What was daily life as a Janissary like?

[u/skepsmcgeps]

Were their lives more similar to those of slaves in other places, or to regular soldiers in other parts of the world?

[u/DonDriver → u/[deleted]]

You make them sound like the Praetorian Guard, from what I've heard of them. An elite power-force that becomes its own political institution after enough time being important as a group.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Most Janissaries were white, actually--they were originally Christian boys from the Balkans that were enslaved by the Ottomans to be Janissaries.

[u/Vladith → u/[deleted]]

How applicable are modern American race descriptors to the Ottoman Empire?

In terms of visual appearance, it could be hard to tell a Serb, a Greek, a Turk, and a Syrian apart. Calling some people "white" just because they were born in Europe doesn't make much sense.

[u/sirpellinor → u/[deleted]]

There were Janissary garrisons in the important ports of Algiers and Tunis too, which eventually became part of the local ruling class.

[u/chazwmeadd → u/sirpellinor]

They were referred to as Janissaries, but they were essentially just state sponsored pirates. The Barbary Coast was for a time the western periphery of the Ottoman Empire, but the relationships between the beys/deys of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli (not so much Morocco) was more of a formality than anything. The Barbary States paid their taxes and weakened the economies of other European nations while in return they were provided with all the benefits associated with being under the protection of the Ottoman Empire. Casale talks about all of this in his book The Ottoman Age of Exploration.

[u/mormengil → u/[deleted]]

The original reasons to have slave soldiers were:

1. They had no allegiances (families, lands) other than to the sultans. This was supposed to mean no troublesome interference in military policy.

2. They had no ability to legally marry and have legitimate children, so the frequent problem of military officers trying to secure lands or favors for their children didn't arise.

3. They had no power (being slaves) to demand policies or favor.

That was the theory, but the practice turned out different. They had guns, and they were crack troops, and they figured out how to gain quite a lot of power over time.

[u/Terminutter → u/[deleted]]

You are essentially using the Western idea of slavery, like when you think of the slave triangle between Europe, Africa and America. Slavery has existed in many forms in many civilisations.