unit 3 land-based empires

flashcards mostly meant for active recall use in retaining info. most answers are in the form of examples, and are not sample answers you would use for a legitimate response (SAQ, DBQ, etc.)

what did land-based empires have in common?

use of gunpowder weapons for expansion

4 main gunpowder empires during 1450-1750

ottoman empire, founder osman i, flourisher sultan mehmed ii. sunni Islam
safavid empires, founder shah ismail, flourisher shah Abbas, shia Islam
Mughal empire, founder Babur, flourisher Akbar the great, sunni Islam
qing dynasty, founder manchu people, flourisher emperor kangxi, confucian state philosophy

one example of rivalry between states/empires in 1450-1750?

safavid-ottoman conflict series of political and religious motivated wars that weakened the safavid empire

what does it mean when a ruler consolidates and legitimizes their rule?

consolidates: refers to the methods the ruler uses to gain his position
legitimizes: refers to the methods the ruler uses to display his stance of power and maintain it.

how did leaders of gunpowder empires consolidate and maintain their power?

large imperial beaurocracies, expanding their militaries, and through religion, art, and architecture.

how did the ottomans have large imperial beaurocracies? how did they expand their militaries?

through a process known as the devshirme system (converting captured christian boys into Islam and professionally training them into beaurocratic and military roles such as the janissaries/elite soilders.)

how did empires consolidate and maintain their power through religion?

european monarchs claimed to have the divine right to rule by God which was highly effective in European christian societies. Another example: the Aztecs preformed human sacrifices on captured prisoners of war for religious purposes and to consolidate and maintain their power.

how did rulers consolidate and maintain power through art?

emperor kangxi displayed imperial portraits of himself in traditional Confucian values throughout the empire to demonstrate his legitimate rule and appeal to his ethnically Han Chinese citizens.

how did rulers consolidate and maintain power through architecture?

the palace of Versailles was built forLouis XIV to display his power and consolidate it by forcing french nobility to live inside the building part-time to situate their power under himself.

how did rulers financially provide for imperial expansion and infastructure to enhance their image and authority?

the zamindar system in the Mughal empire employed local land lord (zamindars) to collect taxes on behalf of the emperor, successfully expanding imperial authority and consolidate power and finance.

broad examples of how belief systems could hold empires together or break them apart?

the great schism (context) for the protestant reformation in Europe, which famously split the region
the safavid Mughal conflicts in which the ottoman empire successfully weakens the safavid empire (over religious rivalry sunni vs shia)
Bakhti + Sufism movements in south asia and Sikhism, the blending of Islamic and hinduist culture

how did European disputes over religion cause fracturing in their empire?

the great schism of 1054 (context) spliting Europe into the western (catholic) and eastern (orthodox) hemispheres set the stage for later schisms, such as the protestant reformation to occur.

broadly explain the protestant reformation

catholic church welded enormous wealth and displayed it through grand infastructure and buildings such as St. Peters Basilica, funding these buildings through corrupt practices such as indulgences (the act of paying for forgiveness of sin) or simony (giving out elite church positions for money)
key figures such as Martin Luther, a Catholic monk witnessing these corrupt practices writes the 95 these denouncing these practices of the church, was labeled a heretic and excommunicated.

why did Luther's writings in particular cause the protestant reformation, and not previous figures?

the invention of the printing press by J Gutenbuerg allowed Luthers ideas and works to be spread efficiently everywhere in western Europe.

what made the split between Catholics and protestants official?

the counter/Catholic reformation which gathered meetings in the council of Trent showed reformation efforts by disgaurding a few corrupt church practices such a as nepotism, but ultimately reaffirmed their position through the reference of ancient doctrines and traditional authority. the council solidified the Catholic Church's beliefs while rejecting Protestant reforms, officially marking the divide.

effects of the protestant reformation?

the religious division often intensified political divisions throughout Europe, eventually leading to various religious wars

what did the safavid-ottoman conflicts inevitably intensify?

because of their political and religious rivalry, the split and tensions between sunni and shia groups were exacerbated

how did Sikhism display religious unification in south asia? (India)

by incorporating elements from both Islamic and hinduist traditions, Sikhism demonstrated innovation by disguarding the caste and hierarchy systems in both religious and embraced equality and accessibility to all people