3.1: European, East Asian, Gunpowder Empires Expand

What were the Gunpowder Empires?

• 1450-1750, Gunpowder Empires: big, multiethnic, SW/Cen/Asia

• Safavid, Mughal, Ottoman (Suleman said religion = happy, but conquer Blegrade/Rhodes/Hungary; militaristic but art/arch legit rule

• Qing CH invaded but prospered; Eur → transOceanic trade with Americas

Europe in Gunpowder Empires

• 1450: meieval → early modern period; end plagues, 100 Years’ War, Gutenberg press = up lit

• After Dark Ages, Eur power/wealthy nation; new monarchies = overseas exp/col

  • Leaders cen. power with tax/army/relig control; bureaucracy up, MC rise expense nobles (limit private army)

Russia in Gunpowder Empires

• Pivotal pos. trade - exch W/E, capt (St. P/Kiev/Moscow) Eur; Asian by CenAsia/Mongols, Eur (Viking inv/trade)

• Ivan IV (terr) tsar, exp. E w/gunpowder - khanates Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberia of Golden Horde

• Peter travel Eur. grand embassy milt powress, westernize unpop but into modern age

• Control of the Volga (to Caspian): want E (fur trade); allow Stroganovs (landown) hire peasant warrior Cossacks fight tribes/Siberian khan; direct trade Persia/Ottomans without Crimean Tatars

• To the Pacific: E to Siberia after Ivan; fur trades+militia kill tribes +missonaries = Ortho (some shaman still

  • Expeditions trade Alaska/CA

East Asia in Gunpowder Empires

• Yuan→Ming 1368; 300 yr stable to Portu/Eur trade, 1644 Manchu(ria) → Qing Dyn. 1911 and J/K parallel dev.

• Ming exp. CH Mongolia/CenAs, but 1440s Mongols defeat and emporer hostage, CH restore GW to protect from N

• Emporer Kangxi: stable and exp., Qing; control Taiwan/Mongol/CenAs, protectorate Tibet

• Emporer Qianlong: poet; well admin/tax, milt. W of CH annex Xinjiang (kill); Uyghurs (Mus) held out

  • Into Tibet role Dalai Lama, conquered Nepal but costly Burma/Viet fail

• Conflicts with the West: Qing sell trade priv. W for Guangzhou, UK said more but CH said not want goodsl Qianlong’s bureaucracy corrupt taxes

  • want restore Ming = WLS riots (100,000 killed)

Islamic Gunpowder Empires

• Otto/Safa/Mug: CenA Turks, Turkic lang.adv. power vaccuum by khanate decline, gunpowder weapons

• Initial Success: milt. and weak/corrupt regimes; Eur int. fight = no stop Gunpowder

• The Rule of Tamerlame: invade CenA/ME = rise Turkic; army w/nomads inv; Samarkhand to Persia/IND

• Ghazi ideal: copp nomads + fight for Islam, model GE fighters; massacre 100K HInd Delh (violent col)

  • Art/lit up (encour), correspond Eur and memoirs/buildings Samarkhand - fell apart (except IND) but invasion testament GP

  • Gov dep. milt, artillery; protect SR, no polt. structure = invade and war

• Mongols NE vs. Arab/Persians Medit

Ottomans in the Gunpowder Empire

• Tur/Eur/NAfr/SE Asia - large land-base; Osman found and till Allies defeat 1918 (+600 yrs)

• Mehmed 2: capt. after siege Constant. (cannons); Istanbul prosper control Bosporus Strait (Aegean→Black Sea)

  • Seize W Black Sea + Balkans, counter Venice strength/army attack Itl. → trib. yearly

  • 16th exp. Syr/Isr/Egy/Alg, decline Istan cen Islam

Safavids in the Gunpowder Empires

• Sufis Azer; Ismail (15) Persia/Iraq/Iran, shah; no real navy and no def., but power land. milt/strong leaders

• Shah Abbas 1: soldiers NW (Christian ghulams); weapons/advice Eur, control relig/polt →Shia legit rule/deny Sunnis

  • Hostile w/ Ottoman Sunni - stopped at Tabriz, also control trade; Ottoman embargo Safavids

• Women: participated; veiled and restricted but sharia/inherit

Mughals in the Gunpowder Empires

• Babur (Tamerlane’s) 300 yr dyn; conquest N Ind and cen gov, Akbar grand relig/polt

  • Akbar: rich, overseas trade with Arabs - textile/trop. food/spice for Au/Ag, merchant class craft/trade - arch. testament

• Castes (jati): Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, Dalits (econ/job)

Decline of Gunpowder Empires

• W. Eur led to decline - up econ/naval powe, Rus reorg/modern army to outsruvive other GE

• Ottomans: Battle Lepanto Sp/Venetian defeat and weak sultan/strong Eur; harem polt. = women power, fail siege Vienan and Uk/Fr involvement; Greece ind. 1821 and Rus exp. 19th

• Safavid: lux/milt. spend + fall rev = weak econ, rebel Sunni Pashtuns and sack Isfahan, leader declared shah Persia; chaos wreck cen. gov, Otto/Rus take territory till Zand Dyn. 1760

• Mughal: Aurangzheb corrupt and milt. unmodern; hoped Mus rule remove Hind, exp. S = cost and no suppress peasant uprise (Sikhs/H), revolts princes (H/M), Uk 19th