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

SlavesinWar:The

HistoricalRecord

25

justfromoutsideIslamdom

butfromthefirsttwo

centuriesof

Muslim

history.

This

chapteroutlinesthe

ways

inwhichordi-

nary

and

military

slaveswereused. It

isthefirst

comparative

analysis

of

ordinaryslavesinwarfare.

OrdinarySlaves

ConditionsofUse

In

peacetime

ordinary

slaves

workedat

nonmilitary

occupations

as

personalretainers,domestic

servants,

plantation

workers--

and

engaged

in

warfare

onlyby

chance

when

every

able

body

was

needed.

Just

as

householdslaves

might

sometimes

help

to

harvesta

crop,

so

ordinaryslaves

occasionallyfought;yet

many

limitations

alwayshampered

their

effectiveness.The

slaveowner

rarelythought

ofhis

ordinary

slavesas

potentialsoldiers.

They

provided him with various

services,

personal

and

economic,

which

normally

had

nothing

todo

withwarfare.

Normally,that

is,untilwarbroke

out;then

militaryneeds

compelled

a

slave-

owner to assess his

slaves’

possible usefulness as soldiers?

Whenwarbroke

out,slaveowners

usually

felt

reluctanttouse

theirslavesinbattle.

4

Besidesan

ideological

aversionto

honor-

ing

slaveswith

armswhichcould

take theformofa

legalpro-

hibitionpthis

reluctancestemmedbothfrom

theirlowestima-

3. Greece:Westermann,
   p.16;Welwei,1:2;Rome:Halkin,
   p.46;Treggiari,

p.68;Peru:Bowser,

p.

309;Venezuela:

Lombardi,p.46;U.S.:AR,

pp.vii,8.

4. For
   example,inGreece:Westermann,
   p.37;Sargent,
   p.

201.Ifthe

gov-

ernmentowneditsown

slaves,itwas

likely

tousethemfirst

before

enrollingpri-

vatelyownedslaves

(Jacob,p.63).

5.

Rome:Halkin,

p.

44;Barrow,

p.146;Rouland,

pp.

48,91-97.BritishWest

Indies:"A

Negroisneverof

any

useinthe

plantationafter

they

[s/c]have

carried

arms"

(Buckley,

p.

38);Goveia,

p.

253.

The

followingstatementscomeoutoftheConfederate

debateover

arming

slavesattheendofthe

CivilWarintheUnitedStates:

"Whenwearmthem,we

abandon

slavery"(Hay,p.63).

"Ifthe

negrowasfittobea

soldier,

hewas

notfit

tobea

slave"(ibid.).

"If

they

areto

fightforourfreedom

they

areentitledto

theirown"(TheWar

of

theRebellion:A
Compilation
of

the

Official

Records

of

theUnionand

Confederate

Armies,

ed.F.C.Ainsworthetal.,
70 vols.in 128
[Washington,

D.C.,

1880-1901],ser.4,

3:959).