By Brian Glyn Williams - The Jamestown Foundation

communicate and direct the mounted formations. The Tatars usually relied on flank attacks and
surprise charges to break up the enemy's positions. When attacked by formed bodies of enemy
cavalry, the Tatars would frequently scatter and fake a retreat, shooting arrows from the saddle, then quickly
re-group and attack the enemy whose formations were often strung out in pursuit. When confronted with
impenetrable enemy formations, the Tatars poured arrow fire into the enemy's ranks, harried their
detachments and cut off stragglers often wearing down the resistance of a stronger enemy.
This was the nature of the Mehemed II's new allies the Crimean Tatars. From 1478, the Ottomans could
usually rely on the assistance of the hardy Tatar horsemen who provided the Sultan with some of the
finest cavalry in the world. The Ottoman army, which was made up for the most part of sipahis
(horsemen), used light cavalry far more extensively than their European opponents and there was
always a need for more riders in the Sultan’s ranks. Cavalry units played a far greater role in the Ottoman
armies than historians have given credit and greatly outnumbered the legendary janissarys (slave infantry)
whose role has been exaggerated. A seventeenth century observer wrote that the Ottoman Sultan
"maintaineth an hundred and fifty thousand horsemen, excellent well armed...So great a Cavalry can no
other Prince maintain with the yearly expense of fourteen millions of gold...Herein consisteth the
chieftest Preservation of the Ottoman Empire." 27
The Crimean Tatars could usually be relied upon to send at least 20,000 riders to enlarge the already fearsome
Ottoman army. Their forces were easily maintained on campaigns and, unlike the Ottoman sipahis, they
did not require land grants from the Ottoman government in return for their services. Mehemed II
must have, however, had his doubts about employing the Tatars. It was well-known that a Tatar
defection during the battle of Ankara in 1402 had resulted in the death of his grandfather, Sultan Bayezid
I, and almost caused the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. 28 Mehemed II must have wondered if the
Crimean Tatars would be any more reliable or effective than their ancestors.
That the Crimean Tatars could fight effectively in steppe conditions was beyond doubt, the question to be
answered is how effective was their assistance on the various Ottoman fronts from the Caspian to Vienna?
It is to the answering of this question that this paper will now be devoted.
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