The Janissaries — Elite Warriors of the Sultan

They were taken as children from Christian families through the devshirme system, converted to Islam, educated in the palace schools, and trained from boyhood to become the most feared infantry in the world. The Janissaries owed their entire existence to the sultan — no family ties, no outside loyalties, nothing but the corps and the empire. For three centuries they were the backbone of Ottoman military power. Then they became too powerful to control. In 1826, Sultan Mahmud II ordered the Janissary barracks surrounded and bombarded. Thousands died. The corps was abolished. Their kettledrum was silenced. The Ottoman state then rebuilt itself without them.

These signs carry the tall white felt cap, the kettledrum, the crescent and star, and the janissary corps that defined Ottoman military supremacy for three centuries.