Decline of the Muslim Empires: Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal

Since the beginning, all empires have faced change in many ways, declining and rising in status. Many empires have collapsed, only to start again under a different name. Like all empires, the three Muslim Empires, the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals have faced this inevitable state. Although each individual empire is different, they each have similarities in their reasons for decline. Whether it is social, religious, economic, or political reasons, the empires, like many others, have fallen.

The Ottoman Empire, founded by Osman had started in the northwestern corner of the Anatolian Peninsula. The empire expanded rapidly, only to weaken again. The first visible decline was the loss of territory at the Battle of Carlowitz in 1699. Many of their reasons of success have deteriorated over the years and actually caused the decline as well. The Ottoman’s military was very strong, especially the members of the Janissaries corps. Boys were recruited from the local Christian population to serve as guards but only the best ones became Janissaries. “Janissaries were usually sent to work for two or three years without pay as agricultural laborers f

or Moslem provincial officials, and learnt Turkish and the faith of Islam, and strengthened their bodies for military purposes.” Soon, though, the position became hereditary, so there was no longer a need to be excellent to occupy a position. Also, the training of officials declined, and the elite formed a privileged group seeking wealth and power.

Although all three of the empires had reached their highest point and were considered to be three great Muslim empires, all of them had started the process of decline. Aurangzeb’s actions can illustrate some of the reasons for decline. Without religious tolerance, the empire started having a number of revolts against the imperial authority. By forbidding customs of other religions and everything he considered evil, rebellious groups reasserted local authority, reducing the emperor’s power. After causing the weakness of his empire, Delhi was reduced to ashes by the Persians. During and after his rule, everything started to fall apart. This comes to show that one lousy ruler can be the reason for decline in any empire because in order for the empire to be successful, it must have a good ruler, wealth, a strong military and religious tolerance.

Delhi was sacked by the Persians in 1739 and the many actions of the British also hastened the decline, especially that of the economy. The British take over took money from the hands of local Indian landowners and gave it to the East India Company officials, hastened the destruction of healthy local industries, and confiscated the land of many peasants, killing one-third of the population in areas under British control.

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Some topics in this essay:
Battle Carlowitz, India Company, Alarmed Ottomans, Nur Jahan’s, Akbar Mughal, Shah Abbas’s, Jahan Jahan, Safavids Mughals, Safavid Mughal, Anatolian Peninsula, religious tolerance, muslim empires, ottoman empire, reasons decline, shah abbas’s, decline empire, trade manufacturing, succeeded throne,