Editing Janissary (section)

{{Short description|Elite infantry units and standing army of the Ottoman Empire (active 1363–1826)}}
{{for|the series of novels by Jerry Pournelle|Janissaries series}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = Janissary
| image                         = Lambert Wyts - Agha of the Janissaries and a Bölük of the Janissaries.jpg 
| image_size                    = 230px
| caption                       = ''[[Agha of the Janissaries]] and a Bölük of the Janissaries'' by [[Lambert Wyts]], 1573
| dates                         = 1363–1826 (1830 for Algiers)
| allegiance                    = {{flag|Ottoman Empire|1453}}
| type                          = [[Infantry]]
| role                          = Standing professional military
| size                          = 1,000 (1400){{sfn|Nicolle|1983|pp=9–10}}<br/> 7,841 (1484){{sfn|Ágoston|2014|p=113}}<br/> 13,599 (1574){{sfn|Ágoston|2014|p=113}}<br/> 37,627 (1609){{sfn|Ágoston|2014|p=113}}<br/> 135,000 (1826)<ref>{{cite book |author=George F. Nafziger |author-link=George Nafziger |title=Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dcr7Zt2FEPoC&pg=PA154 |year=2001 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |pages=153–54 |isbn=9780810866171}}</ref>
| command_structure             = [[Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries|Ottoman army]]
| garrison                      = [[Adrianople]]<br>[[Constantinople]]
| garrison_label                = Garrisons
| nickname                      = 
| patron                        = 
| motto                         = 
| colors                        = [[Blue]], [[red]], and [[green]]
| colors_label                  = 
| march                         = 
| mascot                        = 
| equipment                     = Various
| equipment_label               = 
| battles                       = [[Battle of Kosovo]], [[Battle of Nicopolis]], [[Battle of Ankara]], [[Battle of Varna]], [[Fall of Constantinople]], [[Battle of Chaldiran]], [[Battle of Mohács]], [[Siege of Vienna (1529)|Siege of Vienna]], [[Great Siege of Malta]], and [[List of battles involving the Ottoman Empire|others]]
| anniversaries                 = 
| decorations                   = 
| battle_honours                = <!-- Commanders -->
| commander1_label              = Commander
| commander1                    = [[Agha of the Janissaries]]
| commander2                    = 
| commander2_label              = 
| commander3                    = 
| commander3_label              = 
| notable_commanders            = 
}}
{{Military of the Ottoman Empire sidebar}}

A '''janissary''' ({{langx|ota|یڭیچری|yeŋiçeri}}, {{IPA|tr|je.ˈŋi.t͡ʃe.ɾ̞i|}}, {{lit|new soldier}}) was a member of the elite [[infantry]] units that formed the [[Ottoman sultan]]'s household troops. They were the first modern [[standing army]], and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with [[firearms]], adopted during the reign of [[Murad II]].<ref name="Ágoston 2017">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Ágoston |author-first=Gábor |year=2017 |title=Janissaries |editor1-last=Fleet |editor1-first=Kate |editor2-last=Krämer |editor2-first=Gudrun |editor2-link=Gudrun Krämer |editor3-last=Matringe |editor3-first=Denis |editor4-last=Nawas |editor4-first=John |editor5-last=Rowson |editor5-first=Everett K. |editor5-link=Everett K. Rowson |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam 3|Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE]] |volume=2 |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_30927 |isbn=978-90-04-33571-4 |issn=1873-9830}}</ref>{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=52}}{{sfn|Goodwin|1998|pp=59, 179–181}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Streusand|first=Douglas E.|title=Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaQ_BAAAQBAJ|location=[[Philadelphia]]|publisher=[[Westview Press]]|year=2011|isbn=978-0813313597|page=83|quote=The word "Janissary" derives from the Turkish ''yeni cheri'' (''yeni çeri'', new army). They were originally an infantry bodyguard of a few hundred men using the bow and edged weapons. They adopted firearms during the reign of Murad II and were perhaps the first standing infantry force equipped with firearms in the world.}}</ref> The corps was established under either [[Orhan]] or [[Murad I]],<ref name="Ágoston 2017"/> and dismantled by [[Mahmud II]] in 1826.

Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement,<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> by which [[Ethnic groups in Europe|indigenous European]] [[Christians|Christian boys]], chiefly from the [[Balkans]], were taken, levied, subjected to [[forced circumcision]] and [[Forced conversion#Islam|forced conversion to Islam]],<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> and incorporated into the [[Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries|Ottoman army]].<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slaves]], they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the [[Ottoman sultan]] was expected.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of the Modern Middle East|author1=William Cleveland|author2=Martin Bunton|publisher=Westview Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-8133-4833-9|pages=43}}</ref> By the 17th century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps' initially strict recruitment policy was relaxed. Civilians bought their way into it in order to benefit from the improved socio-economic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its military character, undergoing a process that has been described as "civilianization".{{sfn|Ágoston|2014|pp=119–120}}

The Janissary Corps were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western Europe [[Early modern warfare|modernized its military organization and technology]], the Janissaries became a [[reactionary]] force that resisted all change within the Ottoman army. Steadily the Ottoman military power became outdated, but when the Janissaries felt their privileges were being threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their [[Sipahi|cavalry rivals]], they would rise in rebellion. By the time the Janissaries were suppressed, it was too late for Ottoman military power to catch up with the West.<ref>Peter Mansfield, ''A History of the Middle East'' (1991) p. 31</ref> The Janissary Corps was abolished by [[Mahmud II]] in 1826 in the [[Auspicious Incident]], in which 6,000 or more were [[Capital punishment|executed]].{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=456-457}}