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

12 TheIslamicateContext

Outside

Europe,

the

earlyCh’ing

useofservileadministratorsis

perhaps

thebest-known

example;

their

presence

in

Ethiopia

mayhavebeenduetoimitationofIslamicatemodels.

1

Despite

the

high

standing

and

power

which

government

slaves

sharewith

military

slaves,thetwo

groups

are

fundamentally

dif-

ferent.

Whereas

government

slavesarechosenfrom

among

the

ruler’s

servants,military

slavesaresoldiers.Governmentslaves

cannotbuild

up

a

power

baseoftheirownandalmostnever

threatentheirmaster;

military

slaves,however,can

develop

such

abasefromwithintheirown

corps

anduseittostand

up

tothe

ruler.The

differencehereis

explainedbyorigins,

notfunctions,

for

government

slavescantakeon

military

dutiesand

military

slaves often receive administrative

appointments.

Yet, even

when

they

have

military

command,

government

slavesremain

merely

the

agents

oftheirmaster;militaryslavesinadministra-

tiveor

political

positions,however,

retaintheir

military

baseand

canbuild

upindependentpoliticalpower

fromit.Their

military

connections,

group solidarity,

andclose

ties

to

the

ruler

pro-

pel

themintoawide

variety

of

positions--aspersonal

counsel-

ors,

top

administrators,

provincial governors, special agents,

confidential

agents,

andsoon.Incaseaftercase

they

enterthe

ruler’s

entourage,go

ontodominatethecourt,thenthecentral

government,

andsometimeseventake overthe realm itself.

Thesemany

opportunities

are

uniquelyopen

tomilitaryslaves.

IsHeaTrueSlave?

Thedifferencesbetween

military

andotherslavesareso

great

thatonewondersifthe

former

should

even

beconsideredslaves

des

r’bmischenReiches,pp.54,

57,

70,73,100,andA.M.

Wergeland,Slavery

in

Germanic

Societyduring

the

MiddleAges"(Chicago,1916),pp.54-57.Ontheminis-

teriales,seetheconvenient

summary

inthe14thedition

ofEncyclopaedia

Britan-

nica,15:525.For

Muscovy,my

informationcomes

from

the

research

of

Richard

Hellie,mostofitnot

yetpublished.

Forbriefdiscussions,seehis"RecentSoviet

Historiography

onMedievaland

Early

ModernRussianSlavery,"

Russian

Review

35

(1976):18-20;andidem,"MuscoviteSlavery,"

pp.

176-77.

12.China:

J.

D.

Spence,Ts’aoYinandthe

Kang-hsiEmperor,pp.

7-18;forear-

lieruse,C.M.Wilbur,

Slavery

inChina

during

theFormerHan

Dynasty,

206 B.C.-25

A.D.
(Chicago,

1943),

pp.

230-31.For

Ethiopia,

seeA.H.M.

Jones

andE.Mon-

roe,

A

Histoy

of

Ethiopia

(Oxford,1935),

p.

69.