APWH UNIT 3 REFERENCE SHEET OVERVIEW OF LAND BASED EMPIRES

EUROPE

  • In General:
    • Monarchies gained power due to the end of the Medieval Period.
    • Increased literacy due to the Gutenberg Printing Press.
    • Economic development increased.
    • Centralization occurred.
    • New monarchies emerged in the 1500s, desiring centralized power controlling taxes, armies, and religion. Examples include:
      • England: the Tudors
      • France: the Valois
      • Spain: Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand
    • Monarchs used wealth and power to fund overseas explorations and establish colonies.
  • Administration/Governance:
    • Bureaucracies increased, and the middle class grew in power.
    • Lords and churches began to lose power.
    • England and the Tudors:
      • Religion: divine right of kings.
      • Bureaucracy: justices of the peace, Parliament, English Bill of Rights, leading to growing power for the middle class and decreasing power for feudalism/lords.
    • France and Louis XIV (The Sun King):
      • Religion: divine right of the monarchy.
      • Centralization under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu: intendants collected taxes for the monarchy (tax farmers, usually bureaucratic elites).
      • Absolutism under Louis XIV: the king had complete authority, combining lawmaking and the justice system.
      • Architecture: Louis XIV kept nobles at the Palace of Versailles to intimidate them and prevent plotting.
  • Belief Systems:
    • Protestant Reformation: Reforming the Church.
      • Lutheranism: Martin Luther proposed 95 Theses, or reforms to the church, due to corruption (e.g., indulgences).
      • Calvinism: John Calvin broke with the church, emphasizing simplicity, a strong work ethic, and obedience as favored by God. This led to several groups based on Calvinism, including Huguenots in France and Puritans in England.
      • Anglicanism: King Henry VIII of England wanted a divorce, which the Pope refused. Therefore, Henry VIII created his own church free of the Pope (Church of England/Anglican Church).
    • Counter Reformation: Catholic Reformation.
      • Response of the Roman Catholic Church to reform and rebellion by Protestant groups:
        • Inquisition to root out and punish nonbelievers, used torture.
        • Jesuits created to spread missionary activity into the Spanish Empire, Japan, and India.
        • Council of Trent: corrected some corrupt practices of the church but pushed back against Protestantism, banning their books.
    • Scientific Revolution:
      • Viewing the world using reason and not blind faith.
      • Empiricism (Francis Bacon), Sir Isaac Newton (gravitational force).
      • F = G \frac{m1 m2}{r^2}

RUSSIA

  • Expansion:
    • Ivan IV/Ivan the Terrible expanded Russia eastward, taking land from Mongol control.
    • Gained control of the Volga River (connecting to the Caspian Sea), enabling trade with Persia and the Ottoman Empire without Mongol interference.
    • Utilized gunpowder and groups of warrior-peasants called Cossacks.
    • Post-Ivan IV tsars continued east into Siberia, eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean, using militias, fur traders, and missionaries.
  • Administration/Governance:
    • Increase in rebellions against the Mongols led to Tsarist Russia, beginning with Ivan III/the Great.
    • Ivan IV/Ivan the Terrible
      • Moved Boyars (nobles) to Moscow to intimidate them and prevent plotting.
      • Used secret police called oprichnina.
      • Known to kill those who opposed him.
    • The Romanovs under Peter the Great
      • Initially had the support of the church but lost it due to reforms (trying to westernize Russia).
      • Centralization: reorganized Russia into provinces.
      • Bureaucracy: created a senate.
      • Taxation.
      • Architecture: moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, built in a rectangular grid.
  • Belief Systems:
    • Unique blend of Mongol influence from Central Asia and European influence due to Viking invasions and early trading.
    • The Orthodox Church had been a unifying force for Russian people and tsars.
    • To gain more power, Peter the Great abolished the position of patriarch and incorporated the Church into the government, creating the Holy Synod to answer to the tsar.

EAST ASIA

  • China:
    • The Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which expanded into Mongolian territory and restored the Great Wall.
    • The Ming Dynasty continued to fight the Mongols until the Qing Dynasty took over (1644-1911).
    • Under the Qing Dynasty:
      • Emperor Kangxi expanded to Taiwan, Mongolia, and Central Asia (including establishing Tibet as a protectorate of China).
      • Emperor Qianlong expanded west into Xinjiang, Tibet, and tried to expand to Burma and Vietnam, using all of the Qing Dynasty’s remaining money.
  • Japan:
    • Different daimyo leaders expanded within Japan to try to unify most of it.
  • Administration/Governance:
    • China:
      • Under the Yuan Dynasty, there was a lot of Mongol influence.
      • Trying to undo this influence, the Ming Dynasty brought back the civil service exam.
      • In the Qing Dynasty, the bureaucracy became corrupt, leading to rebellion; the government turned to harsh military control.
    • Japan:
      • Military leaders first ruled under shoguns (military representing the emperor).
      • Conflict between daimyo (landowning aristocrats) and their samurai armies led to instability.
      • Unification began with Oda Nobunaga (daimyo leader who took over 1/3 of Japan).
      • Continued under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (who unified almost all of what is Japan today).
      • Then Tokugawa Ieyasu led (Period of Great Peace) and the Tokugawa Shogunate (turned daimyo into landlords rather than independent leaders).
      • Evolved from military-sponsored families to central governing.
  • Belief Systems:
    • Mix of Buddhism and Confucianism in China and tributary states.
    • Shintoism in Japan.

GUNPOWDER EMPIRES

  • Overall: expansion by Tamerlane (Mongol-Turkic ruler) into Central Asia and the Middle East using gunpowder, the ghazi ideal, and brutal conquest led to the emergence of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires.
  • Ottoman Empire (Turkey, 1300-1918):
    • Mehmed II: took Constantinople, renamed it Istanbul, and focused on areas around the Black Sea and Balkans, using cannons and a navy.
    • Suleiman I: took parts of Hungary and almost Austria and parts of Greece in the Mediterranean and Tripoli in North Africa.
  • Safavid Empire (Persia, 1501-1760):
    • Had no real navy and lacked natural defenses, making it difficult to expand.
    • Shah Abbas I: used imported weapons from Europe, trying to expand farther in Persia toward the Ottoman Empire.
  • Mughal Empire (India, 1520s-1800s):
    • Babur’s conquests in Northern India and expansion led to the creation of the empire.
    • Akbar: expansion of trade led to wealth and a golden age of the empire.
    • Aurangzeb: attempts to expand to southern India became expensive, weakening the empire.
  • Administration/Governance:
    • Ottoman Empire:
      • Devshirme system (staffed military and government); recruits of Christian boys aged 8-20 who were taught to be scribes, diplomats, bodyguards, militia for the sultan.
      • Social mobility.
      • Ex. Janissaries: elite forces in the Ottoman Empire.
      • Tax collection.
      • Arts/architecture also used: mosques (ex. Suleymaniye Mosque), forts, other arts (ex. poetry).
    • Mughal Empire:
      • Akbar: a great ruler who extended the empire and defeated competing militias.
      • Used a centralized government and civil service.
      • Paid government officials called zamindars represented duties like taxation, construction, and water supply maintenance.
      • Shah Jahan: used architectural accomplishments like the Taj Mahal and other buildings (combining Islamic and local styles) to show their power.
    • Safavid Empire:
      • Shi’a Islam was used as a unifying force, allowing shahs to control religion and the political structure.
      • Strict adherence to Shi’a policies = law.
      • Also used architecture to showcase power.
  • Belief Systems:
    • Ottoman Empire:
      • Sunni Islam
      • Mostly tolerant of other groups under Suleiman, less under later rulers.
    • Safavid Empire:
      • Mostly Shi’a Islam
      • No tolerance (ex. Ismail I made conversion mandatory for the Sunni population).
    • Mughal Empire:
      • Tolerance under Akbar, who tried to blend Islam and Hinduism together (did not work).
      • Less tolerance under later rulers.

OTHER FACTORS

  • 1450 is the end of the medieval period, meaning moving away from feudalism, and plague and into exploration, expansion, and new thought.
  • Pattern of tribute for governing control:
    • The Aztec with the Tribute System, China with Tributary States, the Songhai Empire (Africa) had tributary states.
  • Religious systems led to many conflicts not just in policy:
    • In Germany, the Peace of Augsburg allowed German states to choose whether its leader would be Catholic or Lutheran.
    • In France, the Edict of Nantes allowed Huguenots to practice their faith (until King Louis XIV revoked it).
    • The Thirty Years’ War between the Catholics and Protestants led to economic catastrophe for most of Europe, resulting in famine, starvation, and disease. The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia, allowing each area of the Holy Roman Empire to be either Catholic, Lutheran, or Calvinist.
    • France, Spain, and Italy chose Catholicism, Northern Europe was Lutheran or Calvinist, and England was Protestant with a state church.