Essay Comparing The Ottoman Empire And The Ch Ing Empire

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The Ottoman Empire and the Ch’ing Dynasty The two major empires in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Asia were the Ottoman Empire and the Ch’ing Dynasty. They had many similarities and differences that ultimately did not help to sustain these empires. Of particular importance was how these societies dealt with outsiders and the biggest challenges they faced to maintaining political stability. One way the Ottoman Empire dealt with minorities was they enslaved some of them. Christians in particular were enslaved. As evidenced by the following passage found in the source reader. “They are kept up by continual additions from the sultan’s share of the captives, and by recruits, raised every five years, from the children of the Christian subjects. Small parties of soldiers, each under a leader and each Provided with a particular firman, go from place to place. (Sic)” (8.15) This is similar to the Jannisaries in place by the Ch’ing Dynasty, which were also Christians (Upshur, 438). Both of the empires encouraged…show more content…
The Ottomans resulted in patricide and killing other male heirs to ensure a favorable line of succession. Sultan Suleiman had his favorite son killed placing Selim II in charge. In contrast, the Ch’ing Dynasty had no wars of succession. Each ruler of both empires ruled by their own version of “Divine Right”. As mentioned previously, the balance of power tilted to the merchant classes in both empires. Sadly though, the Ch’ing Empire did not adjust for population expansion. In the early empire days there were about 150 million to 200 million, but towards of the dynasty there were about 450 million people. This led to several famines. There also was not very much of an increase in the government posts, with the population expanding, there were less government positions governing more citizens which led to many

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