Bashi - bazouk A bashi - bazouk or bashibazouk ( Turkish " başıbozuk " , or " delibaş " , literally " damaged head " , meaning " free headed " , " leaderless " , " disorderly " ) was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army . They were particularly noted for their lack of discipline . Irregulars . Although Turkish armies always contained " bashi - bazouk " adventurers as well as regular soldiers , the strain on the Ottoman feudal system caused mainly by the Empire ' s wide expanse required heavier reliance on irregular soldiers . They were armed and maintained by the government , but did not receive pay and did not wear uniforms or distinctive badges . They were motivated to fight mostly by expectations of plunder . Though the majority of troops fought on foot , some troops ( called " akinci " ) rode on horseback . Because of their lack of discipline , they were incapable of undertaking major military operations , but were useful for other tasks such as reconnaissance and outpost duty . However , their uncertain temper occasionally made it necessary for the Turkish regular troops to disarm them by force . The Ottoman army consisted of the following : Recruitment . Under the best conditions , an Ottoman commander - in - chief would be able to muster hundreds of thousands of soldiers and lead an excursion into Austria or Iran , whichever posed the greatest threat , capturing or extorting sufficient lands or money to cover the expenses of the next campaign in the process . Frequently , the actual number of soldiers deployed to the battlefield was one order of magnitude less . On the eve of battle an Ottoman commander would tap any source of manpower he saw fit ; hiring mercenaries was one of them . The hiring process occurred in an open market , with prices determined by negotiation between the mercenary troop leader and an Ottoman commander . Prices were affected by the quality and quantity of mercenary troop available as well as the commander ' s requirements . Oral negotiations usually led to a written contract . Some of these documents survive today , often showing small mercenary leaders contracting for very high amounts . History . Bashi - bazouks was most notably the name given to Albanian irregulars used by the Turkish Ottoman Armies in order to terrorize the Balkans . Bashi - Bazouk raiding parties of blood thirsty Albanian mercenaries , recently converted to Sunni Islam , were sent out in the Balkan country side to pillage , rape and massacre , as well as eradicate any fighting opposition , in an effort to force the Serbian , Macedonian and other Balkan peoples to surrender to the Ottoman Empire and submit to its ' rule . An attempt by Husrev Pasha to disband his Albanian bashi - bazouks in favor of his regular forces began the rioting which led to the establishment of Muhammad Ali ' s Khedivate of Egypt . Reputation . The bashi - bazouk were notorious for being brutal and undisciplined , thus giving the term its second , colloquial meaning of " undisciplined bandit " in many languages . A notable example of this use is in the comic series " The Adventures of Tintin " , where the word is often used as an expletive by Captain Haddock . Their use was abandoned by the end of the 19th century . However , self - organized bashi - bazouk troops still appeared later . The term " bashibozouk " has also been used for a mounted force , existing in peacetime in various provinces of the Ottoman empire , which performed the duties of gendarmerie .