THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE 111of the force grew to 20,000 by around 1575 and to 48,688 by 1591. Under
Ibrahim (1640–48) they were reduced to 17,000, but began to increase
again and had risen to 135,000 by the time they were finally destroyed in
1826.
By the seventeenth century the Janissary corps had become a praetorian
guard in the worst sense of the word. When Sultan Selim III attempted to
organize and establish a properly disciplined force to take their place, they
revolted and forced him to abdicate. In the role of kingmakers they flour-
ished, becoming an important part of the Turkish government and a rec-
ognized part of Ottoman society. This was acceptable for the long
centuries that Turkey was a great power, but as their military power de-
clined—the result of their soft life in the capital—so did their ability to
control the government. Under Bairakdar Pasha of Widdin a new modern
military force was raised and drilled. This competition was unacceptable
to the Janissaries, and in 1806 they rose in revolt. They were repulsed and
the uprising crushed, but the new troops were soon disbanded. The Jan-
issaries returned to their old ways and again became so violent and de-
manding of the sultan that in 1825 Sultan Mahmud II decided to raise yet
another force. He had afatwahissued that stated it was the duty of all
Muslims to serve in the military and established this new model army
along modern lines. On June 10, 1826, the Janissaries revolted in Et Mei-
dan Square in Constantinople and attacked and pillaged much of the city.
The government drew together its forces, and when the Janissaries refused
to surrender, they were slaughtered. Those who escaped the fighting were
taken before the grand vizier and hanged. This was the end of the hon-
orable old Janissary corps, which for centuries had been such a power on
the battlefield and in the court of the greatest of European powers.
The second famous formation of the Ottoman army was the Mamluks.
The Mamluks were originally slaves introduced into Egypt as troops to
aid the local ruler. As mentioned earlier, they followed the course of the
Roman praetorian guards and eventually came to rule Egypt for them-
selves. Istanbul could not challenge them militarily, and as long as the
Mamluks paid the taxes and recognized the nominal authority of the Ot-
toman governor appointed by Istanbul, they were left alone.
As time passed from their founding sometime before the twelfth century
to the end of the eighteenth century, they still replenished their numbers
by importing fresh supplies of slave boys from the Caucasus. In this way
they created and maintained a superior warrior caste that exercised ab-
solute power over the native Egyptian population. Approximately 12,000
Mamluks served in Egypt at the time of the French invasion that would
crush their power forever.