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An interesting point, I remember hearing of the janissaries, who were slaves, but well trained and equipped; there appear to be instances of those janissaries s
by Geisterde 3y ago
An interesting point, I remember hearing of the janissaries, who were slaves, but well trained and equipped; there appear to be instances of those janissaries seizing political power. Relying on a military to maintain power is like a mouse keeping wolves chained up, and using the wolves to control lions. Its far more reliable and economically feasible to control the minds of the populace, as long as you have control over what they see/hear.
- usrusr 3y agoLosing power isn't really an issue as long as those who had it don't lose status. The defining property of situations like the Janissary one is that the group coming into power is exempt from status.
- golergka 3y agoOh, the Osman Empire had a completely different societal structures which changed greatly over time, including the roles of janissaries. But the function of the janissaries was similar: not part of the nobility, completely uprooted from their family and social circle, they owed all they had to the Sultan, so they helped him safeguard his power from entrenched power sources — at least that's how it worked during some periods. My original comment was more about feudal Europe in territories of modern France, UK, Germany and to some extent Italy and Spain. Even in medieval Moscovy and Poland things were not quite similar.