Turkish Military Museum

I went to Istanbul back in September and had a fantastic time.  I managed to fit in plenty of history but I made the most of Vanessa spending a day around the pool and nipped out for a hardcore afternoon at the huge and sprawling military museum.  Here are just a few of the immense backdrops and displays.

I think this is a famous Hun victory with whom the Turks share an ancestry.

Epic Sieges are common in Turkish history.  In one of their first victories the crescent moon was reflected in a pool of blood and this gave birth to the Turkish flag.

The battle of Mohacs in which Hungary was conqured and absorbed into the Ottoman Empire.

I can already field a Hungarian army - must get around to building  a Renaissance Ottoman Army.

Preserved under ultra violet light this is the original Byzantine chain that secured the Golden Horn from the Ottoman navy during the great siege of Constantinople in 1453.

The siege and fall of Constantinople or Byzantium before becoming the capital of the Ottoman Empire and being renamed Istanbul.

A large scale model of the landings at Gallipoli in WW1.  That's the Royal Navy in the background.

Gallipoli is a big victory in Turkish history and is well represented in the museum.

This epic display shows heroic Turks throwing the Allies back into the sea !

With Turkish aircraft bombing the allies and furious artillery exchanges with the opposing fleet I think this was more fantasy than fact.

The museum gives a very different aspect to Balkan, Near East and WW1 history and is refreshing to see an alternative view on familiar periods, especially where it touches on our preconceived notions of our own self importance.