Chapter 26 The Muslim Empires Pre Test Answers 1 Q Who founded the Mughal Empire A Babur the Tiger 2 Q Which Ottoman sultan completed the long desired conquest of Constantinople in 1453 C E A Mehmed II 3 Q Janissaries were A Professional slave soldiers who became a major political power throughout the Ottoman Sultanate 4 Q Which masterpiece of Ottoman construction is arguably the greatest achievement of Islamic architecture A The Suleymaniye Mosque 5 Q Which forces contributed to the slow process of Ottoman decline A All of the following are correct Power struggles within the Ottoman military apparatus coincided with the appearance of effective and determined adversaries Widespread corruption and graft by local officials drained revenues and resources that were needed to maintain central authority Succession struggles led to a series of weak poorly educated sultans who lacked any knowledge of the Empire that they ruled The Empire was overstretched to a degree that pre industrial transportation and communications facilities could not overcome 6 Q The Safavid Empire embraced which strain of militant Islam A Shi a 7 Q The Safavids established their first imperial capital in the city of A Tabriz Iran 8 Q What common characteristics permeated both the Ottoman and Safavid empires A All of the following are correct Both spent enormous sums on public works projects Both were dominated by warrior aristocracies who gradually retreated to their rural estates and weakened imperial authority through the persecution of peasants Both encouraged trade and handicraft production within their empires and used state revenues to finance production and export of luxury goods such as silk and rugs Both imposed patriarchal codes and practices that secluded and disadvantaged women 9 Q Din i Ilahi was A A state religion created by Akbar that blended most of the world s religions in an effort to end sectarian tension and religious intolerance 10 Q Which commodity produced in Mughal India became one of the most important in the new world economy particularly in Western Europe A Textiles particularly cotton The Ottomans From Frontier Warriors to Empire Builders The collapse of the Seljuk Turkic kingdom of Rum in eastern Anatolia in Asia Minor after the invasion by the Mongols in 1243 opened the way for the Ottoman Empire to seize power in their own right Turkic peoples flooded into the Anatolia region in the last decades of the 13 th c One of these people called the Ottomans after the early leader Osman came to dominate the rest and within decades had begun to build a new empire based in Anatolia In the 13th and 14th c the Ottoman had built an empire in the eastern Mediterranean that rivaled Abbasid imperium at its height Though the Ottomans patterned much of their empire on the ideas and institutions of earlier Muslim civilizations in warfare architecture and engineering they carried the Islamic civilization to new levels of attainment Mehmed II The Conqueror led the Ottoman army consisting of 100 000 soldiers in the spring of 1453 to assault the triple ring of land walls that had protected the city of Constantinople which was capital of the once great Byzantine empire 1250 C E 1243 Mongol invasion of Asia Minor 1400 C E 1402 Timur s invasion Ottoman setbacks under Bayazid 1500 C E 1501 1510 Safavid conquest of Persia 1525 C E 1526 Battle of Paniput Babur s conquest of India 1550 C E 1556 Mughal Empire reestablished in north India 1281 Founding of the Ottoman dynasty 1450s Shi a influences enter Safavid teachings 1529 First Ottoman siege of Vienna 1556 1605 Reign of Akbar 1334 Death of the first Safavid Sufi master at Ardabil 1450s Beginning of large scale recruitment of Janissary troops 1507 Portuguese victory over Ottoman Arab fleet at Diu in Indian Ocean 1514 Ottoman victory over Safavids at Chaldiran 1540 Babur s successor Humayan is driven from India 1571 Battle of Lepanto 1683 Last Ottoman siege of Vienna 1350s Ottoman invasion of Europe conquest of much of the Balkans and Hungary 1453 Ottoman capture of Constantinople 1517 Ottoman capture of Syria and Egypt 1540 1545 Humayan in exile at the Safavid court 1582 Akbar s proclamation of a new religion that was designed to unite Hindus and Muslims 1588 1629 Reign of Abbas I the Great in Persia 1680s Rajput and peasant revolts in north India 1520 1566 Rule of Suleyman the Magnificent construction of the Blue Mosque 1650 C E 1657 1658 Great war of succession between the sons of Shah Jahan 1658 1707 Reign of Aurangzeb 1699 Treaty of Carlowitz Ottomans cede territories in Europe 1700 C E 1722 First Turkish language printing press fall of the Safavid empire 1730 Ottoman armies are defeated by Persian forces under Nadir Khan 1730s First westernmodeled military schools established in Constantinople 1736 1747 Reign of Nadir Shah 1739 Nadir Shah invades India from Persia and sacks Mughal capital at Delhi A State Geared to Warfare The Ottoman economy was geared towards warfare and expansion The Turkish cavalry gradually developed into a warrior aristocracy They were granted control over the land and peasant producers in annexed areas for the support of their households and military retainers As the power of the warrior aristocracy shrank at its center they built up regional and local bases of support These inevitably competed with the sultans and the central bureaucracy for revenue and labor control Janissaries Professional slave soldiers who became a major political power throughout the Ottoman Sultanate Christian boys trained to fight in Muslim armies They dominated the imperial Ottoman armies The Sultans and Their Court The Ottoman rulers were absolute monarchs But even the most powerful sultan maintained his position by playing factions in the warrior elite off each other and pitting the warriors as a whole against the Janissaries and other groups As the empire increased in size the sultans began to grow more distant from their subjects Grand Vizier The overall head of the imperial administration and often held more real power than the sultan The Ottomans suffered greatly because they inherited Islamic principles of political succession that remained vague and contested The death of a sultan could and often did lead to protracted warfare among his sons in competition for the position of the sultan Constantinople Restored Link Between Asia Europe the Mediterranean the Black Sea The city of Constantinople had fallen onto hard times but was restored to its