Comprehensive Guide to AP World History Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (1450-1750)

oh you want a full review of everything you need to know about unit 3 of AP World History you know I got you boo now

we're in the time period 1450 to 1750 and it's all about landbased Empires their expansion their Administration and

their belief systems so if you're ready to get them brain cows milk let's get to it okay first let's define our terms

what is a land-based Empire well it's an Empire whose power comes from the extent of its territorial Holdings so it's an

Empire that's landbased and that's about the easiest thing you're going to have to learn in this unit so let's take the

wind where we can and the big idea to get here is that in the time period 1450 to 1750 land-based Empires were

expanding getting bigger getting tight in their sweatpants after a big meal you get it and in order to compare how this

expansion occurred I need to introduce you to four of them and these are the four you have to know first is the

Ottoman Empire and hey here's a little AP World exam hack if there ever comes a time when you have no idea what an

answer is or what to write for an leq or whatever just go with the Ottoman Empire they're massively important during this

unit they're just going to keep showing up throughout the course okay that tip is free so put it in your pocket and do

what you will with it but before we get cozy with the Ottomans I should mention that this video is part of a larger

resource called the AP World History hler review guide and if you're if you're feeling saucy you should check it

out in the link below it's got whole unit review videos like this one that are not here on YouTube it's got note

guides to follow along practice questions practice exams and answer keys for all of them it is the fastest way to

study for your class in your exam in May so you know have a look and now back to the Ottomans this Empire was founded in

the 14th century and it was a wee little thing but spoiler alert they expanded uh real fast there were a lot of reasons

they were able to do that but Chief among them was the adoption of gunpowder weapons recall that This Magnificent

powder had been invented in China but it had spread via trading routs to many parts of afro Eurasia so with these

giant boom sticks the Ottomans ended up controlling much of Southwestern Europe and Anatolia by the beginning of the

15th century 50 years later the Islamic Ottomans scored a massive win by conquering Constantinople in 1453 and

renaming it to Istanbul and they did it of course with gunpowder weapons but you know the Ottomans sacked plenty of other

cities with their giant cannons so what made this one so special well Constantinople was the Beating Heart of

the remainder of the once great Roman Empire and once it fell to the Ottomans the door was open to continue their

expansion into Eastern Europe and once they mosied into Eastern Europe the Ottomans encountered another resource to

bulk up their military namely Christians you see as the Ottomans conquered state after state in the Balkans they had a

policy of enslaving many of the Christians that they found there and once those Christians were in their

custody they converted them to Islam and turned the best of the best into an elite fighting force known as the janary

so add the janissaries to the rest of the Ottoman Army and they had all they needed to expand their empire like mad

until by 1750 it looked like this okay now the Second Empire you need to know as the sapph ofit empire in the Middle

East it was founded at the beginning of the 16th century and just like the Ottomans began as a wee little thing but

they didn't stay we for long because under the leadership of sha is male the south of its raided and conquered

neighboring territories and began to expand rapidly and how did they do it no it's gunpowder don't be crazy so because

this Empire lacked any natural defensive barriers like mountains a later ruler named sha abas got to work building up

the safavid military which included the adoption of gunpowder weapons and just like in the Ottoman Empire safavid

Cavalry were not interested in learning to shoot guns from horses and so sha abas established an enslaved Army which

were again like the Ottomans Christians from conquered regions in this case the Caucasus region they were highly trained

to became full-time soldiers in the service of the Sha and were no small contributor to the saf of its ability to

expand so there's a lot of similarities between these two Muslim empires humble beginnings rapid expansion with

gunpowder Elite enslaved military forces and they were both Muslim but big butt massive butt there is one very

significant difference between these two empires that's going to cause a lot of problems yes they were both Muslim but

they were not the same kind of Muslim the Ottomans were Sunni Muslims while the safavids were Shia Muslims and the

short version of the difference between them is sunis believed that the rightful successor of Muhammad could be anyone

spiritually fit for the office while the Shia believed that only blood relatives of Muhammad were his legitimate

successors and to put an even finer point on it each branch believed that they were the true representations of

Islam and the other was not so again that's going to cause some problems and you know we'll get to that later but for

now let me introduce you to the third Empire you need to know namely the mugal empire in South and Central Asia which

was established in the first half of the 16th century now if you remember back to the last time period you might be

thinking isn't that where the deli sulate was located it's like I'm in your head right and that is correct correct

but in 1526 a guy by the name of babber rose to leadership in Central Asia and soon led campaigns against the Delhi

sulate and wiped it off the map that began the period of mugal rule in South Asia and just like the other Empires the

mugal Empire expanded rapidly through a growing military that used what gunpowder weapons and then years later

under the leadership of babar's grandson Akbar the empire was expanded even further until it looked like this now

the mugal were Muslim and if you remember so was the deli sultanate and the rulers of the Delhi sultanate didn't

have much luck spreading Islam throughout India because most of the population refused to turn away from

Hinduism and that was a tense for a very long time but under abar things did get a little better yes Muslims still ruled

over a majority of Hindu people but Akbar was unusual for his time in that he was tolerant of all kinds of belief

systems in his Empire and so because of this tolerance and akbar's masterful administration of the Empire the mugal

became the most prosperous Empire of the 16th century and then finally let me introduce you to the last empire you

need to know namely the Ching Dynasty otherwise known as the Manu Empire now remember that in the last period the

Mongols went ahead and took over all the China his crap and established the Juan Dynasty but after that fell we get the

rise of the Ming Dynasty and the most important thing to know about them is that they were ethnically Han which is

to say Chinese and that was a big deal because they got those pesky foreign Mongols out and then they created a new

Dynasty with their own people like no more Outsiders are going to rule us a crap here come the Manu which is to say

Outsiders who are going to set up a new Dynasty so in the first half of the 17th century the Ming dynasty was getting

weak and so the Manu people of the north came in and set up the Ching Dynasty and from that point the Ching Dynasty beefed

up its military and leg conquest of expansion using what I know you know that's right gunpowder weapons okay now

let's compare these four Empires by way of summary all of them were landbased all of them expanded rapidly during this

period all of them used gunpowder to achieve that expansion both the ching and the mugal were ethnically different

from their subjects and while both the safavids and the Ottomans were Muslim one was Shia while the other was Sun now

if you're paying attention it should be obvious that if all these Empires were expanding like mad and waving guns in

everybody's faces then it was inevitable that they would Clash with one another and you know they did and there are lots

of examples I can give you but you only need need to know one so let's consider the safid mugal conflict this was a

series of wars fought over territory in what is today Afghanistan and before the war started the mugal controlled this

territory but while they were off fighting elsewhere the sophitz were like yeah we'll take that and so the mugal

doubled back to drive the sophitz from their territory But ultimately they were unable to do it and what made this

conflict even more bitter was the religious element remember that the savids were Shia Muslims and the mugal

were Sunni and so each Empire believing that they themselves were the true representatives of Islam fought to

establish full dominance over this region even so after the series of Wars ended there was really no clear Victory

okay now the next big idea we need to come to terms with is exactly how rulers administered those giant honking

landbased Empires I mean territorial expansion and blowing people up is great and all but if you don't know how to run

your Empire it's going to fall apart quick fast and in a hurry so really what we're trying to understand is how rulers

legitimized and Consolidated their power and hey I'm not just throwing around $5 words for funsies you will absolutely

see these terms on your exam so what do they mean well when we talk about how rulers legitimize power we're talking

about the methods a ruler uses to establish their Authority and when we talk about how rulers Consolidated their

power we're talking about the methods they used to transfer power from other groups to themselves so there are

essentially four major ways that rulers of land-based Empires legitimized and Consolidated their power first was

through the formation of large bureaucracies and in case you forgot a bureaucracy includes the thousands of

government officials that ensure laws are kept throughout the Empire so you know if the emperor got the runs after

eating some old nacho meat and decided that nachos are now illegal in my Empire well you know how is he going to ensure

that nobody in his giant honking Empire is eating nacho like he's not going to be knocking on everyone's door just to

make sure so that's what the bureaucracy is for thousands and tens of thousands of The Emperor's officials spread out to

make sure that Randy isn't crushing a plate of nachos hey is that cheese on your chin oh all right kill him anyway

for rulers who wanted to maintain control of their Empire's bureaucracies were the way to go for example the

Ottomans used the dev sheer system to staff their bureaucracy with highly trained individuals this went hand inand

with their whole invade the Balkans and enslave Christians thing because many of those Christians converted to Islam were

sent to aan buul for education and training and afterward the top performers were appointed to Elite

positions in the ottoman bureaucracy and because of their extensive Education and Training not only were they wise

administrators but they were also loyal to the sultan okay now the second way rulers administered their Empires was

through the development of military professionals now I mentioned the janies and the Ottoman Empire earlier and

that's a good example and then the Third Way rulers administered their Empires is actually a collection of three related

items religious ideas art and Monumental architecture I'll give you examples of each from various Empires across the

world starting in Europe during this period European monarchs began to gain more and more power and one way they did

it was through the religious belief known as the divine right of kings essentially this just means that

monarchs perpetuated the idea that they were God's representative on earth like if I'm the king it's because Jesus

himself put me here so y'all fall in line the Christian populations this had a powerful way of legitimizing the

authority of their ruler now in terms of using art let's visit the Ching Dynasty and let me introduce you to Emperor

kangi now remember that the ching were Manu not Han like the rest of the Chinese people over which they rule so

how does an emperor legitimize power over people who think he's an outsider Ki went ahead and hung Imperial

portraits of himself all around the city and if you look closely you can see that he's surrounded by books which suggests

confusion wisdom or to put it another way these portraits were kongi's PR campaign to convince the Han population

that he was in fact a legitimate Chinese ruler in the line of ancient Chinese dynasty okay now in terms of using

Monumental architecture let's head over to the Americas and check in with the Inca here you see the sun Temple of

Cusco and in its prime the walls were covered with gold sheets and the courtyards were filled with golden

statues now within this Temple High religious festivals were held and since Inca rulers were associated with the

Gods magn ient buildings like this had a way of legitimizing power and then one way architecture was used to consolidate

power was apparent in the Palace of Versailles built by Louis the 14th in France and yeah this huge structure had

a way of communicating who was in charge namely this guy but Louie also used it to transfer power to himself he did it

by requiring the French nobility to live in the palace for at least part of the Year where he can keep an eye on them

and where they competed for his attention and since prior to this it was the nobility who held most of the power

in France their new living Arrangement had a way of transferring power under Louis okay now the Fourth Way rulers

administered their Empires was through Innovations in tax collection systems now in case you've never ruled an Empire

yourself you might not know that Empires don't pay for themselves so rulers during this period figured out new ways

to extract revenue from their people to pay for their upkeep and I'll give you three examples first is the zamar system

employed by the mugal Empire now zamindars were Elite land owners who were granted authority to tax peasants

living on their land on behalf of the Imperial government eventually the zamindars grew corrupt and started

skimming money off the top to enrich themselves but nevertheless this was a significant way the mugal maintained

control over their empire and Consolidated power under themselves second is the ottoman tax farming system

now the Ottomans decided that increasing the size of the bureaucracy just to collect taxes was not for them so they

established the tax farming system which essentially meant that the right to tax subjects of the empire was awarded to

the highest bidder and whoever won the bidding had the right to collect taxes from a particular group of people and

they charged more than was required and thus enriched themselves dirty but effective and then third Aztec rulers

used tribute list to generate revenue for their empire whenever the Aztecs conquered a place they gave tribute list

filled with the goods that that place was responsible for sending to the Imperial seed and tribute this practice

ensured a steady flow of a wide variety of goods to the Empire and communicated who was in charge to those conquered

regions and finally the last topic we need to consider is how belief systems both stayed the same and changed during

this period so let's start with Christianity in Europe Now by our period the heart of the Roman Catholic Church

in Europe was located in Rome and it had represented the dominant belief system in Western Europe since the first

century but despite its enormous Power by our period the church had become plagued with corruption people were

buying their way into positions of ecclesiastical power which is a practice known as simony and most important for

what we're talking about here the church began financing its massive building project through the sale of indulgences

essentially that just means that people were told that they could pay money to get their sins forgiven and to be honest

it was pretty effective popes had money for days and now let me introduce you to a Catholic monk named Martin Luther this

guy was seriously troubled by all these practices because they weren't in the Bible and even more troubling he thought

that the Catholic church had misinterpreted scriptural teachings about salvation so you know not a small

thing so in 1517 Luther made a list of his complaints known as the 95 thesis and nailed it to the door of a church in

vitberg now the church to put it mildly were not fans of this movie so they denounced Luther as a heretic and

excommunicated him from the church but thanks to the recent invention of the printing press Luther kept writing and

his ideas spread far and wide throughout Europe and as more and more people were convinced that Luther was right a

massive split in the church occurred and this is what we call the Protestant Reformation so that is a big change in

Christianity in Europe but you didn't think that the Roman Catholic Church just slinked away and disappeared did

you don't be crazy no the Catholic Church continued as a dominant expression of Christian Christianity in

Europe however to be fair they did initiate a Reformation of their own in a series of meetings called the Council of

Trent Catholics cleaned up a lot of the corruption that Protestants were complaining about but they also went

ahead and reaffirmed that their doctrine of salvation was just fine thank you very much and that represented not only

continuity in the faith but also a permanent split between the two branches of the faith regardless both

reformations LED to significant growth of Christianity in Europe okay second let's consider Islam and here we need to

examine how political rivalries intensified the Sunni Shia split now I already mentioned that sha Ismail

declared the saf of Empire would adhere to Shia Islam and that put them at odds with other Sunni Muslim empires in this

area but I probably undersold just what a big deal that was in fact many people argue that ismail's decision was among

the most significant events in Islamic history that's because his decision aggravated and intensified the split

between these two branches and when Ismail made his declaration he carried it out with ferocity like Sunni Muslims

in the Empire who resisted were often slaughtered in public and to take it even further a division of the safavid

military was developed whose sole responsibility was to ensure that everyone in the safavid Dynasty ritually

and regly cursed the first three cffs who succeeded Muhammad you remember earlier when I said that the beef

between these two branches of Islam had a lot to do with who the legitimate successor of Muhammad was well it was

those first three that were patently not blood relatives of the prophet and so this regular ritual cursing of them was

like spitting in the face of Sunni Muslims everywhere so yeah the split between the Shia and the sunnis

definitely intensified because of political rivalries among Islamic empir and third let's consider the development

of seism in South Asia now we've been talking an awful lot about the fracturing of belief systems but here's

an example of the blending of Rel religions which resulted in something new essentially sism was a syncretic

blend of both Hindu and Islamic doctrines and that shouldn't surprise you given how long those two systems

coexisted in South Asia anyway seism demonstrated continuity with both belief systems by retaining several important

doctrines like the belief in one God and the cycle of reincarnation and death however it marked a change as well since

Sikhism discarded the gender hierarchies of Islam and the cast system in Hinduism Okay click here to grab my AP World

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