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

SlavesinWar:The

HistoricalRecord

31

Similarly,

in

Venezuelathe

"Royalistshadthe

unpleasant

repu-

tationof

putting

all

theblacksinthefront

line,

presumably

to

savetheirwhite

troops."

a

Thefateof

captivesdepended

largely

on

theirown

fightingskills.If

they

had

none,theyservedas

cannon

fodder;butif

they

had

some,then

theyperformedless

gruesomefunctions.Skilled

captivessometimes

joined

thevic-

torious

army

asfree

men,

subordinates,

or

slaves.

Although

strongfighters,such

captiveswere

always

unreliable

andcould

notbe

counted

upon

toshow

any

allegiance,

so

theyhadtobe

strictlycontrolled.

They

tendedto

bebettertreatedand

more

reliable when

theyconstituted aclassof

soldiers; then

they

changedsides

lightly,beingmoreconcernedto

remaininthe

militaryranksthanto

fight

for

any

factional

allegiance.

MilitaryFunctions

Sincemost

masters

thought

that

slaveshadno

military

skills

and

fearedtheir

mutiny

or

desertion,

few

ordinary

slaveswere

en-

listedintothe

armyitself.Mostslavesfilled

noncombatant

posi-

tions;sometimes

they

servedas

auxiliary

soldiers,butit

usually

requiredan

emergency

to

inducerulerstoenroll

slaveswithin

the

armyitself.

Nearly

allslaves

inwarfittedintooneof

these

three

categories:

support,auxiliary,

or

emergency.

Whenslaves

stayedoutofthedirect

lineoffire,

theywere

bettercontrolledand

couldusesomeofthe

civilianskills

they

already

possessed?

4

Like

womeninsomemodern

armies,slaves

tookon

thenoncombatant

duties,whichreleased

soldiersfor

fighting,

a

The

variety

oftheirwork

behindthelineswasend-

less:

they

staffedthe

notorious

galley

crewsinboth

theMediter-

ranean andthe
Atlantic,

an

they

maintained

stables inancient

p.

67.

The

Mongols

didnot

have

military

slaves

atfirst,but

madeuseofthem

by

theend

ofthe

7th/13th

century

(John

Masson

Smith,

Jr.,

The

History

of

theSar-

badr

Dynasty1336-1381A.D.

andItsSources

(The

Hague,

1970),p.110.

33.

Lombardi,p.39.

34.AR,

pp.94-103,134-56(British

use)givescompleteaccounts.

35. Rouland,
    pp.41-42.


36. Mediterranean:
    Westermann,
    p.

67;Halkin,

p.46;Barrow,

p.

148;CW,

p.

277;Garlan,
pp.

38,41;

Sargent,pp.264-74,

saystheyhadasmallrolein

Athens;L.Casson,
"GalleySlaves,"Transactionsand
Proceedings
of

theAmerican