30
TheIslamicateContext
Thereweretwo
situationsinwhichamastercouldnotcount
onhisslaves’
loyalty
atall:incivildisturbancesandwhen
using
just-captured prisoners
ofwar. Civildisturbanceserodedthe
bondsbetweenmasterandslave,asdomestic
enemieswereless
ofathreat
toaslaveandcould
appeal
tohisself-interest.Inter-
nalwarsoften
gave
slavesthe
opportunity
to
bargain
witheither
side,
auctioning
offtheirservicesforfreedom
and
promises
of
booty.
3
TheCorinthianPactof 538
B.c.
specificallystipulated
thatneithersignatory
couldmanumittheother’sslavesinreturn
fortheir
military
services.
31
Insmall-scalecivilwars,slavesre-
sembledmercenaries in
so
farasthey
actedasdisinterested
profit
seekers;large-scale
civilwars
might
havethesameeffect
asforeigninvasions,however,
sincethe
enemy
camefromafar
andcouldnotdeal
directly
withtheslaves.The
huge
scaleofthe
United States Civil War
partly explainswhy
someslavesre-
mained
loyal
totheirmastersintheConfederacythough
this
meant
disregarding
theirown
long-term
interests.
War
prisoners
whohad
just
beenenslavedshowedno
loyalty
totheirnewmasterswhatsoever.
They
hadtobeforcedto
fight,
especially
whenthe
enemy
wastheirown
people.Unlikely
asthis
useofslavessounds,
itdid
happen.
Inhazardoussituationsthese
slavescouldbeusedasshock
troops
inordertosavethelivesof
more valuablesoldiers. The
Mongolssystematically deployed
captives
fromacity
just
conqueredtostormthedefensesofthe
nextone;theypushedthesemiserableunarmedslavesuptothe
frontlineandordered
themtoattack
just
touse
upenemy
am-
munition.The
Mongol
warriorsstoodbehindthem,
prepared
to
shoot downslaves whoturned back; ahead theslaves faced
nearly
certaindeath
against
the
city
walls.Thisoffensivetactic
was so
important
that"the ruthless
employment
of
captives"
stoodoutasoneofthemainfeaturesof
Mongolsiegecraft,
a2
30.Rome:Westermann,
p.
67;K/ihne,
passim;
Pouland,_p. 25 and
chap.
2.
U.S.:AR,p.vii.Lombardi,pp.37-46,explains
the
complexVenezuelansituation.
31.C.Moss6,"LeR61edesesclavesdanslestroubles
politiques
dumonde
grec
/lafinde
l’6poqueclassique,"
Cahiersd’Histoire 6
(1961):
353-54.Welwei,
p.
104,
remarksthatslavesdidnothaveadecisiveinfluenceinthecivilwarsofancient
Greece.
32.
D.Martin,"The
MongolArmy,"Journal
of
the
Royal
Asiatic
Society(1943),