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The Janissary corps was the only infantry division of the Ottoman army. In battle the Janissaries' main mission was to protect the Sultan, using cannon and smaller firearms, and holding the centre of the army against enemy attack during the strategic fake forfeit of Turkish cavalry.
The janissaries comprised infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguard. The first janissary units comprised war captives and slaves. After the 1380s Sultan Mehmed I filled their ranks with the results of taxation in human form called devshirme : the Sultan's men conscripted a number of non- Muslim , usually ...
At first, the janissary corps was only an infantry force, but in the 15th century, the separation of other types of troops began as well — artillery divisions and court cavalry, called Kapıkulu Süvarileri ("Household Slave Cavalry") — Six Divisions of Cavalry. In times of peace and war, they provide the Sultan's personal security.
The Janissaries had initially been an infantry bodyguard using bows and arrows. By the time of Sultan Mehmed II, they had been drilled with firearms and became "perhaps the first standing infantry force equipped with firearms in the world." [11] The Janissaries are thus considered the first modern standing armies.
The Janissary Corps had long been the mainstay of the Ottoman infantry and remained so until its disbandment in 1826. However, estimates of the strength of the Corps vary greatly: by 1790, some 12,000 (2,000 combat) were said to reside in Istanbul alone, yet when summoned for campaign in 1810, only 13,000 assembled.
Military personnel in the Ottoman Empire were assigned different duties according to their capabilities in order to administer the Armed Forces and particularly to be successful in battle. They were given various ranks so that they could conduct relations with each other and be fully aware of their duties.
Kapıkulu (Ottoman Turkish: قپوقولی اوجاغی, Kapıkulu Ocağı, "Slaves of the Sublime Porte") was the collective name for the household division of the Ottoman Sultans. They included the Janissary infantry corps as well as the Six Divisions of Cavalry.
This way, the Ottoman classical army's flanks wholly consisted of Timariot cavalry, while the center consisted of Janissary infantry and artillery divisions. Timariot armour dating to 1480–1500 The equipment and tactics differed between the Anatolian and Balkan Timarli Sipahi.