Janissaries
The Janissaries (Ottoman Turkish: يڭيچرى yeniçeri, meaning "new soldier") were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards. Sultan Murad I created the force in 1383. The number of Janissaries grew from 20,000 in 1575, to 49,000 (1591), dropped to a low of 17,000 (1648), then rebounded to 135,000 in 1826.
They began as an elite corps of slaves recruited from young Christian boys, and became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. By 1620 they were hereditary and corrupt and an impediment to reform. The corps was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident in which 6,000 or more were executed.
Origins
Some historians such as Patrick Kinross date the formation of the Janissaries to around 1365, during the rule of Orhan's son Murad I, the first sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The Janissaries became the first Ottoman standing army, replacing forces that mostly consisted of tribal warriors (ghazis) whose loyalty and morale were not always guaranteed.
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