Military Governor's Barracks (ME) (ETW building)
| Military Governor's Barracks | |
|---|---|
| Category: | Military |
| Level: | 3 |
| Turns to build: | 5 |
| Building cost: | 3000 |
| |
| Requires | |
 Military Governor's Encampment | |
Janissary barracks are the recruiting, training and housing centres for the most feared soldiers in the Ottoman army.
The janissaries are the “yeni cheri” (literally the “new soldiers”) although they are the earliest organised, regularly paid, state army in existence in Europe. Recruited as child soldiers from among the non-Muslims of the Ottoman world, indoctrination produces superb warriors and unquestioningly loyal state functionaries.
The long, proud and bloody tradition of janissary victory and excessive zeal was a result and a cause of an almost-monastic training regime. This tradition as a “warrior order” influenced in turn the ascetic architectural style of their barracks. That, at least, is the theory. Lacking local loyalties, and having had their family ties broken, they became the “enforcers of empire” as well as its defenders because they had no reason to be sympathetic towards anyone not in their ranks.
Historically, however, the janissaries did not remain elite warriors and nothing else. They extended their reach into all aspects of the state bureaucracy, practiced a variety of trades and professions in addition to soldiering, and often lived a less-than-celibate lifestyle. They also became conservative in outlook and a real obstacle to any kind of political, military or social reform.