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Shahed
09-12-2003, 15:29
Well I was just thinking about something and thought I'll post a little paragraph on this, for those who may not know.

The system of reward and punishment played an important part in the motibvation of the Ottoman Army. Professional soldiers, and irregulars alike fought not only for the riches of foreign conquest, the allocation of title and land, but also for recognition of the Sultan and ascendency (?) in the Ottoman military hierarchy.

The Ottoman military's incentives offered to soldiers included direct gifts from the Sultan's hand, or courtiers. For an Ottoman soldier it was a great honor to be summoned to the Sultan to receive a title of merit. The incentives were many. To name a few (as above), a soldier may receive a share of loot, an allotment of land, medals, promotion through the military or bureacracy.

In order ot ensure that the rewards after a particular campaign or battle were immediately handed out, the Sultan used a system of select few messengers. During a battle these Messengers called Chavush, would be deployed by the SUltan himself to survey the field of battle and to report (with evidence) the bravery, cowardice or treachery of the troops, in addition to reporting on the perceived view of the battle from local commanders.

As the Chavush brought back reports of bravery from individuals, the Sultan may at the very time of battle allocate a reward for those soldiers Cowardice, insubordination or treachery were immediately punished (if possible) by death. There were also specific rewards.

This is not to say that the Sultan did not fight, which of course he did. However he had the added pleasure of being supreme commander and based on the messages from the Chavush issued orders for the generals to execute. According to Hungarian accounts of the battle of Mohacs, the Sultan was within striking distance of two Hungarian Knights before they were cut down by Serden Geckti ("Lost Children", eilte professional Sipahi, later called Sipahi of the Porte)

In this manner some of the soldiers of the Ottoman army were able to catch the eye of the Sultan, and even be summoned for audience. Some of the medals were handed out by the Sutan himself. Like modern medals they were a display of recognition, however unlike modern medals these medals were worn (at all times) into battle. This served to promote the valor of the troops around the distinguished soldier, who may strive for equal recognition.

The Chavush were also used in peactime as messengers of the Sultan, to foreign countries, and to domestic governors.

Well that's about all I know of this group of soldiers who like many, we know little about, and yet they played an important part in history. (sorry for typos)

The Blind King of Bohemia
09-12-2003, 17:00
Seljuk, i was wondering. Can you think any Turkish units i could put in my mod. I hate to be a bother but you know your stuff when it comes to muslim armies. Particularly in the early period, any ideas would be most welcome.
Great info by the way http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

nokhor
09-14-2003, 14:20
thanks for the post sultan, the chavush sounds like they were one of the pillars of ottoman success. reminds me of the 'eyes and ears' of the achaemenid dynasty in persia. http://www.livius.org/es-ez/eyes/eyes.html

Shahed
09-14-2003, 14:44
Thx Nokhor, that was a VERY interesting read.
Thx very much for the link.

Well from what I have read the Chavush were used exclusively for battle purposes, except in peacetime, when they were used as emissaries or messenger.

I have not yet come across a description of them participating in interior ministry kind of duties, as the Eyes did.

It seems to me that the primary purpose of the Eyes differed from that of the Chavush. The Eyes seemed to be more oriented towards interior watch, and empire administration. The Chavush however (from what I have read) had a perhaps similar function but only in military circles. Surely though the Sultan like most absolute rulers had his methods of controlling the empire through a sort of Eyes like administration.

You know how I got to know about the Chavush ? A friend of mine named his dog, Chavush. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif I got curious and rather than ask what it means I started researching and I found this.

Hey BKB there is a thread in the dungeon called "which mod should I TRY to do" I posted some unit info there. Would be glad to help (time permitting) if you need any more info.

Cheers all. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Shahed
09-14-2003, 14:47
WOW just reading through that livius site.
Very nice link http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif There is an article in Colosseum about Judeans in RTW. I think you should post this page there as it has some histroy of the Jewish Wars.:

Jewish Wars (http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/jwar01.htm)