Gunpowder empires were one of the most successful empires in the Middle East thanks to an innovative war technology: gun powder. The Safavids and the Ottomans belonged to the category of “gun-powder empires” since their use of gunpowder weaponry prolonged their reign in the Middle East. Both of the empires’ success was occasioned by their centralization of power and reliance on elite groups of “outsiders” as a form of unifying their unconditional rule. Thus in the process of centralization, both the Ottomans and Safavids displayed similar patterns that paralleled their monarchy (Aslanian). In other words, the Safavids and the Ottomans displayed similarities through the consolidation of their government via recruitment methods and counteractions of power. In the early modern and modern periods, the Ottoman Empire had been viewed as an accomplished and robust Muslim dynasty (P.159, Fisher and Oschenwald). With the introduction of gun-powdered weaponry, the Ottomans maintained control over large parts of land. …show more content…
In other words, the young boys have been kidnapped or taken by force from their homelands and later dispersed among court officers, the sipahlis, and the sultan. According to Professor Aslanian, the young Christian boys were re-educated, trained in military combat, and assimilated within the Muslim system. Consequently, some of the youth were employed through the ranks of a janissary while others gained the ability to attain any position available in the state. Essentially, the devshirme helped centralize the Ottoman Empire because it avoided individuals to come together and cause fragmentations within the dynasty. “Some observers remarked that this policy helped to keep the Christian population in subjection by drawing away future leaders (P.177, Fisher and
The Gunpowder empires were similar politically through three reason. The first reason is that they all had a golden age led by a great leader. The Mughals, during the rule of Akbar, the Ottomans with Suleiman the Magnificent and the Safavids through Shah Abbas. All of these rulers were known for their religious tolerance, reformation of government, and encouragement of the arts and architecture. The second similarity is that they all had great expansions during this time. For example, through conquering many battles, the Safavids expanded into the caucasus mountains (northeast of Turkey), the Ottomans stretched across three continents, and the Mughals into Pakistan and Baluchistan. Finally, the last similarity is that they all had various degrees
Throughout history, many can see differences in the empires of America and the empires of Africa, but some fundamental similarities exist among these empires that make them successful. While each of these empires is deeply rooted in promoting economic growth and spiritual connectivity, they go about these tasks in different ways due to their individual and unique circumstances.
On the Political side, the Ottoman Turks were the best at keeping up control for a more extended time. It could get by to the point that advanced circumstances. The two different realms crumbled by the seventeenth century. The pioneer of the Ottoman Turks was known as the Sultan which was like a ruler. Islamic Law was connected to all Muslims. With respect to Safavid realm politically, the Shahs strolled around the boulevards in mask keeping in mind the end goal to discover the genuineness of the nationals. The high positions were given by justifying and regularly were nonnatives. In the Mughal Empire politically, Even,
Similar to the Vikings and the Mongols, the Ottomans ravaged the countryside. However, unlike the other outsiders, the Turks used a system to convert young men to the Islamic religion, and then forced them to train, creating loyal soldiers. This system was called the devshirmeh system. The Ottoman Decree also instituted schools. “Moreover, every community is authorized to establish public schools of science, art, and industry. Only the method of instructions and the choice of professors in schools of this class shall be under the control of a mixed council of public instruction, the members of which shall be named by my sovereign command. . .” (Ottoman Decree). As a result of these schools, culture flourished and there was an advancement in
From their modest upbringings to their slow decline, The Ottoman Empire has come to be known as the ‘protector of the Islamic heartlands and the scourge of Christian
The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughals were all gunpowder empires. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences between all of these empires mentioned. Each fall into five different categories.
The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal societies all relied on bureaucracies that drew inspiration from the steppe traditions of Turkish and Mogol people and from the heritage of Islam, they adopted similar policies, they looked for ways to keep peace in their societies which were made up of different religious and ethnic backgrounds, and they were associated with literary and artistic talents. Military and religious factors gave rise to all three of these empires.
History has consisted of many different empires. Two of the earlier empires are known as the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire. The Ottoman Empire was established around 1299 by Osman I, who was also a leader of the Turkish tribes (History.com). The Ottomans began in Asia Minor during the break down of the Turks, which later led the Ottoman Empire to expand and conquer land across Asia and Europe. While the Safavid Empire was established in 1501 east of the Ottoman Empire. The Safavid Empire emerged in modern day Iran, which was east of where the Ottoman Empire started and expanded. Both of these empires were strong in power and had many resources available to them.
Having set the benchmark of a modern civilization due to economic and industrial superiority, Western European powers had contemptuous feelings toward the Ottomans’ primitive regimes and their internal strife. In fact, the 17th and 18th centuries in the Middle East were periods marked by severe financial crisis, increased decentralization, and stronger external control by western nations. It was clear that members of Ottoman and Persian military and bureaucratic organizations needed to prove themselves worthy in comparison to the European nations in order to shift the global balance of power back towards the East. As a result, drastic political, economic, and social reforms were implemented in the Middle East throughout the 19th century that aimed to both reverse the process of fragmentation within the empires and attempt to regain authority on a both local and global scale. Today, historians often describe this period of transformation as the beginning of the “modern” history of the Middle East as we are still living the consequences of the changes that took place during that period. Throughout this essay, I will demonstrate that on the one hand some of the social reforms that took place in the region helped modernize the educational and cultural affairs of Middle Eastern societies, while on the other hand, the failed establishment of new economic and political policies in the empires helped strengthen European control over the region and subsequently set the stage for the
Furthermore, there are some main aspects, which determine the success of the Arab conquerors and their influence that they had on the political, social, and cultural changes of the Middle East. In the first place, we have seen that the most commented – upon aspect of the conquests, their rapidity, is a consequence of the drive by the conquest leadership to recruit nomads into their armies. Nomads are much more mobile than sedentary people, more used to fighting in their everyday lives, and their work is less labor intensive than growing crops, so more of them can be spared to fight than in an agricultural society. In Arab case, non – Muslim sources allow us to perceive an additional advantage that the Arabs had been serving in the armies of
Al-Razi: a physician who wrote about surgery, smallpox, and measles, as well as compiled a huge medical encyclopedia that was used in Europe for centuries
As we explore periodization, we can see what led to the division of the Late Iron Age and the Persian Period. The Late Iron Age is characterized by the re-urbanization and re-establishment of higher cultures, which included more evident writing and trade. Towards the end of the age we see the creation of the Hebrew Bible, the royal courts breeding regionalism as well as the emergence of an elite social class. This is seen through the assembly of rich pottery and writing style from archaeological digs at royal cities. We also begin to see the beginning of dominant powers, as seen with Assyria. Here we see major changes in politico-historical and religio-ethnic facts that will cause the shift that brings us into the Persian
A myriad of factors contributed to the inauguration of Outremer (as the crusader states shall be referred to throughout the entirety of the research paper) as the dominate political entity comprising the Levant region of the Middle East, predominately the methodology employed for the formation of Outremer; the reaction to religious discrepancies within the crusaders’ territorial expanse and its innovative characteristics comparative to contemporary Western Europe; the architectural constructions utilized to consolidate presence and superiority over enemies and subordinates; and the increased centrality provided to subjects of Outremer relative to antecedent Islamic rule.
Granted, more practical concerns may have influenced the Mamluks’ disinclination to adopt gunpowder weapons. The Mamluks, heavily invested in cavalry tactics, would have found limited use for firearms as wheel lock firearms which could be utilized by cavalry first appeared in 1520 and did not reach the Ottomans until 1543. Simultaneously, the Mamluks
Initially, indeed, the Arab society was not an ideal social and cultural set up and the Muslims were aware of the fact that contemporary civilizations are far superior. To fulfill the requirements of a developing intercontinental empire they adapted at a large scale. They tried and benefitted liberally from Babylonian, Hellenic, Roman, Persian, Indian and Egyptian civilizations. The rich heritage thus gathered was judged and reinterpreted in the light of contemporary demand and they never shied away from experimenting and upgrading. They updated math to calculate inheritance and taxes, made innovations in architecture for