The Portugese-Ottoman war is really underrated

For how important the conflict was, it is barely, if ever talked about by the online history community. For context, previous Portugese activity in the Indian ocean not only weakened the Mamluks so much that the Ottomans were able to conquer Egypt (Portugese-Mamluk war 1505-1517), but also sealed the final nail in the coffin for the Venetian Republic and their relevance.

The war itself secured the Portugese position as the dominant power in the Indian ocean, putting the overseas spice trade firmly in European hands. And while the war wasn't too big of a deal for the Ottomans, they held up pretty well and even reached their peak after losing it , it was most definitely a huge deal for Europe.

Now that I've explained the historical importance of it, I will now also go into the hype moments and aura of the war. The First (1538) and Second (1546) sieges of Diu were insane, the second one is way more impressive to me because for God's sake... 400 defenders holding their own against 10-20 thousand Ottoman-Gujarati attackers. The Ethiopian expedition feels like something out of a movie, singlehandedly reviving a severely weakened Christian kingdom in Africa. I can go on, it's a really cool and interesting conflict and the events I mentioned aren't even all the cool ones. Definitely do look into it if you haven't yet.

And of top of that... it's the 16th century, it's plate armour and guns!! It's awesome!!!

The late Ming weren't doomed

Every time the late Ming period is discussed online, people like to pretend that the Ming simply *had* to go. The Shun and Xi were inevitable, the Manchus unstoppable, they didn't stand a chance. Some people even go as far as to say that only the Qing could stabilize China long-term. Today I will be refuting these points to the fullest.

If you are reading this I assume you already know the basics of the late Ming and Ming-Qing periods, but to those who don't here is a quick overview:

• 1616-1626 The reign of Nurhaci in later Jin
• 1620s Liaodong campaign
• 1630s Qing proclaimed
• 1630s-1644 Peasant revolts + mutinies in the Ming
• 1644 Shun seizure of Beijing, Ming elites defections
• 1644-1662 Southern Ming period

Keep in mind, Southern Ming is beyond the scope of the article, hence why it is simplified. Okay so, when one reads about the events throughout the 1620s-40s without going into much detail, the fall of the Ming seems like an unavoidable unravelling of a deeply rotten state. This however, isnt the case. Sure, the Ming were under great pressure when it came to the climate, economy, foreign and domestic threats etc. But none of these things meant certain collapse (at least not as quickly as OTL)

The Manchus were probably the most imminent threat the Ming faced, that being an organized, rapidly centralizing and militarily competent state on their border. Many Ming generals recognized this, perticularly Xiong Tingbi, a general in charge of the defense of Liaodong. He recognized the fact that the dynasty simply did not have the capacity for offensive operations anymore, so his plan for Liaodong relied mostly on defense in depth and enhancing fortifications. And it WORKED! How did the Dynasty repay him for it?

By threatening him until he resigned and giving his job to an incopetent idiot (Yang Sichang), of course. Yang was more concerned about internal rebellion than defending the single most important frontier province of the empire. To be fair, Yang wasnt too stupid for this, the rebels were a threat, he just severely underestimated how quickly everything else would fall apart. Once Liaodong fell to the Manchus Xiong was given back command, but was later executed in 1625.

After this things never really got better, the rebels kept gaining groud until 1644 when the Shun, under Li Zicheng took Beijing and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide, signaling the end of the Ming dynasty as a coherent entity. Now, COULD this have gone better? Yes, absolutely. Had the Ming never took their focus off Liaodong, encouraged local militias (who were very effective btw) they could have, in theory defeated the Jin and stabilized for just long enough for economic reform to be done.

Otherwise the Shun wouldve likely taken over as the new dynasty in the north, with the Xi doing the same in the south, eventually the Shun would most likely unify China. Would this result in a weak China? Only for a bit, steppe expansion was the natural route of any Chinese state at the time, so they probably would have done it after consolidating power and reforming the military. Though that is a topic for another day, this is already way too long for what I had planned... Im writing this at 5 AM so mistakes can exist, Ill work on fixing those some other time.