1.2A Major Empires Past Paper PDF

Name: Date: 1.2A Major Empires From 1200 to 1450 there were several large empires. You will read about them and be looking for some key words. Comparison. Continuity. Change. AP gets excited by this. You will be building your own land-based empire and have to COMPARE it to one of the real-life em...

Name: Date: 1.2A Major Empires From 1200 to 1450 there were several large empires. You will read about them and be looking for some key words. Comparison. Continuity. Change. AP gets excited by this. You will be building your own land-based empire and have to COMPARE it to one of the real-life empires. Europe: 1200-1450 resulted in some major changes in European states. Europe never united into one force. With Rome's fall, the best they ever got was a Holy Roman Empire, but even that wasn't very Holy, or Roman or much an Empire. Also, Western and Eastern Europe had very different paths. Let's look at Western Europe first. England = England was a major power in the 1400s. They had a 100 Years war with France over many issues, but mainly over an English claim over the French throne. England won many battles but lost the war. France was too hard to hold onto. Worse, England ended up in a civil war called the War of the Roses which was fought between the House of Lancaster and House of York. Everything was not lost though. England had won a major naval battle in the Hundred Years War and learned something. Having a powerful navy was going to make England (and island) largely safe from invasion. So, from the 100 Years War on England was a major naval power. It still ranks up there today! England's neighbors included Scotland and Ireland. Scotland was poor and often allied to the French. A continual problem but not a serious one. Ireland was divided and weak and so England invaded the island and conquered it over time. France = France had what seemed to be the worst luck in the 1300s. Phillip the Fair died and his daughter was all that survived him. She was married to Edward II of England. Their child, Edward III, had a claim on the French throne which led to the Hundred Years War. France lost major battle after major battle as French knights failed to defeat English longbowmen. However, the French were inspired by Joan of Arc and the Valois family gathered power through artillery. This gave them a major advantage and drove the English out of France. By 1450, things were very much improving. The French monarchy under the Valois was popular and strong. Louis IX the Spider King, weakened the nobles through taxation. The French artillery was the most impressive, perhaps in the world, and would give them the means to make claims on Italy in the 1500s. France may have started off losing the Hundred Years War in the 1300s, but by 1500 it was a major power and long-term rival to England and the Holy Roman Empire. Holy Roman Empire = The Holy Roman Empire was created by Charlemagne. It was supposed to replace the Roman Empire and be a German-Church power. And it was! But, it never united all of Europe. The HRE remained largely German and their rule over Italy was soft. The Catholic Church kept trying to control the empire and the emperors kept resisting this. The empire had issues on all sides, with France, the Church, the Ottomans and itself! The 1400s saw the rise of the Hapsburg family as emperors. They remained in charge until the end of WWI. This family slowly realized the empire was a lost-cause and put more efforts into conquered and securing territory for themselves, such as Austria. When the empire dissolved in the 1600s (not officially until the 1800s), the Hapsburgs remained powerful thanks to their direct rule over Austria and other places. During its lifetime, the empire was pulled many directions. The emperor wanted power, the electors (top nobles) wanted power, the free-cities, the church, and so on. This made the HRE unusual in that it had many different laws. The emperor's laws, the noble's laws, local customs and so on. Germans realized there was a 'Germany' but that it was not united. Nor would it be until the 1800s. How strong was the HRE? The strongest... when it could get its act together. The weakest, when it was fighting itself and all its neighbors like France and the Ottomans. The Byzantines: When the Roman empire divided in two around 300, the Eastern portion was the richest and oldest. The emperor Constantine set up a new capital called Constantinople. When the Western Roman empire collapsed, the Eastern kept on going. But, did it stay the same? No. The Eastern empire became more Greek and less Latin. It created its own Christian religion called Orthodox. It maintained a high level of technology and trade. And it made a lot of enemies. It was also called the Byzantines by later historians. So, remember, the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium is the same thing. The Crusades (Christian holy wars) were engineered in part by the Byzantines to get Catholics (mostly from France) to fight the Islamic people who constantly invaded them, such as the Ayyubid family. In 1205, Venice convinced the Crusaders to take over Constantinople. The super city, never before invaded, was conquered. Eventually, the Byzantines were back in charge, but their empire was on a quick decline. The Ottomans, using new artillery, stormed the walls of Constantinople in 1453 and ended the oldest empire in Europe. Middle East: 1200 to 1450 in the Middle East was marked by disaster after disaster and recovery only came in the 1400s. What happened? First, the Islamic empire broke apart. Everyone in the empire, which stretched from Spain through North Africa to Turkey were Islamic, but they couldn't agree on a leader. The head of the religion, the Caliph, was in Baghdad (Iraq) and had little power. In Turkey (called Anatolia), a Muslim breakaway group formed called Shi'a from the mainstream Sunni. JUST as the Islamic empire was breaking into factions, the Byzantines convinced Catholics from Europe to invade them. The Crusades started in the 1000s and lasted until 1200. Eventually, the Crusaders were defeated and left, but then the Mongols and Black Plague came. The Caliph of Baghdad was killed by the Mongols and the Islamic faith hasn't had a solid religious leader since. It seemed the Islamic religion and culture was doomed. But, things changed. The Mongols in the area adopted Islam. And it turned out that the Mongols were not all Mongols. They were many tribes of horsemen who weren't thrilled with their Mongol overlords. Mamluk = The Mamluks were horse-tribes picked up by the Mongols, made slave soldiers, then freed to serve the Mongols as rulers. They ended up in Egypt as well as other places. The Egyptian Mamluks stopped paying the Mongols and defeated them in battle using horses and camels. The Mamluks adopted Islam and its culture but still kept up their horsemen ways. They were eventually conquered by the Ottomans, but the Ottomans made them a deal very similar to the Mongols. Pay us, and you can sorta do what you want. Ottomans = The Turks were a horse-tribe picked up by the Mongols and left in Anatolia. As the Mongols weakened over time, the Ottomans took on their own lands, now called Turkey. Osman was their first ruler who conquered in order to impress a woman's father. So he could marry her! The Ottoman empire defeated Byzanitum in 1453 under the rule of Mehmet the II. The Ottoman Empire was a major force that used gunpowder weapons and large armies to conquer territory. They pushed into Europe and would be a threat to Europe until the 1600s. The Ottomans saw themselves as the inheritor of Muhamad's mission to spread Islam around the world. They conquered all of the Islamic lands they could and displaced the Arab rulers. The Ottoman Empire became very patchwork. It included Turks, Mamluks, Armenians, Jews, Arabs, Moors and many more. All these different groups under their rule posed problems. Just like the Ottomans and Mamluks broke away from the Ottomans, the various groups in the Ottoman Empire wanted to break away from it. Like the HRE, when the Ottomans had their act together, they were very strong. However, they were often fighting their own people. The Ottomans sultan (ruler) had an elite army to protect him and his interests. These were called the Janissaries who were Christian slaves captured as children and turned into 'super soldiers'. Like the Roman Praetorian Guard, these soldiers protected the ruler but over time realized they could also get rid of any ruler they didn't like. Asia: Asia went through many changes from 1200 to 1450. And yet, in some ways it reverted back to where it started. In the 1200s, China was divided into two empires. Each wanted to unify China. Each was culturally, very Chinese. The Jin were in the North and the Song in the South. Neither realized they had a bigger threat than each other. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols took over both Chinas and a lot more. A lot, lot more. The Mongols made the largest land empire in history. This empire brought death and innovation. The Mongols gathered up many horse-tribes and used them as soldiers. Turks and Mamluks for example were added to the empire and settled in far away places. Millions died as the Mongols conquered and destroyed. China, Russia, the Middle East, and many more places fell under Mongol rule. Once the Mongols took over, their laws were easy enough. Don't mess with merchants. Pay the Khan tribute. In the 1400s the Mongol empire gradually fell apart. They could not agree on a single ruler and so the empire split into four 'hordes'. The Mongols ruling over China like Kublai Khan started to take on Chinese customs. The story of Asia from 1200 to 1450 is all about the coming and the going of the Mongols. Yuan Dynasty: This was the name of the Mongol rule over China. It lasted until the 1300s and its collapse came about due to Chinese resentment of Mongol rule and a series of famines, droughts and other disasters the Yuan couldn't solve. However, when the Yuan were defeated, they hadn't changed Chinese culture all that much. As so often happened, the invaders became very much Chinese adopting many customs and ideas of government. And as often happened to the Chinese government, it became corrupt. The Red Turban rebellion was when the Chinese people rose up in anger and overthrew the Yuan. Ming Dynasty: The Ming took over China after the Yuan and returned it to its customary rule of an emperor, his nobles and government officials. The Ming wanted to make China what it traditionally was. Rich, powerful, self-sufficient and content within its own borders. Power came through military service. The Ming had up to a million soldiers in the 1500s. Compare this to the standard European army which might have 100,000 in it at the most. The Ming did not want to create a big globe-stretching empire like the Mongols. They did however send out explorers into the Indian Ocean. The Ming also created the modern capital of China, Beijing, and in Beijing was the Forbidden City, city IN the city meant just for the emperor and his court. The Ming were likely the strongest force in the world in 1450, compare that to a hundred years earlier when China was wrecked by the Black Plague and under Mongol rule! To best understand the Ming, they were very much into 'keeping China as it was in the past' with a focus on old dynasties and Confucius thought. India (Shown as South Asia on the map): India was not a unified empire from 1200 to 1450. It had largely survived the Mongol invasions and was under the rule of a horse-tribe of Mamluks. These Mamluks adopted Islam and ruled over India causing serious issues. The empire was called the Delhi Sultanate, named after a major city in India. They tried to do away with Hinduism and Buddhism and establish Islam. This led to major religious conflict within India because most people were Hindu or Buddhist. Buildings were destroyed and people massacred. The Delhi Sultanate was also not stable. It went through five different dynasties and plenty of civil war from 1200 to the 1500s. The religious issues are still seen today. India is Hindu, but neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh (once part of India) are Muslim. Africa: Africa was unusual from 1200 to 1450. Close to the Middle East, Europe and Asia and yet far away. Why? Geography. Water and giant deserts isolated almost all of Africa. North Africa was under Muslim rule and included places like Egypt. But the rest of Africa? Ethiopia: Ethiopia was a Christian kingdom in Africa. They were isolated from the rest of Christianity for so long that when white, European Christian missionaries arrived, the Ethiopians didn't believe them, believing that surely all Christians were black. The Ethiopians claimed they were ruled by descendants of Solomon of Biblical fame. Ethiopia had a king and diplomatic envoys made it to Europe. However, Ethiopia could not join with the other Christians because its neighbors were all Islamic to the north. Ethiopia's history was one of the Ethiopian Christians and Muslims not getting along. Contact with Europe was rare and the technology level rather low compared to the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Mali Empire = Western Africa was cut off from the rest of the world by water and deserts. Outsiders could visit the coast, but the interior of the Mali empire was unknown to Europeans, Arabs, Asians and so on until the 1400s. Visitors from Morocco and Portugal were the first to write down what they could about the Mali Empire.\ \ The Mali were ruled by Islamic kings called Mansa. The most famous was Mansa Musa, a Mali king who was very rich with gold and traveled to Mecca for the hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage. He was perhaps too rich with gold. Mansa Musa gave gold away wherever he went and destabilized the economies of all the kingdoms he visited on his way to Mecca and back. The Mali were similar to the HRE and the Ottomans. The Mansa was in charge not of a single ethnic group, but rather over many different and competing tribes. When they worked together it was fine, but rebellion was common. Their technology level was low due to isolation. The Mali had no written language, no major roads, or very many buildings. Almost all of our knowledge about them comes from visiting outsiders and Mansa Musa's famous 1300's hajj. We don't have much from the Mali themselves. Bantu = The Bantu were not one people but many who spoke the Bantu language. They were divided into many small tribes all over central and south Africa. We know very little about them. They had little technology, were isolated, and no written language. They were pagan and believed in spirits and gods. Not much would be known about them until the 1600s on when European settlers encountered, fought, converted and wrote about the many Bantu people. North / South America: The Aztec, Maya and Inca were much like the story of Africa. So close, but so far away. If you look at the map of North and South America it appears as if there should be plenty of contact between the Aztec, Maya and Inca. But, there wasn't. Ideas, language and culture did spread, but politically the Aztec had no idea who the Maya were who had no idea who the Inca were. This is because of geography. None of these people had naval technology. Jungles and mountains further separated them. Like the tribal Bantu and Mali, it was not impossible to travel outside their zone- but it was really, really hard. The three groups were stone-age. They did have stone cities, and some were large, but most people lived in small huts in villages. They had little metal-working, no fences, no wheel no common written language and so on. They all believed in gods and spirits and human sacrifice was used by all. Aztec = The Aztec were a warrior tribe that took over the cities of a prior group called the Olmecs and Toltecs. The Aztecs set up an emperor and blood-thirsty religion that demanded sacrifice. In the 1400s the Aztecs became a major power in Mexico and were likely to keep expanding except that European Spaniards showed up in the 1500s. Mayans = The Mayans had stone cities, a common language and religion, but no single ruler. Each city was likely its own state. As the Aztecs rose in power the Mayans collapsed. This was not due to the Aztecs, but likely weather. Drought had struck and crops didn't grow. People likely fled the cities for the jungles in hopes of finding food. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, they found the Mayan cities deserted. Inca = The Inca were a large empire in South America. A God-emperor ruled over a system that appeared to be feudal in nature. People paid taxes in forms of goods and services. There was no wheel, no writing, no large animals, but they created monuments, stone cities, roads and were dabbling with bronze. The Inca when it comes to technology, were quickly mirroring the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and so on but without the advantage of contact with anyone else. Like the Aztec, the Inca were set to have a long empire, but the Spanish showed up in the 1500s. It is from the Spanish we know about the Inca and much has been lost. 1. The Mali, Ethiopians, Aztec, Maya and Incans had less technology than others in the 1200-1450 period. Why? **Compare** them to Europe/Middle East/Asia. -- -- 2. Politically, the HRE, the Mali, and Ottomans are **similar**. How? -- -- 3. Politically, the Mongols **changed** a lot in Asia and the Middle East. Name some ways this happened. -- -- 4. China is often a symbol of **continuity**. What it is an example of China staying the same during the 1200-1450 period... even when it gets conquered! -- -- 5. Politically, the Sultanate of Delhi, was never going to be stable. Why? (Deals with religion) -- -- 6. After the Hundred Years War, both England and France had some positive things happen. What were they for each? -- -- Making your 1400's empire You'll be making your own empire and you'll be using the ones you read about for ideas and inspiration. First, answer the questions below. Then follow the instructions for the tasks. You will be making a mini-book that will be for tourists on PowerPoint. Questions 1. Where is your empire going to be? Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, North / South America? 2. What technology level will your empire have? High or Low? The answer to this is based off how you answered question 1. 3. What religion will your empire have? One? What is it? Two? Which ones? Too many? The answer to this is based of how you answered question 1. 4. What type of government will your empire have? Feudal with a king and many nobles? An Imperial system with an emperor and many powerful underlings? Tribal, with a distant emperor/khan? Tribal with no single ruler at all? Your answer to question 1 will narrow down your choices. 5. Based off questions 1-4, what historical empire is closest to the one you'll be making? 6. Make up one weird thing about your empire that does not have to be historical. For example, "We are a tribal society with no technology, but are working on a space program." What your PowerPoint needs four slides, they are listed below 1. A blank map of the world and YOUR empire circled, colored in, or in some way marked on it. You may need to do some work in MS paint to do this. Your name and the name of your 1400's empire. 2. A picture of your ruler (or if there is none, of many people). An explanation of the type of government you have. Some key details about it. 3. A picture of a building from your empire. An explanation of what religion you have and some key facts about it. 4. Your empire's weird thing and a picture and text for it.