Week 2: Expanding Empires

What follows is a sample of how I would take notes for this week of lectures. First a legal
disclaimer:
This document is provided as a guide only. Comments in this document do not constitute
a commitmentor lack of commitmentto including specific material on an exam. Perusal of
this document should not replace your own notes or study efforts in preparation for an exam.

Now: I recognize that it is much easier for me to sit down and type out notes with my own lecture
notes in front of me than it is for most people to have to listen to a lecture & write down notes.
However, my point here is to show you what I would consider important from this week of
lectures & also what is not noted here.

Prologue: the Nature of Empires
1. Peace & Taxes: the Goal of Empire
Main goal = peace & security; requires funds i.e. taxes; empire organized around maintaining
order & collecting taxes.
2. Disparate Empires
variety of peoples, cultures, languages, religions
large area
3. Tough Love: the Ruler as Benevolent Father
people had to obey rulers; rulers had to be responsible to subjects
4. All in the Family: Dynastic Rule
family power; eldest son in Europe; different elsewhere (more later)
5. The Hand of God: Monarchs & Religion
Religion closely allied with state
6. Loyal Bureaucracies
Vast distances + bad communications require loyal bureaucracy

A. Sultans of all the World: the Ottoman Empire
1. Expansion
swords, bows & arrows, etc.; also artillery & handguns
Mamluks i.e. Egypt after Constantinople 3 holy cities
Suleiman Magnificent (1520 1566) claimed had restored governing system that blended
religious & political power & represented of God on earth
Mohacs 29/8/1526, = defeat of Hungary (vassal); north Africa, Baghdad, Persian Gulf
2. Controlling a Disparate Empire: Local Rulers & Order
Central areas: direct control
Some local rulers kept; must be loyal e.g. Hungary
Timars: regions given to individual soldiers responsible for running region, collect taxes,
provide troops (cavalry & artillery) from local people when required; self-funding
recruitment center
Ottomans did not require people to convert; non-Muslims allowed to retain faith (Jews &
Christians pay extra tax);
Millets: groups based on common faith e.g. Jews; others organized along trade lines: e.g
merchants; leaders charged with collecting taxes, maintaining order etc. but otherwise ran
own affairs.
Backed up by severe punishments for crime
3. Control from the Center: the Royal House & the Imperial Bureaucracy
Principles: cant divide lands; any son can be sultan not only oldest (bad news for many!)
Without family, need another basis for bureaucracy slave bureaucracy
Start off with war captives; later Collection (boy tribute system); mostly in Christian
regions of SE Europe; roughly 1 boy from every 40 households but: no only sons, no
orphans, no sons of important men, no craftsmen, no one with bad eyesight, not married, no
one fresh faced and beardless, no short boys (trouble makers), no tall boys (stupid).
Go to Istanbul medical inspection, circumcised; good looking to royal palace; strongest to
gardens; all sent to palace get significant schooling then some become part of ruling group
others administrators, finance, teachers, lawyers, scientists
But majority to Janissary Corps, the sultans personal infantry; start by working for local
farmers, tough & learn Islam & Turkish; then move to barracks, for menial jobs then to J
Corps; not biggest part of but core b/c loyal only to sultan; could not marry while on active
duty, lived in barracks permanently.
Good structure, late 1400s to late 1600s; empire tends to be a region of prosperity, stability,
&, at least toward center of empire, place of peace.

B. Paradise on Earth: the Mughal Empire
1. Conquest
Babur, king of Kabul (Muslim)
Sultan of Delhi (Muslim), Panipat, 1526
Khanua, 1527, Rajput Confederacy (Hindu)
Akbar extends Mughal territory
Talikot, 1565
2. Accommodation & Cooperation
Mughals = Muslim, majority of people = Hindu
Akbar key in peaceful rule: wants Hindu cooperation; brings Rajputs in as loyal army
officers; wants nobles with Indian background rather than foreigners.
Tolerance toward Hindus & other religions; abolished tax on Hindu pilgrims; allowed Hindus
to repair old holy sites & build new temples; no longer enslaved prisoners of war or forced
them to convert to Islam; allowed women within his harem to practice their own religions.
Uses both Islamic law & local law where applicable
3. Power at the Center
Akbar also committed to orthodox Islam early one; did public devotional acts, organized
annual pilgrimage to Mecca; also gave $
Later years seems to grow disillusioned with Islam b/c of materialism of many Islamic
leaders; tries more mystical religions; 1580s, advisors build ideological structure for dynasty
i.e. specific idea of divine connections with Akbar; some writings declared Akbar a superior
being, existing closer to God; also connected to nobles by esoteric means; began to openly
practice worship of the sun and to enlist groups of nobles as his disciples in connection with
this activity; each initiate agreed to sacrifice his life, property, religion & honor in service of
Akbar.
Empire divided into 12 provinces, each with governor; then smaller regions; officials mainly
charged with keeping peace & collecting taxes; Akbar willing to allow for tax concessions
during droughts or crop failures; to try & stop regional dynasties developing, Mughal law
provided that all wealth accumulated by administrator reverted to sultan when administrator
died.
also brutal means: esp. those who continued to resist mass executions; also criminal
punishments included whipping, public humiliation, banishment, execution.
As with Ottomans, relatively stable, prosperous, peaceful empire.

C. Maritime Empires: Europeans Discover the World
1. Empires of Trade: Europeans in Asia
Driven by trade, Portuguese continue to develop knowledge of ocean, better ships, etc.
1487, Bartholomew Diaz
1497, Vasco da Gama
European goods have little value in Asia; Portuguese use cannon to force way into markets;
specifically aim for choke points; e.g. capture Melaka in 1511, + others; factories (!)
Lots of goods but esp. spices; small part of Asian trade but big shift in Europe
Also trade with China, Japan; Spain arrives 1571
2. Empire of Conquest: Spains New World
1492, Columbus
Hernando Cortez,1518
Aztecs/Mexica: v. advanced, wealthy, aggressive, focuses on warfare boys whole life;
dominate cent. Mexico; huge trade flow to capital
Tenochtitlan: foundation of heaven: the political, symbolic, & ritual center of universe;
huge temple complex; regular human sacrifices to keep universe functioning.
Cortez + 100s win in couple of years, why? technology (incl. horse); disease; dissenting
groups in Aztec kingdom; cultural (V.D. Hanson): total war vs. war to obtain sacrifices;
Aztec centralized command structure.
By 1550s, Spains empire = Mexico to southern tip of S.A. (except Brazil)
two viceroyalties, Mexico & Peru, with regional officials; crown sees Indians as its moral
responsibility
Las Casas, Very Briefe Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1542 hes catalyst for
change: crown made efforts to protect Indians (1542) e.g. illegal to enslave Indians; also
many Catholic priests seeking converts
More people begin to migrate; farming, mining etc, using Indians & Africans as labor
(slaves); most immigrants men multi-racial society
Peninsulares = those born in Spain
Criollos (or creoles): born of pure Spanish blood in New Spain
criollos thought P excluding them power, & Cr believed P to be arrogant & hypocritical; P
believed Cr to be lazy, irresponsible & lacking in vigor
mestizos = mixed Spanish-Indian background; status seen in marriage customs
mulatto = children of white-black relations

D. Europe in Turmoil
1. Rethinking Man: Humanism
new intellectual discoveries reshape Euro view of world
Perspective i.e. creating scenes as would be seen: technical issue but impacts thinking; i.e.
everything seen in relationship to God now see objects which can be manipulated by man &
where they stand in relationship to man; everything must therefore relate to man.
Man inserted in scriptural paintings; more paintings of non-religious subjects.
intellectuals emphasize the importance of man & human learning; still believe in God but
insist man had more control over his world; emphasis of man over God = humanism.
Want to free people from superstitions & power of church; want to end clerical privilege.
Erasmus: new bible translation; undercuts some traditional church teachings; i.e. Erasmus
declaring man could interpret bible for himself i.e. independently of church; bible
common languages
new bible translations spread rapidly b/c of printing press; humanist teachings & publications
arrive in society where rising discontent with established church; another wealthy, powerful
force in peoples lives; did not address their needs; church also becoming corrupt; reading
bible no longer requires priest
2. Challenging the Church: the Reformation
Luther: German monk justification by faith alone; attacks indulgences lots of debates
with other churchmen; L emphasizes grace of God, opponents emphasize authority.
Luther protected by some German princes; 1520 he had published Address to the Christian
Nobility of the German Nation, denounces entire church & called for nobility to punish the
crimes of the pope; many German leaders want his support in struggle against church power
Peasants adopt Luthers ideas; used in revolts against lords;
Twelve Articles of Memmingen: abolition of serfdom, hunting & fishing rights for peasants,
reduction in taxes & labor services etc.
Some reform leaders supported uprisings; Luther, at first, not sure, April 1525 = An
Admonition to Peace, against rulers and peasants; May republishes + appendix = Against the
Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants; armies put down revolts, mill?
Luther abandoned by peasants, but support from rulers; Lutheranism, state religion in parts of
Germany & Scandinavia.
John Calvin The Institutes summary of essential beliefs of Christianity; emphasizes
sovereignty of God, depravity of man, all-sufficiency of the cross, election.
believed morality was essential to good order of society; state should enforce laws of God;
Geneva = attempt to establish ideal Christian state
Calvinism in Switzerland, Netherlands, Scotland, + strong followings in France and England.
3. Catholic Reformation a.k.a. Counter-Reformation
Catholic Church, 2 pronged response; one if drive to reform church, educate priests &
people.
Publicize lives of spiritual church people e.g. Teresa of Avila; John of the Cross
Religious orders key in teaching people e.g. Franciscans & Dominicans; most important -
Society of Jesus (Jesuits), 1540, Loyola
2
nd
prong: stop reformation entering new areas & to try to stamp it out; Council of Trent
denounced Protestant teachings; Inquisition esp. in Spain: violent & bloody repression of
Protestantismas well as Jewsin Spain.
4. Wars of Religion
Lutheran-Catholic Wars in Germany 1547; Peace of Augsburg (1555) allows each prince
to set religion for his territory.
In France, Calvinists = Huguenots; many nobles embrace this out of belief AND opposition
to king; official toleration but lots of violence (Wars of Religion); 1572, St. Bartholomews
Day Massacre, slaughter of Protestants, Protestant retaliation.
Edict of Nantes, 1598: freedom of belief & freedom of worship in certain towns
Spain uses wealth to defend & restore Catholicism; Dutch Revolt = religious, national,
economic revolt against Spain; eventually Netherlands becomes independent.
General, Protestantism triumphed in north, Catholicism in south