theOttomanstateanditsarmylayinFrance’spoliticalinterestagainsttheRus-
sianexpansivepolicyattheOttomanperiphery.²⁷
CountdeBonnevalwasaformerFrenchofficerandadventurerinHabsburg
serviceduringtheSpanishwarofSuccessionandtheAustro-Ottomanwarof
1716 – 17 18.Despitehislatterdeployment,BonnevalconvertedtoIslamandas-
sistedasAhmedPaşatheOttomanarmyinthereorganizationoftheartillery
corpsfrom 1729 untilhisdeathin 1747 .HisworkwascontinuedbytheHungarian
bornFrenchdiplomatBaronFrançoisdeTott(FerencTóth)duringtheOttoman-
Russianwar(1 768 – 1774 ).Inadditiontofurthermodernizationeffortsinthear-
tilleryin 1773 ,Tottfoundedtheimperialnavalengineerschool(Mühendishane-i
Berr-iHümayun)inthecapital,thefirstOttomantrainingfacilitybasedonmod-
ernEuropeanscientificmethods.Inthe 17 90stheFrenchsideevenproposedto
establishamodernOttomanarmamentmanufactorysectortosupplythenewes-
tablishedNizam-iCedid(NewOrder)troops,whilemorethan 25 Frenchmilitary
instructorsandarmamentspecialistsworkedintheOttomancapital.Manyfea-
turesofthelaterGermandominatedperiodwerealreadyvisiblehere,astheun-
derlyingideaofthecontemporary(Frenchrevolutionary)spirit,thedominating
languageofthesendingnationandthesignatureofa(notapplied)French-Otto-
manmilitaryalliance.²⁸Altogether,thesewerebutsmallreformeffortsthat
failedtoreachthemajorityoftheOttomanarmedforces.²⁹Besidesthetransfer
ofknowledgebythoseforeigninstructors,theOttomanmilitaryalsobeganto
appropriateEuropeanscientificandmilitarymethodsbyreadingandtranslating
thestandardworksinthosefields.DuringthepeakofNapoleonicpowerin 1804 ,
theOttomanMühendishanelibraryacquiredmorethanadozenFrencharmyin-
Cf.FatihYeşil,“KaraKuvvetlerindeAvrupalıDanışmanlar”[EuropeanAdvisorsintheArmy],
inOsmanlıAskerîTarihi:Kara,DenizveHavakuvvetleri 1792 – 1918 ,ed.GültekinYıldız(Istanbul:
TimaşYayınları,2013), 80 – 85;PascalW.Firges,“GunnersfortheSultan:FrenchRevolutionary
EffortstomodernizetheOttomanMilitary,”inWell-ConnectedDomains:TowardsanEntangled
OttomanHistory,ed.PascalW.Firgesetal.(Leiden,Boston:Brill, 2014 ), 17 3.
Firges,“GunnersfortheSultan,” 17 6, 17 8.OntheOttomanroleduringtheNapoleonicwars
cf.PierreO.Juhel,“ 1813 -DasJahreinesWeltkriegs?,”inBlutigeRomantik: 200 JahreBefreiung-
skriegeed.MilitärhistorischesMuseumderBundeswehr,vol.2(Dresden:Sandstein, 20 13),
42 – 43.
VirginiaH.Aksan,“BreakingtheSpelloftheBarondeTott:RefrainingtheQuestionofMili-
taryReformintheOttomanEmpire, 1760 – 1830 ,”InternationalHistoryReview 14 (2 00 2),2 53 –
27 7;TobiasHeinzelmann,HeiligerKampfoderLandesverteidigung?DieDiskussionumdieEinfüh-
rungderallgemeinenMilitärpflichtimOsmanischenReich, 1826 – 1856 (FrankfurtamMain:P.
Lang, 20 04),38.
The‘LongFrenchCentury’,1 730 – 1882 7