Devşirme or devshirme was the practice by which the Ottoman Empire conscripted boys from Christian families, who were taken from their families by force, converted to Islam and trained as Janissary soldiers. The practice was motivated by the desire to create an elite class of warriors loyal only to the Sultan, rather than to individual Ottoman nobles. The devşirme system humiliated non-Muslim societies controlled by the Ottomans and was resisted. History The Ottoman Empire, beginning… (More on Devsirme)