112 ISLAM AT WAR
The Mamluks lavished great sums on their clothing and on that of their
horses. They carried gold and jewels on their persons at all times, which
made their corpses rich pickings for the French in 1799. When describing
the Mamluks in 1799, French General Antoine Jomini said, “Nothing can
compare with the beauty of thecoup d’oeilpresented by this African
cavalry; the elegant forms of the Arabian horses, relieved by the richest
trappings; the martial air of the riders; the variegated brilliancy of their
costume; the superb turbans enriched with their plumes of office; alto-
gether presented to us a spectacle new and peculiar.”
From 1529 until 1683 the Ottomans were involved in innumerable wars
on every frontier of the Empire. The recounting of them all would be
difficult in the extreme, but a partial list of the major Ottoman campaigns
in the last quarter of the sixteenth century is illuminating. In 1567 an
expedition was sent to bring Yemen under control. In 1570 the Persians
were ousted from the Caucasus. Naval fighting continued throughout the
whole era against virtually every Mediterranean naval power. A major
expedition sought to recover Iran in the 1570s. Aside from other more
minor expeditions, the major theaters of war for the Ottoman Empire
would increasingly be the Balkans and the lands surrounding the Black
Sea. Here they would run into the emerging powers of Austria and Russia.
Literally dozens of major battles would mark an era of unceasing warfare.
Probably most significant about these wars is that during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries the Ottoman Empire’s Western opponents became
less and less susceptible to the old style of warfare that had been the
Turkish forte for 500 years. It is useful for the modern reader to understand
that the constant fighting in the Balkans—most of it by brutal irregular
forces and much of it against civilians—forms the basis for the modern-
day racial hatreds that exist in the area. These hatreds provided the spark
that ignited World War I and has recently involved the United States of
America in a campaign to protect Muslim interests. It is interesting to
imagine what Suleiman the Magnificent would think to know that a great
national—and notionally Christian—power would come from around the
world to protect his Balkan subjects.
These wars seem distant to the modern reader. We do not much use the
names anymore—the princes are long forgotten—the causes are so long
lost that we don’t understand them. However, it is probably fair to illus-
trate a tiny portion of one campaign in one war in this period.
In 1598 the Hapsburg Austrians captured Raab and in 1599 Prince
Michael of Wallachia brought Transylvania to assist the Hapsburgs. The
Ottoman army was unable to respond because of political disputes in
Constantinople. Prince Michael took advantage of this to capture Mol-