Ottoman and Safavid Empires - Essay Example

Powerbase The solid powerbase is an important factor that legitimized the rule of the Ottoman and Safavid empires. They owed much of their power to the empire created by the Mongols previously as well as the political institutions that allowed for the achievement of the "military patronage state" wherein government functioned like a great military family that serve as protector of the country and its culture. The Ottoman Empire is the greater beneficiary of these Mongol legacies. Nonetheless, what can be seen here is that the prevailing political environment was already stable, systematic and influential.

All it took was strong leadership to take advantage of all the policy network available as well as the existence of an effective bureaucracy that has been established long before. This last factor is particularly helpful in the case of weak Sultan who is incapable of protecting his subjects by himself. The bureaucracy assumed great powers and centralized authority that a weak leader could rule just effectively, taking authority and power from the many branches of his government (Karpat 2002, 400) Holy Mandate Another important legitimizing force for the powerbase of the Ottoman and the Safavid empires was religion - the Islamic values and laws. . The Safavids also benefited from religion in this manner.

In fact, Islam is their primary claim to authority. The primary authority of the Safavid rulers was based on the claim that the they were descendants of the seventh imam, and therefore were quasi-divine persons (Lapidus 2002, 445). Unlike the Ottomans, who benefitted in combining religious and secular approach in governance, the Safavids went as far as establishing a religious establishment that eventually used to eliminate opposition to the government and the ruler. For this purpose, Shah Ismail founded Shi'ism built up the ranks of the Shi'i ulama, which ruthlessly suppressed rivals of the state and the religious order.

Shah Ismail successfully made his subjects think that he and his heirs, being descendants, of the Seventh Imam, Muza al-Kazim, were his reincarnations on earth (The Empire of the Heartlands reference 64). This cemented the authority of the Shah, becoming the head both of the state and of religion, being the Twelfth Imam, in the flesh. In addition, the Safavid rulers also carefully cultivated historic images of previous glorious Persian past such as manuscript illuminations, architecture, and court literature of Iranian kings of kings (Khoury and Kostiner 1990, 36).

This recall of past glory and Persian forms of monarchy strengthened the religious authority of the Safavid leaders so that they were able to consolidate power and maintain it without significant opposition from the people. In the 13th century, for example, the leadership encouraged the theory that the Safavid founder Husain married the daughter of Yazdigird III, the last Sassanian king, effectively linking the house of Ali to the Iranian monarchical tradition (Empires of the Heartland reference, 47).

The Ottomans also organized