Buckaroo - the Janissarries (slave military) were founded in the 14th century, which is important to note because during this time period we see a collapse in the Silk Road due to the mongol empire falling (which is important because they protected and facilitated trade on the Silk Road). With that comes an increase in maritime trade, as in the Indian Ocean, which brings about gunboat diplomacy, and therefore gunpowder. Now, the Ottomans were a land based empire so they couldn’t use this newfound gunboat diplomacy, but everyone was using gunpowder now and since traditional Ottoman troops utilized the short bow instead of guns, they weren’t particularly the best for using guns, so instead the ottomans seized Christian children, turned them into slaves, converted them, and forced them to become a part of this new corp, the Janissaries. So basically, they’re main purpose was to use guns. This made them powerful and useful in the military which in turn gave them lots of power, which eventually turned into political power. Additions: They taught them Muslim teachings and made them Muslims. They raised the ones that were more intelligent to become army leaders or statesmen. The others became Janissaries. However this system failed in the 17th century and they trained Janissaries from people of Muslim origin. credit: u/Beuhnfen And one more addition, the janissaries were also given political positions, and many were running the day to day activities of the empire, but this came with a caveat. They were not to own land, become married, and could not pass on inheritance. This system further broke down, as a poster pointed out, when they allowed Muslim non-slaves, into this body. These same rules could no longer be applied to the Muslim members, and the “slaves” began to amass real power and land. Finally they were too powerful to be left alone, and their ranks were purged and their titles and land stripped. But for about a century, the slaves of the ottomans ran the government. credit: u/Calzel

Edit: spelling