Palanka, An Ottoman Fortification

Altar Modelling Military history note, September 2009

Ottoman fortification

Palanka

A

s the Ottoman advance that began in the 14th century continued gradually into Europe, the wide border area had been in constant conflict. As well as major field battles, majority of clashes were in the form of castle sieges and defences. Ottomans followed a rather different way in this difficult longstanding conflict. Rather than building new, modern stone castles in the large geography spanning in an arch from Adriatic to Black Sea, Ottomans built low cost wooden fortifications. 1 Low-cost, easy to erect wooden forts were built instantly at every critical location, passage and route in this wide arch. Such forts, which are called palanka, became a cornerstone of Ottoman border defence.

Ottoman palanka 1

Mark L. Stein, Osmanlı kaleleri: Avrupa’da hudut boyları, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul 2007, s 45

Ottoman border fortifications When Ottomans began conquests in the Balkans and than in Europe, a wide front had opened ahead. Regular raids and major field battles were effective way to establish Ottoman domination but still, the border areas seen constant conflict when man army retired. These border areas where under constant threat of the enemies of Ottomans. Local forces, forces of Kingdom of Hungary and later Austrians, kept entire area in alert at all times and posed threat to newly conquered areas of the Ottomans.

Border area between Ottomans and Hungarians Alain Mannesson Mallet, Description de l’Univers, 1683, figure XV, p 59 Source: Altar Modelling collection

Castles were a critical element in the military strategy in the medieval times. An army marching on its enemy cannot risk leaving a castle held by the enemy behind its forces. If a state did not have troops located in a castle recently conquered, this newly acquired territory would be quickly lost to the enemy once the main army gets back to its capital. For these reasons, since ancient times, states built castles in critical locations to defend their territories.

As the Ottomans expanded into Europe, they found formerly built stone castles. When they were captured after a successful siege, Ottomans repaired the damages, appoint a dizdar (castle commander) and allocate troops under the dizdar keeping the castle in its role as a defence point. To built entirely new stone castles was a costly quest in medieval times. Hungarian Kingdom, that long defended Europe against marching Ottomans, had suffered badly from such an armament race and years of costly expenditures became one of the factors that led to disaster in Mohacs in 1526 causing the Kingdom to weaken economically. 2 In a 2000 km area, the money that needs to be spent in one year to built castles, to maintain their repairs, to allocate and feed troops in these castles became to consume entire budget for the whole Kingdom. 3 Ottomans, on the other hand, followed a different way. Rather than building new, modern stone castles in the large geography spanning in an arch from Adriatic to Black Sea, Ottomans built low cost wooden fortifications. 4 Low cost, easy to erect wooden forts were built instantly at every critical location, passage and route in this wide arch. Such forts, which are called palanka, became a cornerstone of Ottoman border defence.

Palanka Source: Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Stato Militaire dell’ Imperio Ottomanno, Akademische Druck, Graz, Austria, 1972, Volume II, p 135

2

Hungary’s military potential in the Jagellonian period, the fall of the medieval kingdom of Hungary: Mohacs 1526 - Buda 1541 makalesi, http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/warso/warso09.htm 3 Hungary’s military potential in the Jagellonian period, the fall of the medieval kingdom of Hungary: Mohacs 1526 - Buda 1541 makalesi, http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/warso/warso09.htm 4 Mark L. Stein, Osmanlı kaleleri: Avrupa’da hudut boyları, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul 2007, s 45

Palanka is a small wooden fort, surrounded by a deep ditch usually filled with water. The entrance was maintained by a bridge. There was a tower in the entrance to monitor the surroundings. Palanka were built in rectangular shape. The walls are made of wooden fences backed by piles of earth. Inside, there were garrison and sometimes civilian structures. Smaller ones were named as parkan. On four corners of the palanka, there were round wooden towers usually used by the artillery troops. The word must have originated from Hungarian language.5

Source: Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Stato Militaire dell’ Imperio Ottomanno, Akademische Druck, Graz, Austria, 1972, Volume II, p 149

5

Mehmet Zeki Pakalın, Osmanlı Tarih deyimleri ve terimleri sözlüğü, Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları, İstanbul 2004, cilt II, s 752

Marsigli drawings of palanka published later in the encyclopédie of Diderot in 18th century. Source : Diderot, Grav XVIIIè art militaire - fortification milice Turc, Provient de l'encyclopédie Diderot et d'Alembert, Paris late 1700’s Original 18th century gravure at Altar Modelling collection

Such fortified positions protected by wooden walls were not an Ottoman invention. Earlier civilisations, especially Romans built such wooden forts in critical areas to defend their territories.

Roman garrison protected by wooden walls Source: 1/72 Zvezda Roman Fort kit

Palankas were linked to each other. A single palanka would be an easy bait for the enemy and to eliminate this vulnerability, Ottomans built a network of palankas. All palankas were built in a way to run to the assistance of the other palanka should they ask for help. The low-cost, easy to built palankas built everywhere constituted a great problem for the enemy having the intention to raid Ottoman territories. Ottoman traveller Evliya Celebi noted in his work after visiting the Budin vilayet (Hungary), there were 1061 villages and 360 castles and palankas in varying sizes. When we consider every castle had several palankas, the majority of this 360 castles were palankas. 6 If palanka is subject to an attack that it cannot deal with the forces residing in it, other palankas are called in. Although it was rare occasion for Ottomans having an effective intelligence network, should the combined action of several palankas fail to stop the enemy, than akincis or the main army sent by Sultan, would deal with the enemy and overcome the threat in that area usually with a major battle. According to European engineers, so fascinated with building more advanced castles with modern techniques, Ottoman castles were inferior, they were lower quality castles. 7 When single castle is taken into account, this view is justifiable and makes sense. However, Ottomans haven’t planned palankas as stand alone structures that would resist an enemy siege forever. Ottomans based their strategy on establishing a network. This 6

Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri Tarihi, Osmanlı Avusturya harbi 1593-1606, Genelkurmay Basımevi, Ankara, 1985, s 54 7 Mark L. Stein, Osmanlı kaleleri: Avrupa’da hudut boyları, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul 2007, s 45.

network of palankas were part of a package that also involved Ottoman intelligence network, ever ready raiding forces of akincis, major standing army and effective political might. When looked from this perspective, this package was a well thought, effective strategy to secure a long, difficult insecure border. Palanka walls were erected almost instantly. A loss of a palanka would not constitute a major disaster for the Ottoman state. When you deploy troops inside and when you link a palanka with the network, you would have an impassable line of defence against your enemies. Wooden walls were also effect,ive against cannon shots. Unlike stone castles that would collapse under heavy cannon fire, wooden palisade walls backed by tons of earth would stand firm. The cannon ball would stuck in this sand wall and those above it could still fire on the enemy. As they were made of wood, only major weakness were the ease to be put on fire. But given the high number of Ottoman soldiers inside and usually having access to large amount of water source, this was manageable risk. It was usually very unlikely to crush Ottomans, defending a palanka with superior fire power. Even if this was achieved, the enemy would find itself between two fires with the forces rushing from other palankas.

A palanka in Hungary Source: Lengyel Balazs, A Török Magyarorszagon, Mora Ferenc Könyvkiado, Budapeşte 1971, p 54

A palanka in Hungary Source: Lengyel Balazs, A Török Magyarorszagon, Mora Ferenc Könyvkiado, Budapeşte 1971, p 71

Ottoman historian Ibrahim Pecevi gave details as how palankas ran to assist each other. In 1554 during the reign of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, Gerjgal (or Grijgal) palanka in Hungary was caught off guard with majority of its force sent out to another mission. Those few left in the palanka called for aid. Famous Turkish story teller Omer Seyfettin noted this in his story based on Pecevi’s account as: ...[castle commander] ordered the gate to be secured. He asked for his turban, cloak, sword and musket. When the elderly topcu [artillery soldier] came he asked him to fire “alarm shots”. This was a tradition. A palanka under attack fired an alarm shot immediately to call for help from castles nearby….suddenly sounds of artillery shots were heard from Turkish castles far away. This meant “we are on our way full gallop”.8

8

İbrahim Peçevi, Peçevi Tarihi, Hazırlayan Murat Uraz, Neşriyat Yurdu, Son Telgraf Matbaası, İstanbul, 1968, Cilt 1, s 190- 196. “Başını Vermeyen Şehit”, Hayat Tarih Mecmuası, Mayıs 1974, sayı 5, s 77-82, “ Grijgal Palangası Savaşı: Başını Vermeyen Şehit Destanı”, Reşat Ekrem Koçu, Türk Zaferleri, Nebioğlu Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1964, s 100-102.

Palanka Szeksard (or Seksar) From Ottendorf’s 1665 dated study (Heinrich Ottendorf, Der Weg von Ofen auf Griechisch Weissenburg, Vienna 1665) Source: Burcu Özgüven, Osmanlı Macaristan’ında kentler ve kaleler, Ege Yayınları, İstanbul 2001, p 120

Palanka Paks, Paxum or Bahsa From Ottendorf’s 1665 dated study (Heinrich Ottendorf, Der Weg von Ofen auf Griechisch Weissenburg, Vienna 1665)

Source: Burcu Özgüven, The Palanka: A characteristic building type of the Ottoman fortification network in Hungary, EJOS, IV, 2001, M. Kiel, N. Landman & H. Theunissen (eds), Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art, Uthecht, The Netherlands, August 23-28, 1999, No 34

Palanka Baranyavar From Ottendorf’s 1665 dated study (Heinrich Ottendorf, Der Weg von Ofen auf Griechisch Weissenburg, Vienna 1665) Source: Burcu Özgüven, The Palanka: A characteristic building type of the Ottoman fortification network in Hungary, EJOS, IV, 2001, M. Kiel, N. Landman & H. Theunissen (eds), Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art, Uthecht, The Netherlands, August 23-28, 1999, No 34

Palanka Adony (or Cankurtaran) From Ottendorf’s 1665 dated study (Heinrich Ottendorf, Der Weg von Ofen auf Griechisch Weissenburg, Vienna 1665) Source: Burcu Özgüven, Osmanlı Macaristan’ında kentler ve kaleler, Ege Yayınları, İstanbul 2001, p 113

Building an Ottoman palanka Based on drawings of Marsigli and other available information, we built a model of Ottoman palanka at Altar Modelling studio to be used in wargames using 25mm miniature army. Main material used was balsa wood planks, isolation foam, modelling clay, static sand and grass. Palanka is formed with 4 walled sections and the tower. Any of these sections could be taken out during the game if enemy manages to open a hole in that direction.

Ottoman palanka and Ottomans soldiers defending the fortified position.

Ottoman soldiers defending the palanka. The cavalry group gathered around banner in the base were deli cavalry preparing to launch a sudden strike to enemy forces outside the palanka. It was a common tactic to launch a striking attack to siege forces who came unsafely very close to a castle. The raiders from the castle disrupt and kill enemy artillery and sappers who are more vulnerable to such an attack.

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