Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
First the Saracens, then the Mamluks are enmeshed in southern Italian culture (saraceni and mamelucchi in contemporary Italian) with a negative connotation because of raids and threats of invasion.
Way back in my USMC days, the ceremonial swords we had were styled after Mamluk weapons, one such sword being presented to Lt Presley O'Bannon by the Sultan of Tripoli after he helped defeat the Barbary pirates in the early 1800s. It was then made the model for Marine swords henceforth.
The Mamluks were very effective heavy cavalry and feared warriors in their time and were highly successful on the field of battle. They were mostly Turks of various lineages, captured as youths and pressed into military service for Egyptian rulers. More heavily armed and armored than the Mongols, they employed similar steppe tactics against them successfully.
The most enduring Mamluk realm was the knightly military caste in Egypt in the Middle Ages, which developed from the ranks of slave soldiers. These were mostly enslaved Turkic peoples, Egyptian Copts, Circassians, Abkhazians, and Georgians. Many Mamluks were also of Balkan origin (Albanians, Greeks, and South Slavs
As I understand it, most of these were slaves taken from what is now the Russian and Turkish plains during ancient times and brought farther into the middle east. Skilled in warfare by horse, they became excellent slave soldiers. Later they adapted and were assimilated into there enslaved lands and gradually became a power base of there own, until they eventually assumed power over their previous enslavers.
Napoleon, during his Egyptian campaign, was so impressed with them he took back Mamluke bodyguards back to France to use in his Imperial Guard.
No doubt they were a match for the Mongols as they faught in a similiar manner.
Mamluk were just mercenary, soldier/slaves. I dont know why so many civilization did this. They took younglings from tributaries and raised them to be their elite soldiers.
Anyways over time the mamluks were drawn from different regions. I wonder what the origins are for the specific Mamlukes that beat the Mongols are.
Mamluk were just mercenary, soldier/slaves. I dont know why so many civilization did this. They took younglings from tributaries and raised them to be their elite soldiers.
Anyways over time the mamluks were drawn from different regions. I wonder what the origins are for the specific Mamlukes that beat the Mongols are.
Napoleon is usually considered to be the first man who mobilized an entire nation. Before about 1800, when a king somewhere wanted to go to war he grabbed up whoever he could.
I say "usually" because it seems to me that the Mongols went to war as a people, if not a country. But that was around 1200 - long before Napoleon.
More typical of 1200 was the Crusades, which was just a bunch of knights, soldiers, adventurers, zealots and maybe their wives and children. It must have been a madhouse!
Napoleon is usually considered to be the first man who mobilized an entire nation. Before about 1800, when a king somewhere wanted to go to war he grabbed up whoever he could.
I say "usually" because it seems to me that the Mongols went to war as a people, if not a country. But that was around 1200 - long before Napoleon.
More typical of 1200 was the Crusades, which was just a bunch of knights, soldiers, adventurers, zealots and maybe their wives and children. It must have been a madhouse!
Feudalism. there maybe kings but the kingdom was divided into fiefdoms who raised their own armies
Napoleon was also the one who finally defeated the Mamluks in battle. One of the most one sided battles in history. This battled occurred in Egypt. If the history of the mamluks interests you check the battle of the pyramids. https://www.napoleon-empire.com/battles/pyramides.php is a quick and easy read about the battle.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
