War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and ... - Oguzlar.az

94 Graham WilliamsonThe field armyOn paper, the Pasha could field a small standing corps composed of his ownbodyguard some 3,000 strong (2,000 foot and 1,000 horse), plus 5,000infantry. Most of the Janissaries had been called away by the central governmentin Constantinople. The Pasha could call upon the governors of hissanjaks to provide him with local militia. This would range from 10,000 footsoldiers from Sulaymaniyeah to between 1,500 and 2,000 from Koui, Harir,Dhihab and Armadiyye. The major towns of Mosul, Kirkuk, Arbil, Hillaand Mendeli furnished a fixed, but small, number of fusiliers as their contributionto this levy. A further 10,000 to 15,000 nomadic tribal cavalry (Araband Kurd) would come from the feudal levy. The state would provide breadand forage to all raised in this way. His weakest area was artillery, with onlya handful of cannon, most of which were slow and heavy. In all, slightlymore than 35,000 troops and officers would be available, including garrisons,for the campaign. 12 In an attempt to boost his numbers, the Pasha lookedbeyond his province. The central government was initially only able to senda small number of regular infantry and cavalry from the cities of Diarbekirand Aleppo. Consequently he hired over 10,000 men (djellis and older reservists)from Anatolia.Military prowessFacing these forces was the feudal army of Mohammed Ali Mirza. The Shah’seldest son, not being of “pure” Qajar blood and thus, by law, unable to reign,was made Prince-Governor of all the western provinces south of Azerbaijan.In the complex world of court politics he was often used as a counter-weightto Abbas Mirza’s growing authority. Mohammed Ali Mirza himself wasrecognized as an aggressive military leader with a string of victories overthe Ottomans, in particular in 1806 and 1812, as well as internal enemies.The Ottomans feared his reaction to any provocationIn the Russian war his forces numbered around 30,000 but this couldbe raised to nearer 40,000 if directly threatened. His forces were rarelyinvolved in that war except for his deep raid behind Russian lines a decadepreviously. It was however remarkable that he was allegedly able to mustersome 25,000, mainly cavalry. The prospect of plunder, so important to a tribalwarrior, was undoubtedly a significant attraction. Despite the Shah’s interestin the way the Europeans organized armies, and the heir-apparent’ssignificant development of regular forces or even his own belated attemptat raising such units, Mohammad Ali Mirza’s army still primarily followedtraditional lines. Two-thirds were cavalry raised from local tribes such as theBakhtiari or Lars. Kurds also fielded some heavy, mailed squadrons. Thebalance was composed of feudal infantry drawn heavily from the Kurdishpopulation, in particular the Ahl-e Haqq sect. Up to 12,000 men could be