Ottoman-Druse War (1631–1635)

Ottoman-Druse War (1631–1635)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: Ottoman Empire vs. the Druse

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Lebanon

DECLARATION: None

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: Suppression of the Druse

OUTCOME: The Druse were defeated, and their leader,

Fakhr ad-Din, executed.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:

Ottoman forces, 80,000; Druse, 25,000

CASUALTIES: Unknown

TREATIES: None

Exiled to Tuscany after the OTTOMAN-DRUSE WAR

(1611–1613), Fakhr ad-Din II (1572–1635) returned to

Lebanon in 1618, then continued a program of territorial

expansion and opposition to the Sublime Porte (the government

of the Ottoman Empire). Armed exchanges were

taking place by 1631, and, in 1633, Sultan Murad IV

(1609–40) sent a major amphibious expedition against

the Druse. While Murad’s fleet blockaded the coast of

Lebanon, an 80,000-man army (made up of Syrians and

Egyptians) defeated a Druse army numbering 25,000 men

(and consisting of Maronites and mercenary troops in

addition to the Druse). Fakhr fled the field and took

refuge in the mountains. One of his sons was immediately

captured and executed, and Fakhr was captured in 1634

and executed the following year, as were two more of his

sons. This brought an end to the war, but not to the Druse

presence and influence in the region. As a ruling dynasty

(called the Ma’n), the line of Fakhr ad-Din ended in 1697.

See also TURKO-PERSIAN WAR (1623–1638).

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 Hori-

zon: A History of the Ottoman Empire (New York: Picador,

2003); Colin Imber, Ottoman Empire: 1300–1650 (London:

Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).