o Overview
-> Bureaucratic and military service
-> Taxation and imperial capacity
-> Central authority and local elites
o Bureaucratic and military service
-> Qing rulers retained Confucian exams and scholar-officials.
-> Exams recruited educated men; wealthy elites dominated office.
-> Ottoman devshirme coerced Christian boys into state service.
-> Converts could become Janissaries or senior administrators.
-> Janissaries formed salaried professional infantry.
-> Janissary recruitment later widened beyond devshirme.
o Taxation and imperial capacity
-> Ottoman tax farmers bid for rights to collect revenue.
-> Tax farming raised cash but encouraged taxpayer exploitation.
-> Mughal zamindars collected land revenue from peasants.
-> Akbar's surveys helped assess land taxes.
-> Revenue financed armies, officials, and further expansion.
-> Local bargaining constrained what rulers could extract.
o Central authority and local elites
-> Mughal mansabdars held ranks and supplied cavalry.
-> Rank and revenue assignments tied nobles to the emperor.
-> Qing gentry mediated disputes and helped local officials.
-> Officials depended on local knowledge and elite cooperation.
-> Such ties extended state power but limited direct control.
o Overview
-> Religion and imperial legitimacy
-> Art and monumental architecture
-> Limits on central power
o Religion and imperial legitimacy
-> Ottoman sultans used Sunni Islam to support their authority.
-> Safavids promoted Twelver Shi'a Islam as a state religion.
-> Qing emperors invoked Heaven's mandate and Confucian duties.
-> France's Louis XIV claimed divine right to rule.
-> Akbar built Mughal loyalty through Hindu elite alliances.
-> Religious claims did not require identical policies.
o Art and monumental architecture
-> Versailles displayed royal grandeur and drew nobles to court.
-> Court patronage tied French nobles to Louis XIV's favor.
-> Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal displayed Mughal wealth and piety.
-> Qing portraits depicted ritual and military authority.
-> Ottoman mosque complexes linked piety with public charity.
-> Monumental building displayed command of labor and revenue.
o Limits on central power
-> Janissaries gained interests that could challenge sultans.
-> Mughal zamindars bargained over revenue and resisted demands.
-> Heavy taxes could fund rule but also provoke resistance.
-> Aztec tribute lists recorded subject towns' obligations.
-> Before 1521, tribute sustained Aztec nobles and armies.