Global InformationJanissary information
| Janissary | |
|---|---|
 Agha of the Janissaries and a Bölük of the Janissaries by Lambert Wyts, 1573 | |
| Active | 1363–1826 (1830 for Algiers) |
| Allegiance |  Ottoman Empire |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Standing professional military |
| Size | 1,000 (1400)[1] 7,841 (1484)[2] 13,599 (1574)[2] 37,627 (1609)[2] 135,000 (1826)[3] |
| Part of | Ottoman army |
| Garrisons | Adrianople (Edirne) Constantinople (Istanbul) |
| Colors | Blue, Red and Green |
| Equipment | Various |
| Engagements | Battle of Kosovo, Battle of Nicopolis, Battle of Ankara, Battle of Varna, Fall of Constantinople, Battle of Chaldiran, Battle of Mohács, Siege of Vienna, Great Siege of Malta and others |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Agha of the Janissaries |
| Military of the Ottoman Empire |
|---|
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A janissary (Ottoman Turkish: یڭیچری, romanized: yeŋiçeri, [jeniˈtʃeɾi], lit. 'new soldier') was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms; adopted during the reign of Murad II.[4][5][6][7] The corps was established either under Sultans Orhan or Murad I,[4] and dismantled by Mahmud II in 1826.
Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which Christian Albanians, Bulgarians, Croats, Greeks, Romanians, Serbs and Ukrainians were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army.[8] They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Sultan was expected.[9] By the seventeenth century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps' initially strict recruitment policy was relaxed. Civilians bought their way into it in order to benefit from the improved socioeconomic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its military character, undergoing a process that has been described as "civilianization".[10]
The janissaries were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western Europe modernized its military organization and technology, the janissaries became a reactionary force that resisted all change. Steadily the Ottoman military power became outdated, but when the janissaries felt their privileges were being threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their cavalry rivals, they would rise in rebellion. By the time the janissaries were suppressed, it was too late for Ottoman military power to catch up with the West.[11] The corps was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident, in which 6,000 or more were executed.[12]
- ^ Nicolle 1983, pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b c Ágoston 2014, p. 113.
- ^ George F. Nafziger (2001). Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. 153–54. ISBN 9780810866171.
- ^ a b Ágoston, Gábor (2017). "Janissaries". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett K. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_30927. ISBN 978-90-04-33571-4. ISSN 1873-9830.
- ^ Kinross 1977, p. 52.
- ^ Goodwin 1998, pp. 59, 179–181.
- ^ Streusand, Douglas E. (2011). Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. Philadelphia: Westview Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0813313597.
The word "Janissary" derives from the Turkish yeni cheri (yeni çeri, new army). They were originally an infantry bodyguard of a few hundred men using the bow and edged weapons. They adopted firearms during the reign of Murad II and were perhaps the first standing infantry force equipped with firearms in the world.
- ^ The New Encyclopedia of Islam, ed. Cyril Glassé, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008, p.129
- ^ William Cleveland; Martin Bunton (2013). A History of the Modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-8133-4833-9.
- ^ Ágoston 2014, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Peter Mansfield, A History of the Middle East (1991) p. 31
- ^ Kinross 1977, p. 456-457.