Basi-bozuk

A basi-bozuk (Turkish: başıbozuk, meaning 'battered head') was an irregular soldier (mercenary).) of the Ottoman army. The army recruited mainly Albanians, Kurds and Circassians as basi-bazouks, but recruits came from all ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire. They had a reputation for bravery, but also for being an undisciplined group, notorious for looting and predation. of civilians as a result of the lack of regulations.

Although Ottoman troops always consisted of bashi-bazouk adventurers as well as regular soldiers, continuing tensions in the Ottoman feudal system caused primarily by the expanding expanses of the Ottoman Empire required a heavier reliance on such irregular soldiers.

Origin and history

Although Ottoman armies always included both adventurers and regular soldiers, the tension in the Ottoman feudal system caused primarily by the vast expanse of the Empire required greater reliance on irregular soldiers. They were armed and supported by the government, but received no pay and wore no uniforms or insignia. Their motivation for fighting was primarily the expectation of plunder. Although most troops fought on foot, some troops (called akinci) rode horses. Due to their lack of discipline, they were incapable of carrying out major military operations, but were useful for other tasks such as reconnaissance and forward service. However, their uncertain temperament occasionally made it necessary for Ottoman regular troops to forcibly disarm them.

The Ottoman army was made up of:

• The Sultan's domestic troops, called Kapıkulu, were wage-earned, the most notable being the Jenízaros body.
• Provincial soldiers, who were feudal (the Tımarlı), being the most important Timarli Sipahi (lit. "feudal horses") and their servants (called cebelu lit. "armed", man of arms), but there were also other types.
• Soldiers of subjects, protectorates or allied states (the most important were those of the Crimean Janate)
• The basi-bazouk did not usually receive regular wages and lived from the loot.

An attempt in 1803 by the governor of the Eyalate of Egypt, Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha, to dissolve his Albanian basi-bazouks in favor of his regular forces sparked riots that led to the establishment of Mehmet Ali's Khedivate of Egypt. Its use was definitively abandoned at the end of the 19th century. However, self-organized basi-bazouk troops later reappeared.

Reputation and atrocities

The basi-bazouk were known 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 usage is the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, where the word is often used as an expression of Captain Haddock.

The Batak massacre (1876) was carried out by thousands of basi-bazouks sent to quell a local rebellion. Likewise, bashi-bazouks carried out the Phocaea massacre in 1914. In Macedonia in 1903 during the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Revolt, these troops burned 119 villages, destroyed 8,400 houses, and more than 50,000 Macedonian refugees fled to the mountains.

The Bulgarian Martyrs (1877) by Konstantin Makovski is a painting depicting the rape of two Bulgarian women in a church by an African-looking man and two Turkish-looking bashi-bazouks, during the April uprising.