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

SlavesinWar:The

HistoricalRecord 41

emergency

circumstances,a

deepopposition

toslaves

fighting

prevailed,
especiallyamong

thesettlers.

77

2. Provincial
   troops.

UnliketheMuslims,whomade slaves

theelite
corps,the
mainstay

ofarmies,andthe

protection

of

thecourt,theBritishusedslavesoldiersinaremote
region.

The

slaveshad
only

minor

importance

fortheBritish

Empire

asa

whole,comparableperhaps

tothe

Ottomans

employing

Janis-

saries
only

intheSudan.HadtheBritish

brought

theseslavesto

England,employed

themintheColdstreamGuard,and

placed

themintheHouseofLords,
they

wouldhavehadan

importance

comparabletotheirroleinIslamdom.

3.

Specific

task.Until1797,theWestIndia

Regimentswere

notconsidered
permanenttroops;

andeven

thoughthey

were

classifiedas
permanent

afterthat

year,they

weredisbandedas

soonasthe
Napoleonic

Warsendedin1815.

78

The

Regiments

cameinto
being

anddissolvedin

accordance

with

specificneeds;

they

werenot

part

ofan

on-goingmilitarysystem.

4.

Ideological

racism.Thefactthat

only

blackAfricansbe-

cameslaves
gave

adifferent

tenorto

theuseofslaves

inwar.

They

were

despised

andfearedina

way

thatslavesoftheMus-

limswere not.The
sight

ofblack

troops guarding

whitede-

serters struck white observers as a

"revoltingsight."

Whites

officeredtheblacksoldiersbecause"tocommissionblacksinthe

regularBritish
regiments

thatwereto

garrison

Britishislands

wouldbe
bestowing

onthema

dignity

andsocialelevationthat

was the
guarded preserve

of

upper-class

whites.

’’79

White

officerswhowereattachedtotheBlacks"loathedservice"with

them

andhadan

appalling

rateofabsenteeism

(forexample,

forty-seven

outof

fifty-nine).

8

TheWestIndia

Regimentspresent

themost

elaborate

useof

slavesassoldiersoutsideIslamdom.

81

WhiletheBritishdidem-

77.Slaveswererecruited

only

whenfree

Negroesdidnotsuffice,ibid.,

p.

25.

78.Ibid.,

pp.

28,94,134-36.

79.Ibid.,

p;

22.

80.

Ibid.,pp.32-33.

81.

Theymay

have

inspiredthePortugueseauthoritiesin

Ceylon

to

purchase