Welcome to Ottoman Uniforms. This is a historical interest website looking at Ottoman military uniforms and insignia, from sellected periods, between 1826 till 1923.

Intended for English speaking researchers, interested in military history; collecting; wargaming; modelling; military fashion history; art history; filmmakers; and family histories.

• This is a non-political historical exploration of the various uniforms and insignia that developed over the various periods.
• This study identifies over 1,000 costumes and uniforms and insignia, with a major focus on the Ottoman army, and navy from the early 1800s.
• Examples are taken from surviving uniforms, period illustrations, written descriptions, and photographs.

Many of the terms, phrases and spellings of ranks are also used, to preserve what may have been original pronunciations.

• For instance, between 1880 and 1916 commonly the Ottoman rank of major, is written in German, and British references as ‘Bimbashi’. Whereas in modern Turkish it is correctly spelled as Binbashi (from the Turkish – a chief of a thousand).
• In this particular case, it is known that ‘Bimbashi’ is actually soldier Arabic, a pidgin of Arabic which developed among the Anglo-Egyptian military (used typically between 1870  and 1920).

Chris Flaherty

Ottoman Military School Uniforms:

• Ottoman Military Schools
• WW1 Period Ottoman Boy Scouts
• WW1 Army Schools

Ottoman Civil Police Uniforms:

• Bekci
• Ottoman Police
• The Ottoman 1909 Machine Gun Car Carrier

Ottoman period uniforms of interest:

• The Sultan's Halberdiers 1826 till 1908
• WW1 Ottoman Enveriye Dolch and Edged Weapon Manufacture

Other armies, and uniforms of interest:

• Early Persian (Iran) Qajar Dynasty Army
• Later Persian (Iran) Qajar Dynasty Army and Navy
• Eaton's Army in the 1805 Barbary Wars
• The Sardinian Expeditionary Force Sent to the Crimea War in 1855

• Operation of Great Turkish Bombard Dardanelles Guns till the Mid-19th Century

A range or recently completed books on Ottoman Army and Navy uniforms history can be ordered on this page:

• Order Book on Ottoman Military History

A collection of articles on Ottoman uniforms can be found on this page:

• Additional Ottoman Military History Research and Related Resource on Uniforms

Books about wargaming rules for the Napoleonic period can be found here:

• Order Books on Wargaming Rules

March-August 2015: Chris Flaherty was a contributor to the Turkish Gallipoli Centenary Exhibition - ‘From Depths to the Trenches: Gallipoli 1915’. This opened in March, with a very successful press conference in the Isbank Museum in Istanbul. He contributed two large illustrations, Ottoman infantry, and the Imperial Ottoman Navy uniforms in 1915.

July 2015: Chris Flaherty is mentioned as one of the contributors to 'Philip Jowett. Armies of the Greek-Turkish War 1919–22. MEN-AT-ARMS 501. Osprey Publishing, 20 Jul 2015)'.

January 2014: Christopher Flaherty’s web site is mentioned in the latest Wellington Antique & Historic Arms newsletter for being instrumental in identifying a rare WW1 Turkish helmet that belongs to the Secretary of the WA&HAA.

August 2011: Chris Flaherty contributed to German Colonial Uniforms' section on 'German Officers and NCOs in the Ottoman Army 1913-18: Ottoman Army Uniforms'.

October 2009: Thanks to Chris Flaherty for providing the information on updates. made on the German Army in Ottoman Uniforms Page; and information on cap tallies to the German Navy in Ottoman Service Page.

June 2009: Thanks to Christopher Flaherty for his help with information on new page Ottoman Army Uniforms page.