Sekhan was the Ottoman term for its irregular infantry forces. The Sekhans, organized under the governors, constituted the main provincial armies. In theory the Sekhans were volunteer troops serving without pay during times of war or national emergency. In reality, many governors maintained large, permanent standing armies even in times of peace. These provincial armies were often made up of mercenaries drawn from throughout the empire, and even some from beyond the empire. Albanians and Bosnians were especially numerous and well-respected as mercenaries.

While the Sekhans were irregular troops, they often performed as well as the Janissaries. So valued were these provincial forces that in 1792 Sultan Selim III ordered all provincial governors to train such men in their own entourages so they could provide a pool of experienced troops during campaigns.

In both of my earlier works I lumped all of the Ottoman irregular infantry of the Napoleonic Era under the general heading of Sekhans. Continuing research has convinced me this is far too limiting, with some units, such as the Arnauts, being greatly superior and others, such as the Miri Askeri, greatly inferior.

Therefore I think it is time to re-examine this important element of the Ottoman military.

ARNAUTS

While the term meant specifically a member of the several warlike tribes of Albania, it was often used as a generic term referring to the various Albanians, Greeks, Macadonians and/or Thracians who served as mercenaries throughout the Ottoman Empire. While they were mercenaries, so common were these troops in all Imperial Ottoman armies that many European observers mistakenly considered them a part of the regular standing army.

Because of their warlike nature, Arnauts were also included in most provincial armies. While the Arnauts were irregular troops, it would be a mistake to consider them in any way inferior to the Janissaries. They consistently performed as well as or better than the regulars in combat. Their recognized chain of command and strong loyalty to their officers also gave them a strong unit cohesion which was often missing in many other Ottoman units.

Commenting on the Grand Vezir's army as it marched across Syria in 1800 to attack the French in Egypt, Dr. William Wittman, a British military observer, remarked:

"The troops which are raised in the Morea, in Macedonia, etc., are styled Arnauts. ... The corps of infantry into which they are formed are commanded by officers from their respective provinces, which, whenever the Turks are engaged in a war, are drained of a greater proportion of their male population, on account of the warlike disposition of the inhabitants, who are trained exclusively in the use of arms, to engage themselves as mercenaries wherever their services may be demanded.

"Being inured from their infancy to laborious exercises, they are hardy and vigorous; and the pursuits in which they are engaged give them an air of savage fierceness well suited to their character....

"A Bin-Bashi, having under him several officers of inferior ranks, commands a corps of these troops, a thousand strong. Their dress has some resemblance to the tunic. That of the superior officers is of rich velvet, nicely embroidered with gold. They wear a breastplate of silver, or white metal; and in some cases cover the legs with a kind of armor, putting on sandals, to imitate in their dress, as nearly.as they can, the Spartans, from whom they suppose themselves descended, and whose fierce and martial air they appear to have retained. The head is shaved, except on the middle, or crown, whence a tuft of hair descends, and flows loosely down the back. Over the head is a red skullcap, which descends low down on the forehead.

"Their arms consist of a pair of pistols worn in a sash, with a long handjar knife, or dagger and a musket with a long barrel. Their pistols and muskets are usually mounted in silver, and much omamented. They are without knapsacks, for which, in truth, they have not the smallest occasion. The mode in which they are trained from their youth renders them excellent marksmen."

While it was certainly not true for all Amauts, several groups, especially those raised in Greece, fought with accurate, small bore weapons, similar to the longrifles used with such effect against the British in the American War of Independence. These units can be considered as rifle-armed troops.

All Arnauts should be considered as trained light infantry. When various Greek or Albanian forces (driven out the region by Ali Pasha of Janina's incessant campaigns) fled to the Ionian Islands, they were there organized into light infantry regiments by first the French, then the Russians, then the French again and finally by the British. Such "Greek" light infantry units in Russian service were used against the French in Italy in 1803-1804.

Their mode of fighting, as described by another British observer, confirms this assessment

"they disperse themselves about, in order that the fire of the enemy's battalions or artillery may not be directed against them; they take their aim with admirable precision, and direct their fire always against men collected in a body; masking their own maneuvers by their incessant firing; sometimes they entrench themselves in ravines or hollows, or conceal themselves upon trees; at other times they advance in several small companies, consisting of 40 or 50 men, carrying a banderole or little flag, which they fix onwards in order to gain ground: the most advanced, kneel down and fire, and fall back to reload their pieces; supporting each other in this manner, until, upon an adrvantage, they rush forward and advance their standard progressively. Such is their constant method; the different small bodies carefully observing a line or order in their progress, so as not to cover each other. The repeated shoutings and cries of 'Allah,' encourage the Mussulmen, and together with the immediate decapitation of the wounded who fall into their power, produce an effect which sometimes alarms and disheartens the Christian soldiers."

SEKHANS

As stated earlier, Sekhan was the Ottoman term for irregular infantry forces. The Sekhans, organized under the governors, constituted the main provincial annies. Technically the Arnauts, mentioned above, are also considered Sekhans, but because of their special qualities and superior discipline, I feel it is important to list them separately.

Most Sekhans, though, were drawn from all walks of life, but former bandits, highwaymen and Janissaries were common among their ranks. In some areas, such as Bosnia and parts of central Anatolia, even members of the Christian Raya community were allowed to join the provincial armies.

While the Janissaries refused European weapons and training, the same was not true for many of the Sekhans. The troops of Ali Pasha of Janina were almost all trained, equipped and drilled by European officers. Most of his officers were Italian, but he received a great deal of both military and technological help from the French until about 1808 when these tasks were taken over by the British. These two nations also regularly supplied arms and ammunition to the Bosnians. On an even larger scale, European officers and equipment were imported by Mohammad Ali after he became governor of Egypt in 1805.

The Sekhans were grouped into units of about 1,000 men each and were commanded by a Binbashi (head of one thousand), and two majors, the Agha- yiYemen (major of the right), and the Agha-yi Yesar (major of the left). The regiments were further divided into companies, each composed of 90 men and 10 officers and led by a Yuzbashi (chief of one hundred). Finally, each company was divided into squads of nine men, each commanded by an Onbashi (chief of lo?.

Apart from the Janissary corps and the Nizam-i Jedid, the Ottoman army had no fixed uniform. Each man wore a costume of his own choosing. Even so, they coordinated well as a body on the battlefield, with troops from each region wearing their own distinctive native costume. This meant that units raised in the Balkans had a strikingly different appearance from those raised in Anatolia, and these in turn were costumed very differently from troops raised in North Africa.

While units varied enormously in costume, they were almost always armed with musket, sword and pistols.

MIRI ASKERIS

As each Muslim considered himself a warrior first and only then a farmer, butcher, baker or candlestick maker, the Ottomans never lacked for volunteers, with huge numbers flocking to the army in times of war or invasion. This was especially true for rural Muslims who tended to divide the Muslim people into two classesÄ themselves, whom they called Askeris (warriors), and the Beledis, or townspeople.

The fanaticism of the average Ottoman citizen often took Europeans by surprise. For instance, when a French propaganda team arrived in Istanbul in 1807 at the time of the signing of a formal alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire, they set to work translating into Turkish and then printing thousands of flyers urging the local citizens of the empire to rise up and resist the Russian invaders. The plan was immediately scrapped when the flyers provoked rioting. The Muslim peasants were insulted that anyone would have the gall to believe they needed any encouragement to fight the enemies of Islarn.

This reaction by the general populous meant that the Ottomans never had any trouble raising new armies. On the positive side, by simply putting out the call they could bring a new army into being in a matter of weeks. On the negative side, these troops had to be fed, would have only a minimum of weapons, almost no discipline or unit cohesion, and tended to melt into the countryside in the event of any serious military reverses.

When recruited for more than a single battle, these troops were known as Miri Askeris (treasury troops). These were not regular troops, but instead wartime vole unteers enlisted for the duration of the hostilities. A measure of the esteem with which these troops were held can be gained from noting that their recruiting officers were called Surucus (drovers).

The ad hoc enlistment of volunteers, both infantry and cavalry, for campaigns had by the late 1700s become the chief method of recruitment for the Ottoman forces with this method being used to put as many as 80,000 men in the field at a time. A condition of enrollment for Miri Askeris was the possession of a gun, sword, lance or pistols to supplement, if not replace, the weapons provided by the government. They were paid both a small daily salary and a slightly larger bonus on enrollment. Additionally they received rations and, in some cases, a share in a tent.

Their enthusiasm for the fight was kept at a high pitch by Dervishes, Islamic holy men, who traveled with them, reminding them that any war engaged in by the Sultan was ipso facto a Holy War. Being, however, wholly untrained and ill provided, they were difficult to control. Though impetuous in the attack, they were easily routed when taken by surprise.

Both on their way to the front (and on their way home in the case of the many deserters) they committed all manner of atrocities in the villages through which they passed.

This was especially true in Christians areas. Their hostility to the Sultan's Christian subjects can be partly explained (though not excused) by the crusading spirit in which the Russians waged the wars in which these volunteers were primarily engaged and by the corresponding spirit of Muslim fanaticism that was instilled and maintained in them by the Dervishes.

It was these untrained volunteers who earned the Ottoman army the evil reputation it enjoyed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when its passage, it was said, came to be more dreaded by their fellow subjects in the provinces than even that of the enemy.

Organization

As with other Sekhans, these Miri Askeris regiments numbered about 1,000 men each, commanded by a Binbashi and two majors. The regiments were further divided into companies of 100 and squads of 10.

These volunteer units were not all recruited at once, but instead grew constantly as the army moved toward the front with the almost daily arrival of what European observers described as "fresh fanatic Musselmen"

Ali Bey, a Muslim traveler observing the Ottoman army in 1806, wrote of these troops:

"He prefers the occupation of soldier to every other; he is a soldier by religion, because every Mussulman must be so; but he is a soldier also by predilection, because to him it is the most useful employment....

Every individual when the whim seizes him, arms himself with one or two large pistols, a Khandejear or large knife, or with what weapons he chooses and says, 'I am a soldier'; he then attaches himself to a division of Janissaries, or to a Pasha, an Agha or any other officer who consents to admit him into his service; the moment the thing ceases to please him, he throws down his arms, saying, 'I am no longer a soldier'; and thenceforward lives undisturbed without being upbraided by anyone with his desertion."