Nothing new under the sun brother
Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire
"Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, direct military conflicts, the employment of European military experts and, to a lesser degree, illegal trade in weaponry ensured relatively easy dissemination of up-to-date technologies and military know-how in the Sultan’s realms. Istanbul was more than a simple recipient of foreign technologies with its Turkish and Persian artisans and blacksmiths, Armenian and Greek miners and sappers, Turkish, Bosnian, Serbian, Hungarian, Italian, German, and later French, English and Dutch foundrymen and military engineers…(all) adding to their expertise metallurgy techniques of the Islamic East..."
1567 – Philip II of Spain invades the Low Countries, led by the Duke of Alva. Reformer monks Esch and Voes are burned at the stake in Brussels, and de Bras and Peregrine la Grange were hung in Valenciennes.
1566-1688 – Walloon (Belgium) and Huguenot (France) migration to Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, South Africa, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, England, West Indies, South and North America taking their metallurgic knowledge with them.
1600 - 400 French and Walloon mercenaries of the Pope’s garrison offer their services to the Ottomans.
Drew--Christian soldiers were the shock troops of the Ottoman Empire for a very long time. Google Janissary.
