Land Empires - acc. PHILLIPS

Land Empires

c. 1450-1750

Contents

Land Empires, c. 1450-1750

Objectives
Gunpowder Empires
- The Military Revolution
- Sunni, Shi'a, and Sikh
Mughals
Ottomans
Safavids
Russia, Prussia, and Austria

Objectives

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Explain how and why various land-based empires developed and expanded from 1450 to 1750.
Explain how rulers used a variety of methods to legitimize and consolidate their power in land-based empires from 1450 to 1750.
Explain continuity and change within the various belief systems during the period from 1450 to 1750.
Explain the effects of the development of state power from 1450 to 1750.
Explain how social categories, roles, and practices have been maintained or have changed over time.

Gunpowder Empires

The Military Revolution

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Fort Bourtange, a star fort completed in the Netherlands in 1593, gave guards a panoramic view of attackers. Massive bombards, like the Tsar Cannon cast in 1586, smashed defensive walls.

Ming musketry volley formation

Ottoman artillery

Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder, cannons, and armed trade to establish large empires in both hemispheres.

audio pronunciation guide:

Article: The First Guns: How Gunpowder Overcame the Sword

The Military Revolution

Sunni, Shi'a, and Sikh

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calligraphic representation of 12 Imams along with the name of the Prophet Muhammad

Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture to legitimize their rule.
Political rivalries between the Ottoman and Safavid empires intensified the split within Islam between Sunni and Shi’a.
Sikhism developed in South Asia in a context of interactions between Hinduism and Islam.

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Sunni, Shi'a, and Sikh

the trio of Islamic gunpowder empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals

Mughals

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Babur, founder of the Mughal empire

Mughal Emperor Akbar training an elephant

dragging siege-guns uphill during Akbar's attack on Ranthambhor Fort in 1568

Akbar II seated on the Peacock Throne (c. 1811)

Land empires included the Mughal in South and Central Asia.
Political and religious disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.
Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as the development of military professionals, became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain centralized control over their populations and resources.
Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture to legitimize their rule.
Rulers used tribute collection, tax farming, and innovative tax-collection systems to generate revenue in order to forward state power and expansion.
Many states, such as the Mughal and Ottoman empires, adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects or to utilize the economic, political, and military contributions of different ethnic or religious groups. In other cases, states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups’ roles in society, politics, or the economy.

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Article: The Mughal Women Who Wouldn't Stay in the Harem

Mughal architecture

Mughal Empire

Ottomans

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Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul

Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566)

Janissary drawing by Gentile Bellini

Sultan Mehmed II allowed Orthodoxy to remain active after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Ottoman execution by elephant of defeated Christians in Serbia

Ottoman siege of Esztergom (1543)

Land empires included the Ottoman in Southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Political and religious disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.
Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as the development of military professionals, became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain centralized control over their populations and resources.
Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture to legitimize their rule.
Rulers used tribute collection, tax farming, and innovative tax-collection systems to generate revenue in order to forward state power and expansion.
Many states, such as the Mughal and Ottoman empires, adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects or to utilize the economic, political, and military contributions of different ethnic or religious groups. In other cases, states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups’ roles in society, politics, or the economy.

audio pronunciation guide:

Article: What Was So Magnificent About Suleiman the Magnificent?

Article: Under Suleiman’s Rule: The Role of Women in the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

Safavids

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Isma'il was reported to use the gilded skull of a defeated enemy as a wine goblet

court of Shah Abbas I the Great

capture of Tabriz and the parading before Abbas I of the severed heads of Ottoman soldiers (1603)

music hall of that Ali Qapu palace

Land empires included the Safavids in the Middle East.
Political and religious disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.
Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as the development of military professionals, became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain centralized control over their populations and resources.
Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture to legitimize their rule.
Rulers used tribute collection, tax farming, and innovative tax-collection systems to generate revenue in order to forward state power and expansion.

audio pronunciation guide:

Safavid Empire

Russia, Prussia, and Austria

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Russia

Peter I, the Great (r. 1682–1725) elevated Russia from a weak state on Europe's eastern fringe to a Great Power as he modernized and Westernized the nation.

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Prussia

Frederick II, the Great (r. 1740–1786) greatly expanded Prussia's territory and made Prussia a leading military power in Europe.

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Austria

Maria Theresa (r. 1740–1780), the only female leader of the Hapsburg dynasty, defended her lands against Frederick the Great of Prussia in both the War of Austrian Succession and Seven Years’ War.

Article: What made Austria's Maria Theresa a one-of-a-kind ruler

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Poland

The rulers of Russia, Austria, and Prussia divided and conquered Poland in a series of three Partitions.

audio pronunciation guide:

Russia, Prussia, and Austria

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