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Originally Posted by Zifir
Hi,
Although I agree with Teodor's comments on the Ottoman army to some degree, it would be misleading to say that the Ottoman central authority never ordered weapons of any sort from local contractors and artisans. For the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century there are many documents in the Ottoman archives showing that central state ordering swords, musket and rifle barrels, stocks etc. from local contractors from different parts of the empire. The procedure of issuing weapons from the state arsenal for the Janissary army during the campaigns goes back to as early as the classical period as far as I know. For example, I remember reading in a source from the early seventeenth century that the author was complaning about the muskets issued from the state arsenal for janissaries because of their low quality. But of course as Teodor pointed out, we cannot expect a standardization to a degree of centralized states of Western Europe from the Ottomans until the first half of the nineteenth century. However, even for those centralized "modern" Western monarchies, when we say standardization and uniformity how much a standardization or uniformity we are talking about.
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Good points Zifir,
I agree with all of them. In fact, the Ottoman administration strived to maintain some level of control over the production of firearms for obvious reasons and in some cases was even suppliying the gunsmiths with raw material, such as iron. However, based on Ottoman records for the confiscation of weapons from the Christian peasantry, and the large numbers in those records of various firearms seized, it is obvious that the majority of the production was sold locally. So while the best gunsmiths were transferred to Istanbul to work for the Sultan and the Janissary corps, and garrisons throughout the Balkans often placed orders with the local gunsmith guilds, I still think the relationship was far from a contractual one, such as say Colt's contract with the U.S. Navy. Given the nature of the production of the characteristic Balkan firearms and its lack of industrialization, the gunsmith guilds in Tetovo, Elbasan or Sliven could not really complete a large government contract. Thus, after the military reforms of Mahmud II, the Ottoman army was relying mainly on Belgian, English and American factories for its firearms, and the local gunsmiths were soon out of business, unable to compete on quality and price.
Regards,
Teodor