There are many instances in which what is expected does not portray what the reality is. Idealism of what the world should and how it should act is so often the exact opposite of how the world truly is. This clash is often seen in history between the expectations of the rulers and the actions of the subjects. A few great examples would be when Spain thought that its colonies would adhere to their rules because they were part of Spain, when China thought Britain would stop the trade war because they appealed to the morality of Britain, , and when the Ottoman empire tried to keep the diminishing empire together by making all equal only to realize that nationalism would always triumph over unity.

One of the greatest examples that showed the discrepancies between ideal versus reality is seen in the Spanish empire which started in the 16th century and wore on into the 17th century and spanned most of South America. After Spain had reconquered the Iberian peninsula (which included Portugal and Spain), its rulers Ferdinand and Isabella sponsored Chistopher Columbus on his voyages to find a new route to Asia for the sake of trade. When Columbus had landed in the Bahamas, he came in contact with the Taino people and informed Spain that the indigenous people would make good subjects and good Christians. It is important to note that right after Columbus had gone on his voyage, Pope Alexander VI had granted the Spanish monarchies power to rule the New World. This was significant because the Pope was seen as a very powerful figure in Europe at that time. As a result of this claim, the monarchs issued the Requieremiento. This document was one that was to be read in the Spanish language to the indigenous people and demanded complete submission to the Spaniards. Ideally, the indigenous people would see the generosity of the Spanish and would submit to them willingly because the terms and conditions were very fair as seen here, "...Requiremiento presents the listener with two alternatives. One is to submit. If they do, the Spanish will receive them with 'love and charity.' The promise is made that the people will not be reduced to a condition of servitude...If the people do not submit, the Spanish will make war and 'subject you to the yoke and obedience to the Church and of their Highnesses...'" The Spanish had given the indigenous people a fair choice: they could either submit to them and get benefits, or they could refuse and be enslaved. To submit seemed like a win-win situation, yet the reality was, the indigenous people didn't understand the language in which the Requiremiento was spoken and therefore did not have a fair choice. When the Spaniards saw the uncooperative indigenous people, they thought it appropriate to conquer and subjugate them to slavery. Meanwhile, the rulers of Spain watched and allowed the conquistadors to do as they wished to the indigenous people groups because after all, they (the monarchs) had warned the indigenous people of the consequences. However, in Spain, people started to question if the brutal treatment of the indigenous people was moral. Eventually, the exploitment became so terrible that the priests started to complain. This in turn compelled the monarchs to recognize that the Requiremiento was not a document based on reality but an ideal. In order to adjust their views, the rulers passed the New Laws which gave indigenous people more rights by not allowing new encomiendas to form and prohibiting enslavement of indigenous populations. Although this was the rule passed by Spain, the monarchs' expectations of the obedience of the Spanish people in the New World was still very much idealistic as seen in the letter between Luis De Velasco, a Spanish-born man tasked with implementing the New Laws from 1542, and Charles V, the ruler of Spain. The letter was named, "The Spanish Commonwealth Will Be Gravely Risked" and it went on to explain the many difficulties Valasco was having as he tried to implement the laws. One of the challenges he faced was when the Spaniards refused to carry out orders by sending them to the Audiencia which then did not get anything done. Despite the reality, the rulers of Spain still expected people in the New World to obey them but soon, they had no choice but to accept the reality that they had no control over what happens in the New World as seen when the people living there started to rebel against them. Spain's expectations of the colonies versus the reality of the situation forced Spanish monarchs to change their views and policies. Similar to Spain's response, another empire that was forced to change its views to become more reality based was China.

It is difficult to know when the Chinese empire started but a good guess would be from the 1300s to the 1900s. Between the years 1402-1424, the Emperor Youngle ruled the empire and funded many voyages, putting his loyal servant Zheng He in charge. In the document "'Zheng He, Who Had Been Sent To The Various Countries of The Western Ocean, Returned.' Ming Veritable Records, 1405-1431,"the Chinese people are shown to be benevolent which is evident here, "However, when they reached Sri Lanka, Ya-lie Ku-nai-er was insulting and disrespectful. He wished to harm He, but He came to know of this and left." Although He knew about the treacherous plans of Ya-lie Ku-nai-er, instead of fighting back as would be the norm, he instead chose to leave. Zheng He is portrayed to be a peaceful diplomat who served the emperor and only wanted to trade. The emperor saw himself as someone who helped other countries by punishing bandits that harmed the land. Because he saw himself that way, he thought that any country he came in contact with would want to maintain peace with China and willingly pay tribute because of all the good China had done. Yet reality says differently, countries like Sri Lanka rebelled not because they were violent, but because they didn't want to be under the Chinese government. While the Chinese saw themselves as doing good for the countries around them, the reality was they were exploiting people. Because of the many benefits of the voyages, it would have been ideal if the voyages could have continued, however, because of many factors such as military threats in the north and the expenses that went into the voyages, they were forced to stop. Above was an example of when China's reality versus ideal clashed, but this wasn't the only time. In the year 1793, the emperor Qianlong brutally rejected the offer to trade with King George III and because of the rude answer given, Britain responded by introducing a highly addictive drug known as opium to the Chinese people. At first, not much attention was given to the opium trade, but later, when it became a huge problem, Commissioner Lin Ze Xu tried to stop the deadly trade. Writing a letter to Queen Victoria in the year 1839, Lin Ze Xu hoped to convince the British crown to stop their traders from smuggling opium. Thinking they might stop if he reminded them of their morality, he wrote, "...naturally you would not wish to give unto others what you yourself do not want." Lin Ze Xu expected the British crown to be moved by the Christian philosophy of treating others as they would want to be treated. He reasoned surely Queen Victoria would not want others to hurt her people and since she wouldn't want others to hurt her people, she ought not to hurt people from other countries. Yet in reality, the trade was very profitable and Britain instead had a fierce response by preparing a navy. When China realized Britain could not be trusted to act on their morals, they had no choice but to go to war which eventually led them to sign the Nanjing Treaties which were very unfair. Reality can be harsh at times and because China was too idealistic, they were not ready for the war Britain waged on them. China was weakened by the idealism that Britain would act on their morality and this led to their fall. Unfortunately, they were not the only ones where idealism led to destruction as the Ottoman Empire had a very similar experience.

The Ottoman Empire was founded in the 1300s and started to decline in the 1700s. Although they had at first been expanding due to their advanced technology, by the time the 18th century rolled around, the empire was in steep decline for a variety of reasons as they continued to lose land. Some reasons include Napoleon's march on Egypt which destabilized the region, the rise of nationalistic movement weakened the centralization of the empire, the Ottomans had an outdated army which made them unable to fight invading armies, and they had too much debt they owed to Europe. In an effort to salvage the last of the empire, the Ottoman monarch launched a series of reforms known as the Tanzimat. Mustafa Resid Pasha, a foreign ambassador to England and France, wrote the Rescript of Gulhane as a testament of this new era of reforms. Having acknowledged the poor state of the Ottoman empire, he deemed it necessary to reform specific institutions and their use as noted here, "These institutions must be principally carried out under three heads, which are:1. The guarantees insuring to our subjects perfect security for life, honor, and fortune. 2. A regular system of assessing and levying taxes. 3. An equally regular system for the levying of troops and the duration of their service." One of the practical reforms made was the abolishment of dhimmi which was a tax granted to specific people. This was important because it showed that the emperor tried to unite people so they would be easier to rule as seen here, ""Every distinction or designation tending to make any class whatever of the subjects of my Empire inferior to another class, on account of their religion, language or race shall be forever effaced.... No subject of my Empire shall be hindered in the exercise of the religion that he professes.... All the subjects of my Empire, without distinction of nationality, shall be admissible to public employment." The Ottoman emperor probably thought that by making people equal, he could stop the empire from diminishing even more. Yet it was evident his ideals were not reality because despite his efforts to keep the empire together, young Turks eventually became strong nationalists. Except for encouraging nationalism, these young Turks also pushed for other ideas and reforms such as secularization of society and family life, giving more women's rights, and providing education for all. Despite the good these young Turks inspired, eventually Turkish nationalism became so strong that those opposing it might not have a good ending as demonstrated in the "Hamidian" massacre of Armenians. 

Citations

 Rankin and Weise, World History Since 1500, 9.

Bonhomme, Brian, and Cathleen Boivin, Juan López de Palacios Rubios, "Requerimiento,' 1513, In. Milestone Documents in World History pg 649-655

 Bonhomme, Brian, and Cathleen Boivin, Juan López de Palacios Rubios,"Requerimiento,' 1513, In. Milestone Documents in World History pg 655

 Bonhomme, Brian, and Cathleen Boivin, Juan López de Palacios Rubios,"Requerimiento,' 1513, In. Milestone Documents in World History pg 649

"The Spanish Commonwealth Will Be Gravely Risked." Letter of Viceroy Of New Spain Luis De Velasco To Emperor Charles V, 1533, James Lockhart and Enrique Otte, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 185-194 or 22-23

  Rankin and Weise, World History Since 1500, 10

Zheng He, Who Had Been Sent To The Various Countries of The Western Ocean, Returned.' Ming Veritable Records, 1405-1431, additional sources

 Lin Ze Xu, "Lin Zexu's "Moral Advice to Queen Victoria"" 1839, in Milestone Documents in World History, page 937

  Rankin and Weise, World History Since 1500, 42

Gülhane Hatt-ı Hümayunu, "The Rescript of Gülhane," other sources