Janissary Corps

A Janissary was a soldier in the standing army of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Ottomans were the first to devise a standing army in recent times, giving them an immense advantage over Europeans countries. The Janissary corps was formed about 1380 by Sultan Murad I Bey. The Janissaries lasted until about 1826, when their many revolts and increasing ineffectiveness led to the abolition of the corps and its replacement by a modernized army. They replaced the feudal ghazi army with a core consisting of a small body of trained professional soldiers who were supposedly loyal only to the sultan.