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

AnExplanationofMilitarySlavery 81

largelydisappeared

fromthearmiesofthe

government.

It

was

notuntilmoderntimes,1238/1823,

when

Mu.hammad

CAlcon-

scriptedEgyptian

peasants,

that

theyagain

reenteredthe

army.

Mu.hammad

cAli

undertook

thisnovelmeasure

partly

because

hisNubianrecruitsdiedoff;but,more

importantly,

hehadseen

thesuccesstheFrenchhadwith

anational

army.

Recruitment

While

steppe,

desert,andmountain

soldiers

provided

asource

of

greatpower,they

hadtheirownparticular

drawbacks.How-

ever

mightilytheybegan,theyrapidly

becameunreliable

after

conquering

a

government

area,ineitheroftwo

ways:

someset-

tleddownandlosttheirmartialstrength;

othersretainedthat

strength

butbecameunruly.

Ineither

case,they

becameunde-

pendable

and had

tobe

replaced

withfreshsoldiers.

Marginal

areamen

could,

ofcourse,deteriorateandbecome

unruly

si-

multaneously,

butforthe

sakeof

clarity,

I shall

analyze

these

processesseparately.

The

strikingcontrast

betweenthewarriorsofone

generation

andtheir effete

grandsons

has

provoked

much

speculation.

Though

the

rapiddegeneration

of

marginal

area

soldiersisa

conspicuouspattern,

itscausesremainvague.Originally,

cour-

age

andhardiness

characterizedthe

marginal

areasoldier;these

were

notinnate

qualities

butwere

acquiredbyliving

inaharsh

environment,which helefton

entering

a

polity.

The milieu

whichhad

forged

those

qualities

wasnecessarytomaintaining

themtoo.Oncetheyundertook

thesofterlifeasrulers,

marginal

areasoldiers

began

tolosethe

veryqualities

whichhad

brought

them

military

success."Whenever

people

settleinfertileplains

andamassluxuriesandbecomeaccustomedto

alifeofabun-

dance and

luxury,

their

bravery

decreasesto the

degree

that

theirwildnessanddeserthabitsdecrease.

’’6

Asanewworldofamusements,affluence,

andculture

opened

60.

Muq,

1:282.John

ofSalisbury(d.1180)put

itasfollows:"Ifinwarmen’s

bodiesarewoundedwithswords,inpeacetheyare

nolesswoundedwith

plea-

sures."TheStatesman’sBook,

translatedandselected

by

J.

Dickinson(NewYork,

1963),p.

14.