First Army (Ottoman Empire)

First Army
Active	September 6, 1843 August 5, 1914 – February 17, 1918 September 24, 1918 – October 11, 1918
Country	Ottoman Empire
Type	Field Army
Garrison/HQ	Selimiye, Constantinople
Nickname(s)	Hassa Ordusu
Patron	Sultans of the Ottoman Empire

The First Army or First Guards Army of the Ottoman Empire (Turkish: Birinci Ordu or Hassa Ordusu) was one of the field armies of the Ottoman Army. It was formed in the middle 19th century during Ottoman military reforms.

In 1877, it was stationed in Selimiye. It was composed of:

After the Young Turk Revolution and the establishment of the Second Constitutional Era on July 3, 1908, the new government initiated a major military reform. Army headquarters were modernized. Its operational area was Constantinople and the Bosporus, and it had units in Europe and Asia Minor. It commanded the following active divisions: The First Army also had inspectorate functions for four Redif (reserve) divisions:

With further reorganizations of the Ottoman Army, to include the creation of corps level headquarters, by 1911 the Army was headquartered in Harbiye. The Army before the First Balkan War in 1911 was structured as such:

In August 1914, the army was structured as follows:

In November 1914, the army was structured as follows:

In Late April 1915, the army was structured as follows:

In Late Summer 1915, January 1916, the army was structured as follows:

In August 1916, the army was structured as follows:

In December 1916, the army was structured as follows:

In August 1917, the army was structured as follows:

In January 1918, the army was structured as follows:

In June 1918, the army was structured as follows:

In September 1918, the army was structured as follows:

In April 1919, Şevket Turgut Pasha, Cevat Pasha and Kavaklı Mustafa Fevzi Pasha hold a secret meeting in Constantinople. They prepared a report called "Trio Oath" (Üçler Misâkı) and decided to establish army inspectorate for the defense of homeland. In late April, Kavaklı Mustafa Fevzi Pasha submitted this report to the Minister of War Şakir Pasha. On April 30, 1919, the War Ministry and Sultan Mehmed VI ratified the decision about the establishing of army inspectorates that had been accepted by the Chief of General Staff And then the First Army Troops Inspectorate (stationed in Constantinople, Kavaklı Mustafa Fevzi Pasha), the Yildirim Troops Inspectorate (stationed in Konya, Mersinli Cemal Pasha, later Second Army Inspectorate) Inspectorate, the Ninth Army Troops Inspectorate (stationed in Erzurum, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, later Third Army Inspectorate) was formed. Additionally, the Rumeli Military Troops Inspectorate (Nureddin Pasha) would be established and the XIII Corps would be under the direction of the Ministry of War. In May 1919, the army inspectorate was structured as follows:

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