Ottoman
Ottoman army of the Tanzimat period
Turkish troops storming Fort Shefketil during the Crimean War of 1853–1856. The Ottoman army of the Tanzimat period was, against all pessimistic observations and analysis, obviously superior to its predecessors in all aspects (except for the cavalry corps), but it was still in the midst of rapid modernization and reorganization. Some corps and units modernized relatively well, whereas others remained…
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Invincible Armada (1588) Part I
Armada Real (de la Guarda de la Carrera de los Indias). Prior to 1570 Spain had no permanent navy. That year, it formed a flotilla of 12 small galleons to escort the flota to and from the Americas. Ten larger galleons were added in the 1580s; these formed the ‘‘Castilian…
Austro-Turk Wars (1529–1739)
The siege of united Christian forces in Buda, 1686 No fewer than eight wars fought between the Austrian and Ottoman Turkish Empires, 1529–1739. The Turks sought to expand into Europe proper and the Austrians stood in the way, while harboring expansionist dreams of their own. The war of 1529–1533 was…
Uluj Ali (c. 1520–1587)
Kılıç Ali Paşa also known as Occiali/Uluj Ali 1519/1587 Barbary corsair and restorer of Ottoman naval power after Lepanto. Born Giovan Dionigi Galeni in Le Castella in Calabria, probably about 1520, he was captured by Muslim corsairs as a young man and was a galley slave until he converted to…
Late British Empire
Between the late eighteenth century and the era of ‘‘new imperialism’’ starting in the 1870s, Britain did not experience serious competition from other European powers in its empire-building efforts. However, France started to recover from its internal problems in the middle of the nineteenth century. And the German unification of…
Cavalry versus Cavalry: The Battle of Ain Jalut
The Battle of Ain Jalut, 1260. (a) Phase I: Kit-Boga’s Mongol cavalry encounters Baybars’ advance guard of the Mamluk army near the village of Ain Jalut. The steppe horsemen launch a ferocious charge (1) and the Mamluks break and flee back up the Jordan River valley (2). Kit-Boga gives chase,…
With a Dash of Indecision 1798
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay, in French as the Bataille d’Aboukir was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off Egypt from 1 to 3…