of the Eastern Mediterranean were dominated by the Ottoman Navy. Yet to date, little is known about the seafarers who made up the sultans' fleet, the men whose naval mastery ensured that an empire from North Africa to Black Sea expanded and was protected, allowing global trading networks to flourish in the face of piracy and the Sublime Porte's wars with the Italian city states and continental European powers. In this book, Christine Isom-Verhaaren provides a history of the major events and engagements of the navy, from its origins as the fleets of Anatolian Turkish beyliks to major turning points such as the Battle of Lepanto. But the book also puts together a picture of the structure of the Ottoman navy as an institution, revealing the personal stories of the North African corsairs and Greek sailors recruited as admirals. Rich in detail drawn from a variety of sources, the book provides a comprehensive account of the Ottoman Navy, the forgotten contingent in the empire's period of supremacy from the 14th century to the 18th century.

Ottoman Navy Warships 1914–18
Ottoman Navy Warships 1914–18

Author: Ryan K. Noppen

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2015-07-20

Total Pages: 105

ISBN-13: 1472806212

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At the start of the 20th century the Ottoman Navy was a shadow of its former might, a reflection of the empire as a whole the "Sick Man of Europe". Years of defeat, nepotism, and neglect had left the Ottoman Navy with a mix of obsolete vessels, whilst the list of prospective enemies was ever-growing. An increasing Russian naval presence in the Black Sea and the alarming emergence of Italy and Greece as regional Naval powers proved beyond all doubt that intensive modernization was essential, indeed, the fate of the Empire as a naval power depended on it. So the Ottoman Navy looked to the ultimate naval weapon of the age, the dreadnought, two of which were ordered from the British. But politics intervened, and a succession of events culminated in the Ottoman Navy fielding a modern German battlecruiser and state-of-the-art light cruiser instead with dramatic consequences. In this meticulous study, Ryan Noppen presents a fresh appraisal of the technical aspects and operations of the warships of the Ottoman Navy in World War I. It is the first work of its kind in the English language produced with a wealth of rare material with the co-operation of the Turkish Consulate and Navy. Packed with precise technical specifications, revealing illustrations and exhaustive research, this is an essential guide to a crucial chapter in the Aegean arms race.

Innovation and Empire in Turkey
Innovation and Empire in Turkey

Author: Tuncay Zorlu

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-04-29

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 0857737082

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Ottoman naval technology underwent a transformation under the rule of Sultan Selim III. New types of sailing warships such as two- and three-decked galleons, frigates and corvettes began to dominate the Ottoman fleet, rendering the galley-type oared ships obsolete. This period saw technological innovations such as the adoption of the systematic copper sheathing of the hulls and bottoms of Ottoman warships from 1792-93 onwards and the construction of the first dry dock in the Golden Horn. The changing face of the Ottoman Navy was facilitated by the influence of the British, Swedish and French in modernising both the shipbuilding sector and the conduct of naval warfare. Through such measures as training Ottoman shipbuilders, heavy reliance on help from foreign powers gave way to a new trajectory of modernization. Using this evidence Zorlu argues that although the Ottoman Empire was a major and modern independent power in this period, some technological dependence on Europe remained.

“The” Ottoman Navy
“The” Ottoman Navy

Author: Daniel Panzac

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780198757092

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To devote an entire book to the sea power of the Ottoman Empire starting only the morning after the Battle of Lepanto may seem paradoxical. On October 7, 1571, the Navy of the Ottoman Empire, then at the height of its power, was beaten by the assembled forces of the Holy League. Curiously enough, the spectacular defeat remained without immediate consequences: the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus, the immediate cause of the war, was completed, the fleet was rebuilt and Tunis definitively retaken from the Spanish in 1574. The retaking of Tunis however, turned out to be an isolated incident, not a prelude to new expansionism. By 1580, the Empire had turned away from the great naval policies pursued in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean since the early sixteenth century, focusing instead on defending maritime borders which would remain stable until the early nineteenth century. While still at the height of its military power, the Empire redirected its ambitions and goals toward the European hinterland and to Asia at a time when its Mediterranean opponents were either exhausted, as Venice was, or distracted by the opening to the Atlantic world, as Spain was.

Guns for the Sultan
Guns for the Sultan

Author: Gábor Ágoston

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-03-24

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9780521843133

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Gabor Agoston's book contributes to an emerging strand of military history, that examines organised violence as a challenge to early modern states, their societies and economies. His is the first to examine the weapons technology and armaments industries of the Ottoman Empire, the only Islamic empire that threatened Europe on its own territory in the age of the Gunpowder Revolution. Based on extensive research in the Turkish archives, the book affords much insight regarding the early success and subsequent failure of an Islamic empire against European adversaries. It demonstrates Ottoman flexibility and the existence of an early modern arms market and information exchange across the cultural divide, as well as Ottoman self-sufficiency in weapons and arms production well into the eighteenth century. Challenging the sweeping statements of Eurocentric and Orientalist scholarship, the book disputes the notion of Islamic conservatism, the Ottomans' supposed technological inferiority and the alleged insufficiencies in production capacity. This is a provocative, intelligent and penetrating analysis, which successfully contends traditional perceptions of Ottoman and Islamic history.

The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire
The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire

Author: Alan Palmer

Publisher: Barnes & Noble Publishing

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9781566198479

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Like England's Charles II, the Ottoman Empire took "an unconscionable time dying." Since the seventeenth century, observers had been predicting the collapse of this so-called Sick Man of Europe, yet it survived all its rivals. As late as 1910, the Ottoman Empire straddled three continents. Unlike the Romanovs, Habsburgs, or Hohenzollerns, the House of Osman, which had allied itself with the Kaiser, was still recognized as an imperial dynasty during the peace conference following World War I. "The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire" offers a provocative view of the empire's decline, from the failure to take Vienna in 1683 to the abolition of the Sultanate by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) in 1922 during a revolutionary upsurge in Turkish national pride. The narrative contains instances of violent revolt and bloody reprisals, such as the massacres of Armenians in 1896, and other "ethnic episodes" in Crete and Macedonia. More generally, it emphasizes recurring problems: competition between religious and secular authority; the acceptance or rejection of Western ideas; and the strength or weakness of successive Sultans. The book also highlights the special challenges of the early twentieth century, when railways and oilfields gave new importance to Ottoman lands in the Middle East. Events of the past few years have placed the problems that faced the last Sultans back on the world agenda. The old empire's outposts in the Balkans and in Iraq are still considered trouble spots. Alan Palmer offers considerable insight into the historical roots of many contemporary problems: the Kurdish struggle for survival, the sad continuity of conflict in Lebanon, and the centuries-old Muslim presence in Sarajevo. He also recounts the Ottoman Empire's lingering interests in their oil-rich Libyan provinces. By exploring that legacy over the past three centuries, "The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire" examines a past whose effect on the present may go a long way toward explaining the future. Praise for "The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire" "Alan Palmer writes the sort of history that dons did before 'accessible' became an academic insult. It is cool, rational, scholarly, literate."--John Keegan "A scholarly, readable and balanced history."--"The Independent on Sunday" "A marvellously readable book based on massive research."--Robert Blake

Defeat in Detail
Defeat in Detail

Author: Edward J. Erickson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2003-02-28

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 0313051798

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No critical analysis has ever examined the specific reasons for the Ottoman defeat. Erickson's study fills this gap by studying the operations of the Ottoman Army from October 1912 through July 1913, and by providing a comprehensive explanation of its doctrines and planning procedures. This book is written at an operational level that details every campaign at the level of the army corps. More than 30 maps, numerous orders of battle, and actual Ottoman Army operations orders illustrate how the Turks planned and fought their battles. Of particular note is the inclusion of the only detailed history in English of the Ottoman X Corps' Sarkoy amphibious invasion. Also included are definitive appendix about Ottoman military aviation and a summary of the Turks' efforts to incorporate the lessons learned from the war into their military structure in 1914. The Ottoman Empire fought the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 against the joint forces of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia—and was decisively defeated. The Ottoman Army is frequently depicted as a mob of poorly clad, faceless Turks inept in their attempts to fight a modern war. Yet by 1912, the Ottoman Army, which was constructed on the German model, was in many ways more advanced than certain European armies.

Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire
Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire

Author: Mesrob K. Krikorian

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-05-01

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 1351031287

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First published in 1977. Although hundreds of books have been published on the Armenian question and massacres, very little is known about their services in the cultural, economic and administrative life and development of the Ottoman Empire. This study is an investigation into the contribution by Armenians to Ottoman public life from 1860, when the Armenian community in Turkey was given a new legislative Constitution on the basis of Tanzimat (Reforms) until 1908, when the young Turks seized power and there followed a bitterly fanatic policy of intolerance which had tragic consequences for both the Armenians and the Turks. The author has concentrated his investigations on the eastern provinces of Anatolia, which earlier formed the western part of historic Armenia and which in the diplomatic language of the nineteenth century were referred to as ‘provinces inhabited by Armenians’. To these he has added the provinces of Syria, close to the neighbouring Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, and where, especially in and around Aleppo, old Armenian communities had settled. Both in Anatolia and Syria, the Armenians were employed in various administrative, judicial, economic and secretarial fields and, to a lesser extent, in technical affairs, agriculture, education and public health. The author shows how this contribution was made in spite of the fact that for the Armenians these were years of transition from their established status as a favoured Christian millet to the tragic insecurity of a hunted people.