Excellent Soldiers

It is very impressive the the Ottoman could take a group of people (Slavic youth) with essentially no allegiance to them and create such a disciplined, powerful army (The Janissary Corps). From what I gather, the Janissaries were masterful tacticians. There was obvious attention to detail in that they would plan attacks nearly a year in advance. A deeply considered plan accompanied by strength in numbers is the best way to guarantee victory in battle.

I found the idea of a Kazan (the large copper cooking pot) to be very intriguing. I cannot imagine a cooking tool being the most treasured possession of a U.S. Army division, but for some reason this was a symbol of great pride within the Janissary Corps. After a bit of thinking this idea seems brilliant. What better way to rally troops and maintain order than to make sure everyone recognizes who feed them. There are only a few things humans truly need for survival, one of them being food. The infantrymen within each Orta surely recognized the supremacy of their Corbasi and followed him accordingly.

In Faroqhi's "Subjects of the Sultan", a particular line on page 24 struck me as fascinating. The Ottomans were famous for their religious tolerance of non-Muslims. Despite this the testimony of a Muslim "carried much more weight in a court of law than that of a non-Muslim." I don't fault them for this line of thinking. At the time they surely thought that this was fair and just. In today's enlightened courts of law, we realize that the truth is the most important thing in a trial, regardless of a witness' religion or culture.