Suleyman and Shah Abbas

For the snow day assignment, we had to compare Suleyman the Magnificient of the Ottoman Empire and Shah Abbas of the Sufavid Empire based on what we learned in the Youtube clips. In class on Thursday, we took an even closer look at Suleyman and Shah Abbas and were able to compare and contrast them even more. I thought it was interesting that two empires who were battling each other for centuries could have two rulers that were so similar. One of the biggest similarities that we learned about in class is that they were both warrior kings. When both rulers died, their respected empires became a little more eroded because they were great at keeping their empires together.

For me, I like learning about Shah Abbas more than Suleyman the Magnificient because I think his rule over the empire is more interesting. One fact that I found the most interesting about Shah Abbas is that he started his own army called the Qullar. The Qullar was a slave army made of Christians from Georgia and Armenia, and he payed them out of his own pocket. In order to be able to pay them, he created imperial lands in the interior of the country, which brought more area under direct rule. The Qullar is an idea similar to the janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. The janissaries were made up of young people who were originally Christians (like the Qullar), but they were converted to Islam. Shah Abbas was smart in paying the Qullar with his own money because by doing so, the Qullar had to remain completely loyal to him in order to get payed. I think that if the ruler of the Ottoman Empire thought to do this, then the Sultan and the janissaries would have gotten along more peacefully. Although the Sufavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire were different from each other, they both had rulers that had a lasting effect on the well-being of the empire.