Locating the Ottomans Among Early Modern Empires

This paper describes the evolution of Ottoman military and defensive strategies in the Balkans from 1600 to 1800. It argues that three major imperial crises, engendered by sustained warfare, forced a transition from a standing army to state commissioned militias. To do so, it sites the Ottoman imperial context in a discussion of multiethnic eastern European empires, comparing Ottoman options and limitations with those of the Habsburgs and the …