Ottoman Empire · about 1380-1826

Janissaries: the sultan's soldiers

The Ottoman sultans took Christian boys from their families, converted and trained them, and made them soldiers, architects and viziers. Students look at the devshirme from the side of the families and of the empire.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1530 to AD 1526
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

The Ottoman sultans took Christian boys from their families, converted and trained them, and made them soldiers, architects and viziers. Students look at the devshirme from the side of the families and of the empire.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what the devshirme and the janissaries were.
  • Locate the regions the boys came from and the places where some of them rose to power.
  • Weigh the cruelty of the system against the careers it opened, using evidence.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1530

Where the boys came from

Open the map in 1530 and zoom in on the Balkans. Most boys taken in the devshirme came from Christian villages here. Which present-day countries lie in this area?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1600

The capital

Zoom in on Istanbul with the Cities layer on. In the Topkapı Palace the most talented boys were trained for the top jobs. Watch the city's dot as you move from 1453 to 1600.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1526

At the frontier

Turn on Historical Events and move to 1526. Find the Battle of Mohacs. Janissaries with firearms stood at the center of the Ottoman army here. How far is it from Istanbul?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Boys taken in the devshirme lost their families, their religion and their homes. How do you think their parents felt?
  2. Some devshirme boys rose to become generals, architects and grand viziers. Does that change how we should judge the system?
  3. Janissaries belonged to the sultan alone and had no noble family behind them. Why would a sultan want soldiers like that?
  4. The janissaries were one of the first standing armies in Europe, paid all year round. What were the advantages over soldiers called up only for a war?
  5. Later the janissaries became powerful enough to depose sultans. Why can an elite guard become a danger to its master?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Suleiman the Magnificent. His janissaries fought at Mohács and Vienna, and his architect Sinan and some of his grand viziers had been taken as boys in the devshirme. Discuss: how much did the sultan depend on people taken from their families?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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