Opening remarks on ephemeral nature of nomad-empires, citing Al-Ghazali. Examples such as the Avars inadvertently teaching their formerly passive Slav subjects how to fight, sowing their own overthrow/assimilation. Nomad-origin Mongol & Parthian states exceptional in longevity.

If accounting the Seljuk Sultnate & Beyliks which it shattered into as nomadic intruders, the Ottoman state from which it sprang was historically unique in its longevity. Toynbee considers breakup of Orthodox Civilisation instrumental in this success, though not the whole story.

Toynbee claims the Ottomans performed an inadvertent civilisational service in uniting world Orthodoxy (sans Russia) under a one aegis, constituting the "universal state" Byzantium was unable to fulfill. An eccentric thesis I've only ever argued by Israel Shamir (of all people).

Analogy made between pastoral nomadic mastery of animal domestication & nomad states' expertise in "taming" alien subjects in like manner, picking out "watchdogs" in the form of a slave-soldiers. Antecedents. Turks perfected this system, befitting their own slave-soldier origins.

Mamluk prequel to the golden-age Ottoman system. Both their admin, crack-soldiery & even the rulers (via their harem-mothers) were all descended from foreign slaves, mostly of Circassian slave-origin. Ottomans, using the same system, kept Mamluks as vassals until 🇦🇱s took over.

Nature of the Ottoman elite class, in its heyday almost entirely comprised of those of servile-origin, who continued to bear the title of qul "slave". A casual % ancestry thread of ruling Ottoman Sultans' ancestry, emphasising how early its Turkic component became negligible.

The extreme training demands made of the Janissary corps meant only those torn from their families & native communities could be expected to submit to it. The Muslim landed-gentry was excluded by design. When the latter pressed for their acceptance, the whole system broke down.

Devşirme regimen. Brutal punishments combined with appeal to absolute meritocracy & raw ambition. Any conscripted boy snatched from a Christian village had full awareness that with sufficient talent & drive, he could rise to the rank of grand-vizier, commanding the whole Empire.

Notes on two captured Ottoman war-prisoners (a German and North-Italian respectively) who escaped back to Christendom to record their experiences. For Europeans to voluntarily go Turk as "renegades" (the word's original meaning) remained an attractive career to the 19th Century.

First-hand observations by a Dutch diplomat of the devşirme system. At the slavemarket, without knowledge of their family, speaking a foreign tongue, boys were picked & bought as either future court bureaucracy or common soldiers based solely on physiognomy (I missed my chance).

Busbeq on the meritocratic Janissary barracks-regime. In contrast to feudal Christian Europe, where rising in rank took generations, amongst the Janissaries it was strictly dependent on acts of battlefield valour. The Sultans' own daughters were wed to the most talented slaves.

Author footnotes. The whole purpose of the Dutch Busbeq's account was to induce Christian kings to adopt Ottoman military methods. The Janissaries identical plain uniforms, lack of armour or obsolete pre-gunpowder weapons all antıcıpated later European armies of the 18th Century.

Aside from devşirme, the Ottomans also recruited adult POW's captured from European armies. They were isolated in seray prisons until they were judged to have lost all feeling for their homeland. Under eunuch instructors, they were taught Arabic script & trained as officers.

Dutch diplomat asks Turk of ethnic origins of chief barracks-instructors of Ottoman armies, expecting to hear Khorasanis or Uzbeks. Instead, these sergeants are each identified as 🇭🇷,🇭🇺&🇩🇪. Author is even more surprised to hear "such doughty warriors" were originally chefs etc.

Contemporary Dutch observer laments at length the clear superiority of Ottoman military training to the Western way of doing things. The concept of "breaking" a man, wiping his memory & remoulding him as a supersoldier of sorts. Many sci-fi echoes in works like BladeRunner.

Dutchman's conclusions emphasising that seemingly unstoppable Ottoman expansion owing to their meritocracy, even approaching blank-slatism: "they believe a son does not necessarily resemble his father, but his qualities are divinely infused" .. "these remarks for your ears only".

Unfavourable comparison of robot-like discipline of Janissaries to the individualistic rabble of European armies. Author on the rapid decay of the Janissaries as free Muslims were finally allowed to join its ranks, declining still further as its membership turned hereditary.

Decline in Janissary discipline over time meant the corps no longer served as an impartial or well-behaved policeforce in protecting the Christian dhimmi millets from the predation of the free Muslim population of the Empire. What internal religious peace there was was lost.

Rycaut attributed Turkish troop discipline largely to banning of alcohol, on the pain of death, in effect until at least 1921. Author Toynbee claims he was personally impressed on-site by conduct of Turkish troops on recapturing the town of Ismid (İzmit?) after Greek massacres.

Catching up of 1700s Western armies to golden-age Ottoman methods, just as the latter was quickly degenerating. Abandonment of devşirme system as no longer workable. Selim III's creation of a new model army, start of Westernising process, culminating with Mustafa Kemal's reforms.

Toynbee's conclusions. The "arrested" Ottoman Civilisation, like the "abortive" ones of the Irish & Norse, or the Syriac "fossil remnant" of Judaism, joined the comfortable Western fold, rather than remain "peculiar people". Recent decades hint otherwise. https://x.com/haravayin_hogh/s...

@haravayin_hogh Excellent thread ! The fact that modern elite units like the foreign legion still operate somewhat similarly proves the pertinence of this example.

@ErebusCafe Another student of Ottoman military history:

@haravayin_hogh european accounts tend to put too much emphasis on janissaries and battlefield performance imo. main reasons for success were more banal, like the timar system effectively meant the state captured more surplus from land because there weren't hereditary landowners.

@haravayin_hogh Excellent and gorgeously documented thread🙏🙏🙏 If you can get hold of this book in English, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

@haravayin_hogh The problem with this system was that raising "through valor" often leads to not very competent military junta's running things. In fact one of the main issues that stimmed the Mameluk Sultanate.

@haravayin_hogh absolutely and totally fascinating. my brain is buzzing from this thread. thank you

@haravayin_hogh Somewhat related: the Seljuk warrior class kept their nomad/pastoralist lifestyle for unusually long even after conquering settled empires. Was probably a factor in their enduring military success, and they possibly kept the momentum going into the Ottoman era.

@haravayin_hogh Thanks for the thread, very informative and appreciate the inserted source materials

@haravayin_hogh It is a quint idea that ottomon islamic state was the 'universal empire' of greek orthodox christians.

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@haravayin_hogh Lmao so much bullshit here. The ottomans sucked without European influence 🤣🤣🤣🤣

@haravayin_hogh Fascinating

@haravayin_hogh @TheGloriousLion A thread you might find interesting. A cautionary tale against unguided mercenarism and the need to provide a positive outlet for young men seeking adventure (and psychos in some cases), lest an enemy may make one for them.

@haravayin_hogh Interesting

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