The New Order and Its Enemies: Opposition to Military Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1789 – 1807 Kadir Ustun Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Kadir Ustun All rights reserved ABSTRACT New Order and Its Enemies: Opposition to Military Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1789–1807 Kadir Ustun This dissertation is a study of the New Order (Nizam-ı Cedid) army and the opposition it triggered during the reign of Selim III (1789-1807). It aims to present an alternative perspective on the Ottoman military reform and its implications for the course of the imperial transformation. It hopes to contribute to the social history of Ottoman military reform through an investigation of the challenges the state faced as well as the motivations of political, military, economic, and social groups in opposing the new army. This period represented a moment of crisis of great magnitude for the Ottoman imperial center. However, in military and financial terms, it was also a moment of reconfiguration and restructuring of Ottoman state power. Constant contestation and continuous renegotiation of state power occurred between the state elites and various societal actors. These actors did not necessarily have a fixed position on military reform. In fact, the military reform measures were part of the bargaining process and both the state elites and different political actors shifted their positions depending on the circumstances. This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the causes of resistance by various groups such as the janissaries, local notables, and common people. It argues that their resistance shaped the possibilities of the Ottoman military reform by challenging the centralized, rationalized, disciplined, and bureaucratic new logic of the modern state. Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iii Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 – Historiography on the New Order and Its Opponents ............................. 9 Conventional Wisdom ......................................................................................................... 9 Legacy of the Decline Theory ........................................................................................... 12 A Military Society? ........................................................................................................... 20 Modernization Paradigm .................................................................................................. 28 Early Republican Histories ............................................................................................... 39 Ottoman Court Historians ................................................................................................ 44 Modern Historiography .................................................................................................... 55 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 59 Chapter 2 – The Meaning of the New Order ................................................................ 61 Why Reform the Military? ................................................................................................. 61 Financial Crisis ................................................................................................................ 65 Recruitment Problems prior to the New Order Army ....................................................... 68 Military Technology Debate: Adaptation or Resistance to Innovation? .......................... 78 New Order Army as a Response to Internal Threats ........................................................ 87 The Ottoman Elite’s Conception of Military Reform ........................................................ 90 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 105 Chapter 3 – The New Order Army ............................................................................. 108 Establishing the New Order Army .................................................................................. 108 Funding the New Army: The New Revenue (İrad-ı Cedid) ............................................. 112 Manning the New Army .................................................................................................. 124 Local Resistance to Recruitment ..................................................................................... 129 Resistance to the Expansion of the New Order Army ..................................................... 133 Disillusionment with the New Order: The Case of Tayyar Mahmud Pasha ................... 139 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 144 i Chapter 4 – Janissary Soldiers and Social Networks Resist the New Order .......... 146 Reordering and Disciplining the Janissaries .................................................................. 146 Compensating the Janissaries ......................................................................................... 160 Mobilizing the Janissaries .............................................................................................. 164 Janissary “Fanaticism” .................................................................................................. 169 Janissaries' Relations with Socio-Economic Groups ..................................................... 173 Local People Use Janissaries against the Center ........................................................... 184 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 191 Chapter 5 – Local Notables and the End of the New Order ..................................... 193 Local Notables’ Relations with the Center ..................................................................... 193 Chaos in the Balkans: The Banditry Phenomenon ......................................................... 199 Paspanoğlu, Janissaries, and Yamaks ............................................................................ 205 Securing Order and Expanding the New Order Army in the Balkans ............................ 224 The End of the New Order .............................................................................................. 235 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 245 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 257 ii Acknowledgements This has been a long journey. As is the case with long journeys, much debt has accumulated along the way. I have been privileged to receive guidance and support from a truly inspiring group of academics and intellectuals. I would like to thank İsmail Coşkun for being an amazing mentor over the years. Richard W. Bulliet has always been a great inspiration with his intellectual prowess and unconventional way of thinking. He always challenged his students to think differently. I owe special thanks to my dissertation advisor Nader Sohrabi. He not only supported this project but also guided me through difficult theoretical questions. His intellectual contribution has been invaluable. He provided me with truly useful, insightful, and challenging comments and feedback on the entire dissertation. I owe Karen Barkey special gratitude for her constant encouragement and belief in this project even when it seemed as though it was never going to be completed. Cemal Kafadar was a source of inspiration for this project and always encouraged me to move forward. Cemil Aydin has been a great mentor and a friend of the type any scholar needs. I was able to develop and sharpen my ideas thanks to his very useful feedback. Ivan Zatz provided me with much needed advice and insights into how to keep writing and “just get it done.” Christine Philliou provided valuable feedback especially on the earlier chapters and encouraged me to keep writing. I thank Hamid Dabashi for agreeing to serve in my committee and Rashid Khalidi for accepting to take over this project as the advisor as well as his advice and encouragement for the completion of this project. I would like to thank the administrative staff and faculty at the Department of Middle East and South Asian Studies (MESAAS) for supporting this project in so many iii different ways. I thank the library staff at Columbia University and Harvard University as well as the archival staff at the Prime Ministry Archives in Istanbul for all their help and courtesy. I would also like to thank the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies Center at George Mason University for housing me as a Visiting Scholar in 2012 and providing me with a quiet space to work on my dissertation. I have been very lucky to be surrounded by an amazing group of friends and colleagues. I thank Metin Bezikoğlu, Nuh Yılmaz, Mehmet Fidan, Mehmet Mert Sunar, Hayrettin Savur, Hatem Ete, Kılıç Kanat, Erhan Berat Fındıklı, Arhan Kardaş, Cenk Palaz, Bedross der Matossian, Leyla Amzi-Erdoğdular, Onur Özgöde, and Nur Murphy. I feel obliged to single