Gunpowder Empires Dbq

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improved their power.

What led to the decline of all these great empires, was their absolute monarchs which denied their many citizens basic human rights. Document 5 is written by Dr. Francois Bernier, a French traveler and foreign employee of the Mughal emperor from 1656 to 1668. Bernier writes that grants were given to governors for their salary and also for the support of their troops, on condition that they pay a certain sum annually to the king. He write “The person in possession of the land, whether soldiers, governors, or farmers, have an authority almost absolute over the peasantry, and nearly as much over the artisans and merchants of the towns and villages within their district; and nothing can be imagined more cruel and oppressive than the manner in which it is exercised.” Demonstrating the misuse of power given to governors. Bernier continues and writes about how the peasants began to ask themselves whether they should continue to work for these men, who could come at any time and take everything they had. Bernier may have dramatized the Ottoman rulers oppressive demeanor in order to emphasize how good he thought King Louis XIV was, and to make his monarch appear better.

An additional document that would have bolstered determine the strengths and weaknesses of the Gunpowder Empires would be a document demonstrating the wealth and power of the Ottoman emperor. The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires were controlled by absolute rulers who gave their citizens few rights; however, they did create strong bureaucracies and prosperous empires that affected the development of the governments that followed them.