Deli (Ottoman troops)

Deliler (Turkish: Deli , Ottoman Turkish: دلی‎, Delü, meaning "daring, brave, fearless, audacious, intrepid, valiant", plural: deliler) was an Ottoman Shock troop light cavalry unit.

Deliler
A Deli (left) in a battle with a Hungarian soldier
ActiveMid. 15th Century - 1829
Allegiance Ottoman Empire
TypeLight Cavalry
RoleShock Troop
Garrison/HQRumeli
Anatolia
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Their main role was to act as shock troops on the front lines by using guerrilla tactics, and to put opposing army in a state of confusion and shock also acting as personal guard of high level Ottoman officials in the Rumeli during peace time.

History

The unit is first established in Rumelia Eyalet around middle of 15th century to create a force to protect the borders of the empire in the Balkans and coming to full power around 16th century.

The unit is usually confused in historical records with the Akinji, both being light cavalry units and being part of Eyalet soldiers, although they were not related.

Sultan Mahmud II abolished the unit on 1829, like Disbandment of Janissaries, while trying to reform the army and establish one in the Western model.

  • Deli's (1590)
  • Delli horseman from a 1576 Italian edition of Nicolas de Nicolay's Navigations. Les Navigations, pérégrinations et voyages faicts en Turquie…,
  • Deli horsemen with pelt
  • Surname-i Hümayun (1582-1587)
  • Deli Stefano Della
  • Ottoman Military Illustrations from Hans Weigel's Habitus Praecipuorum Populorum (Trachtenbuch), 1577
  • Deli in parade uniform, paint from 1688 Melchior Lorichs 1583
  • Dellis
  • Deli
  • Deli signature from Sultan Suleyman I's campaign diary

In the Turkish movie, Deliler Fatih'in Fermanı: directed by Osman Kaya, a small Deli's League is told to be sent to Wallachia in order to kill the Romanian Prince Vlad the Impaler.[1][2]

References
  1. "Deliler – Fatih'in Fermanı". www.tsa.org.tr. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  2. Deliler, IMDb, retrieved 2020-06-11

Sources
  • Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor, ed. (1987). "Deli". First Encyclopaedia of Islam. E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, Volume II: Bābā Fighānī–Dwīn. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 90-04-08265-4.


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