A bashi-bazouk or bashibazouk (Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 başıbozuk, or delibaş, literally "damaged head", meaning "free headed", "leaderless", "disorderly") was an irregular

Irregular military

Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used....

 soldier of the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 army. Particularly noted for their lack of discipline.

Irregulars

Although Turkish armies always contained bashi-bazouk adventurers as well as regular soldiers, the strain on the Ottoman feudal system 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. Primarily, they were motivated to fight by expectations of plunder. Though the majority of troops fought on foot, some troops (called akinci) 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 Turkish regular troops to disarm them by force.

The Ottoman army consisted of:

• The Sultan's household troops, called Kapıkulu, which were salaried, most notable being janissary
  Janissary
  The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
  
   corps.
• Provincial soldiers, which were fiefed (Turkish Tımarlı
  Timariot
  A timariot was another name given to the Timarli Sipahi cavalry that served the Ottoman sultan and in return was granted a fief called a timar. The timariots had to assemble with the army when at war, and had to take care of the land entrusted to him in times of peace...
  
  ), the most important being Timarli Sipahi
  Sipahi
  Sipahi was the name of several Ottoman cavalry corps...
  
  (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
  Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
  
  n Khans)
• Bashi-bazouk usually did not receive regular salaries, and lived off loot.

Recruitment

Under the best conditions, an Ottoman Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 would be able to muster hundreds of thousands of soldiers and lead an excursion into Austria or Iran, whichever posed the greatest threat, capturing or extorting sufficient lands or money to cover the expenses of the next campaign in the process. Frequently, the actual number of soldiers deployed to the battlefield was one order of magnitude less. On the eve of battle an Ottoman commander would tap any source of manpower he saw fit; hiring mercenaries was one of them. The hiring process occurred in an open market, with prices determined by negotiation between the mercenary troop leader and an Ottoman commander. Prices were affected by the quality and quantity of mercenary troop available as well as the commander's requirements. Oral negotiations usually led to a written contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

. Some of these documents survive today, often showing small mercenary leaders contracting for very high amounts.

History

An attempt by Husrev Pasha to disband his Albanian bashi-bazouks in favor of his regular forces began the rioting

Muhammad Ali's seizure of power

The process of Muhammad Ali's seizure of power in Egypt was a long three way civil war between the Ottoman Turks, Egyptian Mamluks, and Albanian mercenaries. It ended in victory for the Albanians led by Muhammad Ali of Egypt ....

 which led to the establishment of Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali of Egypt

Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha was a commander in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan...

's Khedivate of Egypt

Khedivate of Egypt

The Khedivate of Egypt was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire.- Rise of Muhammad Ali :The Egypt Eyalet was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. The eyalet was ruled locally by the Mamluk military caste and their various beys , who started to fight amongst themselves for control of...

.

Reputation

The bashi-bazouk were notorious for being 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 Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...

, where the word is often used as an expletive by Captain Haddock

Captain Haddock

Captain Archibald Haddock is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé...

.

Their use 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

Gendarmerie

A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...

.

Further reading

• Ottoman warfare, 1500-1700 by Rhoads Murphey. London : UCL Press, 1999.
• Özhan Öztürk
  Özhan Öztürk
  Özhan Öztürk is a Turkish writer and researcher. He was a writer for the first Turkish Folklore Encyclopaedia and first encyclopaedic dictionary of the culture, folklore of the peoples Black Sea region of Turkey.- Works :...
  
   (2005). Karadeniz (Black Sea
  Black Sea
  The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
  
  ): Ansiklopedik Sözlük. 2 Cilt. Heyamola Yayıncılık. İstanbul. ISBN 975-6121-00-9.