>The emperor hires foreign mercenaries as a private bodyguard

>>52018112
If the Jannisaries or Praetorian Guard could get away with that kind of shit, no reason why some mercs couldn't.

>frogposting

not on /tg/, please. thank you for being considerate.

>>52018112

emperor sounds retarded, so very likely.

>>52018142
>If the Jannisaries or Praetorian Guard could get away with that kind of shit, no reason why some mercs couldn't.


Both the Janissaries and the Praetorians had significant non-military contact with the power structures outside of the person they were supposed to be bodyguarding, which is one of the reasons why foreigners were sometimes sought after. As strangers, they'd have little ability to stage such coups.

>>52018173
Wasn't part of the point of the Janissaries that they were basically foreigners? Like, a christian kid from Hungary is about as foreign as you can get.

Well cretan and jewish mercenaries took over Antioch and held the city for some time when the Seleucid king couldn't pay to fight a rival contender. Ended up with a citizen revolt, slaughter of said citizens and looting of the city.

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>>52018112
>How unrealistic is this shit?
Depends on the foreigners. So many real life rulers used foreign bodyguards (Alexander used Persians, the Byzantines used Northmen, the Ottomans [or at least Suleyman] used Christians) precisely because they have a reason to remain loyal. I'll use Suleyman and the Christians as an example because it's the most clear cut one. Let's say Suleyman takes Muslim bodyguards: should he die (through accident or assassination), those bodyguards will probably still be able to live a cozy life. This is not so much the case for Christians, who are spared from a life as second rate citizens purely because they are Suleyman's bodyguard. If he dies, so does their paycheck. This is why foreign bodyguards are usually a good idea: they're outcasts and entirely reliant on you.

Though this changes the more established that minority becomes. Just look at the West Roman Empire, where Germanic generals eventually ran the entire show. In fact, that's how the West Roman Empire fell: not some grand barbarian invasion where brave Romans resisted to the very last and their city was burned to the ground. Odoacer decided he no longer needed Romulus Augustulus to legitimize his power, told him to fuck off, shoved him in some monestary somewhere and declared the Kingdom of the Lombards.

Moral of the story: keep your immigrant communities as small and ostracized as possible if you want loyal bodyguards. The more powerful and established they become, the more their interests become detached from your own.

>>52018112

The Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Emperors were similar to this. They were Scandinavian (and later Anglo-Saxon) warriors and considered an elite. While generally more loyal than the Emperor's vassals, they did get involved in some intrigues.

>>52018378

At the beginning, they were, although they weren't entirely foreign as the deviserme (sp?) system ensured that they would be raised in the palace from childhood and integrated with the local palace elite.

However, starting towards the end of Suleiman's reign, they were gradually expanded, with Muslims being allowed to enter their children into the Janissary, and then the Janissaries being allowed to own property, marry, leave the corps after a certain age, and other priveleges.

It was only after this shit happened that they started playing kingmaker.

>>52018378
The fact that they were foreigners was the reason they were 'enslaved' as kids and drafted to become janissaries, but they grew up within the Ottoman empire and with direct assess to many high ranking nobles and military commanders.

Like if the Pentagon had the habit of adopt cambojan boys and they all went to the same school and military academy. After generations you'd have a lot of cambojan officers and soldiers raised together as Americans and with access to generals, commanders and likely the president itself.

By assess I don't mean free passage to see anytime, but more like, contacts, knowing and having some sort of personal relationship.

>>52018163
You guys are worse than the frogposters, and you need to stop.

>>52018173
Jannisaries of course had been created explicitly to serve as permanent strangers to the power structure of the Turkish state.

Achieving civil power as a military unit is possible, heck it's even probable if the civilian authority is incompetent.

>>52018555
You're missing a crucial part, the Jannisaries stopped being political strangers as it became possible for regular Turks to join, and people started using family connections to get in.
And now you have guys with family connections in the elite section of the armed forces that you've left in charge of running half the state.

>>52018496
>alexander
>persian

You're mistaken, the Alexandrian royal units were pure Macedonians.

>>52018496
The Byzantines used vikings.

I point this out because the people they actually hired were settled in Ukraine.

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>>52018674
>>52018707
Damn, I sure fucked up.

>>52018763
It's okay man, the overall point was still a fair one.

>>52018707

They hired both didnt they?People from Scandinavia and Russia/Ukraine, then later Anglo saxons became the majority, if I remember my history courses right.

>>52018875
Yeah, I think they started with scandinavians, but by the end they were just taking any barbarians willing to sign up.