Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

Slavesin

War:TheHistoricalRecord

27

treated

hisslavessowellthathecould

expect

their

loyaltyin

combat;he

anticipatedhalfheartedeffortsfromthem

or,even

worse,desertiontothe

enemy.Yettherecordshowsthatwhen

slaves

did

fight,they

didsowith

vigor

and

neithermutiniednor

deserted

tothe

enemy,

asthe

manyexamples

in

the

following

pages

shouldmake

clear.Slavesdid

mutiny

anddeserttheir

masters,butnot

duringbattle.

A

slavewhointendedtoturn

against hismasterdidsoeitherbefore

the

fightingbegan

or

afterithad

ended;

t

once

engaged

in

battle,

he

hadcasthislot

withhis master

willy-nilly

andcouldno

longerchangesides.

Slavesdidschemefortheirfreedom

andconsidered

joining

the

enemy,

but

theyrarely

madea

rashmove

during

battle.

11

De-

sertion

entailed

greatrisks;

iftheslave

desertedtothe

enemy

andthenthe

enemylost,hecould

expect

theharshest

punish-

ment.Also,he

usually

had

noassurancethatthe

enemy

would

grant

himfreedomorwould

even

accept

hisservices.

12

Finally,

since

ordinaryslaves

rarely

formedautonomous

units

(excep-

tionsarefoundin Athensand

Rome),

3

theyusually

did

not

havethe

opportunityto

plot

massdesertionsormutinies.With

little

organization

and their

masters

always watching

their

movements,slavescouldnot

rally--and

single

individualswere

unlikelyto

attempt

suchmovesontheirown.

TM

Ratherthanmake

trouble,slaves

generallyhelped

theirmas-

tersinwartothebestoftheir

abilities;

exceptions

werein-

frequentand

usually

involvedcivil

disturbancesor

recently

ac-

quired

captives,

aswillbediscussedlater.

Cooperation

of

slaves

inbattlewasboth

widespread

and

spontaneous?

5

Severalfactors

may

explain

this:

ordinaryloyaltytohomeand

country,espe-

10.Greece:

Garlan,pp.29-35,discussesthis

point

at

length.

11.

Exceptions:ThucydidesThe

Peloponnesian

War 7:13,15;

Garlan, pp.

31-32.

12.Garlan,

pp.

33,35.

13.Greece:

J.

A.

Notopoulos,"TheSlavesattheBattleofMarathon,"American

Journalof

Philology

62

(1941):353;BritishWestIndies:Pares,

p.

256;U.S.:AR,

pp.x,80.For

exceptions,

see

Greece:

Jacob,p.

62,n.

(quotingBoeckh).

Rome:

Halkin,p.45;Barrow,

pp.146-47.

14.

Exceptions:

Garlan,

p.32.

15.Greece:

Garlan,

p.

35.Rome:

Rouland,pp.41-42.Barbados:Handler,

p.

113.Seealsothe

remarkablestatement

byXenophonWaysandMeansiv.41-42.

He

understoodandarticulatedthis

factbefore

anyone

elsedid.