Turkish yataghan

One of the strongest opponents of the European saber in hand-to-hand combat was undoubtedly the Turkish yatagan. This colorful weapon with a tibia hilt and a reverse-curved blade is memorable to anyone who has ever seen it. It is considered a true symbol of the Ottoman Empire: the Janissary Corps, the stronghold of the throne and the menace of the infidels, was armed with these blades. However, it should be remembered that the Janissaries, at least in the best years of the corps’ existence, were recruited from Christian children taken from the Balkans, the Caucasus and the slave markets of the Crimea, and Turkey can only partially claim to be the ancestral home of the yataghan.

If you believe the legend, the name of this blade translates as “putting to sleep” – plunging into eternal sleep, but, most likely, this is just a beautiful assumption, more likely, it goes back to the common Turkic root meaning a blade or the combat part of the spear. Another popular legend concerns the origin of the yatagan. According to it, the Sultan’s foot guards, the Janissaries, were so violent that in the 16th century Murad III, the Lord of the Faithful, wishing to protect the civilian population from the bloody antics of his favorites, forbade them to carry the usual sabers in the city, leaving long combat knives bichaki and khanjar as weapons of self-defense. However, the willful Janissaries, dissatisfied with this decision, began to demand from blacksmiths to make knife blades longer and to give them a characteristic curve. The usual length of the yatagan reached 80 cm, with a blade length of about 65 cm. The weapon was light, only about 800 g, and therefore very maneuverable and fast. It soon became clear that in street fights the new weapon was more effective than the kilichi and shamshi.

The legend is beautiful, but looking at the weapon itself, it is easy to see that it has features of both Egyptian khopesh and Greek (particularly Macedonian, i.e. Balkan) mahaira. The reverse bend of this weapon is also related to the Nepalese kukri, so that the newborn had distant and close relatives. But still the yatagan had and has a number of peculiarities: its blade does not have a widening in the last third, as other blades in the form of a “falcon wing”, in addition, it makes one more small iz-bend, thus acquiring the form of a very stretched Latin letter S. This made the point parallel to the hilt and close to the center line running through it. This innovation gave the yataghan an undeniable advantage: without losing too much in the power of a chopping blow, it was able to inflict stab wounds. Using the shape of the blade, the Janissaries, who had been trained in weaponry since childhood, could inflict two wounds in one hit. Fencing with such a blade involved striking back with both the blade and its edge. Its reverse bend, holding the opponent’s blade and preventing it from slipping, prevented European warriors, usually armed with a saber, sword or broadsword, from using the usual fighting technique. In addition, the yatagan could be thrown, though not too far, but at five to eight meters it was quite possible to hit the enemy with such a throw.

The handle, which makes up one of the features of the yataghan, is also very functional. Originally, it was actually made from the tibia of animals, usually cows.

Later, it was made of wood, metal and ivory, but the characteristic “eared” shape nevertheless remained. Like the Caucasian checker, the yatagan did not have a cross-bar and the hilt was about a quarter of the way closed by the scabbard, which kept the blade from dampness, especially in such a weak place. The shape of the hilt was not accidental, it was a kind of hook that encircled the hand clutching the yatagan, preventing the weapon from twisting out of the fingers at a blow. It was a reasonable precaution, since the impact load on weapons of such parameters, and consequently on the hand, is very high in case of a strong chopping blow, especially of hard objects.

It is not surprising that by the XVII-XVIII centuries the popularity of yatagans in the East, as well as in the lands conquered by the Ottoman Empire, was very great. Although in Europe they continued to be considered the embodiment of Turkish perfidy, and therefore to be feared and proudly despised. The picture was quite different in the homeland of this weapon. Here, yataghan blades were forged from fine steel and decorated with golden arabesques bearing the master’s name and title. The blade of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, which has survived to this day, amazes those who see it with the fineness and elegance of its finish and the perfection of its form.

Still, the age of the yataghan was numbered. In 1826, after another rebellion, the Janissary Corps, which had long ago turned from a reliable support of the throne into a predatory horde ready to throw off any sultan they did not like, was defeated and abolished. Together with him left the battlefields of the yatagan, giving place in the new Turkish army (ironically, this is how the very name “Janissary” was translated) sabers and a checkers and taking positions in museum showcases and antique shops.