Ottoman-Druse War (1611–1613)

Ottoman-Druse War (1611–1613)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: Ottoman Empire (through the
pasha of Damascus) vs. Fakhr ad-Din II and the Druse of
Lebanon

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Lebanon

DECLARATION: None

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: The Ottoman sultan
wanted to punish the Druse for an unauthorized alliance
with Tuscany (Holy Roman Empire).

OUTCOME: Fakhr ad-Din was driven into exile.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:
Druse army, 40,000; pasha’s forces were larger

CASUALTIES: Unknown

TREATIES: None

Fakhr ad-Din II (1572–1635), emir of the Druse in
Lebanon, made the Druse dominant in the region. In
1608, when he struck an alliance with Tuscany—effectively
an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire—Ottoman
sultan Ahmed (1589–1617) ordered the pasha of Damascus
to conduct a punitive expedition against the Druse.
Fakhr commanded an army of 40,000, a formidable force
that readily countered the Ottoman action. The pasha
mounted a larger assault in 1613, which defeated the
Druse and sent Fakhr fleeing into Tuscan exile. (He
returned in 1618 at the invitation of a new sultan, Osman
II [1604–22].)

See also AUSTRO-TURKISH WAR (1591–1606); TURKOPERSIAN
WAR (1603–1612).

Further reading: M. A. Cook, ed., A History of the
Ottoman Empire to 1730 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press, 1976); Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizon:
A History of the Ottoman Empire (New York: Picador,
2003); Colin Imber, Ottoman Empire: 1300–1650 (London:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).