Slaves Are Slaves

Meme found on r/HistoryMemesThe meme above contrasts how different empires or regimes conceptualized slavery. As the text says:

France and British Empire: Slaves are black
Ottoman Empire: Slaves are white
Nazi Germany: Everyone who isn’t aryan is slave
Roman Empire: Slaves are Slaves

 

France and the British Empire:

During the early modern and colonial periods, slavery was largely racialized, Africans were enslaved and transported across the Atlantic to work in colonies, leading to the transatlantic slave trade.

Ottoman Empire:

The Ottoman slave system was not based on race in the same way. Many slaves were white, coming from the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe. Enslaved people could even rise to high social or military ranks (e.g., Janissaries).

Nazi Germany:

Nazi ideology classified people hierarchically by race, with “Aryans” at the top. Non-Aryans (especially Jews, Slavs, and Roma) were treated as subhuman, enslaved, exploited, or exterminated.

Roman Empire:

The Roman Empire enslaved people of all ethnicities and backgrounds, race or skin color didn’t matter.

War captives, debtors, and criminals could all become slaves.

The meme uses the image of Mr. Incredible angrily declaring “Slaves are slaves” to show Rome’s pragmatic (and brutal) indifference to racial distinctions, slavery was simply a social and economic institution.

Historical Overview of Slavery in Each Context

France and the British Empire

• Time period: 16th–19th centuries.
• Nature: Racial chattel slavery focused on Africans in colonies.
• Key points:
  • The British Empire transported about 3 million Africans to the Americas.
  • The French Empire was heavily involved in the Caribbean (Saint-Domingue/Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe).
  • Both abolished slavery in the 19th century (Britain: 1833; France: 1848).
  • Slavery was justified through racist ideologies tying African identity to servitude.

Ottoman Empire

• Time period: 14th–19th centuries (and informally beyond).
• Nature: Multi-ethnic, non-racialized slavery.
• Sources of slaves:
  • White slaves: Captured from the Balkans, Caucasus, and Black Sea regions.
  • African slaves: Brought via the Red Sea and trans-Saharan routes.
  • Roles: Household servants, soldiers (Janissaries), concubines, and administrators.
• Some slaves (e.g., Mamluks, devshirme recruits) could ascend to high positions of power.

Nazi Germany

• Time period: 1933–1945.
• Nature: Racial slavery and forced labor under genocidal ideology.
• Groups enslaved:
  • Jews, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Roma, and others.
  • Over 12 million forced laborers were exploited across Europe.
• Ideology: Based on Nazi racial theory, Aryans were “masters,” others were “Untermenschen” (subhumans).
• Result: Massive human rights atrocities, including the Holocaust.

Roman Empire

• Time period: ca. 509 BCE – 476 CE (West).
• Nature: Universal and non-racial slavery.
• Sources of slaves:
  • War captives, pirates, criminals, and debtors.
  • People from conquered lands, Gauls, Greeks, Egyptians, Syrians, Africans, etc.
• Roles: Domestic servants, laborers, tutors, doctors, and even administrators.
• Manumission: Freed slaves (liberti) could become Roman citizens, though often with social limits.
• Attitude: Slavery was seen as a normal institution, not a racial or moral issue, hence, “slaves are slaves.”

More on the history of slavery from these books:

• Slavery: A World History
• The Cambridge World History of Slavery
• Slavery and the British Empire
• Shackles of the Slavs: The Untold History of White Slavery
• Slave Labor in Nazi Concentration Camps
• Slavery in the Roman World