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Reda The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Dynasties

What is a gunpowder empire? In the 15th and 16th centuries, three great powers arose across western and southern
Asia. The Ottomans in Turkey, Safavids in Iran, and Mughals in India grew in large part due to a Chinese invention –
gunpowder, which they developed further into firearms and cannons. Therefore, they are often referred to as “Gunpowder
Empires” which is a term that was developed by historians Marshall G. Hodgson and William H. McNeill. This term was used to
describe new forms of states where artillery and other firearms played a big social and political role in those government’s
growth, expansion, and organization. Because acquiring and maintaining guns demanded a highly developed government
administration and extensive financial resources, the use of gunpowder led to a rise in highly centralized governments that
could buy large quantities of tin and copper, manufacture weapons, and train soldiers in the use of firearms. The term has also
been used sometimes to refer to states outside the Islamic region that used gunpowder technology to extend their control and
colonize territories that were less advanced technologically.

The Ottoman Empire in Turkey

The longest-lasting of the Gunpowder Empires, the Ottoman Empire in Turkey was first established in 1299, but it fell to the
conquering armies of Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) in 1402. Due to an acquisition of muskets, the Ottoman rulers were able to
drive out the Timurids and reestablish their control of Turkey in 1414.

The Ottomans used artillery during the reign of Bayazid I in the sieges of Constantinople in 1399 and 1402 where they used
cavalry, use of firepower, and large cannons. They coordinated artillery with the use of cavalry and created an elite infantry
corps 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. The Ottoman Janissary corps became the best-trained infantry force in the
world, and also the first gun corps to wear uniforms. Artillery and firearms were also important in the battle of Varna against a
Crusader force.

By 1700, the Ottoman Empire extended across three-quarters of the Mediterranean Sea coast, controlled the Red Sea, almost
the entire coast of the Black Sea, and had significant ports on the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, as well as many modern-
day countries on three continents. Although the Ottoman Empire soon lost its technological edge, it survived until the end of
the First World War (1914 - 1918).

The Safavid Empire in Persia

The Safavid dynasty also took control of Persia in the power vacuum that followed the decline of Timur's empire. Persia
suffered in chaos for around a century before Shah Ismail I and his "Red Head" (Qizilbash) Turks were able to defeat their
rivals and reunite the country by about 1511.

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, Shah Ismāīl I led his Safavid warriors to found a new Persian empire in
Iran. The Safavid Empire lasted until 1722, and the Shīite branch of the Islamic faith established by Ismāīl continues to be the
dominant and contemporary religion of Iran today. The Safavids learned the value of firearms and artillery from the Ottomans.
After the battle of Chaldiran, Shah Ismail built a corps of musketeers, the tofangchi. By 1598 they had an artillery corp of
cannons as well.

The Safavids' hold on their territory had weakened considerably after the death of Shah Ismāīl, but his successor, Shah Abbās
the Great, he drove out foreigners, including Ottomans, who had made incursions into his territory. In doing this, he used a
military force based on the use of gunpowder. He brought in an English adviser to help him reorganize and train his army. He
divided this army into three bodies of troops--the slaves, the musketeers, and the artillerymen--all of whom were paid from a
central treasury. He also created a strong, professionalized, central administration for organizing, training, and supplying this
military force. In order to obtain the funds to maintain the political and military structures of the nation, the sixteenth century
Safavids fostered trade with Europe, industry, and an elaborate system of communication.

Safavid history is filled with clashes and wars between the Shi'a Muslim Safavid Persians and the Sunni Ottoman Turks. The
Safavid Empire lasted until 1736.
The Mughal Empire in India

The third gunpowder empire, to the east of the Ottomans and the Safavids is India’s Mughal Empire.

The founder of this empire was Bābur (1483-1530), a Turkic prince of Central Asia said to be descended from the conquerors
Tamerlane (Timur) and Genghis Khan. Bābur was driven out of Central Asia and descended into northern India, where he
established Mughal rule. He was able to defeat Ibrahim Lodi of the last Delhi Sultanate at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526.
Babur had the expertise of Ustad Ali Quli who coached the military with Ottoman techniques. Babur's victorious Central Asian
army used a combination of traditional horse cavalry tactics and new-fangled cannons; the cannon fire spooked Lodi's war-
elephants, which turned and trampled their own army in their hurry to escape the fearsome noise. After this victory, it was rare
for any forces to engage the Mughals in a pitched battle.

Bābur's grandson, Akbar, is considered the greatest of the Mughals. Akbar extended his empire to include all of northern and
part of central India. His ability to do this resulted from the centralized organization of his political and military structures. The
emperor ruled through high officials known as mansabs, who were top administrative or military officials who governed
provinces, occupied key bureaucratic positions, or recruited and trained soldiers. Akbar's army relied heavily on the infantry,
which was supplied with muskets, and on heavy artillery, using cannon. Much of his success came from the inability of
competing powers in India to afford artillery or to train and maintain armed infantry.

The Mughal Dynasty would endure until 1857 when the incoming British Raj deposed and exiled the last emperor.

Document 1: Sari Mehmed Pasha, a Turkish official of the 18th century, commented on the traditional policies of the
Ottoman Sultan towards peasants, merchants and government officials.

“Let them (officials) neither oppress the poor rayahs (peasants) nor cause them to be vexed by the demand for new
impositions in addition to the well-known yearly taxes which they are accustomed to give. . . . The poor peasants should not be
troubled. The people of the provinces and dwellers in the towns should be protected and preserved by the removal of
injustices, and very great attention should be paid to making prosperous the condition of the subjects, making the districts
joyous and flourishing and to protecting and preserving the property and lives of travelers on the road. . . . For it has been said
that the basis of the ruler’s system is the man of consequence (honest, trained bureaucrat), and the raising of troops requires
the paying of ready money by the Treasury, and the prosperity of the country comes through its healthy condition, and the
flourishing of the country comes through the granting of justice and the punishment of oppressors.”

Document 2: Father Paul Simon was a Document 3: Mughal Revenue/Expenditures

missionary to the Safavid court of Shah Abbas the
Great in the city of Isfahan. Below is his report to
Pope Clement VIII in 1605.

“He is very valiant and has a great liking for warfare

and weapons of war, which he has constantly in his
hands: we have been eye-witnesses of this
because, whenever we were with him, he was
adjusting his [swords], testing his [muskets], etc: . . .
This is the great experience, which he has obtained
of warfare over so many years, that he makes it in
person and from the first has made him a fine
soldier and very skilled, and his men so dexterous
that they are little behind our men in Europe. He has
introduced into his militia the use of and esteem for
[muskets], in which they are very practiced.
Therefore it is that his realm has been so much
extended on all sides. . . . All the above mentioned
soldiers, who will total some 100,000, receive pay
for the whole year.”

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