Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-28
The SULTAN'S SOLDIERS
yt,A,
A1LL1ON AND A HALF DESPERATE
FIGHTING MEN.
Uniformed Regulars, TatterdemaHon,
Redifs, Militia, Savage Irregulars
and HALF Trained Exempts.


Say what you will of the sultan.s soldiers
save that they, are not brave-and it will
probably be true.a Call them squat, heavy.
dirty. sloppy. ragged bearded. allah-in-
spired invfncibies;' tt Is even SO. Or call
them 'ferce-looking fellows. 1.-the. agile,
erect and prompt. every inch the soldier"
you are no less in the right. Call them
wen-d1scipiined.. temperate. childishly ODE
dient; no one will contradict you. But you
might as well have said that they are In
subordinate. fanatica1 and bloodthfrsty,
The one Is as true as the other.
The fact Is, the Turkish army Is homo
seneous In but one respectlts religion. All
are Mussulmans. No Christian dog is suf-
fered to fight under the green banner of
the prophet. For the rest you have all the
Mosiem races Of the hither east-Albani-
ans. Circassians, Syrians. Arabs Negroes,
Osmanhs or true Turks-messing 1t to-
gether But 1t is not nationality alone that
makes the Turkish army so exceedingly
various. 1t is the worldwide contrast be-
tween the separate branches of the serv-
ice. The Nizam. or regular army. Is to the
Wild squadrons Of the Hamadie Cavalry as
kfplings Fuzzy Wuzzy' to the British
different sort of body from either-the
Redifs' or Reserves. the backbone of the
army. .oN
Moslems All Serve.
Every male Mosem serves in the Turk
ish army from the time he is twenty until
the time he Is forty-unIess he can get out
OF It, This he stands fair chance of
doing. Exemptions are made pretty freely
for variety Of reasons. Constantinopoli-
tans are excused In a body and after them
al those who can show that for physical
or Iamiiy reasons they are unfit to serve.
Inc rest, who can find no excuse, serve for
six years with the colors-three or four
years In the regular line and the remaining
TWO or three as active reserves on unrlmit-
ed leave. subject to recall in case of vacan-
cies. Inc SIX years up. the time-expired
man becomes one Of the great army OF
reserves He may go back to his sheep-pen
and his opium-garden But for eight years
he IS at all times liable to be called out
to night by imperial decree. Theoretically
ne Is called out every other year for a
months instruction. But as matter of
fact the condition OF the exchequer pre-
vents this
At the close of the eighth year the
turkish soldier passes to the militia or
Mustahfiz or Landstrum. He is now thirty
four years old, which for q toiling peasant
Is middle-aged. and he is not so agile as he
once was: So he is rarely called upon to
go into the field. being reserved for local
or frontier defense. None the less. there
Is nothing to prevent his being pressed into
active service I'm the event of real war.
AS for the men who escape CONSUMPTION.
even they do not altogether evade military
duty. Such Of them at least as able
bodied must drill once a week in their own
homes under .he tutelage Of member of
the Redifs. Iaey learn the manual of arms.
tactics and target practice. so that in case
OF need theySHtoo may be added to the
Turkish forces.
Khuris and Arabs.
Last of/the list comes the Turkish ir-
regulars-Khurds and Arabs and the like,
tribes toe wild to be brought under formal
military discipline These are organized
into the Hamadie Cavalry. named in honor
of the sultan. permitted to live in their own
places and inlitime of war let loose upon
the enemy. dh8A ~
The man who goes into the regular army
Is temporarily. uii- Turked He learns to
keep his rife. land himself just So" His
uniform-plain n blue tunie blue trousers
tucked into top boots, red fez-is speckless
His canvas knapsack Is blindingly white
His Mauser repeater slopes over his Shout
is brisk elastic His drill Is strict. his dis
cipine absolute. In snort he Is a model
of modern soldier man.
Unfortunately. in the late war with
Greece. the Turkish NiZam was too little
used to prove its powers. At the one en-
gagement where it went extensively into
action 1t was most OutrageouSly cut up,
and all the spick- and span uniforms were
tumbled dismaliy into burial trenches. 1t
remains to be seen how much the pipe-clay
and polish are worth in the field. The Re-
difs. the other hand. esse ntally
practical force. Tie Tommy Atkins has
relapsed into the Turkish peasant, and he
is no longer pretty to look at His uniform
if uniform he may be said to have con-
sists of the national fez. worn rakishly
askew. and ancient army coat quite
likely in the last stages of disrepair He i
has got rid Of the fine top-boots and shut
fies along in sandals. which look like old
list-slippers. his legs unhandiy swathed in
bandage-like CATERS secured with odds and
ends of string His drill has gone off,
shockingly and the less said about his
form the better.