Age of Absolutism leads to the Age of Revolutions

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Age of Absolutism leads to the Age of Revolutions

• 1450 1750
• Political System
• Social System
• Economic System
• Cultural System (mannerism to baroque)
• More secular
• Education
• Enlightenment (includes Scientific Revolution)

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Absolutism and its limits

• Absolutism was possible because the European
  economy was expanding, allowing the creation of
  (comparatively) larger bureaucracies
• Kings found ways to strip nobles of their
  political power
• However, kings had to concede freedom from
  taxation to nobles
• The limits of a pre-industrial economy limited
  the effectiveness of royal power.
• Main concern of governments was still raising
  taxes and fighting wars.
• Even this proved too costly for most kings

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Repeating Characteristics

• Appearances of authority
• Accoutrements of power
• New cities
• Great Monuments
• Divine Authority
• Must 1st control the aristocracy and replace with
  a new bureaucracy
• Administrative body that has non-elected
  officials and procedures
• Chosen through different processes such as
  through inheritance or by merit
• Military structures and new types of persons to
  control the military
• Taxing structures and tax collectors
• How does the aristocracy fight back
• Mercantilist practices
• Self-sufficiency
• Control of trade through tariffs
• Control of trade routes
• Increase production of goods
• Deal with the issue of merchants and increased
  trade
• Increase banking practices and use and control of
  silver and gold
• Religious conflict

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Shah Abbas(1588-1629) Safavids (1501 -1732)

• Obscure origin which is most probably Sunni and
  Kurdish, the Safavids (named after a sufi master,
  Shaykh Safi)
• forged for themselves an illustrious genealogy
  that goes back to Ali, and proceeded to forcibly
  change Iran into a Shiite state.
• In the process they shaped the modern image of
  the Iranian nation.
• The greatest Safavid monarch,
• he moved the capital to Isfahan in 1598,
• built there a royal city that extended to the
  south of the old city and connected it with the
  Zayandeh river via a wide avenue, the Chahar Bagh
  (Four Gardens) Avenue.

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Shah Abbas Mosque - Isfahan
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Safavid Empire
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Cultural control

• 1st Safavid ruler to conquer the territory of
  Persia was a 14-year-old boy by the name of
  Ismael (Shah Ismael Shah being the title the
  Safavids used for "emperor").
• Ismael lived up to the legend of descent from
  Muhammad in his exploits.
• He was apparently quite devout, and seemed also
  to be unable to lose a military campaign.
• His "red cap" army was absolutely devoted to him,
  and took extreme risks in his name.
• Ismael established the first Safavid Capitol City
  in Isfahan, and went on to rule according to
  Islamic principles.
• His claim to descent from the 12th Imam meant, of
  course, that he had to rule according to Shiite,
  rather than Sunni principles of Islam, and he and
  his successors were often quite brutal in forcing
  their subjects to become Shiite Muslims (the
  majority had been Sunni prior to the Safavid
  arrival).
• To do this, subjects often were required to prove
  their change by cursing the names of the first
  three Caliphs
• There were often small uprisings as a result and
  the red cap army of the Shah had to remain
  large and significant

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Centralization

• local Qezelbash chiefs had grown wealthy in land
  and in collecting taxes.
• Abbas put to death many of the Qizilbash
  tribesmen who had traditionally been associated
  with Safavid rule up to this point, and instead
  surrounded himself with an elite household guard
  called the Ghulam
• He used slaves as governmental officials
• thousands of Georgian, Circassian and Armenian
  prisoners captured in campaigns fought in the
  Caucasus in the 1540s and 1550s. Female slaves
  entered the royal harem, becoming mothers of
  princes and a force in court politics and
  dynastic quarrels.
• Some of the male slaves began to acquire
  positions of influence, under Shah Abbas I,
  reaching high offices that challenged the
  supremacy of the Qezelbash.

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Military

• He recruited soldiers from Persian villages and
  from among Christians, Georgians, Circassian,
  Armenians and others, equipped them with
  artillery and muskets.
• The Christians were proud to serve the shah and
  to call themselves "Ghulams" (boys) of the shah
  although slaves they were not.
• To finance the new army, Shah Abbas converted
  large pieces of land traditionally granted to
  tribal chiefs as assignments into crown lands
  that he taxed directly.
• This new military force was trained on European
  lines with the advice of Robert Sherley.
• Sherley was an English adventurer expert in
  artillery tactics who, accompanied by a party of
  cannon founders, reached Qazvin with his brother
  Anthony Sherley in1598.
• In a short time Shah Abbas created a formidable
  army, consisting of cavalry, infantry and
  artillery.

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Military reorganizationcreated a national army

• Hired Robert and Anthony Sherley British
  mercaneries to help reshape his military
• Three bodies of troops were formed, all trained
  and armed in the European manner and paid out of
  the royal treasury the ghulams (slaves), the
  tofongchis (musketeers), and the topchis
  (artillerymen).
• With his new army, Abbas defeated the Ottoman
  Turks in 1603, forcing them to relinquish all the
  territory they had seized, and captured Baghdad.
• He also expelled (1602,1622) the Portuguese
  traders who had seized the island of Hormuz in
  the Persian Gulf in the 16th century.
• Shah Abbas remarkable reign, with its striking
  military successes and efficient administrative
  system, raised Iran to the status of a great
  power.

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Economic Stability

• His domestic policy was marked by a real interest
  in building up the infrastructure for a
  successful economy. New roads and bridges were
  built and he imported skilled merchants from
  Armenia to help build up the silk trade with
  India.
• As part of the stabilization process he enforced
  adherence to Shi'ism and acceptance of Farsi as
  the national language.

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Economic and Religious stability

• Created a monopoly within his empire to profit
  from the production of silk and silk carpets
• adherence to Shi'ism
• Tolerant of Christianity and allowed many
  churches to be built and allowed Christians to
  dress in what they wanted and allowed them to own
  property within the empire
• Mosques Masjid i Shah and the Masjid i Sheykh
  Lotfollah and other monuments including the Ali
  Qapu, the Ghehel Sotun, and the Meydan-i Shah.

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Cultural Mecca

• Philosphers an Scientists
• Molla Sadra, Mir Damad,
• Sheikh Baha-e-Din Ameli, or Sheikh Bahai
• a great philosopher and scientist.
• created a system of heating in a public bath that
  would provide enough warm water for people to
  bathe with the power of a single candle

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Great Monarch

• He used Western economic principles and allied
  with westerns to defeat the Ottomans and the
  Portuguese providing stability to his empire
• With this stability he built a new city,
  encouraged new schools to be built, and fostered
  the arts demonstrated in the many new types of
  patterns of carpets and new and different types
  of mosques that were built

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Rebuttal by Qezelbash chiefs

• As he takes our land and uses the profits to pay
  the Ghulams he takes away the religious strength
  of our empire. We made him what he is through
  our organization and he tries to take what we
  have built over many generations. He doesnt
  serve our empire and our religion he serves
  himself with great palaces and a great harem.

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Why are they GREAT?

• Means (How do they control)
• Motive (What do they intend to accomplish)
• Land based vs. sea based
• Universal monarchies/empires
• Actual routes and primary items of trade
• Core periphery - linkages
• Issues of conflict (many religious)
• New Technologies and ideologies mostly connected
  to the Renaissance and Enlightenment
• Migration of peoples AND ideas