So, it turns out you might have been talking about some portion of the Jannisary corps, so I have to contest the way you described them. They way you described them was like some kind of mass effort to take men who captured, and turn them into a tortured, rape-zombie militia. When it was more that children were being groomed into a highly trained and zealous military units (I'm just going to point out that that isn't the first time that such a thing happened in that region of Europe... Sparta). Neither are good (it's the Ottomans, nothing is actually good), but it sounded like you were talking about a mass depopulation effort with conscripts, and not institutionalized grooming program to develop zealot soldiers.
You might be surprised at the existence of the koceks, Turkey's equivalent to the bacha bazi of Afghanistan.
Like I said, not really. I don't really understand why Greek Pedastry has such a long lasting impact everywhere that Alexander might have touched, but it did. There's something about Ancient Greek pedastry that just fucking lingers through millennia.
As you might guess, koceks also had a role in demoralizing the subject populations of the OE - without fighting, of course, because they were kept around for fun and not for war.
I feel like you're looking at this from the wrong perspective. As with any harem from any time period, it's not meant as a threat to the population, but luxury of the elites. Slavery, in many forms, has this kind of "civilizing" argument by the slavers. It servers as a status symbol among themselves, as well as a demonstration of their "mercy" and "wisdom" to civilize backward peoples... with their dick.
Like, it's Islam. Marrying a 12 year old isn't crazy to them. That doesn't mean they're trying to use that to demoralize Arabs, Persians, or Turkmen by marrying off daughters, or even having them as harem members. A sex slave would just be an exotic luxury of the slaver's most recent conquest. Moreover, what we see from any study of slavery is that parents are prepared to sell children to slavers.
There are many ways every Islamic Empire is prepared to brutalize a people, but this doesn't really seem like one of them. This seems like a gift that the elites gave themselves.
For example, his extremely brutal treatment of the boyars wasn't just motivated by his desire to centralize Wallachia
Keyword: just. The focal point is always his power and control.
With that in mind, I don't believe it's likely he'd have had no vengeful feelings over the Turks turning his younger brother into their boytoy and then their pet pretender against his crown.
Honestly, I feel like he'd be more pissed off at his brother for threatening his crown.
So, it turns out you might have been talking about some portion of the Jannisary corps, so I have to contest the way you described them. They way you described them was like some kind of mass effort to take men who captured, and turn them into a tortured, rape-zombie militia. When it was more that children were being groomed into a highly trained and zealous military units (I'm just going to point out that that isn't the first time that such a thing happened in that region of Europe... Sparta). Neither are good (it's the Ottomans, nothing is actually good), but it sounded like you were talking about a mass depopulation effort with conscripts, and not institutionalized grooming program to develop zealot soldiers.
Like I said, not really. I don't really understand why Greek Pedastry has such a long lasting impact everywhere that Alexander might have touched, but it did. There's something about Ancient Greek pedastry that just fucking lingers through millennia.
I feel like you're looking at this from the wrong perspective. As with any harem from any time period, it's not meant as a threat to the population, but luxury of the elites. Slavery, in many forms, has this kind of "civilizing" argument by the slavers. It servers as a status symbol among themselves, as well as a demonstration of their "mercy" and "wisdom" to civilize backward peoples... with their dick.
Like, it's Islam. Marrying a 12 year old isn't crazy to them. That doesn't mean they're trying to use that to demoralize Arabs, Persians, or Turkmen by marrying off daughters, or even having them as harem members. A sex slave would just be an exotic luxury of the slaver's most recent conquest. Moreover, what we see from any study of slavery is that parents are prepared to sell children to slavers.
There are many ways every Islamic Empire is prepared to brutalize a people, but this doesn't really seem like one of them. This seems like a gift that the elites gave themselves.
Keyword: just. The focal point is always his power and control.
Honestly, I feel like he'd be more pissed off at his brother for threatening his crown.