Upheaval.docx

Upheaval, Transformation, & Isolation: A Global History Early Modern Empire in a Global Perspective Historians argue that there have been two main periods in which big empires grew bigger: ― Between 600 BCE and 100 CE with Achaemenid Persia, Mauryan India, Rome, and Han China flourishing ― Betw...

Upheaval, Transformation, & Isolation: A Global History Early Modern Empire in a Global Perspective Historians argue that there have been two main periods in which big empires grew bigger: ― Between 600 BCE and 100 CE with Achaemenid Persia, Mauryan India, Rome, and Han China flourishing ― Between 1450 and 1800 In the second period, interconnections between empires grew even stronger The Military Revolution With globalization, localized military strategies quickly became obsolete. Between 1450 and 1800, war became increasingly expensive and complicated almost everywhere. Historians refer to this development as the military revolution. The Military Revolution: Bigger Battalions, High Taxes “God is on the side of the bigger battalions.” Big empires spent 60–90 percent of their state budgets on their armed forces. By 1700, several states could organize and field armies of more than 100,000 men. To support this, taxation became more efficient. States borrowed from national banks and private bankers; they also used tax farming. The Military Revolution: Navies Another state expense came in the form of the novel oceanic navies. Atlantic Europeans built ships sturdy enough to carry heavy cannons Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Britain led this charge as “lions of the sea.” The Military Revolution: Field Artillery, Fortification Beginning in the early fifteenth century, massive armies dragged heavy cannons to battle. By the 1490s, teams of horses, oxen, or a couple of elephants carried these heavy weapons. To defend themselves against such weapons, architects designed new, stronger fortresses. Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci both designed fortresses prior to achieving fame. The Military Revolution: Standing Armies, Logistics In the 1590s, nations began to form disciplined and drilled standing armies. Professional armies were active in both war and peace. These armies were far more skilled, efficient, and organized. The feeding, transportation, and arming of large armies also required a logistical military bureaucracy to develop. The Tokugawa Consolidation of Power in Japan In 1500, Japan had 12–18 million people living in fragmented states. Within 140 years, the states would be violently unified. After 1500, warlords’ armies grew larger, drawing from unskilled peasant soldiers. Sieges and elaborate fortifications spread. In 1543, Chinese pirates introduced Portuguese guns to Japan’s vortex of war. Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, Unifying Japan Oda Nobunaga was the warlord who did the most with these guns. He unified the southern half of Japan by 1580. After Nobunaga’s death (1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi mostly unified Japan by 1598. Establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate By 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu ruled over a unified Japan. ― He was the first entitled shogun, or “top general.” This dynasty was called the Tokugawa shogunate; it lasted until 1868. With peace imposed, all except the samurai were banned from owning and using weapons. The shoguns reversed the democratization of weapons. They slowly colonized the island of Hokkaido. The Fall of the Ming The Qing Conquest The Qing Empire, ca. 1600–1800 Qing Statecraft and Military Innovation Unlike the Tokugawa, the Qing already used guns in their military system. Guns and artillery were far less effective in China. The Qing organized steppe warriors into units, adopted Ming naval warfare, practiced military preparedness, and taxed more heavily. The Mughal Empire in India The Mughal Empire emerged in the early sixteenth century in northern India. Its Muslim founders came from Central Asia; they identified with Turks and Mongols (“Mughal”). They conquered northern India in 1526. Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar, or Akbar, (r. 1556–1605) stabilized the Mughal state, which soon ruled South Asia. Mughal Might There was warfare in India for 500 years before the Mughals relied on foot soldiers, archers, elephants, and sieges. Guns arrived via Central Asia and Iran around 1450; they were used widely in the 1520s. Akbar recruited skilled gunsmiths. The Mughals imported 16,000 horses annually for mobility; they used gunboats on rivers and seas. Mughal Consolidation As Muslim invaders in an overwhelmingly Hindu land, the Mughals had challenges. Akbar used religious tolerance strategically, suspending the higher taxes for non-Muslims and celebrating Hinduism. They lowered the tax rate with each subsequent conquest. Mughal Decline The Mughal decline occurred during Aurangzeb’s later years. His religious zeal led him to impose Islamic law. He forbade new Hindu temples, destroyed old ones, and imposed a higher tax on non-Muslims. Rebellions and tax revolts spread; the state lost control of its southern frontiers. By 1770, the Hindu Maratha state (with novelties such as a navy) controlled half of India. The Ottoman Empire Although the Mughals lasted about 300 years, the Ottomans (another Turkic and Muslim dynasty of Central Asia) lasted over 600 years. The Ottomans began as a community of Turkish-speaking pastoralists; they might have benefited from the bubonic pandemic (mostly urban and agrarian). They gradually expanded in Anatolia and the Balkans. By 1453, the Ottomans took over Constantinople. Ottoman Expansion The Expansion of the Ottoman Empire, 1320s–1683 Ottoman Consolidation Ottomans integrated firearms by 1390s, artillery by 1420s Rebuilt Istanbul’s fortifications in 1453 Hired elite infantrymen, the janissaries Also invested heavily in a powerful navy The Ottoman Taxes: The Millet System Imperial Consolidation in Russia The original Russian state emerged on trade routes linking the Baltic and Black Seas; it expanded into Siberia in the 1500s. The Siberian fur trade raised revenues almost as much as Egypt did for the Ottomans. After 1547, princes of Moscow took the tsar title. Taking the fertile lands of Ukraine and the Lower Volga boosted the population to about 14 million. By 1800, the tsars ruled about 5 percent of the global population (40 million) under a centralized state. Ivan (IV) the Terrible The tsar who did the most to define Russia’s political character was Ivan IV (r. 1547–1584). His reign included conquests, forced military service, murder (of his own son and heir), and lavish monumental architecture. He set up Russia’s first printing press, built a huge army and armaments industry, and had his engineers build mobile fortifications for battles. Peter the Great Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725) was also innovative. He visited western Europe to learn about shipbuilding. He built Russia’s first real navy and introduced drills. He reined in the power of the Orthodox Church. He built St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea for trade. The Habsburg Empire: The First Global Power Habsburg Soft Power Emperor Maximilian I (r. 1508–1519) was known as the master of setting up political marriages. He added Spain, Bohemia, and northern Hungary through these marriages. They became champions of the Roman Catholic faith (winning their subjects’ loyalty) and patrons of art. Hard Power and a Patchwork Empire The Spanish branch of the Habsburgs had an oceanic navy in the sixteenth century, and their tercios were feared all over Europe. They fielded huge armies and artillery; many wars with Ottomans and France kept them innovating. The Spanish and Austrian branches were ruled like two separate domains (allies). Between 1530 and 1556, Charles V almost became emperor of all of Europe; he ultimately failed, though the Habsburgs lasted until 1918. Growth of Habsburg Territories, 13th–16th Centuries  The University of War: The Rise of Europe Europe mirrored China’s Warring States period (771–256 BCE); it was a “university of war.” Many small states disappeared, getting absorbed by larger ones. Competition in Europe prevailed, brutal pressures pushed states to strengthen themselves. The University of War: Fragmentation and Big States Early modern Europe’s fragmentation was unique in that it included global reach, global knowledge, and low information costs because of printing. Each state’s innovations (Italian fortresses, Ottoman light cavalry) quickly spread to others. This leaves historians wondering whether the leaders of these states were “great” or if the circumstances of the military revolution allowed them all to grow. Smaller Powers Respond: Iran and Southeast Asia Smaller states, however, did survive. The Safavids were squeezed between the Mughals and Ottomans; to compete, they adopted guns, artillery, fortresses, etc. They also promoted and taxed the silk, silver, and porcelain trade. Vietnam also adopted firearms to survive against Ming China (as did Burma and Thailand). Smaller Powers Respond: Kongo and Morocco Kongo, with a monopoly on Portuguese guns, enslaved neighbors at a rapid pace during the seventeenth century. The Saadians in Morocco (sixteenth century) used Ottoman tactics and English cannons to gain power. They demolished the Songhai; sought to control West African goldfields but failed. Smaller Powers Respond: North America, Hawaii Native peoples in the Americas also adopted guns and horses to build power. There, too, (colonial) technology and techniques gave adapters an advantage over their closest (indigenous) neighbors. Plains Indians were particularly good at this. Figures like King Kamehameha I of Hawaii did not lead global powers, but they were all-powerful in their specific localities. Smaller Powers Respond: Poland and Egypt Nomads in a World of Expanding States Mobile peoples could not tax or manufacture weapons, or build forts like the settled empires. Between 1700 and 1850, agrarian states slaughtered, disarmed, or enslaved them. The last large-scale confederacy of nomads (the Zunghars, made up of 750,000 people) was massacred by the Qing Empire in the 1750s. Genocides were frequent. Pirates in a World of Expanding States The early Global web was the pirate golden era; port cities were filled with stolen goods. Navies often created pirates by hiring help to assault enemies. Spanish ships carrying silver (1550s–1720s) attracted pirates to the Caribbean. Growing naval power (i.e., Britain, Mughals, United States) violently ended the age of piracy. Chapter Summary The general pattern: many polities were absorbed while only some grew and prospered into empires. Only a handful of empires dominated Eurasia—a development without precedent in world history. There were two other major developments: ― No state could build a pan-European empire, resulting in unending competition, innovations, and suffering. ― Agrarian states grew powerful enough to turn against nomads and pirates, violently destroying their (very different) ways of life. Upheaval, Transformation, & Isolation A Global History World Population and the Global Economy Between 1500 and 1800, the global population doubled. This population surge was likely caused by two factors: ― The Columbian Exchange ― Infections became endemic. The seventeenth century was a harsh exception to this trend. The Size of the World Economy We see very similar trends for each century in gross world product. The world economy more than doubled in size between 1500 and 1800. Again, the seventeenth century was a harsh outlier. Shrinking Humans Humans (on average) also shrank during this time. By 1800, northern Europeans were smaller than at any time before or since. A lack of protein and stunting diseases were the likely causes. Plains natives were the tallest in the world due to egalitarian, meat-rich diets. Falling Incomes for Wage Laborers After the pandemic of the 1340s drove wages upward, wages fell dramatically between 1500 and 1800. An economy based on human and animal muscle meant most people still lived close to subsistence levels. British America was an exception, where people had enough “free” land to grow much more than they needed. Trade Atlantic Europeans (“lions of the sea”) became experts at buying cheap in one market and selling high in another. Market knowledge grew. Militarized long-distance trade quickly enriched Europe’s merchants. Almost all Atlantic trade took place in ships owned by Atlantic Europeans. The Three Integrating Commodities Many commodities (i.e., gold, wheat, silk, etc.) were traded during this period of growth (humans were traded as well). However, three commodities played the strongest role in integrating far-flung commercial webs into global trade: ― Spices ― Cotton ― Silver Spices and the Spice Trade (1 of 2) The islands of southeast Asia traditionally produced the most spices; southwest India later did too. In the 1490s, Portugal cut out the middlemen (Egypt, Venice, etc.) in the spice trade. Portugal conquered the kingdom of Malacca (1511) for a commanding position in the spice trade. Spices and the Spice Trade (2 of 2) Portugal now carried increasing shares of the trade not only to Lisbon, but also to markets in India and China (example of war capitalism). Spices bought in Moluccas sold for 700 times their buying price in Lisbon’s markets; merchants collected enormous revenue from ships to Asia as well. Others (Aceh supported by Ottomans, Dutch, English) forced their way in as well. By 1620, the Dutch and English dominated. The Spice Trade, ca. 1600 Cotton and the Cotton Trade (1 of 2) Earliest evidence of cotton production comes from the ancient Indus Valley (about 5,000 years ago). When the Ming began accepting cotton as taxes in the fourteenth century, it spread to southern China. Far-flung places (Japan, Spain, East Africa) imported China and India’s cotton. Cotton and the Cotton Trade (2 of 2) Atlantic Europeans expanded the scope of the cotton trade, bringing the commodity to Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Cotton became a crucial component of the slave trade; 50–60 percent of African imports were Indian cloth offered by Europeans. By 1620, Portuguese trade to the Indian Ocean ports was focused on cotton (and not spices); cotton was increasingly dominating world trade. By the 1760s, protectionist policies in England and France led them to develop their own mills. The Cotton Trade, ca. 1700 Silver and the Silver Trade (1 of 2) Silver, unlike spices and cotton, functioned primarily as money. Silver’s role expanded globally for two main reasons: ― Governments increasingly demanded taxes in silver ― Silver solved the problem of mistrust among traders Silver and the Silver Trade (2 of 2) Silver was extracted from Spanish America, central Europe, and Japan. Spanish American silver mines made use of forced labor among Indigenous peoples. Chinese and Korean mining technology in Japan, and the latest German technology in the Americas (1550s), improved silver yields. The patío process in Spanish America made it easier to separate silver from low-grade ore. The Silver Trade, ca. 1600 Financing the Spanish and Japanese States Despite Spain’s small population (7 million) and poverty of natural resources, silver made it a strong power. Spain used its new wealth to fight endless wars against Protestantism, Islam, and “heathenism” (in America). In Japan, the military figures who (after much time) united the country financed their campaigns with silver. Promoting Economic Growth in China and India Most silver circulating the world eventually went to China and India, where both the Ming and Mughals insisted on silver for tax payments. Traders could exchange silver for more goods/gold in China and India than anywhere else; silver traders caused massive exportations. The bulk of American silver was first brought to Seville, Spain; some of that then went to Italian and German bankers (creditors of the Spanish) before it was almost magnetically pulled to China and India. New Business Formats: Plantations Three important “new” business formats of this period were: plantations, trading companies, and banks. Plantations were large-scale commercial farming operations worked by unfree labor. Plantations date back to ancient times, but large-scale, almost corporate production on plantations was new. The Sugar Industry, ca. 1750 The Spread of the Sugar Plantation Portuguese mariners settled São Tomé (in the Gulf of Guinea) in the 1490s; the island was soon dominated by sugar plantations that were worked by enslaved peoples from Kongo. Most settlers (the administrators of the island) were exiled Portuguese Jews, debtors, and criminals (all of whom had been deported). This “model” was exported to Brazil in the 1530s, which by the 1590s led global sugar production. By the 1640s, slave-and-sugar plantations spread through the Caribbean as well. Sugar and Plantation Slavery Sugar monoculture quickly depleted soil nutrients, a fact that constantly required fresh lands to be cleared for harvest (tying slavery to the conquest of more space). Smaller islands’ plantations became unprofitable over time, whereas larger islands (Jamaica, Hispaniola, Cuba) frequently practiced deforestation. Enslaved peoples in Brazil and the Caribbean died in massive numbers due to a combination of strenuous work, brutality, and a lethal disease environment. From 1550–1850, about 11 million Africans were trafficked to the Americas; masters practiced extreme cruelty. The Enslaved Rebel Enslaved peoples frequently risked everything (their lives, their families, their belongings, etc.) to rebel against the cruelty of slavery. In 1760, Akan-speakers in Jamaica led Tacky’s War, which lasted a few months and threatened white masters’ control of the island. In northeastern Brazil, rebels in Palmares managed to protect their independence from 1605 to the 1690s. The greatest slave uprising took place in the 1790s in St. Domingue; the result was the creation of the first Black republic in the Western Hemisphere: Haiti. New Business Formats: Chartered Joint-Stock Companies Combining trading ventures into bigger organizations helped reduce risks. During the sixteenth century, more anonymous forms of partnership developed under many different models. The English pioneered chartered joint-stock companies, other countries soon copied the model. The Dutch East India Company, the VOC (1 of 2) The gold standard of joint-stock trading companies was founded in 1602. The VOC was formed to share the risk of voyages to the spice islands of Indonesia. Between 1602 and 1796, the VOC sent nearly 5,000 ships around Africa to the Indian Ocean. The VOC captured and built port cities to facilitate its trade. The Dutch East India Company, the VOC (2 of 2) By 1669, the VOC had 50,000 employees, 10,000 soldiers, and a navy of 40 warships. VOC soldiers used their ship’s guns to destroy cities in hours. In the 1620s, the VOC attempted to kill everyone on the Banda Islands and replace them with settlers (to seize the clove, nutmeg business). Their “model” of business was built on extreme violence. New Business Formats: Banks As trade grew, businesses had to borrow more and more. Modern banks developed, overcoming centuries of theologians arguing that loan interest was immoral. These banks (first founded in 1609) attracted depositors, cleared debts, and offered quick transactions. Started trust-based practice of fractional reserve banking Bank Notes and Credit Bank notes were a tricky form of boosting commerce; they required a lot more trust from customers and banks (i.e., banks would sometimes print too many and refuse to honor their value). The Bank of Sweden (1670s) and Bank of England (1694) won public trust in banknotes; soon after, governments took monopoly rights on printing them. As credit became crucial to empire building, monarchies with the best creditworthiness (i.e., Britain) could borrow from banks at cheap rates, enabling them to grow rapidly. Global Links: China’s Second Commercial Revolution Between 1550 and 1800, under the late Ming and Qing, China’s population doubled while also conquering lands in Mongolia, Tibet, etc. China absorbed/killed the peoples living there and put the lands to intensive use with newer technologies. Mostly built the economy through commercializing agriculture and manufacturing Global Links: Atlantic Europe With Europe (as with China) frontier expansion played a role in market expansion. Although there were some wetlands in Europe, the main thrust of agricultural expansion came from overseas (i.e., plantations in Brazil, St. Domingue). But, also as in China, manufacturing was crucial to nations’ development; factories and financial centers sprung up in cities all over Europe (along with the new business formats that aided them). Global Links: Other Regions in the Global Economy (1 of 2) India’s position in world trade also changed (though not as considerably); the country still traded with Malays, Persians, and Arabs, but Atlantic Europeans added themselves to the list. Cotton growing there became an increasingly commercial operation ready for massive exports. Meanwhile, landowners in Prussia, Poland-Lithuania, and Russia developed big grain-producing estates for export (using serfs). Global Links: Other Regions in the Global Economy (2 of 2) Before the 1490s, Southwest Asia had been the center of the Old World. In the Global web, the big flows of trade passed them by; the Atlantic sea trade “dethroned” the region. Meanwhile, the Americas (via plantations, mining, fur, etc.) became a powerful, new market. Chapter Summary In the three centuries after 1500, a true global economy developed for the first time. The world population more than doubled; most people grew poorer and malnourished. Global market integration was driven most of all by spices, cotton, and silver (which traded widely). As trade expanded, so did the business format that supported the economies of scale. By 1800 (if not 1750 or 1700), Atlantic European markets became the most dynamic, innovative, and violent markets in the first global economy.