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Thread: Janissaries - White slave troops for Turks

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    Default Janissaries - White slave troops for Turks

    Those of you interested in history might want to read up on a very interesting group of elite, White troops - the Janissaries, who served the Turkish Muslim Sultans.
    When the Turks conquered the Balkans the imposed terrible taxes on the White Christians, one tax was to take a certain percentage of new born White babies to serve as lifetime slaves of the Muslim Sultan.

    These white slaves were trained from birth to be elite soldiers, the best troops of the Sultan

    The standing Ottoman army, first organized by bey (also erroneously called sultan) Murad 1 in the late 14th century, lasting until 1826, altogether about 450 years.
    The term in Turkish, yeniçeri means new troops, indicating exactly what they were in the beginning: An alternative to the old regular army.
    The Janissaries became famous for their military skills, but also because they were staffed by youths conscripted from Christian families in the Balkans. After the conscription they were defined as the property of the sultan, and practically all of them converted to Islam.
    The Janissaries were subject to strict rules, limiting their freedom and demanding higher moral standards than usual in the society. In the first couple of centuries, they were forced to celibacy, but this would later change. The janissaries were not allowed to grow beard, which was the sign of a free man.
    The need for the bey/sultan to form the Janissary corps, came from the fragility of an army put together by free men from many different tribes from areas often wide apart. Their allegiance were normally to their own tribal leaders, leaders that often were tempted to oppose the power of the sultan, and to find allies among the main enemies of the Ottoman empire.
    At first the Janissaries were put together of war prisoners. But from 1420's young men were taken from their homes at an early age, and contact with their old communities were cut. This system was called devsirme. They were even denied contact with the normal society in the areas were they were stationed. Through their training, they were learned to put their allegiance to the bey/sultan. At least so was the intention. And despite strict rules, they enjoyed high living standards and a social status which intended to give logic and force to their loyalty.
    But over time, the Janissaries were so successful that they grew into one of the strongest power institutions in the empire. They could exercise this strength to influence the policy and to defend their own interests. From the 17th century and on, they staged many palace coups to exercise this power. But this would eventually be the main reason for their downfall — their strength made them dangerous to the sultan, and when the final battle over power came, the Janissaries lost, and all troops were killed or banished.
    Other reasons for the sultan to want to remove the Janissaries were that they had grown into a large number, up from 20,000 in 1574 to 135,000 in their last year of 1826. This was expensive, and in addition the Janissaries had found their own (unacceptable) way of financing their military activities as well as their high living standard: they performed various trades and were more an more in contact with the society. They were truly a state in the state.


    http://i-cias.com/e.o/janissaries.htm

    Devşirme or devshirme was the practice by which the Ottoman Empire conscripted boys from Christian families, who were taken from their families by force, converted to Islam,[1] trained and enrolled in one of the four royal institutions: the Palace, the Scribes, the Religious and the Military.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dev%C5%9Firme

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    Well, in 1807 in Bosnia there were 70 000 of those who held title of Janissaries, of those only 16 000 were on a payroll, later Janissaries were no longer celibate, as in 1566 they were given permission to marry. So they would keep the titles, eventually became very numerous, my mother's paternal ancestors were janissary aghas, and Janissaries became so powerful in Bosnia, that not even a provincial governor could do nothing against them, they got very wealthy, Sarajevo was their powerhouse there were 20 000 of them, and unlike those in Constantinople these were not parade men. Bosnian provincial governor according to rules couldn't be present in Sarajevo for more than 24 h, as his seat was in Travnik, so he wouldn't disturb the local rulers but in 1827 Vizier came with lot of troops and after fight, they were besieged, surrendered due to hunger, captured, and 7 of their leaders were executed, one of them was quite likely my mothers ancestor.

    So sadly, Janissaries were the power behind ottoman thrust, and not only that , if you check the list of Ottoman Grand Viziers (heads of government)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._Grand_Viziers
    beginning from one Croat in 1456 to the end of the period of Ottoman rise most of them were Croats, Serbs, Albanians, Greeks, later as empire went into decline the number of Turks got higher.
    Last edited by Saruman; 04-15-2010 at 01:15 PM.

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    "White" is rather misleading. "Christian" is more fitting. Or is this part of the attempt to have some kind of united historical narrative called "White History"...
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    That's where the term Bosniaks come in.
    The so-called Bosniaks were Serbian Orthodox-Christians who converted to Islam simply because of the Janissary movement.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Херо оф Босна View Post
    That's where the term Bosniaks come in.
    The so-called Bosniaks were Serbian Orthodox-Christians who converted to Islam simply because of the Janissary movement.
    Serbs have a popular song about this, called Janichar. The words are very sad, especially the part where it says: sada kune svoju sudbu što je janičar. (the mother) now swears at his destiny for he is a Janissary.


    U vihoru kao vatra
    bojevima ljutim vođen
    palio je jedan ratnik
    selo gde je rođen.

    Refren:
    Sina majci iz naručja
    oteo je zulumćar
    sada kune svoju sudbu
    što je janičar.

    Na ognjištu puste kuće
    plakala je jedna stara
    iznad nje je sablju dig'o
    ratnik koji hara.

    Ne diž' na me ruku sine
    ako svoje jade znadeš
    majka sam ti jer prepoznah
    iznad usne mladež.


    Sjaha s konja mlad janičar
    baci sablju, dizgin pusti
    majka htede nešto reći
    ali ne izusti.


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