The position of Cerîde-i Askeriyye Newspaper in the modernization of the Ottoman military and the articles in 1878-1879

Military periodicals are one of the factor that have been influential in the formatin of modern armies in the Western World and then spread throughout the world. In the 19th century, the military knowledge, technological developments and the desire to share information rapidly increased with the effect of military reforms encouraged the military administrations to issue military periodicals. Thus, the printing press has been instrumental in the growth, reproduction and spread of military knowledge among other armies regardless of distance and time. The existence of Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper, which would be the main tool for the Ottoman army to open up to the world and to access new military information in order to be included in the concept of military periodicals, which was gradually increasing in popularity in Europe, was of great importance in this respect. Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper, which played a role in carrying the military developments in the world to the Ottoman geography, contains important information in terms of its rich content in both Ottoman military history and foreign army researches. Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper is very important in terms of having a long-lasting and semi-official newspaper identity, which was issued continuously from the day it was first published until the date it was closed. Considering these features of Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper and its mission in the Ottoman military modernization process, it has an important resource feature to be studied. The process of emergence of this study was carried out in several stages. At the first stage, all the issue of the newspaper were tried to be determined. At the time of this determination, we preferred to study the one-year period between 1878-1879, which would be the subject of our study. In this preference, the newspaper formed a integrity between these years and the Ottoman-Russian war of 1877-1878 was the main factor. Our study consists of three main topics. In the first part, information and comments emphasizing the place and importance of Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper in the Ottoman press and military history are mentioned. In this section, the history of Cerîde-i Askeriyye, its news sources and content, the distribution and subscription system of the newspaper, and the administration and employees of the newspaper. The second chapter consists of information and comments emphasizing the place and importance of Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper in the Ottoman military modernization movement. The purpose of this study is to show the dimensions of this subject under subheadings. In this context, in this study, the one-year period (about 100 issues) of Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper between 1878-1879 was examined, and evaluations were made on the news and articles under the headings of the newspaper's Official and Partly Non-Official titles. Although the Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper was published for the benefit of the Ottoman military, most of the topics covered in the newspaper were foreign armies. While creating our study, we tried to explain the role of the newspaper in the Ottoman military modernization under seven headings, through military training, health services, promotion regulations, combat studies, military debate, food and logistics, military strategy, weapon technology and the functioning of foreign armies and statistical data. In the third chapter, the evaluation of the news and articles of the Cerîde-i Askeriyye newspaper about foreign armies is given. In this section, different works have also been used to explain the subjects better.