Mansure Army

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MANSURE ARMY

Ottoman army organized in 1826.

Established by the same proclamation that abolished the Janissary Corps, the new army's formal name translated as the Trained Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad. It soon recruited 12,000 troops, initially organized largely along the lines of the former Nizam-i Cedit and headed by a commander called serasker. The Mansure army was headquartered at a palace in Bayezit (Istanbul), combining the functions of military headquarters and war ministry until the end of the empire. As serasker, Mehmet Paşa Koja Husrev introduced French military organization into the Mansure and by 1830 expanded it to 27,000 troops, including the former cavalry. All remaining Ottoman fighting corps were incorporated into the Mansure in 1838, when the army's name was changed to the Ordered Troops.


Bibliography


Shaw, Stanford J., and Shaw, Ezel Kural. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Vol. 2: Reform, Revolution, and Republic, 18081975. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

elizabeth thompson