Journals / Osmanlı Araştırmaları / 2018 / Cilt: 52 - Sayı: 52
“Taş Yasdanup Toprak Döşenenler:” Struggle and Lives of the Ottoman Soldiers in Metris Exemplified During the Candia Siege (1667-1669)
- Journal
- Osmanlı Araştırmaları
- Pages
- 41–78
- DOI
- —
Abstract
Sieges of fortresses have always taken longer compared to the pitched bat-tles in the military history of the Ottoman Empire. An analysis of Ottoman militaryhistory shows that there are sieges that exceed weeks, months and sometimes evenyears. The struggle here was not just the difficulty on the battleground but was also adifficult struggle against hunger, bad health conditions, difficult climate and psycho-logical problems caused by the everlasting sieges. Therefore, sieges of fortresses areprocesses troops have to overcome a series of obstacles alongside the defensive army.In the light of this approach, this study will look at the material and psychologicalconditions of the Ottoman soldiers during siege wars focusing on their lives in metrisduring a remarkable example, i.e. the siege of Candia (1667-1669).In Candia, the soldiers spent about two and a half years in these metris. They trans-formed the ditches far in the back of the metris into a bazaar with various shops. Themetris where the soldiers tried to protect themselves from the cannon balls, riffleattacks, bombs (humbara) and mine attacks (lağım saldırısı) from the fortress servedas a place for resting, eating and worshiping. In due time new problems emerged.Climatic difficulties like heavy rainfall, or health issues like the spread of epidemicsresulted in loss of lives. In Candia the soldiers continued to pressure the fortresswhile enduring many of these difficulties.
Özet
Taş Yasdanup Toprak Döşenenler: Kandiye Kuşatması Örneğinde Osmanlı AskerlerininMetristeki Mücadele ve Yaşamı (1667-1669)