Safavids and Ottoman empire - Essay Example

Being born in a more peaceful religious background the ideologies the Safavid Empire were more religion centric and less militarist in nature than the Ottoman Empire that was initially a response to the crumbling Seljuk Sultanate trough the conquering of the Byzantine territories at the northwest of Anatolia. Therefore being positioned at the frontline of the Christianity vs. Islam conflict the Ottomans empire-builders had to restructure their political system as capable of defending the Empire from any outside invaders as well as sturdy enough to lead any quick and effective offense into the heart of Eastern Europe.

Military power was the most important and common component of both of the Safavid and the Ottoman Empire. The policies as well as the ideologies of these had been greatly shaped by the militarism of those empire-builders. Indeed the militarisms of these empires were fervently supported by the ideologies and policies that they adopted. Indeed the moral strengths and the popular support were achieved mainly by managing the commoners’ religiosity but in two different ways. . Apart from the support of the mass population, the imams or religious leaders had a large group of followers known as Qizilbas who later serves as the muscle power.

When the Ottomans used a regular army from the very beginning of the Empire, the Safavids initially were the disciples of the twelve Imams. Referring to the Shiite Imam’s use of religion to legitimatize their position in power, Robinson says, “During the 15th Century the order was transformed into a revolutionary movement….acquired political importance as the Safavid Sheiks commanded their disciples to fight for these beliefs ” (52). The Ottomans primarily focused on the capturing the European cities and thus annexing them to the Empire.

They grew a culture in which people of all religions, Islam, Christianity, and Jews, could live peacefully. Capturing the cities that were formerly under the control of Christian rulers and leaving them under the existing Christian troops as vassals were a common practice in the Ottoman Empire. This strategy, indeed, helped the Ottoman rulers to save energy to pay their attention to conquer more cities and countries in the Eastern European. Also it inspired to the Christian troops as well as commoners either to be converted to Islam or to participate in the Ottoman army spontaneously.

Indeed the Empire was benefited from the inclusion of the Christian troops into the army, because those Christian and the converted troops enhanced the army’s capability to fight in the unfamiliar east European Environment. But in the early16th century, when the Ottoman rulers focused their attention on brining entire state under the control of a unified army, the primary condition for one to participate in the army