The Army of the Crimean Khanate in the Military Campaigns of the Ottoman Empire Against Hungary And Austria in the 16th — 17th Centuries

During the 16th–17th centuries, Europe was in conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition of European powers, led by Austria. The Ottomans sought to gain control over all of Hungary, conquer other territories, and force European monarchs to recognize their dependence on the Porte and pay tribute. The Europeans, in turn, tried to oust the Ottomans from Europe and stop the latter’s expansion. In order to wage a long-term confrontation with virtually an entire bloc of states, the Porte needed a huge army, so the sultans involved their vassals and allies in the fighting, including the Crimeans. The light cavalry of the Crimeans provided the Ottomans with enormous support, striking at enemy convoys and rears, devastating enemy territories, and conducting tactical reconnaissance. As a rule, military campaigns involved detachments of Crimean Tatars numbering several thousand soldiers led by a kalga or nurreddin, and in some cases, several tens of thousands, who could be personally led by the khan. The prominent role of the Crimeans in the military campaigns of the Porte is noted by researchers B. Williams and M. Ivanich, who emphasize the effective tactics of the Crimean Tatar light cavalry. At the same time, researcher W. MacNeil points out that in Europe, the mobility of the Crimeans was limited by stone fortifications and features of the relief, in particular, forested or mountainous terrain. Researcher K. Schimmer emphasizes the large losses of the civilian population of European states as a result of the plundering raids of the Crimeans. The Crimeans distinguished themselves in the campaign of 1532 when they devastated Styria and Carinthia, in 1543 they helped the Ottomans storm Székesfehérvár, saved the Ottomans from defeat in the battle on the Mezékeresztés plain in 1596, conducted a large-scale plundering raid on Hungarian lands in 1658, etc. The Crimean contribution to the supply system of the Ottoman army is underestimated, because thanks to their rapid movement over long distances, the Tatars could deliver food and other things, both from territories controlled by the Porte and from enemy lands, by means of banal robberies. It has been established that the Ottoman rulers often involved lightly armed Crimean Tatars as tactical and field reconnaissance units. It is noted that in the above-mentioned military campaigns, the Crimeans practically did not use field artillery, since it slowed down the movement of the troops, the Tatars did not have their own armories, but used samples brought from the Porte, and the loud sound of cannon shots frightened the Tatar horses. The Austrians, having no experience in fighting the Crimeans, like, for example, the Poles or Muscovites, could not counteract the effective tactics of the nomads for a long time. At the same time, unlike the campaigns against the nomadic peoples — the Nogais, Circassians or Safavids, in Europe the Crimean Tatars faced quite powerful stone fortresses, the enemy army, which was armed with a sufficient number of firearms and artillery, and were forced to operate in forest-steppe and mountainous areas, which significantly limited their maneuvering and tactics.