APWH Unit 3 Reference Sheet Notes

EUROPE

  • Overview:

    • Monarchies gain power due to the end of the Medieval Period.
    • Characteristics: increased literacy (Gutenberg Printing Press), economic development, and centralization.
    • New monarchies emerge in the 1500s due to the desire for centralized power.
      • Controlled taxes, army, and aspects of religion.
      • Examples: England (the Tudors), France (the Valois), Spain (Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand).
    • Monarchs used wealth and power to fund overseas explorations and establish colonies.

  • In General:

    • Bureaucracies increase, and the middle class grows in power.
    • Lords and churches begin to lose power.

  • England and the Tudors:

    • Religion: divine right of kings.
    • Bureaucracy: justices of the peace, Parliament, English Bill of Rights.
    • Leads to growing power for the middle class and a decrease in 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 has complete authority, combining lawmaking and the justice system.
    • Architecture: Louis XIV kept nobles at the palace in Versailles to intimidate them/prevent plotting.

  • Protestant Reformation:

    • Lutheranism: Martin Luther proposes 95 Theses, reforms to the church due to corruption (e.g., indulgences).
    • Calvinism: John Calvin broke with the church, emphasizing simplicity, hard work ethic, and obedience as favored by God.
      • Led to groups like Huguenots in France and Puritans in England.
    • Anglicanism: King Henry VIII of England wanted a divorce (to marry Anne Boleyn) but was refused by the Pope, so he created his own church (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 increased (also used torture).
      • Jesuits created to spread missionary activity into the Spanish Empire, Japan, and India.
      • Council of Trent: corrected some corrupt practices but pushed back against Protestantism, banning books.

  • Scientific Revolution:

    • Seeing the world using reason, not blind faith.
    • Empiricism (Francis Bacon), Sir Isaac Newton (gravitational force).

RUSSIA

  • Expansion:

    • Ivan IV/Ivan the Terrible expanded the border of Russia eastward, taking more land from Mongol control.
    • Gained control of the Volga River (connects to Caspian Sea); trade with Persia and the Ottoman Empire without Mongol interference.
    • Used gunpowder and Cossacks (warrior-peasants).
    • Post-Ivan IV tsars moved east into Siberia, to the Pacific Ocean, using militias, fur traders, and missionaries.

  • Tsarist Russia:

    • As rebellions increase against the Mongols, we see Tsarist Russia (beginning with Ivan III/the Great).

  • Ivan IV/Ivan the Terrible:

    • Moved Boyars (nobles) to Moscow to intimidate them/prevent them from plotting.
    • Used secret police called oprichnina.
    • Known to kill those who opposed him.

  • The Romanovs under Peter the Great:

    • Supported by the church initially, then lost support due to reforms (westernization).
    • Centralization: Russia reorganized into provinces.
    • Bureaucracy: created a senate.
    • Taxation.
    • Architecture: moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, built in a rectangular grid.

  • Unique Influences:

    • A blend of Mongol influence from Central Asia and European influence due to Viking invasions and early trading.

  • Orthodox Church:

    • Had been a unifying force for Russian people and tsars.
    • 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) in China is overthrown by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), who expanded into Mongolian territory and restored the Great Wall.
    • Continued to fight the Mongols until the Qing Dynasty took over (1644-1911).

  • Under the Qing Dynasty:

    • Emperor Kangxi expands to Taiwan, Mongolia, and Central Asia (including establishing Tibet as a protectorate of China).
    • Emperor Qianlong expanded west into Xinjiang (brutally), Tibet, and tried to expand to Burma and Vietnam, using all remaining money.
    • Japan:

  • Different daimyo leaders will expand within Japan to try to unify most of it, see governing section

  • China governing

    • Under the Yuan Dynasty, lots of Mongol influence.
    • To undo this influence, the Ming Dynasty brings back the civil service exam.
    • Bureaucracy becomes corrupt in the Qing Dynasty, leading to rebellion; the government turns to harsh military control.

  • Japan:

    • Military leaders first ruled under shoguns (military representing emperor).
    • Conflict between daimyo (landowning aristocrats) and their samurai armies led to instability.
    • Unification begins with Oda Nobunaga (daimyo leader who takes over 1/3 of Japan).
    • Continued under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (who unifies almost all of Japan).
    • Then Tokugawa Ieyasu leads (Period of Great Peace) and Tokugawa Shogunate (turned daimyo into landlords rather than independent leaders).
      *All this to say: evolves from military sponsored families to central governing

  • Belief Systems:

    • Mostly a mix of Buddhism and Confucianism in China and tributary states.
    • Shintoism included in Japan.

GUNPOWDER EMPIRES

  • Overall:

    • Expansion by Tamerlane into Central Asia and the Middle East using gunpowder, 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 the Balkans, using cannons and navy.
    • Suleiman I: took parts of Hungary and almost Austria and parts of Greece and Tripoli in North Africa.

  • Safavid Empire (Persia, 1501-1760):

    • Had no real navy and lacked natural defenses, so it was difficult to expand.
    • Shah Abbas I: used imported weapons from Europe, trying to expand farther in Persia toward the Ottoman Empire; armies clash.

  • Mughal Empire (India, 1520s-1800s):

    • Babur’s conquests in Northern India and expansion lead to the creation of the empire.
    • Akbar: expansion of trade leads to wealth and a golden age of the empire.
    • Aurangzeb: attempts to expand to southern India become expensive, weakening the empire.

  • Administration/Governance:

    • Ottoman Empire:
      • Devshirme system (staffed military and government); Christian boys aged 8-20 were taught to be scribes, diplomats, bodyguards, militia, for the sultan.
      • Ex. Janissaries: elite forces in the Ottoman Empire.
      • Tax collection.
      • Arts/architecture used: mosques (e.g., Suleymaniye Mosque), forts, other arts (e.g., poetry).
    • Mughal Empire:
      • Akbar: extended empire and defeated competing militias.
      • Used 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 to show power.
    • Safavid Empire:
      • Shi’a Islam used as a unifying force, allowing shahs to control religion and 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 (e.g., 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 OF NOTE

  • 1450 is the end of the medieval period, which means moving away from feudalism, plague, and moving into exploration, expansion, and new thought
  • If you look past these groups, you can also point out the pattern of tribute for governing control.
    • The Aztec do it with Tribute System, China does it with Tributary States, Songhai Empire (Africa) had tributary states
  • Religious systems also led to many conflicts on the battlefield, not just in policy:
    • Ex. In Germany the Peace of Augsburg allowed German states to choose whether its leader would be Catholic or Lutheran
    • Ex. In France the Edict of Nantes allowed Huguenots to practice their faith (until King Louis XIV revoked it)
    • Ex. 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 ends 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, England was Protestant with a state church