Medieval Middle East {1100-1800} Study Guide 2

 

#15a, Eastern Christians and Religious Minorities

      Ulema

      Sufi

            Tariqa

      Madrasa

      Conversion to Islam

            conquest, taxes, merchants, Sufis, intermarriage

      Syncretistic Islam vs. Puritanical Islam

      al-Ghazali

      Sultan

      Patronage of Islam as means of legitimization

      Dhimmi

      jizya

      millet

      disappearance of Christian and Jewish minorities in 20th century

 

#15b, Transformation the Islamic World

      Invasions of Turks, Mongols and Crusaders

      Rise of Turkish military aristocracies

            mamluk, nomad, sedentary

      Sultan = authorization by Caliph

      Wazir (vizier) = intellectual elites serving Sultan

      iqta'  = land for service

 

#16, Turks, Selchuqs, and Central Asia

      geography of the steppe

      steppe nomadism

      herd, trade, raid

      Khan (=Turkish “chief” or “king”)

      tribal confederation

      military strength of steppe nomads

            mounted archery, mobility, militarism

      shamanism

Turkic peoples

      Central Asian frontier

      Saljuqids (Selchuqids, Seljuqs)

      Battle of Dandanqan {1040} = Saljuqs defeat Ghaznivids

      Baghdad{1055} triumphal entry of Toghril by invitation of caliph

      Manzikert {1071} = conquest of Anatolia from Byzantines

      Atabeg (= father of prince) guardian, regent and tutor

      Tughril Bek {r. 1037-1063}

      Alp Arslan {r. 1063-1072}

      Nizam al-Mulk {d. 1092}

      al-Ghazali {d. 1111}

      al-Nasir {r. 1180-1225} and the restoration of Abbasid power

Turkish as Third cultural language of the Islamic World

      Chaghatai Turkish in Central Asia

      Ottoman Turkish in Ottoman Empire

 

#17 Crusaders (Holt ix-52)

Holy War

Fragmentation of the Islamic World

First Crusade

      Jerusalem {1099}

Crusader States as coastal naval power

      maritime domination by Venice and Genoa

Richard Lionheart and Third Crusade {1191-1193}

military orders (Templars)

Spiritual importance of Jerusalem for Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Constantinople {1204} (Fourth Crusade)

Failure of Louis IX’s Seventh Crusade to Egypt {1248-1250}

 

#18 Sunni Revival

      Fall of Buyids and Fatimids

      al-Ghazali {1058-1111}

      Nizaris (Assassins)

            Hassan al-Sabbah

            Alamut

            Syrian “Old Man of the Mountain”

      Sultan system

      Restoration of Abbasid Independence

            al-Nasir {1180-1225}

            Fall of Baghdad to Mongols 1258

            Shadow Caliphate {1260-1517}

 

#18 Ayyubids

Islamic disunity

Zangids = unite Syria, first use of Jihad

      Zangi

      Nur al-Din

      Struggle for Damascus (1140s-1150s)

Ayyubids

      Saladin {1171-1193}

            Hattin {1187}

            Jerusalem {1187}

            Stalemate in the Third Crusade

Later Ayyubids

      weak confederation and succession problems

            increasing use of Mamluks

      al-Adil

      accommodations with Crusaders

            Frederick and the Sixth Crusade

      Khwarismian refugees

 

#19, Mongols

      Chingiz Khan (Genghis Khan) {1167/1206-1227}

      Shamanism

            Tengri = high God

      syncretism with conquered peoples

            Nestorianism; alliance with Christians

            Conversion of western Khanates to Islam

      noker = blood brotherhood

      Central Asian military system

            great hunt (nerge)

            great assembly (quriltai)

      Hulegu Khan {1244-1265}

            devastation of Iran

            Baghdad {1258}

      Ayn Jalut {1260}= Mongols defeated by Mamluks

      Ilkhanids

            Mongol-Mamluk Wars

            Ghazan and conversion to Islam

      End of the Mongol conquests

            logistics; split into four khanates

            Golden Horde = southern Russia

            Chaghatai = Central Asia

      nomadic succession system and inheritance

      sedentarization of the Mongols

      Pax Mongolica

      Silk Road

 

#20, Mamluks

      Mamluk usurpation       

            Seventh Crusade and St. Louis IX {1250}

            Salih

            Mansura {1250}

            Shajarat al-Durr

      Ayn Jalut {1260} and Mongol Wars

      Baybars {1260-1277}

            creation of the Mamluk political and military system

            Shadow Caliphate

            Renewal of Jihad vs. Mongols and Crusaders

      Victory over the Crusaders

            Fall of Acre {1291}

      problem of Mamluk succession

      Bahri (Kipchak) and Circassian

      problem of legitimization

      patronage of arts and culture

      History writing = Ibn Khaldun

      Decline of the Mamluks

            instability, military decay, indiscipline, factionalism

            economic depression

 

#21, Timurids

      Temur (Timur, Tamurlane) {1361-1405}

            conquests

            Transoxiana {1370}

            Persia {1381}

      Preditory State

      Golden Age of Samarkand

            deportation of skilled workers and plunder

      Later Timurids

            Slow disintegration of empire

            Shah Rukh, 1405-1447

 

#22, Later Mamluks (combined with #20 above)

 

#22, Gunpowder Empires

      Firearms and Canons

            cheaper, more penetrating power, defensive advantage, less training

            slow rate of fire, inaccurate, immobile

            cavalry cannot use gunpowder weapons effectively

      Impact of Gunpowder

            increase capacity to capture cities and fortifications

            ultimate decrease in nomadic military capacity

            transformation of naval warfare

      Creates Three major Stable empires

            Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals,

      Sufism and Turkish Shamanism

      Development of new Regional Cultural Centers

            Samarkand, Bukhara, Delhi, Isfahan, Istanbul

      European Naval Power (Indian Ocean Trade)

            Lepanto, 1571

 

#23, Safavids

      Isma'il {1499-1524}

            radical messianic Shi’i Sufism + Turkish military strength

            Chaldiran {1514} and the struggle with Ottomans

      Qizilbash (“red heads”)

      theocracy

      conversion of Iran to Twelver Shi'ism

      Shah Abbas the Great

            military and administrative reforms

      Golden age of art and architecture

            “Isfahan is half the world”

            Mosque of the Shah in Isfahan

            Persian miniature painting tradition

      Twelver Shi’ism

      Ayatollah and Hidden Imam

      Stagnation in the eighteenth century

      Nadir Shah {1729-1747}

 

#24a, Expansion of the early modern Islamic World

      conversion = elites, urban, rural

      conquest

      trade routes as mechanisms of conversion

      conversion of elites and state patronage

            intermarriage

      conversion of entire tribes (Turks)

      missionaries

            Sufis

      migration of Muslims into newly conquered areas

            India, Anatolia and Balkans

      syncretism

            Sikhs, Sufis

      puritan reforms

      Zones of expansion, 1300-1600

            Balkans

            Central Asia

            India

            Indonesia

            West Africa

 

#24, Early Ottomans

      Manzikert {1071}

      Myriokephanlon (1176)

      Kose Dagh {1243}

      Kosovo {1389}

      Varna {1444}

      Constantinople {1453}

            Mehmet the conqueror

      Ghazi principalities

            Orkhan; expansion into Europe

      janissaries and devshirme

      Ottomans as the major European power {16th century}

      gunpowder empire

      Ottoman naval power

            Lepanto {1571}

            naval technology

      Suleiman the Magnificent

      Vienna

      Ottomans and the Age of Exploration

 

#26, India and the Mughals

      Rajputs

      Failed Arab Invasions

      Mahmud of Ghazni {998-1030} and raids on temples

      Muhammad of Ghur

            Battle of Tararori {1192}

      Sultanate of Delhi {1206-1526}

      Muhammad ibn Tughluq {1325-51}

Ibn Battuta

      syncretism

      Vijayanagar

      Babur (conquests)

            Mughals as gunpowder empire

      Akbar (syncretism)

      Sikhs

      partial conversion of India

      South Asian trade

      Mughal high culture

            Shah Jahan and the Taj Mahal

      Aurangzeb (puritanism)

      Decline of the Mughals

            decentralization

            Rise of independent Hindu states

      Spread of Islam to Indonesia and Malaysia

      Coming of the Europeans

            Portuguese, British

            control ports and maritime trade

 

#27, Middle and Late Ottomans

Conquests of Selim and Suleyman

            Iraq, Syria, Egypt, North Africa

            The Balkans, Hungary, Black Sea

            Failures: Vienna 1529; Malta 1565

Suleyman the Magnificent

      Law Code and administration

The Golden Age = Sixteenth Century

      Poetry = Baki

      History = Ahmed Kemalpashazade

      Architecture = Sinan (Selimiye mosque in Edirne)

      Piri Reis {1465-1554}, greatest Ottoman admiral

Millet System

      semi-autonomic ethnic and religious minorities

            gives local freedom but also decentralization

      Golden Age of Ottoman Jews

            Safed and Kabbalism

            Shabbatai Tzvi and Messianism

            Don Joseph Nasi—Jewish bankers and merchants

Decline of the Ottomans

      Incompetent Sultans

      Harem

      Factionalism

      Corruption

      Military decline

            indiscipline and inefficiency

      Age of Military Stalemate, 1571-1683

      Age of Military decline, 1683-1798

      Decentralization

            semi-autonomy in the provinces

      Brigandage

      Economic depression

            Changing world trade routes

            Capitulations

            Corruptions

            Over-taxation

            Inflation from New World silver and gold

      technological stagnation

            military = gunpowder and naval

            no adoption of printing press

            no renaissance or scientific revolution