Chapter
Two
Slaves in
War:
The Historical
Record
Many
differences
between
ordinary
andmilitary
slavesassured
themdissimilarexperiences
inbattle.Not
selectedorprepared
[br
warfare,norcultivated
fortheir
loyalty,
ordinary
slavesdid
not
play
acentralmilitary
rolein
any
army
orwar,and
they
hardly
ever
gainedindependentpolitical
power?Although
they
didoccasionallyprovidesignificant
help
totheirmastersin
bat-
tle,ordinary
slavesinwarfarenever
amountedtomore
thanan
irregular
or
peripheral
phenomenon.
On
theotherhand,mili-
tary
slaves
were
acquired,
trained,andemployed
forthepur-
pose
ofwarfare;
consequently,
they
hadfar
greater
military
and
politicalsignificance.
Pleasenote two
points:
(1)
sinceslaveswho foughtagainst
theirmasterscontrastdiametrically
withthecontrolled
useof
slavesinwarfare,
slaverevoltsfallentirely
outsidethisdiscus-
sion.
2
(2)Militaryslavery
did
notexistin
early
Islam(seechap.
5),
soIshalldrawonexamples
of
ordinary
slavesin
warfarenot
1.Rulersofslave
origins
outsideIslamdomarevery
rare.Two
examples,
Toussaint
L’OuvertureandHenriChristophe,
comefromHaitiinthe
Napo-
leonic
period.
Theslave
rebellioninHaitiwasoneofthe
very
fewinhistoryto
havelastingsuccess.
Some
rulersofslave
origins
inIslamdomhad
nothing
todo
with
military
slav-
ery.
Foran
example,
seetheTuaregcasedescribedby
F.Rodd,
Peopleqfthe
Veil
(London,1926),pp.
96-97,103-05,108.
- Rouland,
pp.
25-26,makesthesame
distinction.
24