Mad Soldiers (Deliler) in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

As we shed the light on the Deliler in the ottoman empire, Towards the end of the century, it is thought to have been formed in Rumelia. The madmen were the scary-looking warrior soldiers with the clothes they wore, the weapons they used, and the military maneuvers. From today, these were a popular military unit for maneuvering warriors. They were popular in the Ottoman Empire as a military figure with their unique clothes and their weapon of choice. They were ruthless and a successful group of soldiers. They have completed their duty as guards for governors until the seventeenth century. The Deliler started to make an appearance as bandits when they were fired from their jobs by the governors. after a while, firearms became popular, and This event slowly decreased the popularity of Deliler Ocağı because they were used to fighting with swords, axes, maces, pommels but not with firearms. There was another corps constituted after Deliler Ocağı. They were called the same as the Deliler Ocağı which also made them similar to the Deliler Ocağı. However, their clothes, weapons and functions are much different from the original Deliler Ocağı. They were regularly paid by governors. Their service pay in the Ottoman Empire is called as ulufe or "Feed". As a result of this, we could sort the Deliler soliders to two periodical categories, first deliler and secondary deliler who came in the later years of the Ottoman empire's history. However, in the Ottoman Empire archives the secondary deliler are much widely common. This study clearly solves the confusion about Deliler Ocağı by indicating that there were two different Deliler Ocağı in the Ottoman Empire.

Keywords

• deliler
• lunatics
• ottoman empire
• habsburgs
• sultan