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30-569: The mosque was commissioned by Mahmud II and built between 1822 and 1826 in the Tophane neighbourhood. Its name commemorates the "victory" which Mahmud II won by destroying the Janissaries in 1826, the year of the mosque's completion. Mahmud II also built a new artillery barracks and parade ground near the mosque at the same time, replacing the barracks which had been built on this site by his predecessor Selim III and which had been recently destroyed by

60-442: A clear objective will typically possess, as a whole, better morale than one without. Historically, elite military units such as special operations forces have "high morale" due to their training and pride in their unit. When a unit's morale is said to be "depleted", it means it is close to "crack and surrender". It is well worth noting that generally speaking, most commanders do not look at the morale of specific individuals but rather

90-399: A group of people to pull together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose". . With good morale, a force will be less likely to give up or surrender. Morale is usually assessed at a collective, rather than an individual level. In wartime, civilian morale is also important. Military history experts have not agreed on a precise definition of "morale". Clausewitz's comments on

120-455: A low profile and taking ordinary jobs. Immediately after the Janissaries had been disbanded, Mahmud II ordered the court chronicler, Mehmet Esad Efendi , to record the official version of events. This account, Üss-i Zafer ("Foundation of Victory"), was printed in Istanbul in 1828 and served as the main source for every other Ottoman account of this period. The incident had a negative impact on

150-416: A privileged hereditary class, and their exemption from paying taxes made them highly unfavorable in the eyes of the rest of the population. The number of Janissaries grew from 20,000 in 1575 to 135,000 in 1826, about 250 years later. Many were not soldiers but still collected pay from the empire, as dictated by the corps since it held an effective veto over the state and contributed to the steady decline of

180-499: A quarter of the [US] Army's officers and enlisted soldiers believe the nation's largest military branch is headed in the right direction." The "... most common reasons cited for the bleak outlook were "ineffective leaders at senior levels," a fear of losing the best and the brightest after a decade of war, and the perception, especially among senior enlisted soldiers, that "the Army is too soft" and lacks sufficient discipline." Employee morale

210-434: A soldier is recruited, clothed, armed and trained, the whole object of his sleeping, eating, drinking, and marching is simply that he should fight at the right place and the right time. Military morale is in a large sense inseparable from civilian morale because each reacts upon the other and both are in large measure based on fidelity to a cause. But there is a certain kind of morale that is distinctly military. It begins with

240-766: Is replaced with a vegetal foliate motif. Despite its relatively small size the mosque's tall proportions creates a sense of height, which may the culmination of a trend that began with the Ayazma Mosque . From the outside, the mosque's most notable details are the extreme slenderness of its minarets and its two Rococo -style sebils which have flamboyantly undulating surfaces. Auspicious Incident The Auspicious Incident or Auspicious Event ( Ottoman Turkish : وقعۀ خيريّه , romanized :  Vak'a-i Hayriyye , lit.   'Event of Fortune' in Constantinople ; Vaka-i Şerriyye , "Event of Malignity" in

270-573: Is sometimes described as belonging to the Empire style , but is considered by scholar Godfrey Goodwin and Doğan Kuban as one of the last Ottoman Baroque mosques. Ünver Rüstem describes the style as moving away from the Baroque and towards an Ottoman interpretation of Neoclassicism . Goodwin also describes it as the last in a line of late imperial mosques that started with the Nuruosmaniye Mosque in

300-401: Is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value judgment of the willpower , obedience , and self-discipline of a group tasked with performing duties assigned by a superior . According to Alexander H. Leighton , "morale is the capacity of

330-448: The Balkans ) was the forced disbandment of the centuries-old Janissary Corps by Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826. Most of the 135,000 Janissaries revolted against Mahmud II, and after the rebellion was suppressed, most of them were executed, exiled or imprisoned. The disbanded Janissary corps was replaced with a more modern military force. The Janissaries were first created by

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360-577: The Janissaries . This continued Tophane's association with the age of reforms initiated by Selim III. Sometime between 1835 and 1839 Mahmud II erected what is now the oldest clock tower in Istanbul, the Tophane Clock Tower , near the mosque. The tower was rebuilt in more monumental form by Abdulmejid in 1848 or 1849. The mosque is the first major imperial work by Krikor Balian, from the prominent Balian family of Armenian-Ottoman architects. It

390-613: The Topkapı Palace . Mahmud II then brought out the Holy Banner of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from inside the Sacred Trust , intending all true believers to gather beneath it and thus bolster opposition to the Janissaries. Turkish historians claim that the counter-Janissary force, which was great in numbers, included the local residents who had hated the Janissaries for years. In

420-505: The "fighting spirit" of squadrons, divisions, battalions, ships, etc. Clausewitz stresses the importance of morale and will for both the soldier and the commander. The soldier's first requirement is moral and physical courage , both the acceptance of responsibility and the suppression of fear . In order to survive the horror of combat[,] he must have an invincible martial spirit, which can be attained only through military victory and hardship. The soldier has but one purpose: "The end for which

450-500: The 15th and 16th centuries they were recognized as one of the best-trained and most effective military units in Europe. They became known for their discipline, morale and professionalism. They were paid regularly and were expected to be ready to enter battle at any time. However, by the early 17th century, the Janissary corps had ceased to function as an elite military force, and had become

480-443: The 18th century. The mosque follows the model of Selim III's imperial mosque in Üsküdar , as seen in some of its details and in the portico and double-winged imperial pavilion fronting the mosque. The mosque was innovative in other details such as the greater use of vaults and stairways, the use of wood instead of stone for elements like stairs, and in the decoration of the dome where the traditional circular Arabic inscription

510-885: The Muslim communities in the Balkans , who lost their privileges, as rebellions broke out across Rumelia , especially in Bosnia and Albania . Taking advantage of the temporary weakness in the military position of the Ottoman Empire following the Auspicious Incident, the Russian Empire forced the Ottomans to accept the Akkerman Convention on 7 October 1826. Morale Morale ( / m ə ˈ r æ l / mə- RAL , UK also /- ˈ r ɑː l / -⁠ RAHL )

540-441: The Ottoman Empire . Any sultan who tried to diminish its status or power was immediately either killed or deposed. As opportunities and power continued to rise within the Janissary corps, it began to undermine the empire. Over time it became clear that for the empire to restore its position as a major power of Europe, it needed to replace the Janissary corps with a modern army. Historians suggest that Mahmud II purposely incited

570-511: The Ottoman Sultans in the late 14th century and were employed as household troops. Janissaries began as an elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child slavery , by which young Christian boys, notably Serbs , Albanians , Bulgarians , Croats , Greeks , and Romanians were taken from the Balkans , circumcised, converted to Islam , and incorporated into the Ottoman army . During

600-530: The Ottoman foreign ministry or join the new Ottoman Army as officers. Thousands of Janissaries had been killed, and thus the elite order came to its end. The Sufi Order of the Bektaşi Brotherhood , a core Janissary institution, was outlawed, and its followers executed or exiled. A new modern corps, Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye ("The Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad"), was established by Mahmud II to guard

630-525: The Sultan and replace the Janissaries. Many former Janissaries, especially those living in the provinces outside the capital, subsequently became involved in anti-Ottoman political movements demanding greater autonomy. In particular, they incited Christians in the Balkans , inflaming existing hostility to their Muslim neighbors and strengthening armed resistance to the new Turkish armies sent from Constantinople . Some Janissaries, however, survived by merely keeping

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660-499: The basis of every leader's calculations. To sustain the moral[e] of his own men; to break down the moral[e] of his enemy—these are the great objects which, if he be ambitious of success, he must always keep in view. During the proceedings of the Southborough Committee inquiry concerning shellshock , testimony by Colonel J. F. C. Fuller defined morale as "the acquired quality which in highly-trained troops counterbalances

690-448: The best in the army, his company the best in the regiment, his squad the best in the company, and that he himself is the best blankety-blank soldier man in the outfit." In military science , there are two meanings to morale: individual perseverance and unit cohesion . Morale is often highly dependent on soldier effectiveness, health, comfort, safety, and belief-in-purpose, and therefore an army with good supply lines , sound air cover, and

720-410: The ensuing fight the Janissary barracks were set ablaze by artillery fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary deaths; more were killed in the heavy fighting on the streets of Constantinople (the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the center of the Janissary order). The survivors either fled or were imprisoned, their possessions confiscated by the Sultan. By the end of 1826 the captured Janissaries, constituting

750-422: The individual's confidence and pride in himself, his comrades, his leaders; the unit's pride in its own will; these basic things, supplemented by intelligent welfare and recreation measures and brought to life by a spirit of mutual respect and co-operation, combine to weld a seasoned fighting force capable of defending the nation. In August 2012, an article entitled "Army morale declines in survey" states that "only

780-399: The influence of the instinct of self-preservation." Of Henderson's "moral fear", the soldier's sense of duty, it is contrasted with the fear of death, and to control one's troops required of a commander more than authoritarian force, but other strategies to be deployed to that purpose. An American general defined morale as "when a soldier thinks his army is the best in the world, his regiment

810-658: The remainder of the force, were put to death by decapitation in the Thessaloniki fort that soon came to be called the "Blood Tower" (but which has been known since 1912 as the White Tower ). Roughly 100 other Janissaries fled to the Cistern of Philoxenos , where many drowned as they tried to cross. The Janissary leaders were promptly put to death. The younger and older Janissaries were either exiled or imprisoned, but those who were competent and showed promise were allowed to take jobs in

840-619: The revolt and have described it as the sultan's "coup against the Janissaries". The sultan informed them that he was forming a new army, the Sekban-ı Cedit , organized and trained along modern European lines, and that the new army would be Turkish -dominated. The Janissaries saw their institution as crucial to the well-being of the Ottoman Empire , especially to Rumelia , and had previously decided they would never allow its dissolution. Thus, as predicted, they mutinied and began to march towards

870-415: The soldier's attitude toward duty . It develops with the soldier's command over himself. It is a spirit that becomes dominant in the individual and also in the group. Whether the soldier has physical comforts or suffers physical hardships may be a factor but is seldom the determining factor in making or unmaking his morale. A cause known and believed in; knowledge that substantial justice governs discipline;

900-430: The subject have been described as "deliberately vague" by modern scholars. George Francis Robert Henderson , a widely read military author of the pre- World War I era, viewed morale as related to the instinct of self-preservation, the suppression of which he said was "the moral fear of turning back", in other words, that a willingness to fight was bolstered by a strong sense of duty. Henderson wrote: Human nature must be

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