Editing Janissary (section)

==Revolts and disbandment==
{{further|Janissary revolt}}
[[File:Surname 22b.jpg|thumb|Banquet ([[Pilaf|Safranpilav]]) for the Janissaries, given by the Sultan. If they refused the meal, they signaled their disapproval of the Sultan. In this case they accept the meal. Ottoman miniature painting, from the ''Surname-i Vehbi'' (1720) at the [[Topkapı Palace]] Museum in [[Istanbul]].]]

As Janissaries became aware of their own importance, they began to desire a better life. By the early 17th century, Janissaries had such prestige and influence that they dominated the government. They could mutiny, dictate policy, and hinder efforts to modernize the army structure. Additionally, the Janissaries found they could change Sultans as they wished through [[palace coup]]s. New rules allowed them to own land and establish businesses. They would also limit the enlistment of new Janissaries to their own sons who did not have to go through the original training period in the ''acemi oğlan'', as well as avoiding the physical selection, thereby reducing their military value. When Janissaries could practically extort money from the Sultan and business and family life replaced martial fervour, their effectiveness as combat troops decreased.

In 1449, they revolted for the first time, demanding higher wages, which they obtained. The stage was set for a decadent evolution, like that of the [[Streltsy]] of Tsar [[Peter the Great|Peter]]'s Russia or that of the [[Praetorian Guard]] which proved the greatest threat to Roman emperors, rather than effective protection. After 1451, every new Sultan felt obligated to pay each Janissary a reward and raise his pay rank (although since early Ottoman times, every other member of the Topkapi court received a pay raise as well). Sultan [[Selim II]] gave Janissaries permission to marry in 1566, undermining the exclusivity of loyalty to the dynasty. By 1622, the Janissaries were a "serious threat" to the stability of the Empire.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=292–295}} Through their "greed and indiscipline", they were now a law unto themselves and, against modern European armies, ineffective on the battlefield as a fighting force.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=292–295}} In 1622, the teenage Sultan [[Osman II]], after a defeat during war against Poland, determined to curb Janissaries' excesses. Outraged at becoming "subject to his own slaves", he tried to disband the Janissary corps, blaming it for the disaster during the Polish war.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=292–295}} In the spring, hearing rumours that the Sultan was preparing to move against them, the Janissaries revolted and took the Sultan captive, imprisoning him in the notorious [[Yedikule Fortress|Seven Towers]]: he was murdered shortly afterward.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=292–295}}

[[File:Patrona Halil Rijksmuseum SK-A-4082.jpeg|thumb|left|Patrona Halil with some of his supporters, painting by [[Jean Baptiste Vanmour]], c. 1730–1737.]]
[[File:Yenieri-aturkishjanissary-gentilebellini.jpg|thumb|A 15th-century Janissary, drawing by [[Gentile Bellini]], who also painted the renowned portrait of Sultan [[Mehmed II]]]]

The extravagant parties of the Ottoman ruling classes during the [[Tulip Period]] caused a lot of unrest among the Ottoman population. In September 1730, janissaries headed by [[Patrona Halil]] backed in Istanbul a rebellion by 12,000 [[Albanians|Albanian]] troops which caused the abdication of Sultan [[Ahmed III]] and the death of the Grand Vizier [[Nevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha|Damad Ibrahim]]. The rebellion was crushed in three weeks with the massacre of 7,000 rebels, but it marked the end of the Tulip Era and the beginning of Sultan [[Mahmud I]]'s reign.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clodfelter |first=M. |title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |year=2017 |edition=4th |isbn=978-0786474707 |pages=649–650}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East|last=Sharkey|first=Heather|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2017|isbn=9780521186872|location=Cambridge|pages=101–102}}</ref> In 1804, the Dahias, the Janissary junta that ruled Serbia at the time, having taken power in the [[Sanjak of Smederevo]] in defiance of the Sultan, feared that the Sultan would make use of the Serbs to oust them. To forestall this they decided to execute all prominent nobles throughout Central Serbia, a move known as the [[Slaughter of the Knezes]]. According to historical sources of the city of [[Valjevo]], the heads of the murdered men were put on public display in the central square to serve as an example to those who might plot against the rule of the Janissaries. The event triggered the start of the [[Serbian Revolution]] with the [[First Serbian Uprising]] aimed at putting an end to the 370 years of Ottoman occupation of modern [[Serbia]].<ref name="NS">Leopold von Ranke. [https://books.google.com/books?id=m0QLAAAAIAAJ ''History of Servia and the Servian Revolution'']. Translated by Louisa Hay Ker. pp. 119–120</ref>

In 1807, a Janissary revolt deposed Sultan [[Selim III]], who had tried to modernize the army along Western European lines.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=431–434}} This modern army that Selim III created was called [[Nizam-ı Cedid]]. His supporters failed to recapture power before [[Mustafa IV]] had him killed, but elevated [[Mahmud II]] to the throne in 1808.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=431–434}} When the Janissaries threatened to oust Mahmud II, he had the captured Mustafa executed and eventually came to a compromise with the Janissaries.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=431–434}} Ever mindful of the threat that the Janissaries posed, the sultan spent the next years discreetly securing his position. The Janissaries' abuse of power, military ineffectiveness, resistance to reform, and the cost of salaries to 135,000 men, many of whom were not actually serving soldiers, had all become intolerable.<ref>Levy, Avigdor. "The Ottoman Ulama and the Military Reforms of Sultan Mahmud II". ''Asian and African Studies'' 7 (1971): 13–39.</ref>

By 1826, the sultan was ready to move against the Janissaries in favour of a more modern military. The sultan informed them, through a [[fatwa]], that he was forming a new army, organised and trained along modern European lines.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=456–457}} As predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=456–457}} In the ensuing fight, the Janissaries' barracks were set aflame by [[artillery]] fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary fatalities.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=456–457}} The survivors were either exiled or executed, and their possessions were confiscated by the Sultan.{{sfn|Kinross|1977|p=456–457}} This event is now called the [[Auspicious Incident]]. The last of the Janissaries were then put to death by decapitation in what was later called the [[White Tower of Thessaloniki|Tower of Blood]], in [[Thessaloniki]].

After the Janissaries were disbanded by Mahmud II, he then created a new army soon after recruiting 12,000 troops. This new army was formally named the Trained Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad, the Mansure Army for short. By 1830, the army expanded to 27,000 troops and included the Sipahi cavalry. By 1838, all Ottoman fighting corps were included and the army changed its name to the Ordered troops. This military corps lasted until the end of the empire's history.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mansure-army "Mansure Army"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220214809/http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mansure-army |date=2016-12-20 }}. ''Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa''.</ref>