Chapter 8
THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE: THE
BALKANS AND THE FALL OF THE
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
When Suleiman’s army was driven back from Vienna in 1529, the Turks
suffered a significant defeat. Nevertheless, that battle signaled neither the
end of the Ottoman Empire, nor even its high-water mark. The Turks were
and would remain the most significant European and Asian power for
many decades. The great strength of the Ottomans was of course their
magnificent army. In 1529 it was certainly the largest, and at its core also
the finest in the Eurasian world.
The Ottoman army underwent few changes from its setback at the gates
of Vienna in 1529 until the early nineteenth century. Much of the force
was little more than a conscripted levy, without drill or discipline. Fire-
arms had slowly spread through the ranks, but many soldiers continued
to carry swords until almost the twentieth century. They were formidable
in their own way, but for the most part bore little resemblance to an
organized, disciplined European army—they remained very much a feudal
levy with a small professional core of Janissaries. Their tactics, particu-
larly those of the cavalry, changed little over the centuries. Thus, although
in 1529 the numerous feudal levies of the Empire were militarily useful,
by 1700 the unchanged Ottoman military giant ran into more sophisticated
European discipline and technology. But for many years, the Ottoman
army held the Empire together.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century the Ottoman land forces were
composed of two types of soldiers—those who received pay and feudal
levies who served without pay. The latter was, by far, the largest portion