Things you should know about the Ottoman Janissaries

There are many fun and fascinating similarities to find when comparing the Ottoman Janissaries and the Roman Praetorian Guard.<p>Both were established as elite divisions, handpicked for loyalty to the ruler, and stationed near the capital to discourage power grabs and revolutions.<p>Over time they both (figuratively) grew fat and lazy and came to understand and abuse the power that they held.<p>They both turned into “king makers” for the empire, it being impossible to take the throne without their support. Some sordid tales here on both sides.<p>Then, after years of havoc and instability in their respective empires, a strong emperor claims the throne without their help and then removes them from any position of power.

Interesting thing about Janissaries is that though they were foreigners, warrior slaves forcefully taken from their Christian families at young age, quite a few of them managed to move up the ranks and become very powerful military leaders and statesmen, even Grand Viziers (the most powerful person after Sultan). A lot of Ottoman Grand Viziers were not of Turkish origin actually.

What the article fails to tell you is precisely <i>why</i> the Janissary was a better soldier...since the training could have been applied to anyone.<p>The fatalistic view of Allah being in charge extended to the trajectory of the fired weapon.<p>The Christian boys retained enough experience from earlier in their lives that they were more diligent...

This is a very honest and informative historical documentary. I don&#x27;t see any statments that would work in favour of some country or another&#x27;s political agenda. Pretty rare we get these.

No Assassins Creed (Revelations) references?? I am so disappointed!

&gt; a slave or a Kul often enjoyed more social benefits and even better opportunities than an ordinary subject (as opposed to oppression)<p>Presumably ordinary subjects were not castrated.<p>EDIT: Apparently this is not true.

And not a single mention of Pournelle&#x27;s Janissaries. It&#x27;s as if the Ottomans (or the post&#x27;s author) had never read this series...<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.baen.com&#x2F;Chapters&#x2F;9780671877095&#x2F;9780671877095.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.baen.com&#x2F;Chapters&#x2F;9780671877095&#x2F;9780671877095.ht...</a><p>Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming.