Chaikists

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Tchaikists , also Nassadists ( Serbian Šajkaši , Hungarian sajkások ) were called the river sailors , whose tasks included guarding the port of Belgrade and the ports on the border with the Ottoman Empire . The name is derived from a type of boat used on the rivers of the Balkan Peninsula and was basically used for this special group of people, regardless of whether those belonging to him served on the Christian or Ottoman side. Accordingly, especially in the older literature, the Ottoman river sailors are often referred to as Nassadists.

history

On the Christian side, they initially served the Kingdom of Hungary and later the Habsburg Empire . They were granted a special military status. In the Battle of Peterwardein in 1526 (shortly before the Battle of Mohács ), the Chaikists successfully defeated the Ottoman Danube fleet under the command of the Serbian despot Radič Božić .

On the other hand, one reason for the Ottoman conquest of Belgrade in 1521 is the refusal of the Chaikists to fight, as their wages were not paid to them for years.

After the conquest of Hungary, many Serbian Chaikists were settled in what is now Slovakia , and with them the Austrian Chaikist fleet was founded. Chaikists were an integral part of the Austrian Danube fleet. After the Austrian conquest of Hungary and today's Vojvodina , a Tchaikist province was founded, the Šajkaška in the Batschka .

The main ship of the Chaikists was the so-called Tschaike , also called Nassade , Nassare or Nasse , a flat rowboat that could be used for combat and transport purposes. It usually also had a mast with a sail and usually had a crew of up to 30 men. If it was used as a war vehicle, it was usually also equipped with a cannon (Şayka gun, see Topçu ).

References and comments

  1. ↑ For example in: Joseph von Hammer : Vienna's first lifted Turkish siege. Published by Konrad Adolf Hartleben, Pest 1829, p. 11.
  2. ↑ Walter Hummelberger: Vienna's first siege by the Turks in 1529 (= Military History Series. Issue 33). Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1976, ISBN 3-215-02274-5 , p. 46, note 55a, where it can also be read that the Nassadists were the sailors of the “ Turkish river navigation ”.