Comparative Civilizations Review Volume 55 Article 6 Number 55 Fall 2006 10-1-2006 Comparing Warrior Traditions: How the Janissaries and Samurai Maintained Their tS atus and Privileges During Centuries of Peace Oleg Benesch University of British Columbia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr Recommended Citation Benesch, Oleg (2006) "Comparing Warrior Traditions: How the Janissaries and Samurai Maintained Their tS atus and Privileges During Centuries of Peace," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 55 : No. 55 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr/vol55/iss55/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Comparative Civilizations Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Benesch: Comparing Warrior Traditions: How the Janissaries and Samurai Mai Oleg Benesch 37 COMPARING WARRIOR TRADITIONS: HOW THE JANISSARIES AND SAMURAI MAINTAINED THEIR STATUS AND PRIVILEGES DURING CENTURIES OF PEACE OLEG BENESCH UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
[email protected] History has witnessed the rise and fall of countless warrior classes, all of which were the tools of rulers, and many of which grew strong enough to usurp power and become rulers themselves. The existence of warrior classes in such a great variety of cultures and eras seems to indi- cate a universal human disposition for entrusting a certain group with the most dangerous and undesirable task of conducting warfare. In some cases, such as that of the samurai, the warriors came from within the society itself, and in others, including those of the Mamluks, Cossacks, and janissaries, members of certain ethnic or religious groups were compelled to serve as professional fighters.