In the 13th century, the Turkic nomadic tribes, driven back by the Mongol conquerors, entered the service of the Seljuk sultan, receiving from him a small feudal possession on the border with Byzantium and creating their own emirate. After the collapse of the Sultanate in the XIV century, Osman I became the ruler of the emirate, who gave his name to the new state, famous for its conquests with the participation of special detachments of regular infantry - the janissaries.
Yeni Cheri - a new army
The new Ottoman state conquered the possessions of Byzantium in Asia Minor in a few years. Having captured the Dardanelles, the Turks set about conquering the Balkan Peninsula.
Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire during the siege of Rhodes.
The Ottoman army was a rabble of various nomadic tribes that emerged from the depths of Asia and believed in the power of Mohammed. The siege of Byzantine fortresses required a large force of disciplined infantry. But not a single free Turkish nomad, accustomed to fighting on horseback, wanted to fight on foot.
After unsuccessful attempts to create infantry formations of Muslim mercenaries, Sultan Orhan organized in 1330 a detachment of infantrymen from a thousand captive Christians who converted to Islam. In an effort to make such units a striking force in the wars against the giaurs (“infidels”), the sultan tried to give them a religious character, linking them with the Dervish order of Bektashi, similar to the European model of the military monastic order. According to legend, at the inauguration ceremony of the detachment, the head of the Haji Bektashi order tore off his sleeve from his white robe, put it on the head of one of the warriors, called him “eni cheri” (“new warrior”) and gave his blessing. So the Janissaries had a headdress in the form of a hat with a hanging piece of cloth attached to the back.
The Janissary infantry became the main force of the Ottoman army. During the reign of Sultan Murad I (1359-1389), the method of its acquisition was finally formed. From now on, the corps were recruited from children of the Christian faith captured during the campaigns to the Balkans, who underwent special military training. The recruitment of children into the Janissaries became one of the duties of the Christian population of the empire - devshirme (blood tax). Special officials selected a fifth of all boys between the ages of seven and fourteen (the so-called share of the Sultan) for service in the janissary corps at special "bride shows" in each Christian community.
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Sultan's sons
All selected boys were circumcised and converted to Islam. At the first stage, they were sent to be brought up in families of Turkish peasants and artisans in Asia Minor. There they mastered the Turkish language, Muslim customs and were accustomed to various types of hard physical labor. A few years later they were enrolled in the preparatory detachment of the Janissary corps. This stage of training lasted seven years and consisted of physical fitness and training in the use of many types of weapons. By the age of 20, young men became real "warriors of Islam."
Alexander Gabriel Dean "Turkish Patrol". 1831 year.
Upon reaching the age of 21, they were taken to the Janissary barracks. The recruits lined up in the square, and the dervishes, their future spiritual mentors, took their oath of devotion to Islam. After that, the former slaves became recruits of the Sultan's elite army. Drill was harsh and ruthless, combat training took place with drum roll. Under the influence of eyewitness accounts in Europe, the myth of the invincibility of the Turkish army was born.
The Janissaries called themselves "the arm and wing of the Ottoman dynasty." The sultans took care of them, personally delving into their training and life, and were often used in palace conflicts and in the suppression of revolts.
The Janissaries did not shave their beards, they were forbidden to marry and do housework. Their greatest relic was the copper cauldron. Each hundred had their own cauldron, which stood in the middle of the bivouac or in the courtyard of the barracks. In front of the cauldron, the recruits swore an oath of allegiance to the Sultan and here they flogged the guilty. The hundred that lost their cauldron in the war were considered dishonored. The Janissaries believed that death is better than such shame.
Every meal turned into a complex ritual. In peacetime, a solemn procession accompanied the cauldron of food from the kitchen to the barracks. Then the soldiers sat down around the cauldron. Here they spent their free time in the evenings. The Europeans did not understand such a ritual, but for the Janissaries it had a deep meaning. The cauldron was a guarantee that they would be fed. The gates of the Meat Bazaar in the capital were decorated with a proud and expressive inscription: "Here the Sultan feeds the Janissaries."
The mob that became the elite
During its heyday, the Ottoman Empire stretched from Gibraltar to the Caspian Sea and from Transylvania to the Persian Gulf. Its capital was Istanbul (Constantinople), taken by the Turks in 1453. The Janissaries, whose total number reached almost 200 thousand, besieged the fortresses and defeated the detachments of the crusaders directed against them, winning the glory of invincible warriors. Their attacks were accompanied by music played by the orchestra on copper pipes, drums and timpani, causing panic to the enemies. The Janissary Chapel became the prototype of the military brass bands of many armies.
Gentile Bellini "Janissary Officer". End of the 15th century.
In the 16th century, the military degradation of the Janissary army began. From a well-trained, disciplined and close-knit group, it turned into a privileged caste of praetorians, lacking the fighting spirit and military qualities of the old days. The reason for this was the departure from the original principles of its acquisition. Children of noble Turks who were not prepared for the hardships of service began to be admitted to the janissary army. Celibacy was abolished. The married janissaries were allowed to live in their homes, and then the unmarried refused to remain in the barracks and submit to strict discipline. As a result, the corps became a hereditary institution. During military campaigns, the Janissaries often refused to fight, preferring to engage in plunder and extortion.
Lion hunt
By the end of the 18th century, Turkish troops began to suffer numerous defeats. The well-trained Russian army smashed them on land and at sea. The Janissary infantry did not want to learn military tactics or master new weapons. Bonaparte's ambassadors, flirting with the Turkish Sultan Selim III, presented him with cannons on wheels, and Mikhail Kutuzov, who was Russia's ambassador to Turkey after being wounded, informed the empress about the weakness of the Janissaries.
Realizing that it was necessary to reform the army, the Sultan invited French military advisers and in one of the quarters of Istanbul he secretly began to train new troops - "nizam-i Jedid". At this time, Bonaparte began his campaigns in Europe, and then moved to Russia. Turkey quietly reformed its army.
View of the minarets of Istanbul.
On June 14, 1826, the janissaries were given an ultimatum, "that they will not see any mutton again until they study the order of battle following the example of the armies of the European gyaurs."
- We are not giaurs, and we will not disgrace ourselves! - answered the Janissaries and pulled their cauldrons out of the barracks. Dancing bektashi dervishes appeared in the square, ripping the sleeves from their rags to the headbands of the janissaries. Waiting for food, those "scattered through the streets, robbing and attacking all people who came across them." The orchestras played bravely and wildly.
Sultan Mahmud II ordered to withdraw from the barracks new well-trained troops with guns. Thousands of janissaries were shot with grapeshot in the square. Many hid in basements, attics and even wells, but they were found everywhere and killed. For a whole week in a row, the Sultan's executioners worked without rest: they chopped off their heads, hung them up, strangled them with laces, cut the janissaries into many pieces. An eyewitness wrote: “For several days, the dead bodies of the Janissaries were taken out on carts and carts, which were thrown into the waters of the Bosphorus. They swam on the waves of the Sea of Marmara, and the surface of the waters was so covered with them that the corpses even prevented the ships from sailing …”.
Source: "Secrets of the XX century"