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

SlavesinWar:TheHistorical

Record 37

continuedto

fight

onhorsebackalongside

theirowners,andthis

system

wasnotdiscardeduntiltheseventeenth

century,

when

most

slaves

were

ultimatelyrelegated

to

guarding

the

baggage

train,

n

Finally,

inthe

eighteenthcentury,

"theslaveswere

displacedby

peasant

recruits.

TM

"Oneof

theminorissuesinRussian

historiography"

revolves

around the
question

oftheslaves’

military

role in

Muscovy.

Somethink
theyfought

alongside

their

masters,

others

say

that

"they

had

largely

noncombat,secondary

roles,suchasaccom-

panying

and

guarding

the

baggage

train,

keeping

thehorses,

getting

foodandfodder,andsoon.

’’2

Whatevertheirexact

role

was,

andhowevernumeroustheslaveswere,

it

is

clear

they

did

nothavethe

important

functionsof

military

slaves.

TheManchus.

TheChinesethemselvesmadealmostnouseof

slavesas

soldiers

(thoughgiven

theirlowestimationofthe

mili-

tary

asacareer,it

might

seem

likely).

Theone

approach

toan

organized

useofslaves

inwartook

place

whentheManchus

were

in

theprocess

of

conquering

China.

The Manchus, a semibarbarian

people

whose habitat ex-

tendedfromtheforestsofManchuria

tothenorthofChina,

unitedunderNurhaciin 1613 andbegan

a

vigorous

attackon

the

Ming

government

ofChinain1618;

by

1621

they

had

cap-

tured

severalChinesecities.

Many

Chinesefell

captive

tothe

Manchusandweremadetheirslaves.

At

first,

theseslaves

(Man-

chu:booi,Chinese:pao-i,usually

translatedinto

English

"bond-

servant")didmostly

menialhouseholdchoresand"wererarely

used in actual

fighting.

’’63

With time, however,

the Manchu

leaders found this "loose

system

of

privately

owned slaves"

deficientfortworeasons:

itdidnotallowthemtocentralize

power

nortocontrol

their

manpower

directly.Also,

"astheMan-

chus

conqueredincreasing

amountsof

territory

settled

by

the

Chineseitbecamea

practical

necessitytoorganize

the

captured

meninsome

way

thatwas

moreformalthan

allotting

themto

60.Ibid.,p.165;idem,

"Muscovite

Slavery,"p.

177.

61.Hellie,Enserfment,p.

221.

62.Ibid.,pp.

368 n.167,290n.119.

63.

Spence,p.

7.