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

40

TheIslamicateContext

1.

Systematicacquisition.

ItwasofficialBritish

policy

toac-

quire

slavesinsubstantialnumbersfrom

Africaand

transport

themtotheCaribbean.

Theslaveswere

sought

fromthemost

warlikenationsandhadtomeetcertainstandards(suchas
being

acertain
height).

The

Regiments

includedamixtureofmany

ethnic
groups.

72

2. Professional employment.

The black soldier "wore the

same uniform and

enjoyed

the same

pay,

allowances, and

privileges

ashiswhitecomrade-in-arms."

7

3. Isolation..Theslaves
   rarely

deserted,having

nowhere to

go.

To

minimizecontactwith

others,

thesoldierswere

expected

to be celibate; when this
requirement

failed,

prostitutes

and

wiveswereallowed.Theauthoritiesmade
particular

efforts

to

keep

slavesoldiersandordinaryslaves

apart.

TM

4.

Competence

and

loyalty.

Timeand

again,

theBritishWest

India

Regiments

undertookdifficulttasksandexecutedthem

withdistinction.
They

were"reliableandefficientcorps"which,

withone
majorexception

(a

revolt

on

Dominicain

1802),proved

loyal

anddevoted.They

had

amajor

rolein

maintaining

the

plantocracy

andslave

system

oftheWestIndies,

fighting

even

against

Africanslavesand

runaways.

;5

Despite

these

important

similaritieswith

military

slaves, the

WestIndia
Regiment

soldierswerenotpart

ofa

military

slave

systemcomparable

totheIslamicateones,asthe

following

dif-

ferencesshow.

1.

Emergency

nature.TheWestIndia

Regiments

existedonly

because
tropical

diseaseskilledoffBritishsoldiers

intheCarib-

beanandthe
army

hadtofindsome

troops

whocould

replace

them.

They

werea

"desperate

measure,"nota

preferredsys-

tem.

;6

IfEuropeanscouldhavesurvived there,

slaveswould

neverhave

fought

insuchan

organized

fashion;

evenunder

72.Ibid.,pp.53,117,117-18.

73.

Ibid.,p.

65.

74.Ibid.,

pp.

109,

124-27.

75.Ibid.,

pp.

89-91,107

(quote),

76-77,141.

76.Ibid.,

pp.

2-4,7,11,17,95,97-105,108;18,20.