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ASIAN EMPIRES IN EARLY MODERN HISTORY, 153 Safavid Persian Empire 17th…
ASIAN EMPIRES IN EARLY MODERN HISTORY
SAFAVID IRAN
Territorial expansion
Ismail Safavid (1487-1524) proclaimed himself shah (emperor) in Iran.
Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Khorasan.
Military techniques and organization
Ismail – centralization of authority, theocratic assertions of shahs for much of the Safavid period.
1514 military defeat at the battle of Chaldiran
Gunpowder weaponry by the Ottomans
Mounted tribesmen - muskets and cannons and cavalry
The Ottomans pursued the Qizilbash all the way to Tabriz with artillery fire.
Consequences
Real-world superiority of the Ottoman military
End of Safavid expansion outside Iran
Undermined the Qizilbash’s confidence in the spiritual powers of Ismail and subsequent shahs.
SHAH ABBAS I (1571-1629)
Gunpowder weaponry was introduced
Reduced the political influence and military presence of the Qizilbash
Administrative and military reforms
Loyal agents collected taxes
Political institutions became specified and bureaucratic.
empire divided into royal provinces
1629 – centralized state with an expansive empire from India through Iraq.
1590: offensives against the Uzbeks to the north and the Ottomans to the west.
Fast consolidation of the athority (divine)
Dissolution of the empire
Early 1600s
Russia and Mughal India pressured on the northern and eastern territories in Azerbaijan and Afghanistan.
Safavid rulers were weak.
1722 – Afghan army attacked the empire, massacred thousands of Iranians and forced the shah to capitulate.
Shi'ite Islam
Fictional genealogy that linked the Safavids to the family lineage of Muhammad.
Abbas attempted to impose Shi’a orthodoxy across the empire, persecuting Sunnis and non-Muslim.
MUGHAL INDIA
Religion
Mughal emperors adhered to Sunni Islam - Islam was a small minority
Conservative Muslim gained more influence and emperors adopted more orthodox Muslim stance
Tolerance to all groups and religions, harmony between Hindu and Islamic practices.
Mughal society became re-Islamicized and clerics pushed non-Muslims to convert.
Pressure and persecussion to non-Islamic people.
Military techniques and organization
Mid 1500s – reign of Akbar. First centralization of political authority.
Imperial servants (Sunni Muslims, Hindus and Shi’ites).
Capable civil servants
Military officers
Civil officers – finance, revenue collection, military affairs, law enforcement, and patronage.
Territorial expansion
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and parts of Afghanistan
Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur defeated a local Indian sultan in 1526 near Delhi and laying the basis for the Mughal Empire
Babur interest: territorial control over Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
No interest at all at establishing a state centered in India.
Emperorships of Akbar the Great (1556–1605) and Aurangezeb (1659–1707).
1530 – control of the Punjab, Delhi, and large swaths of land in northeastern India.
Dissolution of the empire
Religious differences
Exclusion of non-Muslims from positions of influence
Growing regionalism and fragmentation
Independence demands from local powers
European imperial powers found the opportunity to insert themselves
MING AND QING CHINA
Military techniques and organization
Centralized state
Emperor ruling is the “Son of Heaven”
First theatre: the south
Qing rulers took agressive line against feudatories in 1673
Imperial forces against Ming loyalist and other rebels
Extensive bureaucracy of Confucian
scholars
Civil servants
Agricultural production
Commercial activity
Administration of civil and criminal law
Meritocracy
well-schooled administrators to carry out responsibilities of government
Second theatre: western frontier
Fortify the frontier against Mongol khans
counter Russian push into northern Manchuria
Stabilize borders
Keep Russians at bay
Use regions in Tibet and Turkestan for resettlement of peoples of overpopulated Chinese areas
Territorial expansion and sea trade
Ming and Qing emperors carried out political structures that fostered cross-cultural exchange across central and southeast Asia
Massive expeditions in the early 1400s under Zheng He
From 1405 to 1433 Chinese treasure fleet conducted its voyages in China Sea and Indian Ocean
1430s END - financial cost and political opposition
Tribute system
Tibet and east Turkestan
GREAT WALL is a permanent monument to the hostility between Chinese and steppe peoples
Enemies of the empire
Since the 1550s - emperors ignored piracy at sea and devastating famines
Internal rebelllions allowed Manchurian forces to conquer Beijing in 1644 and proclaim a
new dinasty (the Qing)
Nomadic Mongol and Turkish groups that attacked frontier regions
Qing rulers faced local resistance from Ming loyalists
ZUNGHAR MONGOLS (western Tibet)
Romanov Russia
Trade
Central state in Moscow sought to remake Siberia into a commodity- producing region
Mobilization of local populations into labour force to exploit natural resources on behalf of empire
Exploitation concentrated on the
harvest of sable fur pelts
. --> System of tribute: yasak
On the early 1700s Peter I focused on mining metals for military purposes
Military expansion
Assertive approach to the acquisition of land
Ivan IV, Russia had expanded into Ukraine and competed with Poland and Lithuania
Russia's victory in the Great Northern War
Catherine II allied with Austria and Prussia to partition Poland and Lithuania on three separate occasions
Eastern Europe gains – from the Baltic to the Balkans
East in Asia- colonization and exploitation of northern Asia aided
Conquest of Kazan Khanate and Siberian Tatar Khanate
Russian then launched Russia’s imperial quest over Siberia
Territorial expansion and organization
Central government: European pattern
The edge of eastern Europe and north-western Asia
Rise of the empire: China’s model of conquest
Ivan IV (the Terrible) ---> territorial expansion accelerated. He created an elite of squadron servants: the oprichniki.
backlash against centralized state authority in Russia
Civil War between boyars and other forces at court:
Russian state fragmented; - Sweden and Poland took opportunity to invade.
Romanov Dinasty (1600-1700)
Absolutist monarchical regimes in the early modern period.
Aristocracy and monarchy produced a formidable army and established control within middle class and peasantry
Reshaping of boyar nobility into a body to serve the state
Service nobility --> crucial for a centralized regime
Peasantry and middle class paid the price for the convenient collaboration of nobility and monarchy --> Russian peasants remained serfs until 1861
Reign of Peter I (1682-1725)
Refashion Russia - advanced nation in the western European mold, making the country a dominant player
Constructed St. Petersburg as a “window to the west”
Religion
Orthodox Church
Ethnic Slavs closer relations with Orthodox but lived under Islam (Ottoman Empire)
The Ottoman Empire
Settlement and expansion
Eastern fringes of Byzantine territory in the late 1200s
1453 conquered Constantinople --> sultans became a major power.
Africa, Arabia, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and the Persian Gulf in the 1500s.
In the 1500s Ottomans and Safavids remained bitter rivals and fought intermittently during this period.
Competition with European states and Russia – struggle with the Hapsburg
Conquest of north Africa: Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria
Organization of the empire
Effective and strong structure
Vizier, the chief administrator of the empire in Istanbul.
Provincial governors regulated civil affairs: Turkish militarist and non-noble, salaried officers.
Islam shaped society and culture throughout Ottoman territories
Law --> application and maintaining of Muslim identity.
Informal politics --> wives and concubines at court wielded considerable influence
Military power
Ottoman elites attracted numbers of warriors
Slaves from Christian populations in the Balkans (the Janissaires) – served in the army or civil administration
Army: infantry and cavalry corps, handling muskets, cannons, and the most current weapons
Decentralization of power –> enabled timars to operate more autonomously
Suleyman I: the Janissaries in the military and the state gained the upper hand, ensuring the victory of strong central authority in the Ottoman Empire.
Religion
For centuries Muslim governments had granted Jews and Christians a protected status --> to organize themselves into semi-independent communities.
In Anatolia and in Arab lands, many Christians and Jews converted to Islam, at least in part to avoid these financial and social burdens
Debilitation of the empire
1700s – several military reversals.
To the east, the Safavid presence required extensive Ottoman resources to hold the borders.
External demands - the central state gave way to provincial parties and local officials who had autonomy from an exploitive central government.
Incompetent sultans were unable to keep the central bureaucracy --> power devolved to the local level.
Provincial authorities were not well-equipped.
1900s – the empire suffered losses to Russia and Austria and from local revolts
From the Great Empire to the “sick man of Europe”.
Religion
The creation of an effective state drove the expansion of the empire
