Traditional and Redefined Success of the Janissary Corps
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Authors
Mathews, Charles
Issue Date
2020
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Scholarship Sewanee 2020 , Janissary , Ottoman Empire , History , Change over time
Alternative Title
Abstract
If you were an Austrian, Hungarian, Venetian, or frankly any soldier fighting during the fifteenth to seventeenth century, there were few enemies you would fear facing more than the Ottoman Janissary. The Janissaries Corps was the elite fighting force of the Ottoman Empire from the mid fourteenth century until their abolishment in 1826. The corps played a central role in the expansion and success of the Ottoman Empire. One of the most important empires to have existed, lasting from 1299 until 1918, and held territories throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Europe. The vastness and power of this empire influenced religion, politics, warfare, statehood, and many more aspects of history that have had far reaching impacts into the world in which we live today. The backbone of the empire was its Janissary corps. In this project I have sought out to understand what made the Janissary corps so successful throughout its 500-year history. Scholars agree that the Janissaries were successful militarily until around the siege of Vienna in 1683, but many attest the Janissaries were in a steady decline after that. My thesis is broken into two parts, the first part attempts to understand what made the Janissaries successful until the 1600’s, analyzing aspects such as assimilation, military technology, and social mobility. The second part of my thesis attempts to counter the idea that the Janissary corps was in a decline by redefining what success meant to them. Instead of looking at the battlefield, I study the economic and social impacts of the corps that we can consider successful. My scholarship is based on a variety of primary and secondary sources. My primary sources include memoirs of Janissary soldiers, diplomats who lived in the Ottoman empire, images, and more from different time periods and perspectives. My secondary sources are a mixture of books and articles that are part of the larger historical conversation that is going on about the Janissary corps, a conversation I have tried to engage with.
Description
Citation
Publisher
University of the South