Armed Forces and Units
Janissaries
Medieval
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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.
Facts
Force TypeElite standing infantry corps recruited through the devshirme levy of Christian boys from the Balkans, converted to Islam and trained from childhood as the sultan's household troops; among the first standing forces in Europe's neighborhood to use firearms extensively 1 Disputed
Founded YearSources place the corps' formal organization anywhere from the 1360s under Murad I to the 1380s; no single foundation date is universally agreed. Cross-Tradition Connections
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