Mamluks are the guard troops of Muslim rulers. In general, the very concept of “guard” as the elite of the army appeared quite a long time ago. In Persians, for example, it was the famous “immortals”, about which, perhaps, someday there will be a separate article. But for the Arabs it was the same Mamluks, who were not actually Arabs. And now let’s turn to history.
Mamluks — one of the powerful military estates in history
In XI — XIII centuries on the vast territory to the south of modern Russia up to the Danube there was a people who called themselves Kipchaks. They are better known to you from the school history course as the Polovtsians, who regularly attacked all their neighbors, including the Slavs. They didn’t have their own statehood, but you can’t say that they lived in trees and didn’t wipe themselves. At least with trees in the steppe was tight, as well as with paper. An ordinary nomadic people without a centralized power and a certain core was doomed when faced with a solid empire that swept across the steppes like a roller. Of course, we are talking about the Mongols, who in the XIII century began to dominate and mercilessly massacre everyone who got under their hands. The Kipchaks also suffered, and soon they were sold into slavery on an industrial scale. And then the Arabs intervened.
Why did the Arabs need foreigners? The point is that Arab caliphs, striving to raise their power and authority, relied exclusively on foreign slaves, because they did not trust their own subjects. In the era of internecine strife, you never know who your countrymen secretly support: in any caliphate there were local Navalny who were not averse to overthrowing the caliph and taking his place. Thus arose the institution of the Mamluks, composed mainly of Turks and Circassians. Why them? Exclusively because of their characteristics: both of them were considered the best warriors and were famous all over the world for their fighting skills. Arabs even had a proverb “In the lands of Arabs, Persians and Russes the word belongs to Turks, the fear of whose swords is still alive in hearts”. Besides it was considered, that Turks have been specially sent by Allah, because they were “free from unnatural vices” — that is, among them there were no sodomites.
Other nations respected the Turks and recognized them as born warriors
In general, the Arabs actively recruited Mamluk regiments. Over time, their strength increased, and with it their appetites. At that time the Ayyubid dynasty ruled in Egypt — more precisely, Turan Shah, the last Ayyubid on the throne (1249-1250). He clearly saw that the Mamluk emirs were actively increasing their influence and tried to stop it, but it was too late. His wife Shajar al-Durr colluded with the authoritative Mamluk emir Aybek and deposed her husband from the throne, thus beginning the era of Mamluk rule in Egypt. From then on, only Mamluks — that is, people who were bought at slave markets — could become sultans. Even if you were born into a Mamluk family, it still didn’t count, only a former slave could be a sultan — that was the tradition.
Steppe warriors were excellent horsemen
Think of the Mongols. At that time, they created such a large-scale empire, which in the entire history of mankind has never been surpassed by anyone. The Mongols were the scourge of the entire continent:
- their empire was the only country that completely overran China. Not some separate provinces, but the whole
- they destroyed the Baghdad Caliphate in the west, which was the largest force in Central Asia
- what they did in Russia, you already know
Guess where I’m going with this? The only ones who could stop the Mongols were the Mamluk Sultanate. In 1260 in battle at Ain-Jalut the praised Mongolian army was smashed in a puff of dust and ashes by valiant Mamluks, who threw the enemy back to the steppes. For this reason, incidentally, the local Arab population was not against Mamluk rule. Horrified to see these savages drinking koumiss and cutting horses, the Arabs said, “No, of course, these people are nasty bastards, but at least they are not Mongols!”, realizing that without the Mamluks they would be captured and slaughtered in no time.
Only other Asians can be scarier than Asians
In the XIII-XVI century the Mamluk Sultanate flourished. Refugees from Central Asia went to Egypt en masse to escape the Mongols. Among them, in addition to the usual laborers and warriors, there were many scientists, doctors and engineers — all this together with active foreign trade made Egypt an advanced country for that time. But, as one great man said, kings do not rule forever, and the rule of the Mamluks also came to an end. With the disappearance of the Mongol threat, the need for constant battles disappeared, so gradually the Mamluks lost their fighting ability, getting bogged down in infighting and internal struggle for power. In 1517 the Ottoman Empire conquered the sultanate, establishing its authority over Egypt and abolishing the Mamluk sultans. Subsequently, there were a couple of Mamluk revolts, but they had already lost power, and in 1811 they were abolished and disbanded altogether. That’s how their history ended.
Set of armor of a Mameluke rider
The training of Mamelukes began in childhood. Young men bought at the market were kept in closed camps, where they were trained day and night and taught to kill and not to be killed. The very complex of military training was called furusia, and it included a vast number of disciplines: archery, fencing, work with various melee weapons and wrestling (it should be understood that Caucasian Mamluks specialized in the latter). Since the Mamluks were mostly mounted archers, it is logical that riding and shooting were given special attention. For example, a Mameluke was driven at full gallop into a narrow corridor, where he had to hit a target with his bow on the run, then turn around and fire a few arrows back, controlling the horse with only his knees. A small clarification: the target was located behind a huge boulder, so the poor guy had a big chance to crash into it if he was not skilled enough. Thanks to such exercises, not only the skill of shooting and controlling the horse was pumped up, but also the reaction and skills of quick extreme thinking, which helped a lot in battle. They had to do several hundred saber strokes a day to train their stamina and musculature. In short, they worked like hell, so the surviving students turned into terminators, able to kill the enemy like no one else.
One of the exercises of the Mamluks
The Mamluks wore a cotton padded robe and turbans (those who were richer preferred helmets) complete with chain mail or lamellar armor. Later, with the spread of plate armor in Europe, the Mamluks moved to them. The main weapon was still the bow, in addition to which the Mamluks were armed with swords, spears and sabers. And, of course, a warhorse, on which the warrior himself rode, and a couple of camels carrying equipment. The army had no uniform, everyone was free to dress as he wished, but in general people preferred yellow and red colors. The tactics of the Mamluks were similar to Mongolian: mounted archers fired at the enemy, trying not to make contact. Maneuvers, false retreats, through which it was possible to lure the enemy into the depths and, having surrounded, mercilessly shoot him, using the full potential of light cavalry. Since the main enemy of the Mamluks were the Mongols, the warriors were very well trained to counteract the enemy cavalry. At the same time, the Mamluks were also trained in foot combat, fortifications and other tricks, which meant that even if they were knocked off their horses, they were still fully functional warriors.