They became the shock troops of the Ottoman Empire, established by the Turkish Bey Murad I in the late 1300’s. Realizing that troop levies from the tribal chieftains sometimes left him without dependable troops just when he needed them the most, he began to build a corps of soldier-slaves, at first from his prisoners of war, who were offered the not-so-difficult choice of death vs. serving as soldiers sworn directly to the Bey. After converting to Islam, they were then castrated and assigned to live in isolation from all other troops and from society. They became the most feared fighting force in Europe and the Middle East for nearly half a millennium.

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