Chapter Six
How
Military Slavery
First Occurred
Defining
theuniversalcharacteristicsofa
military
slave
system
(systematic acquisition, organized training, professional em-
ployment)
madeit
possible
todateand
identify
itsfirst
appear-
ance in 198-205/814-20;
similarly, establishing
the
general
rationaleformilitaryslavery--that
it
servedasameanstoac-
quire
andcontrol
marginal
area
soldiers--helps
usto
under-
standhowitfirst
developed.
This
concludingchapterinterprets
thefirsttwocenturiesofIslamicate
history
inthe
light
ofthe
theories
presented
in
chapter
3;hereIshallshowtheneedthat
existedfor
marginal
areasoldiersand
propose
thattheenslave-
mentofsoldiersfollowedfromtheearlier
practice
of
employing
themasmawlas.First,however,Ishallnotetheideasofother
historiansonthis
topic
andthenthe
possible
influenceof
prior
civilizations
onthe
development
of
militaryslavery.
Only
afewhistorianshaveventuredan
opinion
onthefirst
development
of
military slavery,
and noneofthem
explains
how,forthefirsttime
in
humanhistory,a
majordynasty
cameto
enslave
its
soldiers
ina
systematicmanner.
Itis
notunfairto
say
thatnoscholarhas
seriously
consideredthis
question.
Ayalon
attributes
military slavery
toa
growingmanpower
shortage,
whichhetracesallthe
way
backtothetimeofcUmar
I.
Lapiduspoints
tothisandtotheusefulnessofslaves
inhelp-
1.
Ayalon,
"PreliminaryRemarks,"p.
44.
159