Janissaries

Janissaries (Turkish yeniceri, “recruit”), standing army of the Ottoman Empire, organized by Sultan Murad I. Ottoman armies had previously been composed of Turkmen tribal levies, who were loyal to their clan leaders, but as the Ottoman polity acquired the characteristics of a state, it became necessary to have paid troops loyal only to the sultan. Next, the system of impressing Christian youths (devshirme) was instituted; converted to Islam and given the finest training, they became the elite of the army. Special laws regulated their daily life, cutting them off from civil society; they were even forbidden to marry. Devotion to such discipline made the Janissaries the scourge of Europe. These standards, however, changed with time; recruitment became lax (Muslims were admitted, too), and because of the privileges Janissaries enjoyed, their numbers swelled from about 20,000 in 1574 to some 135,000 in 1826. To supplement their salaries, the Janissaries began to pursue various trades and established strong links with civil society, thus undermining their loyalty to the ruler. In time they became kingmakers and the allies of conservative forces, opposing all reform and refusing to allow the army to be modernized. Their failure to crush the Greek insurrection in the early 1820s totally discredited them and encouraged Sultan Mahmud II to plan their elimination. When they revolted in 1826, he dissolved the corps by proclamation, putting all opposition down by force. Thousands were killed and others banished, but most were simply absorbed into the general population.