Conscription in the nineteenth century Ottoman Empire: Its reflections on the lives of ordinary people and resistance, 1843-1876

Abstract

This thesis examines the creation of a new army in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century manned by conscripts. Starting from the eighteenth century, significant reforms were introduced in the Empire. A new army and a regular recruitment system were part of these reforms which are within the scope of this study. Especially after 1846, Ottoman subjects started to be recruited for military service as an obligation. This study presents the early years of implementation of the recruitment system. While analyzing the conscription law of 1846, the thesis takes examples of the practice of the law from archival documents. Finally, it tries to show the subjects’ reactions to conscription, which might have created cracks in the relationship between the state and its subjects. These reactions ranged from negotiable methods for avoiding the military service obligation to open rebellion, desertion, and even banditry. The law forms a struggle field for the ordinary people who are mostly invisible in history studies. The thesis tries to tell the real stories of ordinary people by analyzing this point of contestation which provides a chance to hear them.