The proud, effective and handsome Janissary

[Aepsilons]

Janissary: An infantry soldier in the Ottoman Empire, particularly those in the sultan's private guard, between approximately 1365 and 1828 A.D.

The Janissaries were the first professional standing army in Turkey, rather than the traditional system of calling up military forces at need. Technically, the Janissaries were "owned" by the sultan, although they could not be formal slaves under the Quran and they were paid salaries.

Christian children were brought into the corps through the devshirme system, in which young boys were taken from their families, converted to Islam, and trained in infantry techniques and tactics. Most of the Janissaries came from Christian families in places like Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, or Greece, which were part of the Ottoman Empire during this period.

In the earliest years of the Janissary corps, they used crossbows and compound bows, but as soon as the 1440s they began to use firearms. The Janissaries were abolished after they revolted against Sultan Mahmud II in 1828.

The word "Janissary" comes from the Turkish yeni çeri or "new soldier."

Pronunciation: "JAN-uh-sehr-ee"

Alternate Spellings: Yeniçeri

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

From their creation in the 1380s to 1600-for 200 yrs these were among the best infantry soldiers on the planet .
Decline set in for a number of reasons-

1)Restriction was removed on them marrying and having a social life with economic interests,they came to own property and had business interest instead of concentrating as earlier solely on warfare.Resultant decline in military efficiency.

2)Politicization-from late 16th century they increasingly began to interfere in active politics ,staging palace coups.

3)Lax regimentation and discipline,increase in numbers.Originally this was small corps around 10,000.But from 1600 or so it bloated to over 50,000..new recruits were not same standard.

4)Finally and militarily most importantly- Inability to move ahead with times.The early jannisaries were reknowned for their formidable archery..but from late 16 th century huge proliferation of gunpowder weapons amde archery obsolete.Though jannisaries had adopted muskets early..main problem was that jannisaries trained with muskets using traditional archery methods for training.Meaning they sought to be excellent individual marksmen..in archery this pays off as the bow is much easier to aim with accuracy,but muskets are very inaccurate beyond 50 yards and no matter how good a shooter u are its very difficult to kill with 1 shot or so.To bring the best out of muskets u need packed ranks of men using massed volleys to put a huge number of bullets in the area simultaneously.This is what was done in europe with the evolution of the 3 rank line formation.Jannisaries however were trained as individual,and while individually they were great marksmen....in a musket firefight head on..because they didn't use packed linear formations with manual based fire drills..they couldn't match the volume of firepower poured against them.

In close combat they remained formidable opponents though,until the large scale use of the socket bayonet in the 18th century.

 

[Aepsilons]

I particularly like how there is similarity between how the Ottomans used foreigners as part of their elite units; similar to how the British used Sikhs and Nepali Gurkhas.

 

[Armstrong]

@Sinan @xenon54 - Isn't the first photograph of Ataturk Sahib ?

 

[-SINAN-]

Yeap

 

[xenon54 out]

@Sinan @xenon54 - Isn't the first photograph of Ataturk Sahib ?

Yep thats him.

____________________________________________

Handsome Janissarys.

 

[Armstrong]

Yeap

He was a Janissary ?

 

[-SINAN-]

He was a Janissary ?

Nope, just posing. Janissary system abandoned in 1826.

 

[xenon54 out]

Yep thats him.

____________________________________________

Handsome Janissarys.

He was a soldier of Ottoman Empire but not a Janissary, he just dressed as one for the photo.

 

[Targon]

He was a Janissary ?

As far as I remember he was invited a reception or something while he was an official in Sofia, he brought this authentic clothes from Istanbul to wear it there

 

[-SINAN-]

I particularly like how there is similarity between how the Ottomans used foreigners as part of their elite units; similar to how the British used Sikhs and Nepali Gurkhas.

There is a difference though.

Foreigners gathered in small ages. They have been thought Turkish and and converted to Islam. They raised with Turkish culture. Their allegience lied only with Sultan. So they were the most loyal soldiers.

This system is called "devşirme" the clever children sent to palace and raised as governors, manager. Some of them even became Grand Veziers, the second most powerful man in the empire after Sultan.

 

[xenon54 out]

As far as I remember he was invited a reception or something while he was an official in Sofia, he brought this authentic clothes from Istanbul to wear it there

Interesting.

 

[Aepsilons]

Thank you for that information @Sinan !

 

[-SINAN-]

Thank you for that information @Sinan !

Mate, i really like Japanese people they are so nice.

There are mean people on PDF who can say twisted things don't mind them. Also Middleast section is a mess and full of twisted things.

 

[Aepsilons]

Mate, i really like Japanese people they are so nice.

There are mean people on PDF who can say twisted things don't mind them. Also Middleast section is a mess and full of twisted things.

Thanks for the kind words brother. I'm also learning more about Turkish and Early Arab cultures...! I'll definitely be asking you more questions if i have any on turkish history, military warfare.

Interesting.

@xenon54 ,

What percentage of turkish people have eastern european ancestry?