In the shadow of the Ottoman Empire, Christian families across the Balkans lived in dread of a knock at the door. The Devshirme — or "blood tax" — was a state-enforced system of child abduction. Boys were taken by force, converted, and reshaped into elite soldiers known as Janissaries. But behind the empire's glory was a trail of broken families, vanished children, and centuries of psychological terror.

In this episode of Grim Chapters of History, we explore one of history’s most chilling forms of human theft — and the legacy of those stolen boys who became the sword of the empire.