Empires: BELIEF SYSTEMS [AP World History Review—Unit 3 Topic 3]
Summary
TLDRThis script explores the impact of belief systems on empires, focusing on Christianity and Islam during 1450-1750. It discusses the Protestant Reformation, triggered by Martin Luther's 95 theses, and the Catholic Church's response, the Counter-Reformation. It also covers the Sunni-Shia split's influence on the Ottoman and Safavid empires and the emergence of new belief systems in South Asia, like Bhakti and Sikhism, which blended elements of Islam and Hinduism.
Takeaways
- 🌐 Belief systems can significantly impact the stability and expansion of empires.
- 🏰 Christianity has been the dominant belief system in Europe since the 4th century, acting as a cultural glue among Europeans.
- ⛪️ The 11th-century split in Christianity led to the formation of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
- 💸 The Catholic Church's sale of indulgences and other corrupt practices led to a crisis of confidence among the people.
- 📜 Martin Luther's 95 Theses criticized these corrupt practices and sparked the Protestant Reformation.
- 🔄 The Protestant Reformation was significantly aided by the invention of the printing press, which spread Luther's writings widely.
- 🕍 The Catholic Church responded with its own reforms known as the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation.
- 🔗 The religious division in Christianity intensified political divisions, leading to a series of religious wars in Europe.
- 🕋 In the Middle East, the Ottoman and Safavid Empires represented the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam, respectively, and were in conflict.
- 🕉 In South Asia, the Bhakti movement and the rise of Sikhism attempted to bridge the gap between Islam and Hinduism.
- 🌟 Sikhism emerged as a new belief system that blended elements of both Islam and Hinduism, discarding practices like the caste system.
Q & A
What was the role of belief systems in the expansion and maintenance of land-based empires from 1450 to 1750?
-Belief systems, or religions, both supported and challenged imperial power during the expansion and maintenance of land-based empires from 1450 to 1750. They served as a shared cultural glue among people and could either hold empires together or break them apart.
When did Christianity become the dominant belief system in Europe?
-Christianity became the dominant belief system in Europe since the 4th century.
What caused the major split in the Christian church in the 11th century?
-The major split in the Christian church in the 11th century was caused by disagreements over doctrines, which led to the creation of two branches: the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
What was the significance of the sale of indulgences in the Catholic Church around 1500?
-The sale of indulgences was significant because it allowed people to purchase slips of paper promising the forgiveness of sins or reduced time in purgatory. This practice, along with other corrupt practices, led to a decline in people's confidence in the church.
Who was Martin Luther and what did he become famous for?
-Martin Luther was a Catholic monk who became famous for his criticism of the corrupt practices and doctrines in the Catholic Church. He wrote a series of complaints known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the church door in Wittenberg.
How did the printing press contribute to the Protestant Reformation?
-The printing press enabled Luther's writings, including his 95 Theses, to spread quickly throughout Europe, which helped to create a significant stir and contributed to the Protestant Reformation.
What was the Catholic Church's response to the Protestant Reformation known as?
-The Catholic Church's response to the Protestant Reformation was known as the Catholic Reformation or the Counter-Reformation. It involved a series of meetings called the Council of Trent, where they addressed some corrupt practices and reaffirmed their ancient doctrines.
How did the religious division between Catholics and Protestants affect state power in Europe?
-The religious division between Catholics and Protestants often intensified political division, leading to a series of religious wars in Europe until 1648.
What was the main difference between the Shia and Sunni branches of Islam?
-The main difference between Shia and Sunni branches of Islam is their belief about the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad. Shia Muslims believe it had to be a blood relative, while Sunni Muslims believe it could be anyone who was spiritually qualified.
How did the political rivalry between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires affect the Shia-Sunni split?
-The political rivalry between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires intensified the Shia-Sunni split because both empires wanted to claim territory for their own, with the Ottomans being Sunni and the Safavids being Shia.
What were the two belief systems that emerged in South Asia to bridge the gap between Islam and Hinduism?
-The two belief systems that emerged in South Asia to bridge the gap between Islam and Hinduism were the Bhakti movement and Sikhism. The Bhakti movement emphasized mystical experience in Hinduism, while Sikhism blended elements of both Islam and Hinduism.
What were some of the key differences between Sikhism and traditional Hinduism?
-Sikhism discarded some distinctions found in traditional Hinduism, such as the caste system and gender hierarchies, while maintaining significant doctrines of both belief systems, like a belief in one God and the cycle of death and reincarnation.
Outlines
🏰 The Impact of Christianity on European Empires
This paragraph discusses the role of belief systems, particularly Christianity, in shaping the political landscape of European empires. It highlights how Christianity, as the dominant belief system since the 4th century, acted as a cultural unifier. The script then delves into the 11th-century schism that resulted in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Protestant Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther's 95 theses, is explored as a pivotal moment that challenged the Church's corrupt practices, leading to a significant split. The paragraph also touches on the Catholic Reformation, which was the Church's response to the Protestant movement, reaffirming traditional doctrines and further solidifying the division between Catholics and Protestants. The impact of these religious shifts on state power and the subsequent religious wars in Europe are also mentioned.
🕌 The Dynamics of Islam and the Emergence of New Belief Systems in South Asia
The second paragraph focuses on the Islamic empires in the Middle East, specifically the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, and the religious division between Shia and Sunni Muslims. It explains how political rivalries intensified religious differences. The paragraph then shifts to South Asia, discussing the emergence of new belief systems that attempted to reconcile Islam and Hinduism. The Bhakti movement, with its emphasis on mystical union, is highlighted for its similarities with Sufi Islam. The rise of Sikhism is also discussed as a new belief system that blended elements of both religions, maintaining key doctrines while discarding social distinctions like the caste system and gender hierarchies. The paragraph concludes with a prompt for viewers to access additional study materials for their exams.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Belief systems
💡Christianity
💡Golden Age
💡Protestant Reformation
💡Catholic Reformation
💡Indulgences
💡Simony
💡Ottoman Empire
💡Safavid Empire
💡Bhakti movement
💡Sikhism
Highlights
Belief systems can significantly impact the stability or fragmentation of empires.
Christianity became the dominant belief system in Europe since the 4th century.
The 11th-century split in Christianity led to the formation of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church's power in Europe was challenged by the sale of indulgences and other corrupt practices.
Martin Luther's 95 theses criticized the Church's corrupt practices and sparked the Protestant Reformation.
The invention of the printing press allowed Luther's ideas to spread rapidly across Europe.
The Catholic Church initiated the Catholic Reformation in response to Protestant critiques.
The Council of Trent addressed corruption but also reaffirmed traditional Catholic doctrines.
Religious divisions in Christianity led to political and military conflicts in Europe until 1648.
The Ottoman and Safavid Empires represented the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam, respectively.
The political rivalry between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires intensified the Shia-Sunni split.
The Bhakti movement in South Asia represented a blending of Hinduism with elements of Sufism in Islam.
Sikhism emerged as a new belief system that blended elements of Islam and Hinduism.
Sikhism challenged traditional social structures like the caste system and gender hierarchies.
The presenter offers an AP World History review guide for students preparing for exams.
The presenter humorously refers to the importance of the religious and political landscape of the time.
Transcripts
belief systems they can hold empires
together or they can break Empires up
faster than a professional eater can
pound a hot dog so I reckon we ought to
talk about Christianity Islam and some
other religious blending that occur
during the Golden Age of the land-based
Empire and so if you're ready to get
them brain cows milked let's get to it
so recall from the last couple of videos
that we've been considering how
land-based Empires expanded and
maintained power from 1450 to 1750
expanding militaries played a big role
as did expanding bureaucracies but here
we'll consider how belief systems or
religions both supported Imperial power
and challenged it so first let's visit
our friends in Europe and talk about
their dominant religion namely
Christianity now Christianity have been
the dominant belief system in Europe
since the 4th century and it was present
even before that time and as such it
became a kind of shared cultural glue
among most Europeans and even though
Europe wasn't much more significant than
a hill of bean since this course started
the church was present and active in
most States before I tell you what
changed let me just mention that if you
need help getting an A in your class and
a five on your exam in May the get that
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okay now in the 11th century a bunch of
the big wig church leaders got to
fighting over doctrines and a massive
split occurred creating two different
branches of Christianity on one side you
had the Eastern Orthodox Church which
remained dominant in the East and on the
other side you had the Roman Catholic
Church which remained dominant in the
west it was dirty as only religious
disputes can be but thankfully it was
the last time a major split occurred in
the Christian church oh I'm getting wor
that there was in fact another dirty
split in the church and wouldn't you
know it had occurred during our time
period and to understand this split you
need to know a little bit about what the
Catholic church was up to during that
time so by 1500 the Catholic Church
wielded enormous power in Europe even
though this is about the time when more
powerful monarchs will begin challenging
that power even so the church was filthy
rich and got busy building magnificent
structures like St Peter's Basilica in
Rome to put that wealth and power on
display but as you may or may not know
basilicas do not pay for themselves and
so in order to fund all these building
projects the church began the sale of
indulgences and essentially that meant
that people could purchase these little
slips of paper which promised the
Forgiveness of sins or got your dead
uncle Cletus a shorter time in purgatory
and then add that to several other
Corrupt Practices going on things like
simony which was the practice of putting
High Church positions up for sale and
the people's confidence in the church
was uh waning and that's when our boy
Martin Luther enters the stage he
himself was a Catholic monk who spent
his days you know monking and studying
the Bible and that's when Luther became
very troubl he saw nothing in the Bible
that said that sins could be forgiven in
exchange for money and he saw nothing in
the Bible that said Church offices could
be bought so Luther wrote a series of
complaints known as the 95 thesis
denouncing many of the Corrupt Practices
and doctrines he witnessed in the church
and he went ahead and nailed them to the
church dor in vitberg and not
surprisingly the church branded Luther a
heretic and excommunicated him but
here's the thing Luther wasn't the first
reformer to criticize the doctrines and
practices of the church but for some
reason it was Luther's work that split
the church once again in a process known
as the Protestant Reformation so why did
Luther's work create such a big stir
while previous reformers complaints did
not well Luther adds something that
those other reformers didn't namely the
printing press which enabled Luther's
voluminous writings to spread throughout
Europe quick fast and in a hurry now
credit where credit is due eventually
the Catholic Church came around and
realized that you maybe some of the
Protestant critiques might be yeah true
so they went ahead and initiated a
Reformation of their own that became
known as the Catholic Reformation or you
might hear it called The Counter
Reformation it's the same thing don't
get confused anyway the church gathered
at a series of meetings known as the
Council of Trent and tossed out many of
the Corrupt Practices that I mentioned
earlier so that represented a good bit
of change but there was also continuity
as well at the council of Trent the
Catholics reaffirmed their ancient
doctrines of salvation by faith and
works the nature of biblical Authority
and a host of other ideas that made the
split between the Catholics and the
Protestants complete and just for
funsies they went ahead and reaffirmed
that Martin Luther was a heretical tur
and so this split in the church had
massive effects on state power
throughout Europe various rulers across
Europe either remained Catholic or
imposed protestantism on the people that
they ruled this religious division which
often also intensified political
division led to a series of religious
wars in Europe until 1648 okay now let's
turn the corner and consider what was
happening with Islam in the Middle East
now remember that the Big Daddy Islamic
empires in this area were the Ottoman
Empire here and the savit Empire here
and if you thought they looked at each
other and we're like are you guys Muslim
yeah how about you actually we are well
then let's hug it out then you would be
wrong now just like in Christianity
Islam experienced a significant split
back in the 7th century and basically
their beef was over who was the rightful
successor to the prophet Muhammad sheia
Muslims believe that the only legitimate
successor had to be a blood relative of
Muhammad while Sunni Muslims believed
that it could be anyone who was
spiritually qualified for the role
anyway that religious division was on
full display in the safavid and Ottoman
Empire the safavids were Shia while the
Ottomans were Sunni and they
emphatically did not hug it out instead
both Empires wanted to beat back the
other and claim territory for their own
and ultimately the Ottomans got the
upper hand in this conflict but here's
the important point to remember it was
because of their political rivalry that
the split between the Shia and the Sunni
branches of Islam intensified okay now
let's talk about the development of new
belief systems over in South Asia now
remember that basically since the
beginning of this course Muslims held
power over this region and that
Arrangement was a little stanky to to
the huge majority of Hindus that made up
the population but in our time period
two belief systems emerged that tried to
bridge the gap between Islam and
Hinduism first was the bakti movement
which originated in the 7th century and
recall that it was an innovation on
Hinduism that emphasized mystical
experience in Union with one of
hinduism's many gods however during this
period because the bakis shared many
similar beliefs and practices with the
mystical movement in Islam namely Sufism
some exchange and blending occurred
second was the rise of sism which was a
new belief system that also Blended
elements of Islam and Hinduism now seism
demonstrated uity because it held on to
significant doctrines of both belief
systems like a belief in one God and the
cycle of death and reincarnation but it
also demonstrated change because as this
new Faith developed many distinctions
were discarded like the cast system and
gender hierarchies Okay click here to
keep reviewing for unit 3 and click here
to grab my AP World hler review guide
which has everything you need to get an
A in your class and a five on your exam
in May thanks for hanging out with me
and I'll catch you on the flipflop I'm
lout
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