Барон Де Тот - Минхаузенов узор као модернизатор османске војске

Abstract

Франсоа де Тот (1733-1793) је француски племић мађарског порекла, који је у неколико наврата боравио у Османском царству. Султан Мустафа III га је задужио 1770. године да спроведе модернизацију артиљерије. О својим доживљајима и активностима на истоку Де Тот је написао мемоаре, којио су стекли извесну популарност код тадашње публике. Тема мовог рада биће анализа баронових Мемоара и његових достигнућа у приближавању османске артиљерије стандардима који су у то време владали на бојним пољима Европе.

The Ottoman Empire, contrary to widely accepted notions, had its part in the exchange of the technical novelties in Europe. Comparing the ottoman artillery with that of their opponents showed that quality of the artillery was similar, and that in the technological sense the Ottomans did not fall behind, at least not until the eighteenth century. One of the means of getting information about the new warfare technologies was by hiring foreigners as military advisors. That was the case of a French aristocrat of Hungarian origin, Baron François de Tott (1733-1793), who wisited the Ottoman Empire several times. From 1770 to 1774 he was in service of the sultans Mustafa III and Abdülhamid I. De Tott had various tasks. He supervised rebuilding of the fortresses along the Dardanelles and work of the mathematics school. But, his main obligations were connected with the artillery. De Tott was ordered to modernize the foundries, produce rapid-fire artillery and train new artillery corps (Sür'atçıs). The main source for De Tott's modernizing activities in the Empire is his Memoirs. He wrote them both as an informative and as an entertaining book. Because of that we cannot know with certainty the real scope of his achievements. The ottoman sources confirm that Tophane worked with the full capacity during the 1770s, and that mainly small caliber artillery pieces were produced there. Also, the existence of a new rapid-fire artillery corps is confirmed. Problem is that contemporary ottoman sources do not specify De Tott's role in this developments. Nevertheless, he described his activities confidently and in detail, achieving that his Memoirs became a well accepted and influential book both among common and scientific public.