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Sultan Mahmud II. Its full strength varies widely. In 1475, for example, it counted 6,000 men, in the 18th century 113,000 men (Nicolle1995). As the praetorians, the Janissaries meddled heavily in politics and also killed rulers they were supposed to protect. Thus, they assassinated Sultan Osman II in 1622.

The Garde Impériale was established in 1799 to protect the French consuls but gained prominence under Emperor Napoléon. It consisted of the most prominent Old Guard, the Middle and the Young Guard. In 1804 it counted 8,000 men but with the invasion of Russia in 1812 it comprised more than 100,000 men. Their last stand was at Waterloo where they retreated despite their motto “La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas”.

Hitler’s bodyguard considered itself as the 20th century equivalents of the praetorians (but they were loyal to the Führer until the very end of WWII). The Schutzstaffel SS (Höhne 1979, Graber 1982) was established in 1920 as a personal guard for Hitler but was initially part of the Schutzabteilung SA. With the execution of the leadership of the SA in June 1934 (“Night of the Long Knives”) it became independent. Until 1929 it numbered no more than 280 personnel, but under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler it grew to 52,000 men in 1932, by the beginning of the war to 250,000 men, and during the War comprised 38 divisions. Hitler's personal security (see Hoffmann 1980) was, of course, a smaller unit. In 1934 it was the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), but when this unit engaged as part of the Waffen-SS in the War, Hitler's personal security was entrusted to the Reichssicherheitsdienst RSD.

Today's most prominent bodyguard is in the United States. It has been designed to protect the president and comprises 2,100 plainclothes special agents (usually in conservative business suits, sunglasses and communication earpieces), a Uniformed Division of 1,200 persons and 1,700 technical and administrative employees. The corresponding unit in the United Kingdom is called Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department and in Russia the Federal Protective Service (Deriabin 1984, Deriabin and Bagley 1990). The latter is estimated to count more than 30,000 uniformed personnel plus several thousand plainclothes agents. The Presidential Security Service protects the president of Russia. The bodyguards in developing countries may sometimes be disloyal. A famous case is the assassination in 1984 of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards (Frank 2002, Sarin 1990, Dilip and Ashok 1985).

The discussion of the various bodyguards makes clear that it is impossible to get any clear quantitative notion of their size. This is not only due to the fact that much is secret but also that they perform many different tasks in addition to protecting the ruling politician. A common feature is, however, that the bodyguard has a strong tendency to grow in leap and bounds, and that the strict task of protecting the ruler is transferred to a smaller specialized unit. Its growth does not necessarily mean that the ruler is better protected because its large number and importance give them the possibility to meddle in politics, and even to seize power itself.

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The American Secret Service also investigates a wide variety of financial fraud crimes and identity thefts and provides forensic assistance for some local crimes. Not all of the 5,000 Secret Service agents are directly involved with protecting the president.