A bashi-bazouk ( ota, باشی بوزوق , , , roughly "leaderless" or "disorderly") was an
irregular soldier of the
Ottoman army, raised in times of war. The army chiefly recruited
Albanians
The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. ...
and
Circassians
The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia ...
as bashi-bazouks, but recruits came from all ethnic groups of the
Ottoman Empire including slaves from
Europe or
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. They had a reputation for bravery, but also as an undisciplined and brutal group, notorious for looting and preying on civilians as a result of a lack of regulation and of the expectation that they would support themselves off the land.
[
]
Origin and history
Although the Ottoman armies always contained mercenaries as well as regular soldiers, the strain on the Ottoman
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...
caused mainly by the Empire's wide expanse required heavier reliance on irregular soldiers. They were armed and maintained by the government, but did not receive pay and did not wear uniforms or distinctive badges. They were motivated to fight mostly by expectations of
plunder
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
. Though the majority of troops fought on foot, some troops (called ''
aḳıncı'') rode on horseback. Because of their lack of discipline, they were incapable of undertaking major military operations, but were useful for other tasks such as reconnaissance and outpost duty. However, their uncertain temper occasionally made it necessary for the Ottoman regular troops to disarm them by force.
The Ottoman army consisted of the following:
* The Sultan's household troops, called ''
Kapıkulu'', which were salaried, most notable being
Janissary corps.
* Provincial soldiers, which were fiefed (Turkish ''
Tımarlı''), the most important being ''Timarli
Sipahi'' (lit. "fiefed cavalry") and their retainers (called ''cebelu'' lit. armed, man-at-arms), but other kinds were also present
* Soldiers of subject, protectorate, or allied states (the most important being the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a po ...
n Khans)
* Bashi-bazouks, who usually did not receive regular salaries and lived off loot
Many
Afro-Turks
Afro-Turks ( tr, Afrikalı Türkler) are Turkish people of African Zanj (Bantu) descent, who trace their origin to the Ottoman slave trade like the Afro-Abkhazians. Afro-Turk population is estimated to be between 5,000 and 20,000 people. Afro ...
,
Crimean Tatars
, flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
, flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars
, image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg
, caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...
,
Muslim Roma
Xoraxane Roma in Balkan Romani language, are non- Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of Hanafi madhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Some of them are Derviş of Sufism belief, and the biggest Tariqa of Jerrahi is located at the ...
, and
Pomaks
Pomaks ( bg, Помаци, Pomatsi; el, Πομάκοι, Pomáki; tr, Pomaklar) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting northwestern Turkey, Bulgaria and northeastern Greece. The c. 220,000 strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is ...
were bashi-bazouks in
Rumelia
Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a hist ...
.
An attempt by
Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha
Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha (also known as Koca Hüsrev Pasha; sometimes known in Western sources as just Husrev Pasha or Khosrew Pasha;Inalcık, Halil. Trans. by Gibb, H.A.R. ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'', New Ed., Vol. V, Fascicules 79–80, p ...
to disband his Albanian bashi-bazouks in favor of his regular forces began
the rioting which led to the establishment of
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
's
Khedivate of Egypt
The Khedivate of Egypt ( or , ; ota, خدیویت مصر ') was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brou ...
. The use of bashi-bazouks was abandoned by the end of the 19th century. However, self-organized bashi-bazouk troops still appeared later.
The term "bashibozouk" has also been used for a mounted force, existing in peacetime in various provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which performed the duties of
gendarmerie.
Reputation and atrocities
The bashi-bazouks were notorious for being violently brutal and undisciplined, thus giving the term its second, colloquial meaning of "undisciplined bandit" in many languages. A notable example of this use is in the comic series ''
The Adventures of Tintin'', where the word is often used as an insult by
Captain Haddock
Captain Archibald Haddock (french: Capitaine Archibald Haddock, link=no, ) is a fictional character in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He is one of Tintin's best friends, a seafaring pipe-smoking ...
.
The
Batak massacre
The Batak massacre was a massacre of Bulgarians in Batak by Ottoman irregular cavalry troops in 1876 at the beginning of the April Uprising. The estimate for the number of victims ranges from 1,200 to 8,000, depending on the source.
Uprising ...
(1876) was carried out by thousands of bashi-bazouks sent to quell a local rebellion. Likewise, bashi-bazouks perpetrated the massacres of
Candia and
Phocaea in 1898 and 1914. During the 1903
Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in Ottoman Macedonia, these troops burned 119 villages and destroyed 8400 houses, and over 50,000 Bulgarian refugees fled into the mountains.
File:Пиотровский. батакская резня. 1889 год.jpeg, Bashi-bazouks carrying out the Batak massacre
The Batak massacre was a massacre of Bulgarians in Batak by Ottoman irregular cavalry troops in 1876 at the beginning of the April Uprising. The estimate for the number of victims ranges from 1,200 to 8,000, depending on the source.
Uprising ...
.
File:Basibozuk-1877.jpg, Bashi-bazouks' atrocities in Ottoman Bulgaria.
File:Konstantin Makovsky - The Bulgarian martyresses.jpg, ''The Bulgarian Martyresses'' (1877), painting by Konstantin Makovsky depicting the rape of two Bulgarian women in a church by one African-looking and two Turkish-looking bashi-bazouks, during the April Uprising
The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally su ...
.
Depictions in art
File:Chef arnaute by Jean-Léon Gérôme.jpg, An Albanian bashi-bazouk in Egypt. Painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1870.
File:A Bashi-Bazouk, drawn by Francis Davis Millet.jpg, Drawing of a bashi-bazouk by Francis Davis Millet
Francis Davis Millet (November 3, 1848. – April 15, 1912) was an American academic classical painter, sculptor, and writer who died in the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' on April 15, 1912.
Early life
Francis Davis Millet was born in Mattapoi ...
, 1889.
File:Jean-Léon Gérôme – Bachi-bouzouk Arnaoute.jpg, An Albanian bashi-bazouk painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme in the 1860s.
File:Vernet-Lecomte 7.jpg, A bashi-bazouk contemplating his loot. Painting by Émile Vernet-Lecomte
Émile Vernet-Lecomte, born Charles Émile Hippolyte Lecomte (15 March 1821, Paris - 19 November 1900, Paris) was a French painter; best known for his Orientalist works.
Biography
He came from a family of illustrious painters. His great-gran ...
, 1862.
File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - A Bashi-Bazouk.jpg, An African bashi-bazouk, painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1860s.
File:Два ястреба (Башибузуки).jpg, Two captured bashi-bazouks, painted by Vasily Vereshchagin, 1878.
See also
*
Mercenary
*
Pindari
The Pindaris were irregular military plunderers and foragers in 17th- through early 19th-century Indian subcontinent who accompanied initially the Mughal army, later the Maratha army, and finally on their own before being eliminated in the 1817� ...
, irregular horsemen in
18th-century India
*
Military of the Ottoman Empire
*
Military history of Turkey
References
Sources
*
*
*''Ottoman warfare'', 1500–1700 by Rhoads Murphey. London : UCL Press, 1999.
*
Özhan Öztürk
Özhan Öztürk (born 1968) is a Turkish writer and researcher. He wrote a Turkish Folklore Encyclopaedia and an encyclopaedic dictionary of the culture and folklore of the peoples of the Black Sea region of Turkey.
Works
* ''Karadeniz Ans ...
(2005). ''Karadeniz'' (
Black Sea): Ansiklopedik Sözlük. 2 Cilt. Heyamola Yayıncılık. İstanbul. .
*Montgomery, Viscount Bernard (1968). ''A History of Warfare'', The World Publishing Company. .
{{Albanians under the Ottoman Empire
Turkish words and phrases
Military units and formations of the Ottoman Empire
Mercenary units and formations
19th century in the Ottoman Empire
Robbers
Outlaws
Ottoman period in the Balkans
Persecution of Christians in the Ottoman Empire