AnExplanationof
MilitarySlavery 85
small
role.
All
rulers,eventhosewholacked
easy
access,hadto
acquiremarginal
area
soldiers,sometimesat
great
cost,forno
army
was
complete
withoutthem.
68
Therecruitment
process
didnotendthere,however;asfresh
marginalarea
troopsspent
timeinthe
governmentarea,they
toobecameunreliable.Once
again,somelosttheirmartialskills,
otherslosttheir
loyalty.
Asfresh
troops
went
stale,newoneshad
toberecruitedinan
unendingcycle
whichlastedas
long
asthe
dynasty
did. IbnKhaldfin describeshowthe newfriendsbe-
comeas
demanding
astheold
relatives:
In
taking
[newfriends]onasfollowersand[in]
replacing
hisold
clientsandoriginalfollowers
by
them,therulerismotivated
by
the
factthat
(his
old
clientsandfollowers)havebecome
overbearing.
They
showlittleobediencetohim.
Theylookat
him
inthesame
way
hisowntribeandrelativesdo.
Thus,
martial
decay
and
political
unrulinessrendereda
per-
petual
searchfornew
sourcesof
militarymanpowerobligatory.
Rulers
relying
on
marginal
area
soldiersfoundthemselvescon-
stantlyseeking
outnew
soldiers;they
hadtofind
theseorelse
watch
theirarmies
grow
debilitated andfractious. Each
pre-
modern
Islamicate
government
which
depended largely
on
marginal
areasoldiers--andthis
included
nearlyevery
one--
hadtoseekoutalternatesourcesof
manpower
withintwo
(orso)
generations
ofitsestablishmentandthencontinuetodosountil
thetimeofitsdemise.
The recruitmentof
marginalarea
soldiers
completed
their
hold overIslamicatearmies.
They
both
broughtdynastiesto
power
andstaffedthearmiesthereafter.Asthe
founding
sol-
diersbecameunreliable,the
governmentimported
new
margi-
nal areasoldierstoreplacethem. Thus,
unreliability
didnot
signal
theexitof
marginal
area
soldiersbutonlychangedthe
cast.Afterthefirst
spasm
of
conquest,importationmightgo
on
for
generations.
Theinfluxesof
marginal
areasoldiersmarked
the
great
shiftsof
power
in
politics:
thefirst
createdthedynasty,
the second maintained
it,
and
the third
destroyed
it,
begin-
68.
Ayalon,"Aspects,"p.206.
69.
Muq,
1:376.