Harry Webster
Mrs. LaRocca
Global History 1
23 January 2014
The Ottoman and Mughal empires essay question
The best way to govern a diverse empire is to allow religious toleration so that the citizens do not feel as pressured to partake in the everyday life as a citizen of that empire. Suleyman, a great empire of the Ottoman era led the Ottomans into their golden age. One major factor was because he was tolerant to Christians and Jews, two major religions of that time period. Since this empire was religious tolerant, Jews and Christians wouldn’t even mind joining the empire. Once an empire has people who want to be a part of that empire, government will go smoothly. Akbar, a famous leader from the Mughal Empire also led religious toleration. For this he was able to create fair legal and tax codes. This plan seemed to work because he brought the Mughals into their golden age which lasted until his reign was over. However, if a leader is religious intolerant like Aurangzeb, the empire will fail. Since Aurangzeb governed with religious intolerance, a religious war broke out which was a major cause for the decline of the Mughals.
In addition to having religious tolerance, another great way to govern a diverse empire is to hold a bureaucracy. The Ottomans led a bureaucracy which at first may not sound good, but turned out to be a great thing. Christian boys captured from other armies were taken in by the Ottomans. They were highly trained to become an elite group of army men called the Janissaries. The Janissaries were so good that some non-Christians pretended to be Christian just to be a Janissary. In addition to this, Christian boys were also captured for a different reason. This was to train them education wise and have them be great government officials. This would be known as the devshirme system. Lastly, Akbar of the Mughals also had a bureaucracy. In this time the Mughal Empire was in a golden age. The bureaucracy seemed to go well since no one tried...