Arming the state : military conscription in the Middle East and Central Asia, 1775-1925

Universal conscription has been the main form of military recruitment in the 19th and 20th centuries. In central Asia and the Middle East it has been ruthlessly imposed on agrarian and undeveloped societies, with little regard for individual interest, economic disruption, or intense local resistance. Providing a study of conscription, this work includes contributions from social and political historians on a subject traditionally covered by military historians. It focuses on Ottoman Turkey, Egypt (where some of the most extreme forms of conscription occurred), Iran, central Asia and the Balkans, and covers feudal militarization, unfree service and conscription of serfs, the press gang, military slavery, recruitment in the labour market, mercenaries, privateers, sales of Bedouin services, and resistance. Introduction : Conscription And Resistance : The Historical Context / Jan Lucassen & Erik Jan Zürcher -- Ottoman Military Recruitment Strategies In The Late Eighteenth Century / Virginia Aksan -- The Manning Of The Ottoman Navy In The Heyday Of Sail (1660-1850) / Daniel Panzac, -- The Nation And Its Deserters : Conscription In Mehmed Ali's Egypt / Khaled Fahmy -- The Ottoman Conscription System In Theory And Practice / Erik Jan Zürcher -- Taking Care Of Soldiers' Families : The Ottoman State And The Muinsiz Aile Maasi / Nicole A.n.m. Van Os -- Reorganizing Violence : Traditional Recruitment And Conscription In Ottoman Syria / Dick Douwes -- Bosnian Resistance Against Conscription In The Nineteenth Century / Odile Moreau -- The Central Asian Revolt Of 1916 / Sergei Kudryashev -- Conscription And Popular Resistance In Iran (1925-1941) / Stephanie Cronin. Edited By Erik J. Zürcher. Includes Bibliographical References. Acknowledgement Introduction: Conscription and Resistance: The Historical Context / Jan Lucassen, Erik Jan Zurcher 1 1 Ottoman Military Recruitment Strategies in the Late Eighteenth Century / Virginia Aksan 21 2 The Manning of the Ottoman Navy in the Heyday of Sail (1660-1850) / Daniel Panzac 41 3 The Nation and its Deserters: Conscription in Mehmed Ali's Egypt / Khaled Fahmy 59 4 The Ottoman Conscription System in Theory and Practice / Erik Jan Zurcher 79 5 Taking Care of Soldiers' Families: The Ottoman State and the Muinsiz aile Maasi / Nicole A.N.M. van Os 95 6 Reorganizing Violence: Traditional Recruitment and Conscription in Ottoman Syria / Dick Douwes 111 7 Bosnian Resistance against Conscription in the Nineteenth Century / Odile Moreau 129 8 The Central Asian Revolt of 1916 / Sergei Kudryashev 139 9 Conscription and Popular Resistance in Iran (1925-1941) / Stephanie Cronin 145 Notes on Contributors 169 Conscription and resistance - the historical context; Ottoman recruitment strategies in the late-18th century; the manning of the Ottoman navy, in the heyday of sail (1660-1850); the nation and its deserters - conscription in Mehmed Ali's Egypt; the Ottoman conscription system in theory and practice; taking care of soldiers' families - the Ottoman state and the "Muinsiz aile Maast"; Bosnian resistance to conscription in the 19th century; the Central Asian revolts of 1916; conscription and popular resistance in Iran (1925-1941) For most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, universal conscription has been by far the predominant system of military recruitment, but the phenomenon has received surprisingly little attention from social historians. "Presents a fresh approach to our understanding of conscription -- the main form of military recruitment during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."