Ottoman Empire

Read pages 370-371 about the Ottoman Empire & the fall of Constantinople

The Ottoman Empire was an Islamic Empire run by the Turkish ethnic group.

Ottoman military advantage lay in the larger size of forces and their greater unity and discipline. The only efficient obstacles that the Europeans could offer against these Muslim forces were defensive walls. Against the walls of fortresses and towns, the Muslim horsemen were powerless. In artillery, the Muslim Ottoman Empire found the kind of weapon they most badly needed to overwhelm the factions of Western civilization..

The Muslim Ottoman Empire was considered a serious threat to Western civilization because they had begun to take over territory inside of Europe. One of the greatest prizes that the Ottoman military coveted was the city of Constantinople. This city was the last part of the Byzantine Empire (the Byzantine Empire was the remaining, Eastern, part of the old Roman empire that had existed on for 1000 years after the fall of the Western Roman empire. The Byzantines were Eastern Orthodox Christians).

In May of 1453, the city of Constantinople finally fell, was renamed Istanbul by its conquerors, and Europe was open to greater Muslim invasion.

The reasons for Europe’s chronic (continual/constant) weakness compare to Muslim armies:* Europeans not very numerous relative to the population of the Ottoman Empire.* The Europeans were divided and constantly busy in “waging wars against each other, staining their hands with the blood of their own people, defiling their arms with the blood of Christians.”

After the fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans continued to push into Europe.

“I cannot persuade myself that there is anything good in prospect. Who will make the English love the French? Who will unite the Genoese and Aragonese? Who will reconcile the Germans with the Hungarians and Bohemians? If you lead a small army against the Turks you will easily be overcome; if a large one, it will soon fall into confusion.” – Pope Pius II (served as Pope from 1458 until 1464) had little hope that Europe’s many factions could unite to defeat or even protect themselves from the Ottoman Empire.

Additionally, Islamic civilization was the center of the world economy (see map on next page) in the 15th century.

Because European seafaring technology was limited, Europe had to trade with India and China through the Islamic world. The fall of Constantinople led some Europeans to seek alternate routes to the luxury trade items in the east.

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Question 1: Give two or three specific details to support an argument that Western Civilization hasn’t always been the most powerful civilization throughout world history.

Spain and Portugal

Spain and Portugal led the way in world-wide seafaring exploration. Both countries were born out of centuries long struggle for their territories against Muslim rulers who’d controlled some extent of the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain and Portugal) from 711 to 1492. Under Muslim rule, Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together in religious tolerance in an arrangement called the Convivencia (“the coexistence”)

Spain:

The Reconquista was the five hundred year struggle of Christians against Muslims over the control of the Iberian Peninsula. It was completed by the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492.

Question 2: Read pages 408-410 (Starting with the section about the Reconquista): Given our previous study of the Reformation and Religious Wars, the divisions amongst the Spanish, and their long fight against the Muslim Moors, why did the Spanish monarchs expel the Jews in 1492?

Portugal:

The small country of Portugal (about the size of the state of Indiana) inaugurated the era of greater European exploration and expansion. Portuguese exploration was very much encouraged by its Prince Henry, who became known as Henry the Navigator.

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Question 3: The famous slogan for why explorers willingly sailed off the ends of the known world was “God, Gold, and Glory!” In reading the primary source document below and pages 410-412 (stop at Naval Technology and Navigation), why would the slogan, “God, Gold, and Glory” apply to the motivations of Henry the Navigator (Prince Henry of Portugal)?

The statement below was made by Gomes Eannes de Azurara, a friend of Prince Henry and it explains Henry the Navigator’s motives for exploration.

“After the taking of Ceuta (a previously Muslim controlled city in North Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar) he always kept ships well armed against the Infidel, both for war and because he had also a wish to know the land that lay beyond the idles of Canary and that Cape called Bojador, for that up to his time, neither by writings, nor by the memory of man, was known with any certainty the nature of the land beyond that Cape.

…seeing also that no other prince took any pains in this matter, he sent out his own ships against those parts, to have manifest certainty of them all.

…if there chanced to be in those lands some population of Christians…many kinds of merchandise might be brought to this realm, which would find a ready market…

…it was said that the power of the Moors (Muslims) in that land of Africa was very much greater than was commonly supposed…knowledge of the power of his enemy…was another cause for this to be fully discovered.

The fourth reason was because during the one and thirty years that he had warred against the Moors (Muslims), he had never found a Christian king, nor a lord outside this land, who for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ would aid him in the said war.

The fifth reason was his great desire to make increase in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and to bring to him all the souls that should be saved…if God promised to return one hundred goods for one, we may justly believe that for such great benefits, that is to say for so many souls as were saved by the efforts of this Lord, he will have so many hundreds of guerdons in the kingdom of God, by which his spirit may be glorified after this life in the celestial realm.”

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ExplorationDiscoveryThe “Great Exchange”Globalization

“Surely the greatest tragedy in the history of the human species.”- Alfred Crosby, 20th century historian (American)

The estimated death rate was at least 80% of all Amerindians and as high as 95%Average estimates place 70 million people living in the Americas at the time of Columbus’ arrival. In this case, an 85% death rate would mean the demise of 59.5 million human beings.

European reaction

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“Without slavery the New World would not have been developed.” –Eric Foner, Columbia University

Portugal began enslaving Africans to fund its journeys around the continent on its way to India. With the Amerindian population in dramatic decline, Spain and Portugal (the first two colonizing powers) quickly transitioned by bringing slaves from Africa to the New World now under European control. Slaves performed forced labor in the mines to extract precious minerals and in the fields allowing their owners to meet the growing demand in Europe for luxury food items such as sugar, spices, coffee, and chocolate.

12 million captives from the western coast of Africa were brought to the Americas between 1500 and 1870. Over 1 ½ million died on the journey across the ‘Middle Passage’ (the Atlantic Ocean voyage between Africa and the Americas) alone. African merchants participated in securing slaves for Europeans. They captured individuals from other African tribes and therefore didn’t see themselves as selling members of their own group. Tribal identity at that time was more real than race.

When the Spanish and Portuguese began transporting slaves to the New World the French, Dutch, and Brits all displayed some initial hesitation in the matter, but before long competitive pressure made the slave trade widely acceptable. The desire for gain prompted slave trading; racial dehumanization made it acceptable for Africans to be treated in ways that would not have been allowed for Europeans. Without racist assumptions the Atlantic trade would not have been permitted.

The working conditions for slaves were horrendous, particularly on the sugar plantations which required immense amounts of hard labor. Between 5-10% of the slaves in the New World died every single year because of this brutal and destructive mode of production. Sugar became the major cash crop of the New World plantations replacing even precious metals (gold and silver) as the major source of revenue and 80% of all slaves brought to the New World ended up on sugar plantations located in Brazil and the Caribbean.

Europe’s cities maintained high levels of demand for sugar, tobacco, spices, and other luxury food items during this era. This sustained the plantation economy of the New World. Without consumer demand in Europe there would not have been nearly the same level of enslavement of Africans. Europeans, by participating in the growth of consumption and consumerism, were oblivious to or uncaring about the enormous human toll that their sweets, spices, and treats wrought.

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‘Price Revolution’ and the Growth of Colonies (pg 461-463)

Population pressures (Europe’s population grew from ~50 million in 1450 AD to ~90 million 1600 AD in large part because of the introduction of crops from the New World such as the potato) and an enormous influx of coinage (gold and silver from the New World) sent prices for basic goods skyrocketing in the late 16th century forcing many of Europe’s poor to become colonists due to their dire economic circumstances.

QUESTION: Explain, in terms of supply and demand, why population growth and New World gold and silver led to tremendous inflation across Europe in the late 16th century.

The Second Commercial Revolution (which could also be called the Continuation of the Commercial Revolution)

The growth of international trade led ‘New Monarchies’ to reconfigure their economic systems and adopt mercantilism (government controlled capitalist economies).

Mercantilism is the economic philosophy that government should get involved to do everything it can to support profitable trade opportunities for its merchants and, therefore, increase the nation’s wealth, which was of utmost importance for ensuring the military power and security of the country.

In particular, mercantilism demands a positive balance of trade (you should be making money in your trading relationships not losing money). This emphasis was premised on the belief in a set amount of wealth existing in the world. Therefore, in one’s trading relationships, your country should strengthen itself through colonies and, in its foreign trading relationships, weaken others.

Support for colonization and defense of colonial interests was one initiative through which European monarchies supported their merchants and national interests. From a purely economic standpoint, colonies represented the establishment of a permanent community for the purpose of economic gain and a source of raw materials through which the mother country could enrich itself and continue to gain in wealth and power.

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Please watch the video located on the course webpage about Mercantilism and take notes for the purpose of your study guide.

New trade and colonization opportunities led to a new form of investment, the Joint-Stock Company.

The ‘new monarchs’ also allowed the formation of joint-stock companies to help fund colonization. Joint-stock companies allowed investors to buy minority shares in merchants’ ventures, including the attempted formation of colonies, and if the merchants prospered the shareholders would benefit economically as well. If the venture failed then the shareholders would lose their investment. The joint-stock company represented an evolutionary step in the capitalist marketplace, which now sees millions of investors buy and sell stocks in thousands and thousands of different corporations everyday in stock exchanges around the world, such as the New York Stock Exchange on Wall St.

Ongoing Changes in Social Class and Status: The (Continuing) Rise of the Bourgeoisie

As a result of the continued Commercial Revolution, the merchant class emerged as an increasingly important and powerful entity within Western European society. The ranks and wealth of the bourgeoisie swelled during this time. Monarchs and merchants engaged in increasingly close and dependent relationships with one another. Monarchs no longer looked down on the ‘middle class,’ but instead aided their rise because it directly benefited the growing power of the Monarch. The power of the Monarch was not only relevant in international competition but also in the Monarch’s ability to subdue nobles within their realm and, therefore, centralizing greater political power in their hands. Merchants supported the political centralization process because it created a bigger and easier marketplace in which to conduct business than the alternative of decentralized princedoms.

Power in the Age of Exploration

Major Power Shift towards Western Civilization

Europe’s economy was globally re-oriented by the wealth generated from the New World. Europe, which was once on the periphery (side-line) of the world economy, was now its center and the fastest growing economy in the world. What decisively transformed the shape of the “modern” world trade system was not so much the Portuguese involvement in the ‘old world’ trade network but the Spanish incorporation of the ‘new world.’ This geographic reorientation displaced the center of the world trade networks away from Islamic civilization in a decisive manner. It transformed Europe’s place in the world and it set in motion a global shift of power.

It was above all the conquest of the Americas, as part of the European discovery of the new world that ensured the triumph of Europe over its rivals, especially Islamic civilization. The mines of the New World gave Europe gold and silver to finance trade, wars, and future inventions. The fields and plantations gave it new resources and commodities allowing

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Europe to trade with the Islamic world on equal footing for the first time and ultimately as superiors.

The Growth of National Rivalries

No monarchy benefitted more from the wealth of the New World in the 16th century than that of Spain. Spain, ruled by Habsburg monarchs (including Charles V and his son Phillip II) for much of the century, became the preeminent power of all Europe.

France, England, and the Netherlands (a Spanish possession) were all adversaries of growing Spanish and Habsburg power.

When the Dutch revolted against Spanish rule (which we studied in the wars of religion), the English and even the Catholic French aided them. Neither the English nor French were Calvinists, but instead they aided the Dutch merely to weaken Spain.

This led to greater conflicts. Spain and France found themselves on opposing sides of the Thirty Years’ War and, after that ghastly war’s conclusion, in ongoing and direct conflict with one another until Spanish defeat in 1659.

In the 16th century, England and Spain saw one another as major rivals in Europe and for colonial possession. The competition between England and France for power on the seas was decided in an epic naval battle conducted in 1588 between the fleets of Phillip II of Spain and Elizabeth I of England. In this confrontation, Phillip II’s Armada (fleet of warships) was defeated. An overview of the objectives, events, and consequences are outlined below.

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The Dutch Empire

As outlined above, one of the big beneficiaries of the Spanish naval defeat in 1588 were the Dutch who had declared themselves independent from Spain in 1581 and helped the English defeat the Armada.

Unexpectedly, from humble origins, the little Dutch Republic became the world’s leading economic power in the first half of the 17th century by turning itself into a haven for enterprising outcasts from the rest of Europe. Policies of religious tolerance led to an extraordinary economic explosion, which launched the Dutch to global primacy. Many of the Netherland’s leading political figures explicitly advocated religious freedom on the grounds that it would be economically advantageous and the country quickly became a magnet for streams of religious refugees.

In late 16th century a huge influx of Protestant merchants, skilled workers, and industrialists arrived and a range of Dutch industries surged, especially textile (cloth and clothing) production. Jews from around Europe found their way to the religiously tolerant Netherlands, pouring capital in the growth of the Dutch merchant fleet. The combination of religious tolerance and growing wealth became mutually reinforcing and attracted skilled and highly talented individuals from all over Europe.

The Dutch were unique in that they didn’t try to conquer neighbors, they had too small of a population to attempt such a feat. Instead they sought and succeeded in building a trading empire. The capital city of Amsterdam became the hub of international trade and banking in the 17th century and Dutch capitalist accomplishments were backed by surprising military force and capabilities. At its peak, the Dutch navy had 10,000 ships, equal to that England and France combined.

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Map of the Dutch Empire

Holland began its empire building by taking over ocean trade routes in northern Europe from the Portuguese and Spanish. The Dutch then began to bypass these two powers by making direct commercial connections with trading centers in the Indian Ocean and the New World. Two major Dutch joint-stock companies, the United East India Company and the West India Company, were founded to build a world colonial empire. The Dutch forcibly conquered Portugal’s trading-post empire in the Indian Ocean, and their far-flung colonial holdings included territories in Africa (South Africa), the Americas (New York City was originally called New Amsterdam), and Asia (the Dutch imperialized Indonesia from the early 17th century until 1942).

It is important to note that the Dutch policy of tolerance was extended only to religion within the Netherlands itself. No such outlook of tolerance and equality existed in the Dutch colonies where conquered peoples of color were viewed as racial and cultural inferiors.

The English and Dutch Commercial Rivalry

By 1631, Dutch economic power had grown to such an extent that England became concerned. While the English and Dutch worked together to remove Spanish control of northern European waters by destroying the Armada in 1588, that power had largely shifted to the Netherlands and not England.

Following the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, England conducted warfare on the Netherlands in a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars (1652–54, 1665–67, and 1672–74) in a successful effort to move in on some of the Dutch trade routes and territory.

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As the power of the Netherlands declined in the latter half of the 17th century, England and France emerged as the two major European powers.

Question: Given background regarding the Anglo-Dutch wars, what had changed regarding the motivations of European warfare after the Thirty Years’ War? How do the motivations of warfare reflect bigger changes taking place in Western civilization by the mid-17th century?

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