The Neglected History of Slavery in the Islamic World

While scarcely an unknown story, the history of slavery in the Islam­ic world is one that has been shadowed by the focus on its Atlan­tic counterpart. Marozzi’s well-written book is greatly to be recom­mended for his ability both to redress the balance and to draw very effectively on recent scholarship. Throughout, this is an important and well-researched study but, for readers of this journal, it is principally important for its account of slave soldiers. Arguably, that account is overly dominated by the familiar stories of the Mamluks and the Ottomans, and there is insufficient on other examples, both well-known ones, such as Morocco and Persia, and the many that have received little attention. Indeed, Marozzi can be seen as compounding the problem. Nevertheless, the Mamluks and Ottomans require attention.

Marozzi comments on how Mohammed had first established the concept with­in a Muslim framework. The murderous rebellion of slave soldiers against the Ca­liphs in 861, 862, 866, and 869 launches the chapter, which possibly would have benefited from cross-cultural comparisons, notably to the (non-slave) Pretorian Guard. Marozzi is very good on Mamluk precursors, as well as on the Mamluk pashas of Bagdad in 1704-1831. There is not a systematic account of the nature of slave soldiery, or the relationship with military methods, but this is a very impres­sive context for such discussion. So also with the discussion of galley slavery in the Mediterranean and the related warfare, including the First Barbary War of the Americans. The relationship between Mediterranean warfare and enslavement (a topic that also engaged Shakespeare) is ably considered. A richly impressive book. If this reader wants more, it is a product not of frustration, still less anger, but rather of being impressed. The book is supported by very good maps and per­tinent illustrations. An important book that is a great pleasure to read.

Our Reviewer: Jeremy Black, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Exeter, is a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of an impressive number of works in history and international affairs, frequently demonstrating unique interactions and trends among events, including The Great War and the Making of the Modern World, Combined Operations: A Global History of Amphibious and Airborne Warfare, and The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon. He has previously reviewed The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century, Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939, War: How Conflict Shaped Us, King of the World, Stalin’s War, Underground Asia, The Eternal City: A History of Rome in Maps, The Atlas of Boston History, Time in Maps, Bitter Peleliu, The Boundless Sea, On a Knife Edge. How Germany Lost the First World War, Meat Grinder: The Battles for the Rzhev Salient, Military History for the Modern Strategist, Tempest: The Royal Navy and the Age of Revolutions, Firepower: How Weapons Shaped Warfare, Sing As We Go: Britain Between the Wars, Maritime Power and the Power of Money in Louis XIV’s France, Empireworld: How British Imperialism Shaped the Globe, Why War?, Seapower in the Post-Modern World, Mobility and Coercion in an Age of Wars and Revolutions, Augustus the Strong, Military History for the Modern Strategist, The Great Siege of Malta, Hitler’s Fatal Miscalculation, Superpower Britain, and Josephine Baker’s Secret War.

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