It is clear that a change has taken place in the meaning and intention of punishment where it was no longer seen as a means of exacting vengeance from the offender, or a way by which the sovereign attempted to restore his momentarily injured sovereignty; rather, it became a way of making sure that no crime went unpunished. This new conception of punishment, represented in the specific example of imprisonment and internment in general, reflected a change in the meaning of discipline and the ways to bring it about. To create a body of disciplined troops, the authorities initially relied on the use of brutal force so as to terrify the soldiers into submission. This was not without its effects and it undoubtedly succeeded in keeping a lot of the soldiers in their places. Reliance on physical force alone, however, could not ensure that the techniques of discipline had sunk deep into the minds of the soldiers. At a certain stage the effectiveness of the brutal use of force was questioned and other abstract, non-physical modes of imposing discipline were brought into play.

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 704