Overview
What were the advantages and disadvantages of a land empire as opposed to a maritime empire? (The Earth and Its Peoples, 526)
There are a few notable advantages and disadvantages of classical imperial rule. Many times, the disadvantages of such rule are the same as its advantages. The most obvious of the advantages come from the conquest itself – land and resource acquisition. Many times dominance can be difficult to spread over land, as the state’s population increases, so must the complexity of its rule. Maritime empires, such as Great Britain (U.K.) and the United Netherlands procured their wealth through overseas trade and political force thereof. Controlling the seas required a good deal of ever-evolving technology, which the early modern empires of the east largely ignored.
Three such empires of note were the Ottoman, the Safavid, and the Mughal. Ottoman Empire originally grew out of trade route control and successful military reward systems. The Safavid came from the religious and political aspirations of Ismail I, hereditary leader of a military religious brotherhood, Safaviya. The Mughal Empire was created and ruled by descendants of Timur, an Asian conqueror of the 14th century. It is important to note the commonalities between these three empires. All three were of Turkic origin and practiced some form of Islam. After initial conquests, they were comprised of mixed cultures, used land as military payment, and exercised religious beliefs in their dominance of conquered lands.
The power of the Ottoman Empire was visible in its military might and strategic invasions. From a number of decisive battles (conquer of Constantinople, Battle of Chaldiran, etc.) in the late 14th and early 15th centuries,...
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... other Ottoman reformers. What do you think made it so difficult to achieve meaningful reforms? (The Human Record, 218)
It is hard to tell based on this document, but I believe that the diminishing power of the sultan and reorganization of the state hierarchy were the largest roadblocks to reform. I think what made it so difficult to achieve the suggested reforms was the corruption throughout the hierarchy of the state. Truly effective reforms must be implemented by an authority and accepted by the general populace. Although there were many changes that took place during the following century, from what I can tell, they were not due to the reforms of those such as the Mehmed Pasha, but rather to the natural evolution of the state.
Works Cited
Beck et al. “World History: Patterns of Interaction”. Chapter 18, Section 3; audio supplement. McDougal Littell. 2005.
Empire had been the word of the day. Germany, Italy, and Japan were working to catch up to the British and their two-hundred-year head start. Military theory and technology was changing. It introduced a new view of international geopolitics: the flags and politics of nations followed the economy of a nation, not the other way around, which had long been the accepted European idea (Reeder 29). Control of the sea was considered vital to all national interest: for the sake of communication to territorial possessions and for, most importantly of all, trade. But technology had also advanced. Coaling stations were now required at various intervals all over the world to keep the steam navies of the day going (Chidsey 15).
5) Safavid Empire-The Safavid Empire was important because, they were the force who stopped Turks advancing the east. They also brought central authority to region a...
Tignor, R., Adelman, J., Brown, P., Elman, B. A., Liu, X., Pittman, H., & Shaw, B. D. (2011). Worlds together, worlds apart A history of the world: V. 1 (3rd ed., Vol. 1). New York: WW Norton &.
Upshur, Jiu-Hwa, Janice J. Terry, Jim Holoka, Richard D. Goff, and George H. Cassar. Thomson advantage Books World History. Compact 4th edition ed. Vol. Comprehensive volume. Belmont: Thompson Wadsworth, 2005. 107-109. Print.
Unlike most “victimized” cultures of Western European domination, the Ottoman Empire was considerably successful and powerful for many years, particularly in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century under the rule of Sulayman the Magnificent (Haberman, 132). By 1520, the Ottoman Empire had secured much of the Arab Middle East, Belgrade and most of Hungary (Haberman, 132...
Howe, Helen, and Robert T. Howe. A World History: Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Volume 1. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1992. 533.
There is a point of time in certain a country’s history where they become dominant and more powerful than ever before. During this elongated process a country becomes an empire. The British and the Ottomans were states that succeeded in this process, but becoming an empire such as theirs required vast amounts of political and social maneuvering to expand their boundaries, called imperialism. Imperialism is, “a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force”. By becoming a modern nation enjoying economic prosperity and political stability, the British and the Ottomans created an imperialistic impact over the globe with distinctive motivations and approaches especially during the transition period of gaining ample amount power and influence globally.
The "Ottoman Decline" San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. 23 Mar. 2010. Web. The Web. The Web. 06 Apr. 2011.
Two important, mighty Asian empires in history are the Ottoman Empire and the Ming China. These two empires are in totally different areas of Asia – the Ottomans were in the very west, the Chinese were in the oriental east. Therefore, these two empires, naturally, formed completely different cultures. However, surprisingly, these empires had many parts in common as well. The Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty had both many different and distinct parts, as well as many similarities.
Both the Han and Roman empires emphasized on territorial expansions. By utilizing their powerful militaries, they consolidated their power within and across borders, which created stable trade networks for their economic bases. Land equated to wealth and power. Through integration of the local domains, both empires succeeded in political stability. For the Han Empire, their expansion abroad pushed through ecological limits under Emperor Wu Di ( 181-87 BCE), who made military service compulsory. The army expanded bordered into northern Vietnam and southeastern China. Although there were military threats from the Xiongnu, the nomadic people of the north, Wu launched defense attacks that made ...
Located in the province of Xianjing, the Uyghurs are isolated by massive mountains, deserts, Communist China, and extreme poverty. The Uyghurs are of Turkic origin, and were one of the 9 original tribes. One of these tribes, the Ottomans, sacked Constantinople in 1459, starting the rein of the Sultans for 400 years. The superpower carved a massive empire, from its roots in Turkey, to spread from the Russian steppes to the Alps to India, and stamping their name on history in blood. European history in the 1400‘s, 1500‘s, and 1600‘s centered on the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire and the Arabic people carved two massive empires in an extremely short time. They crushed the medieval christian kingdoms around Jerusalem, and quickly started attacking Christian kingdoms in Spain, Greece, and the Balkans. These conflicts between Muslims and Christians have been the longest and bloodiest in the history of the world, and still persist today. These Ottomans are, understandably, the most wel...
Ellis, Elizabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler. World History: The Modern Era. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
The first twenty-five years of Syrian independence was filled with extreme political instability and p...
Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, and Dahia I. Shabaka. World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2009.
Duiker, William J. , and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World History . 6th. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Pub Co, 2010. print.