This is a great website to get information on the military ranks of the Ottoman Empire:
Ottoman armies consisted of salaried kapıkulu regulars, topraklı regional irregulars, short-term levied called miri-askeris, yerli-neferats consisting of the entire Muslim population of a town called up for a local defence, and the gönüllüyan, a general mass of tribal irregulars.
The establishment of a regular army early in the 14th. Century saw the emergence of Byzantine and Classical Islamic elements in th eOttoman battle array.Byzantine influence was strong because of the important role played by Christian vassals,particularly in siege warfare.
By the 16th century Ottoman tactics had reached their classic form.within a formidable system of entrenchments, top arabalari gun-waggons and artillery stood the Sultan, his personal guard of solaks, and the Janissaries armed with arquebuses.On their immediate flanks were the armoured alti bölük housed cavalry.Azap infantry assambled in front of the artillary and to the rear, where they and the muteferika guarded the baggage train.On their flanks stood the provincial sipahi cavalry,whose tast was to draw an enemy to the azaps.They in turn would absorb the charge, then move aside to allow the artillery and Janissaries to open fire. Finally the flanking sipahis would attack and, where possible, surround the foe.The Janissaries were, of course, also trained to attack, but they did so at a rush in large closely-packed formations which rendered their gunfire largely ineffective.
Turcoman nomads, the first element in the Ottoman army , were generally known as akincis if they served for one campaign as volunteers receiving booty instead of pay,and as yürüksi if they formed a tribal contingent. Such troops were horse-archers, rarely owning more than leather lamellar armour and still using the ancient Central Asian lassoo as a weapon
Ex-Byzantine troops included cavalry and infantry. Though many used the bow, they did not employ Turcoman tactics. Most of the gazis also seem to have fought in traditional Islamic style as mixed cavalry and infantry.The horse men were known as müsellem (tax-free men) and were organised under the overall command of sancak beys into hundereds, under subasis, and thousands, under binbasis.The foor-soldiers, or yaya, were compareably divided into tens,hunderds and thousands.These infantry archers occasionally fought for Byzantium,where they were known as mourtatoi.Müsellems and yayas were at first paid wages,but by the time of Murat I (1359) they were normally given lands or fiefs in return for military service, the yayas also having the special responsibilty for the protection of roads and bridges.
Ranking Structure
These titles could have different meaning in different areas or types of unit.Basically, however, ranks ran as follows
Administrative Officers
Nazır : Supervisor of a Crops
Ağa : Commander of a regimentor large unit
Kethüda : Lieutenant or assistant to a commanding officer
Kethüda Yeri :
Executive Officers
Katib : Chief Scribe
Çavuş Başı : Sergeant-Major
Kapuçu : Chief Orderly
Operational Offices
Çorbacı : Colonel
Odabaşı : Colonel's Assistant
Vakilharç : Commissary
Bayraktar : Standard Bearer
Aşçı başı : Chief Cook
Saki : Water Bearer
These last three were middle-ranking field officers.There were also various mülazim and kullukçu, junior officers or orderlies, and çavuş ( sergeant or disciplinary officer)
The Kapıkulu Corps and Janissaries
According to legend the Kapikulu Corps was set up by Kara Halil Candarli, brother in law of Sheikh Edebali.Its infantry units or Janissaries were supposedly founded in 1326 when the recruits were blessed by Haci Bektas.]anissaries were recruited almost exclusİvely from ex-Christian converts, and so it is interesting that the Bektaşis should have adopted so many Christian attitudes and rituals.Their founder and their patron saint both became identified with Greek Orthodox saints, while many Janissaries also carried quotations from the Gospel as lucky charms. Prisoners captured during gazi raids provided plenty of manpower during the 14th century , and not until 1 438 was the devşirmei instigated. This was a kind of human levy; although against Muslim law, it proved unavoidable. The devJirme was even popular in some areas. Bosnian Muslims arranged to be included, though Muslims were normally exempt, while in poor regions parents sometimes bribed officials to take their sons and so give them better prospects in life. Back in the capital the most intelligent were chosen for training as içoğlanı,pages in the Topkapi Palace,while the rest went to work on farms where they learned Turkish and the Muslim faith before becoming Janissaries. The iç oğlani were trained for up to seven years in palace schools which concentrated on character-building, leadership, miIitary and athletic prowess, lan- guages, religion, science, and a creative art of the pupil's choosing. Three further examinations selected men for the Kapikulu cavalry , to be Kapikulu officers and, at the top of the tree, to become milİtary or administrative leaders. All remained bachelors until their training ended, when most married women who had been through a parallel schooling in the Palace harem.Unlike their christian foes, the Ottoman Turks rarely killed captives and a large number of young un-ransomed prisioners were considered a waste of military talent.The best were incorporated into the cavalry six regiments, and the Ottoman rulers also created an elite infantry regiments called Yeniceri
The Janissaries
The Janissaries.-Two notable institutions created by the Ottoman sultans were the military organization of the Janissaries and the civil service, which has been aptly called the "Ruling Institution" by Professor Lybyer. These institutions evolved from the practice by the Ottoman leaders in Anatolia of employing captured prisoners as mercenary troops. Later on, during the conquest of the Balkans, the Turks, with the religious sanction of the grand mufti, took as tribute from the Christian population a percentage of the male children. These became the "slaves" of the sultan. Completely severed from their Christian families, these children were brought up as Moslems and imbued with religious devotion to Islam and loyalty to the sultan. The more able were enrolled in the palace corps of pages and trained to become administrators and officials in the state bureaucracy, the Ruling Institution. The remainder were given a military education and became members of the famous Janissary corps, recognized in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as the best trained and most effective soldiers of Europe.
With a military force and a bureaucracy thus recruited from the non-Turkish and non-Moslem subjects, the earlier Ottoman sultans secured effective control over the empire. This they were able to maintain until the forces of corruption inherent in a military state based essentially on exploitation undermined the integrity of the Ruling Institution and changed basically the structure of the Janissary organization.
The Janissaries were closely associated with the religious order of the Bektash Dervishes, whose agha, or chief, held a commission as colonel in the Janissary organization. Dervishes were attached to all the military units of the Janissaries in their barracks and to the troops in the field. Thus the Janissaries closely affiliated with the Moslem Institution of ulemas, muftis, and cadis acquired elements of political power which threatened that of the sultans.
Growing weakness of the sultans in the seventeenth century resulted in the granting of more privileges to the Janissaries, whose officers became a class exempted from the burdens of taxation which even the Moslem population bore. Although Janissaries held a very special position in the empire and their officers had many opportunities to enrich themselves, the rank and file frequently found themselves without pay when the government was in financial difficulties.
Officer
Gradually, the very structure of Janissary organization was changed. Because of the opportunities open to the officers, many Turks sought to have their children enrolled in the Janissary corps, and by the last quarter of the seventeenth century the Janissaries ceased to be recruited from Christian families. Meanwhile, many ill-paid Janissary privates engaged in crafts and commercial activities, becoming prominent in so-called "corporations," which were comparable to the craft and merchant guilds of medieval Europe. This military organization holding a specially privileged position closely allied with a powerful religious brotherhood, eventually became intimately associated with important economic organizations. It thus grew to be a potent instrument of political power. The Janissaries, by riots, and mutinies, forced the sultans to dismiss members of the Divan and grand viziers, and even deposed sultans. While it was frequently described by historians as a Praetorian Guard, the Janissary corps, through its affiliations with other Ottoman institutions, had wider alliances than any mere body of mercenary troops.
The growing corruption of the Janissary corps undermined the military power of the Ottoman Empire and exposed it to foreign invasion. It threatened the very existence of orderly government. Not until 1826 was its power broken and the Ottoman state freed from this dangerous incubus. It was only when the ulemas and the members of the Ruling Institution had come to understand its threat to the very existence of the state that Sultan Mahmoud II was able to obtain their consent to the destruction of the Janissary corps.
The Cavalry
Until the mid-18th. Century provincial sipahi cavalry formed the majority of most Ottoman armies.They numbered around 40,000 men in the 15th and 16th centuries, over half of whom came from the European provinces (Rumelia).Ordinary timar fiefs supported one horseman,while the holders of larger zeamets were also expected to equip mounted retainers or cebelüs.Large still were the hass fiefs of the Sultan's family, viziers and favorite ministers. An ordinary sipahi lived in a village, work his own land, had to pay the peasants for most of their services and received no salary.
The Vassals
Vassals played a more important part in Turkish victories than is generally realized .Most areas accepted Ottoman Suzeranity after the Turks captured their key towns.The sons of many princes served as müteferrika cavalry in the Ottoman capital.T his regiment,which also included the sons of turkish nobleman, formed part of the Kapikulu coprs.Müteferrika were paid, uniformed and educated by the Ottomans while at the same time being hostages.
The Infantry
Ottoman infantry forces went by a confusing number of names, the meanings of which could change over the centuries.Among the first were azaps.Most were Anatolian turks and at first they were only paid for the duration of a campaing.Later they got regular salaries and als acted as garrison troops.
The gönüllüyan (volunteer infantry) who manned local stronpoints could be Muslim or Christian, and were similarly supported by their fellow villagers.
Voyniks were Balkan Christians.They are first recorded as the infantry followers of Christian sipahis fighting for Murat I.
