"Wanted - Ottoman Uniform Info" Topic

I am putting together an Ottoman army to fight my 25mm SYW Russian (Front Rank) army. I have eight 30-man units of infantry, three of 10-man cavalry, and crew for four guns, as well as Ottoman mounted and dismounted command. All of the above are OLD GLORY FIGURES which I like a lot. The period covers 1690 to 1890. I have the Osprey MAA #140, "Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774 by David Nicolle but haven't found it that helpful. I need some sources for Ottoman uniforms of this time period. Can anyone help? Thanks, Hal (halthinglum@aol.com)

My go to book for obscure uniforms is Knotel, Knotel & Sieg's Uniforms of the World – from page 430 "There are no records of uniform clothing being worn during the eighteenth century". On the page before is text relating to 1691 – 1697 which refers to janissaries having blue overcoats and white hats.

I hope that someone with a better library can be of more help….

Thanks, John! I guess I should have kept that book!

Funny you ask, I am preparing to have a 28mm late 17th, 18th and early 19th century Ottoman army.

I found these books very useful:
- Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1775-1820 Osprey 314
- The Napoleonic Ottoman Army by C. Flaherty
- Napoleon's Campaign in Egypt Vol. 2 – The British Army & Allies by Charles Grant

All these books have very good plates on various units.

"The Crescent Among the Eagles" deals with the Napoleonic Wars, but it may be helpful. The janissaries were supplied with 12,000 dark blue coats. Everyone whi didn't get an issued coat had to supply their own uniforms. Dark blue, red and green seem to have been popular colors.

I used "Bing" to search for this:

link

Although this is not exactly about the 18th century, perhaps the website of Dr Chris Flaherty could be of use ?
ottoman-uniforms.com

I spent a lot of time and treasure trying to find THE book on Ottoman uniforms. My light bulb moment came when I realized that the vast majority of an Ottoman army would be dressed in their everyday clothes, supplemented with whatever they could loot or steal when on campaign. They were irregulars, infantry and cavalry, raised on an as-and-when-required basis, unpaid and living off and for their booty.

There were some centrally raised units. Janissaries that received an issue of dark blue cloth for coats and white cloth for their hats but all other garments were left to the individual. I read somewhere that the centrally raised artillery corps were issued with dark green cloth. Household sipahi units may have had uniforms but they were known for their use of coloured fabrics.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. very useful. Hal