Janissaries

The Janissaries were the elite infantry corps and household troops of the Ottoman sultans, formed in the 14th century through the devshirme system, a periodic levy of Christian boys from the Balkans who were converted to Islam, educated, and trained as soldiers bound directly to the sultan rather than to any feudal lord. Early adopters of firearms among European-facing armies, the Janissaries anchored Ottoman victories from Kosovo to the sieges of Constantinople in 1453 and Vienna, while their guild-like corporate identity and growing political influence made them a recurring threat to the throne they served. Sultan Mahmud II abolished the corps by force in the 1826 Auspicious Incident, after Janissary revolts had made them ungovernable. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/