Rebellious Alliances: The State and Peasant Unrest in Early Seventeenth-Century France and the Ottoman Empire

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Abstract
The crucial determinant of large-scale, sustained peasant rebellions is the ability of peasants to find allies among other societal groups. Two agrarian societies, France and the Ottoman empire, confronted similar socioeconomic problems in the seventeenth-century. During the seventeenth century, numerous and serious peasant revolts occurred in France, where the provincial social structure fostered unity among classes. In addition state policy in France was geared toward long-term control of the periphery. This antagonized nearly every provincial group and made it possible for peasants to ally with an equally disgruntled nobility to successfully stage rebellious movements. In the Ottoman Empire, the provincial structure promoted disunity, and state policy was short-term and created competition within provincial classes. The peasants there could not find allies and therefore did not engage in collective action.

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