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Ottoman Army - System of Organization - 1877

The Turkish forces were divided into four parts- (1) The standing army. (2) The reserves. (3) The levee en masse. and (4) Auxiliary troops. The standing army consisted of the Nizam, or regular army, maintained during peace ; and the Ikhtiat, or first reserve, which was composed of men who have served their appointed time in the Nizam, and were liable to be called upon to fill vacancies. The standing army is divided into seven corps d'armee. The reserve were occasionally taken to form complete regiments, and the 7th Corps d'Armee of Yemen was formed of battalions composed of these reserve men. Military service extends over twelve years, viz., four in the Mzam, two in the Ikhtiat, three in the 1st Redif, and three in the 2nd Redif. Drill of the men was certainly faulty. The men were taught to move quickly into their formations, but they were very deficient in the use of their weapons, and the change of arms from the Snider to the Martini-Henry, which was going on in the 1870s, would not improve this state of affairs.

There were artillery of reserve and the stationary troops and police, which may be comprised under the following headings :-

• Regiment of Artillery of Reserve, which is organized like the field artillery. Its duties are to make experiments with new arms, and to furnish the necessary artillery to expeditionary corps, and to the troops of the reserve ; it, in fact, supplements the artillery force of other corps when required.
• Stationary Garrison Artillery comprises 7 regiments of garrison artillery, of which 1 is at the Bosphorus, 2 at the Dardanelles, 1 on the Danube, and 3 scattered among the forts in various parts of the country. A regiment is composed of 4 battalions of 3 companies. The war strength of a regiment is 2,040 men, and the peace strength half of that number. In addition to this there are detached forces of garrison artillery amounting altogether on a war strength to 7,000 men, making a grand total of about 21,000 in the stationary garrison artillery.
• Corps of Military Workmen, which is composed of 2 divisions of 2 battalions each. The total strength of this corps is about 3,000 men, and it is stationed at Topana, in Constantinople.
• Gendarmerie of Constantinople. - This corps is similar to that of the British "Yeomen of the Guard," and was organized in 1869. It is composed of distinguished noncommissioned officers.
• Zaptiehs, or Police of the Towns and Country. - They have a military organization, and number about 20,000 men, including infantry and cavalry. This force is variously estimated from 20,000 to 75,000 men.
• Medical Establishments - At Constantinople there were eight military hospitals, which can receive more than 2,000 patients, and in every large town throughout the country (where there are permanent garrisons) there is a military hospital, which receives its supplies from the School of Medicine at Constantinople. The sick were, as a rule, well cared for.

The Reserves were divided into the first and second Redifs. The 1st Redifs are composed of 120 battalions of infantry, of eight companies each. To each of the first five corps d'armee twenty-four battalions of the 1st Redifs are attached. Those of the 6th Corps are not yet organized, and the 7th Corps has no reserves. The men serve for three years (after leaving the Ikhtiat), and then pass into the 2nd Redif. The Redifs should properly be called up for one month's drill in each year, but from motives of economy the law has been neglected in this respect. The Redifs are composed only of infantry. The reserve of cavalry is supplied from the auxiliary forces, and the artillery from the artillery reserve. According to regulation, the 1st Redifs should amount to 120 battalions of 800 men each, giving a total of 96,000 men. The 2nd Redifs are organized in the same manner, and should give also 120 battalions of 800 men each; but about sixty battalions are, I believe, the most that could mustered.

The "Levee en Masse" (Moustqfiz), according to Minister of War estimates, could obtain at least 250,000 men. But there was no organization for them. They might, however, be utilized for filling vacancies. Properly speaking, the Moustafiz are not legally liable to serve away from their own district, but in cases of great emergency they would, doubtless, be forced to recruit the regular army.

Auxiliary forces were of two kinds - the volunteers, or Bashi-Bazouks, and the contingents from the different tribes and tributaries. The Bashi-Bazouks are organized like the Nizam, and are principally infantry; but they are an undisciplined set of brigands. The contingents from the tribes of Arabs, Kurds, etc., formed an admirable force of irregular cavalry; they are commanded by their own chiefs, who have unlimited power over their men. During the Crimean War there were 30,000 Bashi-Bazouks and 10,000 tribal irregular cavalry ; and if the Bashi-Bazouks were officered with Europeans (as they were during the Crimean War) they would, in the course of twelve months, form a very valuable reserve. Although a wild set of men, they are amenable to discipline. At the close of the Crimean War, when they were disbanded, each regiment was marched to its own part of the country, where it was dismissed, and each man received the arms he carried, together with an English sovereign. During these marches the discipline of the men was admirable. The deficiency was evidently in dismounted men in the cavalry and in the strength of the engineers.