Safevi Devleti'nin askeri teşkilatı

Abstract

Safavid's main forces were kizilbashes in the first period of the Safavid Dynasty. In the following years Safavid army needed to be reformed because of the defeat of the Safavids at Chaldiran and the rebel actions of the kizilbashes. The tendency to break the influence of the kizilbash emirs and to create a group who was loyal to the shah started with increasing the power of the kurchis. Member of the kurchis were chosen from kizilbashes and they were trained to stay loyal to the shah. On the other hand, Safavids sought professional help from western countries on how to use firearms. All these attempts succeded in the reign of the Shah Abbas I. As he was able to get rid of the rebel kizilbashes and created 3 new troops named gulams, tufenkcis and topcis. These soldiers were trained with the aid of English ambassadors Robert-Anthony Sherley brothers and soldiers learned how to use firearms. In spite of all of these reforms Safavid army began to crumble. Following Shah Abbas' death because of famine, economic trouble, mismanagement an the lethargy caused by signing the peace treaty.