Chapter 3: Land-Based Empires

Topic 3.1 Empires Expand

• Europe - end of medieval period and start of early modern period; end of plagues and conclusion of Hundred Years’ War between France and England; Gutenberg printing press and increased literacy; monarchies launched overseas explorations and established colonies; centralized power by controlling taxes, army, and religion 
• Russia - linked to Europe, product of Mongol influence from Central Asia to east and Viking invasions and trading
  • Ivan IV - Ivan the Terrible crowned tsar expanded the Russian border eastward taking control of khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia
  • Control of Volga - wanted to expand east to control the fur trade and allowed Stroganovs, Russian landowners, to hire Cossacks, warriors, to fight local tribes and the Siberian khan; could trade directly with Persia and the Ottoman Empire
  • To the Pacific -  Russia moved east after Ivan IV; missionaries followed and converted many to Eastern Orthodox faith 
• East Asia - Ming rulers managed to stabilize East Asia; Europeans arrived to take part in Asian trade networks
  • Manchu - seized power and established the Qing Dynasty; Japan and Korea had parallel developments; expanded China and conquered Mongolia and Central Asia; Great Wall of China 
  • Conflict - needed funds, gave trading privileges to Europe but they weren’t satisfied; bureaucracy was corrupt, response was the White Lotus Rebellion
• Gunpowder Empires - large, multi-ethnic states in Asia that relied on firearms to conquer and control territories; tended to be militaristic and have armed trade 
  • Russia, the Ottomans, Safavid, and the Mughal Empire
• Rise of Islamic gunpowder empires - Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires were descended from Turkic nomads from Central Asia, spoke a Turkic language, took advantage of breakup of Mongol khanates, and relied on gunpowder weapons 
  • Rule of Tamerlane - set rise of Turkic empires w/ army of nomadic invaders; ghazi idea, a model for warrior life; gunpowder built a government dependent on military and protected Silk Roads
• The Ottoman Empire - extended into modern-day Turkey, Balkan areas of Europe, North Africa, and Southeast Asia; hostile with Safavids over religion and control of trade routes
  • Mehmed II - a conqueror, established empire’s capital Istanbul and prospered with trade; strengthened Ottoman navy and attacked parts of Italy 
  • Suleiman I - reached peak; ability of Ottomans to send troops far into Christian Europe
• The Safavids - northern modern-day Iran region and the Arabian Sea but without a real navy; used Shi’a Islam as a unifying force and denied legitimacy to any Sunni; hostile with Ottomans 
  • Ismail - conquered all of Iran was the shah, a king
  • Shah Abbas I - troops (Christian boys forced into service) pushed into Georgia in Russia; imported weaponry from Europe
• Mughal India - formed a central government in India when it was in disarray; overseas trade flourished and Arab traders conducted commerce; castes are strict social groupings decided at birth 
  • Akbar - achieved grand religions and political goals 
• Decline of Gunpowder Empires - Islamic empires did not modernize and didn’t survive as an independent nation-state 
  • Ottomans - European forces defeated Ottomans in a naval conflict; fell victim to weak sultans and strong European neighbors
  • Safavid - lavish lifestyles and military spending → falling revenues and weak economy; rebellion by the Sunni; weak Safavid and strong Ottomans and Russians
  • Mughal - empire weakened by corruption and failure to keep up with military innovations; peasant uprisings and revolts

Topic 3.2 Empires: Administration

• Centralization of power by controlling taxes, armies, and religion created powerful monarchies
• To solidify authority they built temples, paid military elite a salary, and established a captive governmental bureaucracy 
• Centralizing power in Europe - divine right of kings was the claim that the right to rule was given by God and were political and religious authorities
  • Gentry Officials - justices of the peace where officials selected by the gentry to maintain peace in countries of England, carry out laws, and settle legal matters 
  • English Bill of Rights - assured individual civil liberties and protection against tyranny of the monarchy by requiring agreement of Parliament 
  • Absolutism in France - directed by one source of power with complete authority; Louis XIII moved to greater central government and development of intendants who were bureaucratic elites sent out to provinces to execute orders of the central government; tax farmers who oversaw collection of taxes
  • Louis XIII kept nobles at his palace at Versailles to make it difficult for them to act against him
• Control in Russia - social hierarchy started with nobles (boyars), merchants, and peasants into serfdom
  • Ivan IV - boyar class had tension with rulers and opposed expansionist policies, Ivan IV took their land and kept an eye on them; established a paramilitary force loyal to him called oprichnina
  • Peter the Great - Romanov Dynasty took control of Russia; desires and agendas for the Church, conserving traditions, and the boyars; Defender of the Orthodoxy, would lose support of the Russian clergy because of his reforms; reorganized Russian gov. by creating provinces and creation of a senate 
• Control in the Ottoman Empire - sultans used a selection system, devshirme, to staff military and the gov., Christian boys were taken to serve the Ottomans and were taught high level education; Janissaries formed the elite forces in the Ottomans and were indoctrinated to be loyal to the sultan 
• Control in East and South Asia - Ming Dynasty in China wanted to erase Mongol influence of the Yuan Dynasty and brought back the civil service exam, established a national school system, and reestablished the bureaucracy; The Qing Dynasty became corrupt and used harsh military control; military leaders called shoguns ruled Japan and had conflict with daimyo (aristocrats) who had army of samurai, had ambitions to conquer, and power to rule fiefdoms; gunpowder weapons helped powerful daimyo unite Japan
  • Tokugawa shogunate - reorganized the government in Japan to centralize control; required that daimyo maintain residences in home territory and the capital, keeping them under control 
  • Mughal power - Akbar defeated Hindu armies and extended the empire; established an efficient government and fairly administered laws in Delhi; paid government officials, zamindars, in charge of certain duties
  • Legitimizing power through religion and art
  • Divine right of monarchy in Europe and Palace of Versailles in France
  • Temples and pyramids, human sacrifice, and political power in Mexica and Incan cultures
  • Peter the Greater conquered the Baltic Sea and moved the Russian capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg to watch the boyars
  • Askia the Great of Songhai promoted Islam and made elaborate pilgrimage to Mecca
  • Shah Hahan in Mughal India and the Taj Mahal combined architecture with Islam to show power
  • Stanbul of the Ottomans ordered construction of the Suleiman Mosque and buildings of Constantinople which had miniature paintings
• Finances - raised money to fund imperial expansion and extend state power
  • Peter in Russia - established new industries, encouraged private industries, raised taxes, and compelled workers to work in shipyards for urban extension of serfdoms
  • Ottoman and Mughal taxation - levied taxes on peasants and used tax farming to collect it (local officials and collectors grew wealthy and corrupt) 
  • Ming Dynasty tax collection - collection responsible by private citizens
  • Tributes -  way to demand recognition of power and authority; form oh wealthy, sign of respect, submission and allegiance

Topic 3.3 Empires: Belief Systems

• Protestant Reformation - Roman Catholic Church faced challenges in shift from feudalism to centralized governments and was subject to corruption; theological disagreements 
  • Lutheranism - Martin Luther concluded the Church violated biblical teachings, sale of indulgences (granted absolution from punishments of sin) and simony (selling of church offices); wrote the 95 Theses, advocated for faith alone for salvation; women could have direct access to God and promoted women’s literacy 
  • Calvinism - John Calvin broke with Catholic Church; encouraged to work hard and reinvest their profits to show God favored their obedience and hard work, indicated position among the elect and secular leadership 
  • Anglicanism - King Henry VIII wanted to annul his marriage but the pope refused out of parry of Charles V but with the approval of the English Parliament, he made himself head of the new Anglican Church
• The Orthodox Church and reforms in Russia - Charles V revitalized concept of universal monarchy and defended the Holy Roman Empire from the Protestant Reformation; Church had been a force unifying the Russian people and tsars; Peter the Great confirmed power over the Church by abolishing the patriarch, the head of Church; established the Holy Synod of clergymen overseen by secular officials who answered to the tsar 
• Counter-Reformation/Catholic Reformation - fight against the Protestant attacks; used the Inquisition to punish nonbelievers, Jesuits undertook missionary activity, and the Council of Trent which corrected the Church’s abuses; Catholicism remained predominant
• Wars of religion - churches and inhabitants forced to practice state religion
  • France - Catholics vs Huguenots; Edict of Nantes allowing Huguenots to practice their faith and provided religious toleration
  • Thirty Years’ War - Catholics vs Protestants led to economic catastrophe, famine, and disease; Peace of Westphalia, allowed areas to pick Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism  
• Ottoman Empire - dominant religion became Islam; shariah is the strict Islamic legal system that deals with all aspects of life  
• Safavids - used Shi’a Islam as unifying force; Shah Ismail built power base to support rule and denied legitimacy to Sunni
• Mughal toleration - Akbar tolerated all religions, even Sikhism developed from Hinduism and influenced by Islamic mysticism (sufism)
• Scientific Revolution - during period of schisms, scientific thought represented thinking based on reason rather than faith; empiricism insisted on collection of data to back up hypothesis; challenged traditional ideas and replace them with ones demonstrated by evidence; science showed that the world was ordered and rational and natural laws applied to rational and orderly progress of gov. and society 

Topic 3.4 Comparison in Land-Based Empires

• Rulers implemented policies to solidify rule but didn’t totally assimilate to life and culture of conquerors. It resulted in blended cultures instead
• Gunpowder Empires declined, unable to compete with European trading companies, due to weak/corrupt leadership, failure to modernize, harsh financial burdens, and religious conflicts 
• Military - elite group of soldiers to solidify control over territory
  • Janissaries in the Ottoman Empire and Safavid shah
  • Ottoman vs Safavids 
  • Morocco vs Songhai 
• Centralized Bureaucracy - controlled large areas with diverse populations 
  • Ming and Manchu dynasties in China - civil service exams for scholar-gentry 
  • Ottoman empire - devshirme system 
  • Safavid empire - shah would enlist from the Persians 
  • Songhai empire - mansa (sultan) employed from scholarly class educated in schools of Timbuktu 
  • Incas - provinces headed by nobles loyal to the emperor 
  • Aztecs - less centralized and bureaucratic; had tributary empire 
• Taxation - revenue collection to support the bureaucracy and military
  • Mughal zamindar tax collection 
  • Ottoman tax farming 
  • Aztec tribute lists 
  • Ming collection of hard currency (coins) 
• Legitimacy - united subjects in their loyalty to the state; used religion, art, and monumental architecture 
  • Religion - Islamic empires used the caliph; European divine right; conversion to Islam of Songhai rulers; Aztec used human sacrifices
  • Art - portraits of Qing emperors and officials; miniature paintings in Ottoman empire; financial support of European artists 
  • Monumental architecture - Mausolea such as Taj Mahal and mosques in Mughal empire; European palaces such as Palace of Versaille in France