THE AGE OF GUNPOWDER EMPIRES, 14501800

We will be exploring the gunpowder weapons and how the use of these weapons changed the balance
of power in warfare, transforming global history by leading to a period of dominance by Western
European powers. I will be comparing European, Russian, Islamic, Chinese, and Japanese uses of
gunpowder weapons and explore how these powers fit guns into their political, military, and cultural
systems.
One of the recurring things in history is the nature of nations and empires.
Civilizations are born, reach their potential under extraordinary leaders, and over time lose their vitality
and strength. The remarkable feature in this cycle is that new civilizations emerge out of there fallen
leaders, regenerated by new leaders and by outside cultural influences, often resulting in cultural
power. Such were the circumstances under which the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires emerged
between 1300 and 1650. Coming on the heels of the Mongol and Timurid conquests in Southwest Asia
and Anatolia, new Muslim dynasties began the process of extending their realms with military might
enhanced by the use of gunpowder weaponry.
Conquering an empire is not the same as establishing imperial authority, and the
rulers of the new empires faced a monumental task in establishing an effective governing
structure for their domains. Built upon the foundations of preexisting cultural
ideas, the most outstanding emperors realized
that the vitality of their empires required a considerable degree of toleration for their
non-Muslim subjects-an ideal that stood in sharp contrast to the policies adopted by their
contemporary counterparts in Christian Europe.
In the sixteenth century, the Asian empires were clearly aspiring, controlling the
East-West trade routes and drawing on the ample resources and manpower existing within
their realms. Emperors also encouraged artistic pursuits which endure both as an
expression of cultural power and as evidence of imperial greatness. But in the
latter half of the seventeenth century, the Islamic
gunpowder empires began to decline. A primary factor in
their decline was Christian Europes economic and technological advances during the
seventeenth century. Other significant factors include the degeneration in the character
of ruling dynasties, the increasing inefficiency and ineffectiveness of governing
empires over.

Which resulted in the rise of the Gunpowder Empires

One of the most notable worldwide developments of the
seventeenth century was the emergence of several large scale empires. Using newly
developed firearms, especially cannon, a small number of states extended their control
over the Americas, large parts of Asia, and central Eurasia. In addition to firearms,
these empires had the advantage of expanding transportation and trade networks.
The Chinese appear to have been the earliest people to make use of gunpowder for warfare.
In the thirteenth century, the Chinese developed gunpowder. By the end of
the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, the Chinese were making use of
small handguns. The technology quickly made its way to Europe, and the Europeans improved
on it to create large cannon. The effectiveness of cannon in warfare led others to take
them up eagerly.
The Turkish Ottoman Empire was one of
the earliest and longest-lasting of the gunpowder empires promoted by the spread of cannon
and other firearms. The Turks had been pushed into the Near East from the eighth century
onward by Mughal expansion in their original territory, around what is now Turkestan. At
the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Turkish leader Osman
declared himself sultan, founding the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans spread their control
over the area formerly held by the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine
Empire. In 1453, Sultan Mehmed conquered Constantinople,
bringing the Byzantine Empire to an end.
In their early years, Ottoman power was based on its cavalry. The Turks would make
extensive use of firepower, using large cannon in their siege of Constantinople. They
coordinated artillery with the use of cavalry and created an elite infantry troops known as
the Janissaries. The Janissaries were child slaves taken from Christian parents and raised
as Muslims. They were trained to be expert in the use of firearms.
With its capital in Istanbul, as Constantinople became known, the Ottoman Empire developed into a
centralized administration, funding the military use of firearms to spread its power through most of
the Middle East and north and west. For a time, it looked as if the guns of the Ottomans would carry
them even farther. In 1529, the Turks laid siege to Vienna. Sultan Mohammed IV attempted a second

assault on Central Europe beginning in 1663, and he put Vienna under siege again in 1683. Although the
Turks continued to hold much of the territory they had taken by the end of the seventeenth
century and fought other wars against the Europeans, their empire was in a state of
decline until its end in the early twentieth century.
The Safavid Empire of Persia also relied on the use of gunpowder for its power, and gunpowder seems
to have shaped its structure. During the first half of the sixteenth century, a Safavid leader led his
Safavid warriors to found a new Persian empire in Iran. The Safavid Empire lasted quite a while I believe,
and the Shiite branch of the Islamic faith established by a Safavid leader continues to be the dominant
and contemporary religion of Iran today. Under Shah Abbas the Great, at the end of the
sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, Safavid Persia became gunpowder empire.
In conclusion it is really quite interesting to analyze theses great gunpowder empires and how they
conflicted with each other and within their own empires. European, Russian, Islamic, Chinese, and
Japanese use of gunpowder weapons had quite an effect on their cultural, political, and military
systems.