Editing Ottoman Empire (section)

=== Military ===
{{Main|Military of the Ottoman Empire}}
[[File:Józef Brandt - Fight for a Turkish Standard - MNK II-a-1318 - National Museum Kraków.jpg|thumb|Ottoman [[sipahi]]s in battle, holding the crescent banner, by [[Józef Brandt]]]]
The first military unit of the Ottoman State was an army that was organized by Osman I from the tribesmen inhabiting the hills of western Anatolia in the late 13th century. The military system became an intricate organization with the advance of the Empire. The Ottoman military was a complex system of recruiting and fief-holding. The main corps of the [[Ottoman Army]] included Janissary, [[Sipahi]], [[Akinji|Akıncı]] and [[Ottoman military band|Mehterân]]. The Ottoman army was once among the most advanced fighting forces in the world, being one of the first to use muskets and cannons. The Ottoman Turks began using ''[[Falconet (cannon)|falconets]]'', which were short but wide cannons, during the [[Siege of Constantinople (1422)|Siege of Constantinople]]. The Ottoman cavalry depended on high speed and mobility rather than heavy armor, using bows and short swords on fast [[Turkoman horse|Turkoman]] and [[Arabian horse|Arabian]] horses (progenitors of the [[Thoroughbred#Foundation stallions|Thoroughbred]] racing horse),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Milner |first=Mordaunt |title=The Godolphin Arabian: The Story of the Matchem Line |publisher=Robert Hale Limited |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-85131-476-1 |pages=3–6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wall |first=John F |title=Famous Running Horses: Their Forebears and Descendants |date=September 2010 |isbn=978-1-163-19167-5 |page=8|publisher=Kessinger }}</ref> and often applied tactics similar to those of the [[Mongol Empire]], such as pretending to retreat while surrounding the enemy forces inside a crescent-shaped formation and then making the real attack. The Ottoman army continued to be an effective fighting force throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murphey |first=Rhoads |title=Ottoman Warfare, 1500–1700 |date=1999 |publisher=UCL Press |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |title=Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2005 |pages= 200–02}}</ref> falling behind the empire's European rivals only during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768.<ref name=AksanOW/>

[[File:The_Ertugrul_Cavalry_Regiment_crossing_the_Galata_Bridge.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Modernised [[Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye|Ertugrul Cavalry Regiment]] crossing the [[Galata Bridge]] in 1901|left]]

The modernization of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century started with the military. In 1826 Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissary corps and established the modern Ottoman army. He named them as the [[Nizam-ı Cedid]] (New Order). The Ottoman army was also the first institution to hire foreign experts and send its officers for training in western European countries. Consequently, the Young Turks movement began when these relatively young and newly trained men returned with their education.

[[File:OttomanNavy.jpg|thumb|The [[Ottoman Navy|Ottoman fleet]] in the [[Bosporus|Bosphorous]] near [[Ortaköy]]]]

The [[Ottoman Navy]] vastly contributed to the expansion of the Empire's territories on the European continent. It initiated the conquest of North Africa, with the addition of [[Algeria]] and Egypt to the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Starting with the loss of Greece in 1821 and Algeria in 1830, Ottoman naval power and control over the Empire's distant overseas territories began to decline. Sultan [[Abdülaziz]] (reigned 1861–1876) attempted to reestablish a strong Ottoman navy, building the largest fleet after those of Britain and France. The shipyard at Barrow, England, built its first [[submarine]] in 1886 for the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="first submarine at shipyard">{{Cite web |title=Petition created for submarine name |url=http://www.ellesmereportstandard.co.uk/latest-north-west-news/Petition-created-for-submarine-name.4001190.jp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423225019/http://www.ellesmereportstandard.co.uk/latest-north-west-news/Petition-created-for-submarine-name.4001190.jp |archive-date=23 April 2008 |access-date=11 February 2013 |website=Ellesmere Port Standard }}</ref>

However, the collapsing Ottoman economy could not sustain the fleet's strength for long. Sultan [[Abdülhamid II]] distrusted the admirals who sided with the reformist [[Midhat Pasha]] and claimed that the large and expensive fleet was of no use against the Russians during the Russo-Turkish War. He locked most of the fleet inside the [[Golden Horn]], where the ships decayed for the next 30 years. Following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Committee of Union and Progress sought to develop a strong Ottoman naval force. The ''Ottoman Navy Foundation'' was established in 1910 to buy new ships through public donations.

[[File:Turkish pilots in 1912.jpg|thumb|[[Ottoman Aviation Squadrons|Ottoman pilots]] in early 1912]]

The establishment of [[Ottoman Air Force|Ottoman military aviation]] dates back to between June 1909 and July 1911.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Story of Turkish Aviation |url=http://www.turkeyswar.com/aviation/aviation.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512225046/http://www.turkeyswar.com/aviation/aviation.htm |archive-date=12 May 2012 |access-date=6 November 2011 |publisher=Turkey in the First World War }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Founding |url=http://www.hvkk.tsk.tr/EN/IcerikDetay.aspx?ID=19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007104345/http://www.hvkk.tsk.tr/EN/IcerikDetay.aspx?ID=19 |archive-date=7 October 2011 |access-date=6 November 2011 |publisher=Turkish Air Force}}</ref> The Ottoman Empire started preparing its first pilots and planes, and with the founding of the Aviation School (''Tayyare Mektebi'') in [[Yeşilköy]] on 3 July 1912, the Empire began to tutor its own flight officers. The founding of the Aviation School quickened advancement in the military aviation program, increased the number of enlisted persons within it, and gave the new pilots an active role in the Ottoman Army and Navy. In May 1913, the world's first specialized Reconnaissance Training Program was started by the Aviation School, and the first separate reconnaissance division was established.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} In June 1914 a new military academy, the Naval Aviation School (''Bahriye Tayyare Mektebi'') was founded. With the outbreak of World War I, the modernization process stopped abruptly. The [[Ottoman Aviation Squadrons]] fought on many fronts during World War I, from [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]] in the west to the Caucasus in the east and [[Yemen]] in the south.