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The Janissaries
- The History and Legacy of the Ottoman Empire’s Elite Infantry Units
- Narrated by: KC Wayman
- Length: 1 hr and 45 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the wake of taking Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire would spend the next few centuries expanding its size, power, and influence, bumping up against Eastern Europe and becoming one of the world’s most important geopolitical players. It was a rise that would not truly start to wane until the 19th century.
Among those who were responsible for the projection of Ottoman power, few deserve as much credit as the Janissaries. Established by Murad I, the Janissaries became an elite infantry force that was loyal only to the sultan. Their mission was to protect only him, and in battles they were always the closest to him, forming a human shield. Originally, they consisted of non-Muslim slaves, mainly Christian boys from Byzantium. Jewish boys were not taken as soldiers, and Muslims could not, by law, be enslaved. Murad had instituted a tax of one fifth on all the slaves taken in war, and the idea of only taking boys fit for fighting was called Devshirme, or blood tax. The slaves went through a very strict training, first learning to speak Turkish and practicing Ottoman traditions by living with a family chosen by the sultan. The boys also were forcibly converted to Islam, forbidden from wearing a beard and lived under monastic circumstances in celibacy. They were overseen by eunuchs and trained in special schools, enhancing their personal abilities. The main difference between these and other slaves was that they were being paid for their services. This served as a motivator and kept the soldiers loyal.
The Janissaries were at first a hated institution by the subjugated Christian minorities. Rather than having their sons taken away, it happened that the parents disfigured their children so as to make them weak and unsuitable for Devshirme. But the status of the Janissaries grew, and in time, they became men of high learning and an ascetic nature, favored by the sultan. As they grew in numbers, they also became very influential in the capital, and their skills as warriors made them feared far beyond the borders of the empire.
The Janissary corps was the first of its kind and a groundbreaking contributor to the success of Ottoman warfare. At the time of Murad’s reign, they were fewer and less respected than what they would become at a later stage, but they were quite significant for Ottoman victories in the Balkans, and as such, they became notorious in Europe. One of the first major battles in which the Janissaries participated occurred when Murad's successor, Bayazid, managed to inflict a decisive defeat on a European army near Nikopol, where the Janissaries used pointed stakes and skillfully adapted to the terrain to repulse enemy knights. In general, the Janissaries were positioned at the front lines of the Ottoman army and were armed with various weapons, including bows and arrows, swords, spears, and shields. The Janissaries quickly became renowned for their disciplined formation and their ability to execute complex military maneuvers.
As the Janissaries gained importance, they became guardians of the territorial integrity of the centralized state and ensured that other military groups were loyal to the sultan. Over time, however, the Janissary units became less and less effective in conflicts with European armies, especially from the 17th century on. The reasons for the decline in efficiency also lay in the fact that, over time, becoming a Janissary was an extremely lucrative position. Therefore, many rich and influential Muslims sent their children to become Janissaries, and thanks to corruption, they avoided having the children undergo military training, so on paper, they were excellent soldiers, but in reality, that wasn’t always the case. Moreover, rapid industrialization in Europe and the improvement of war techniques and weapons, including the increase in the firepower of Christian armies, meant the Janissaries no longer enjoyed technical superiority.
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Great except for pronunt of Turkish names
- By Anonymous User on 11-04-22
By: Marc David Baer
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The Byzantine Empire
- By: Charles Oman
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The Byzantine Empire survived as a self-contained political entity longer than any other in the history of Christianity. This history by Charles Oman is a catalog of good, bad, and indifferent emperors who either pushed Byzantine Civilization to new heights or savagely drove it to defeat and dissolution. It is a strange tale populated by some of the most interesting men and women who have ever lived.
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adequate good book. great reader
- By Felisa Kay on 01-30-21
By: Charles Oman
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Philip and Alexander
- Kings and Conquerors
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Neil Dickson
- Length: 20 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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This definitive biography of one of history's most influential father-son duos tells the story of two rulers who gripped the world - and their rise and fall from power.
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Horrible narrator
- By Anonymous User on 01-05-21
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Crusaders
- The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era.
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Gripping but not tidy
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-20
By: Dan Jones
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The Horde
- How the Mongols Changed the World
- By: Marie Favereau
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Favereau takes us inside one of the most powerful sources of cross-border integration in world history. The Horde was the central node in the Eurasian commercial boom of the 13th and 14th centuries and was a conduit for exchanges across thousands of miles. Its unique political regime - a complex power-sharing arrangement among the khan and the nobility - rewarded skillful administrators and diplomats and fostered an economic order that was mobile, organized, and innovative.
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Golden Horde complete history, well done
- By Amazon Customer on 03-10-22
By: Marie Favereau
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Ghost on the Throne
- The Death of Alexander the Great and the Bloody Fight for His Empire
- By: James S. Romm
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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When Alexander the Great died at the age of 32, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea in the west all the way to modern-day India in the east. In an unusual compromise, his two heirs - a mentally damaged half brother, Philip III, and an infant son, Alexander IV, born after his death - were jointly granted the kingship. But six of Alexander's Macedonian generals, spurred by their own thirst for power and the legend that Alexander bequeathed his rule "to the strongest," fought to gain supremacy.
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ends a bit short
- By RIR on 06-14-21
By: James S. Romm
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Vanished Kingdoms
- The Rise and Fall of States and Nations
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 30 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind. This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. Vanished Kingdoms will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from listeners of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond.
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needs a good editor.
- By Ryan Anderson on 09-25-21
By: Norman Davies
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History's Greatest Generals
- 10 Commanders Who Conquered Empires, Revolutionized Warfare, and Changed History Forever
- By: Michael Rank
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether it is Hannibal of Carthage marching elephants across the Alps and attacking the heart of Rome, Khalid ibn al-Walid boasting an undefeated military career and destroying the Persian Empire while subduing the Byzantines, or Russian General Alexander Suvurov and his elevation of the bayonet to a work of art that could cut down any European army, great military leaders have exerted tremendous influence on society. This book will look at the lives of the 10 greatest military commanders in history.
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Great Book
- By MICHAEL H on 01-27-14
By: Michael Rank
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The Race for Paradise
- An Islamic History of the Crusades
- By: Paul M. Cobb
- Narrated by: Paul M. Cobb
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Race for Paradise, Paul M. Cobb offers a new history of the confrontations between Muslims and Franks we now call the "Crusades", one that emphasizes the diversity of Muslim experiences of the European holy war. There is more to the story than Jerusalem, the Templars, Saladin, and the Assassins. Cobb considers the Arab perspective on all shores of the Muslim Mediterranean, from Spain to Syria.
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A heady piece of history and a romp.
- By Meeno on 05-28-15
By: Paul M. Cobb
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A Short History of Russia
- How the World's Largest Country Invented Itself, from the Pagans to Putin
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: Mark Galeotti
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethnic group, no true central identity. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it has been subject to invasion by outsiders, from Vikings to Mongols, from Napoleon’s French to Hitler’s Germans. In order to forge an identity, it has mythologized its past to unite its people and to signal strength to outsiders. In A Short History of Russia, Mark Galeotti explores the history of this fascinating, glorious, desperate, and exasperating country.
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Wonderful short history
- By Tad Davis on 01-19-21
By: Mark Galeotti
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The Viking Heart
- How Scandinavians Conquered the World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers — including the most famous, the Vikings — would reshape Europe and beyond.
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Confused and not worth the time and money
- By Jacob The Dane on 08-16-21
By: Arthur Herman
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Inca Apocalypse
- The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World
- By: R. Alan Covey
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 19 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Previous accounts of the fall of the Inca empire have played up the importance of the events of one violent day in November 1532 at the highland Andean town of Cajamarca. To some, the "Cajamarca miracle" - in which Francisco Pizarro and a small contingent of Spaniards captured an Inca who led an army numbering in the tens of thousands - demonstrated the intervention of divine providence. To others, the outcome was simply the result of European technological and immunological superiority.
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A Comparison
- By Than on 12-28-20
By: R. Alan Covey
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The Roman Empire
- The Amazing History of a Great Empire That Has Fallen
- By: Kelly Mass, Summaries from History
- Narrated by: Miriam Webster
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Roman Empire has been in the spotlight for ages. It has been studied, research, and taught in schools across the world. Inventions, words, vocabulary, and philosophy have been derived from those important transition in human history. The Romans were ruthless in some ways yet civilized in others. They were a peculiar people who did things differently than those they called barbarians. Their warfare, their habits, their vision of the future...these all made their empire what it became. What is that makes us so obsessed with this particular time period?
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This is great
- By Edwin on 09-26-19
By: Kelly Mass, and others
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The Habsburgs
- To Rule the World
- By: Martyn Rady
- Narrated by: Simon Boughey
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The definitive history of a powerful family dynasty who dominated Europe for centuries - from their rise to power to their eventual downfall.
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An Excellent and Interesting History
- By Darrel Bishop on 09-14-20
By: Martyn Rady
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Scandinavia
- A History
- By: Ewan Butler
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, award-winning historian Ewan Butler writes, struggled through unions and separations with both outsiders and each other, developing their own personalities and languages yet retaining their ancient connections.
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Excellent History of Scandinavia after the Vikings
- By Arthur on 05-05-17
By: Ewan Butler
What listeners say about The Janissaries
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anderson_1
- 01-17-24
Good 👍🏻
This was very informative and worthwhile for how concise it was, the main points that left an impression on my psyché were 1.) Jargon was a term to describe a bastardized language of Turkish and various other indo European languages mashed into one, with it's origin in Turkey's Janissaries, 2.) The Origins of the Ottoman Empire is still a mystery to this day, 3.) Most Janissaries we're Slavic and other Indo European/Caucus Nationalities, 4.) Janissaries, although a extremely vital part of the Ottoman Empires military 🎖️🪖, we're NOT given the same human rights that all Muslims under the Ottoman identity during it's empire enjoyed by the Ottomans and Arabs despite being Muslims under the banner of Islam themselves.
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