Mongols

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Mongols

• The Mongols made no technological breakthroughs,
  founded no new religions, wrote few books or
  dramas
• Why historically significant?
• a conduit not a creator of civilization

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To compare

• Imagine if the U.S., instead of being created
  by a group of educated merchants wealthy
  planters, had been founded by one of its
  illiterate slaves, who, by the sheer force of
  personality, charisma, determination, liberated
  America from foreign rule, united the people,
  invented a new system of warfare, marched an army
  from Canada to Brazil, and opened roads of
  commerce in a free-trade zone that stretched
  across the continents. Jack Weatherford in
  Genghis Khan

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A Quick Background

• Nomads
• Genghis Khan chosen leader
• Need for water leads to conquest - Central Asia
  lacked rain for agriculture
• Greatest Opportunity was trade horses!

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Mongols

• Declared themselves to be descendents of Huns who
  founded the 1st steppe empire in late Classical
  era.
• Called Tartars especially by Westerners
  (people from hell), though a misnomer Mongols
  conquered steppe tribe Tartars, but because so
  many Tartars rose to prominence in the Mongol
  Empire, the name became synonymous with Mongols.

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What were the key factors that allowed fewer than
125,000 nomadic warriors to build the largest
empire in world history?

• Military prowess
• Adaptation of local societies / talents
• Timing fragmentation of postclassical states

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Impact of the Mongols

• The Mongols created a single economic, cultural,
  and epidemiological world system
• Mongol Exchange
• New methods of warfare
• Trade from Venice to Beijing and beyond
• Demographic change via the plague and major
  population shifts
• Altered the political histories of Russia, China,
  Europe
• Unparalleled cultural diffusion

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Chronology of the Mongol Empire

• 1206-1227 Reign of Chinggis Khan
• 1211-1234 Conquest of northern China
• 1219-1221 Conquest of Persia
• 1237-1241 Conquest of Russia
• 1258 Capture of Baghdad
• 1264-1279 Conquest of southern China

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Temujin Leader of the Mongols

• Temujin aka Chinggis Khan
• Mastered the art of steppe diplomacy which called
  for
• displays of personal courage in battle
• combined with intense loyalty to allies
• a willingness to betray others to improve ones
  position
• the ability to entice other tribes into
  cooperative relationships
• Was responsible for bringing together all Mongol
  tribes into a single confederation

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The wisdom of Chinggis Khan

• Mans greatest joy is in victory to conquer
  ones enemies, to pursue them, to deprive them of
  their possessions, to make their beloved weep, to
  ride on their horses, and to embrace their wives
  and daughters

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Strong Equestrians and Archers

• The Mongols were oriented around extreme
  mobility. They carried their houses with them,
  drank their own horse's blood to stay alive, and
  could travel up to 62 miles per day.
• They had an elaborate priority-mail-system which
  allowed orders to be transmitted rapidly across
  Eurasia.
• Mongol archers were very deadly and accurate
• Their arrows could kill enemies at 200 meters
  (656 feet)

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Mongol War Equipment

• The warrior carried a protective shield made of
  light leather armor
• which was impregnated with a lacquer-like
  substance in order to make it more impervious to
  penetration by arrows, swords and knives, and
  also to protect it against humid weather
• The Mongol warrior used to wear Chinese silk
  underwear, if it could be obtained, because it
  was a very tough substance
• If arrows are shot from a long distance, it would
  not penetrate the silk
• It would also prevent poison from entering the
  bloodstream

• During winter they wore several layers of wool as
  well as heavy leather boots with felt socks on
  their feet.
• The legs were often protected by overlapping iron
  plates resembling fish scales, which were sewn
  into the boots.
• Each warrior carried a battle axe, a curved sword
  known as scimitar a lance, and two versions of
  their most famous weapon the Mongol re-curved
  bow.
• One of the bows was light and could be fired
  rapidly from horseback, the other one was heavier
  and designed for long-range use from a ground
  position

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Psychological Warfare

• Genghis Khan used combined fake retreats with
  accurate Horse Archers to pick off his European
  enemies.
• Genghis Khan slaughtered a few cities, in an
  attempt to scare all other cities to surrender
  without a fight. He, being a practical leader,
  also valued smarts more than bravery
• If enemies surrendered without resistance, the
  Mongols usually spared their lives, and they
  provided generous treatment for artisans, craft
  workers, and those with military skills
• In the event of resistance, the Mongols
  ruthlessly slaughtered whole populations, sparing
  only a few, whom they sometimes drove ahead of
  their armies as human shields during future
  conflicts

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Genghis Khan

• In 25 years, subjugated more land people than
  the Romans did in 400 years.
• Destroyed LOTS of less important cities often
  along less accessible trade routes to funnel
  commerce into routes that his army could more
  easily supervise and control.

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Genghis Khan

• Valued individual merit loyalty
• Fighting wasnt honorable winning was. So, used
  any means necessary to win (trickery, etc.)
• Conscripted peasants Mongols just didnt
  understand peasants who seemed like grazing
  animals rather than real humans who ate meat.
  They used same terms, precision, emotion in
  rounding up yaks as peasants.
• Refugees preceded Mongol attack as people from
  outlying areas fled to cities for protection but
  overwhelmed the cities spread fear
• LOVED negative PR allowed encouraged true or
  false stories to be circulated in order instill
  fear.
• Fought on the move didnt care if chased or
  fled (unlike sedentary soldier-farmer), just
  wanted to kill the enemy.

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Genghis Khan innovations

• Relied on speed surprise and perfected siege
  warfare (not relied on defensive fortifications)
• Used resources of land instead of relying on
  supply train
• Allocated fallen soldiers share of loot to
  widow/children (ensured support)
• Reorganized army so each unit had a mix of
  tribal/ethnic peoples and they had to live
  fight together ---transcend kinship, ethnicity,
  religion.
• Religious tolerance ?
• Instituted postal system for communication
• Ordered writing system created
• Abolished torture insisted on rule of law (to
  which even the khan was accountable)

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Rule in conquered territories

• Ruthless annihilation of resistance (terror
  tactics).
• General benevolence when no resistance.
• Cities generally left under native governors.
• Religious tolerance important in consolidating
  rule, gain support of minorities oppressed by
  Muslims.
• Administration commonly more benign, less corrupt
  than pre-Mongol government.

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• Overland Trade and Plague
• 1. Mongol conquests opened overland trade routes
  and brought commercial integration of Eurasia.
• 2. Disease including the bubonic plague spread
  among the world.

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Pax Mongolica?

• Under the Mongols, there was unprecedented
  long-distance trade
• Mongols encouraged the exchange of people,
  technology, and information across their empire
• Weatherford the Mongols were civilizations
  unrivaled cultural carriers

Marco Polo en route to China
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Pax Mongolica
Mongol Passport

• By the mid 13th c, the family of Genghis Khan
  controls Asia from China to the Black Sea
  creating a period of stability during which trade
  flourishes to new heights along the Silk Routes.
  Before ? lots of fighting in East Asia and
  fighting between Muslims Christians in the SW
  Asia, but now ? stability brings trade in more
  volume people who now travel the entire
  distance.
• Encouraged great commercial, religious,
  intellectual exchange between the East West.
• The Mongols made culture portable it was not
  enough to merely exchange goods, because whole
  systems of knowledge had to also be transported
  in order to use many of the new products (e.g.
  drugs werent profitable trade items unless one
  possessed medical knowledge for their use, so
  moved Arab doctors to China vice versa)

Marco Polo traveling the Silk Roads
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Pax Mongolica look at all these routes!
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Exchanges During the Mongol Era
From Europe From Southwest Asia From South Asia From East Asia
Honey Horses Glassware Slaves Textiles Rugs Incense Finished iron products Finished gold products Spices Gems Perfumes Textiles Gunpowder Firearms Rockets Magnetic compass Porcelain Silk Maritime Technology Paper Making Printing Tea
Christian missionaries Italian merchants European diplomats Muslim merchants Nestorian merchants Muslim diplomats Indian merchants Indian diplomats Buddhist religious objects Chinese bureaucrats Chinese artists, artisans East Asian diplomats
Sugar cane Black Death
Intellectual Exchanges of Ideas, Art, Architecture, Knowledge was constant Intellectual Exchanges of Ideas, Art, Architecture, Knowledge was constant Intellectual Exchanges of Ideas, Art, Architecture, Knowledge was constant Intellectual Exchanges of Ideas, Art, Architecture, Knowledge was constant
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War with Persia 1218-1222

• War started after Persians put Mongol emissaries
  to death.
• War of annihilation on both sides.
• Mongol detachment sent to pursue Shah across his
  own empire.
• Following conquest of Persia, Mongol troop
  circled Caspian.

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Contemporary impressions of the Mongols

• In one stroke, a world which billowed with
  fertility was laid desolate, and the regions
  thereof became a desert, and the greater part of
  the living and their skin and bones crumbling in
  the dust and the mighty were humbled and
  immersed in the calamities of perdition
  
• 13th century Persian

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• Mongols vs. Islam
• ? End of Abbasid control and world dominance.
• ? Opened path for political division within Islam
  between the Ottomans and the Mamluks.

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Mongols in the Middle East

• Hulegu, another of Chinggis grandsons, led
  expeditions into Islamic kingdomsled to the
  complete end of Abbasid caliphate (1258)
• The honeymoon was short-lived, as the Mamluks of
  Egypt, with Christian help (wow, really?), rose
  in rebellion against Hulegus forces in 1260
• These events, however, would leave the door open
  for the cousins of the Mongols, the Turks of
  central Asia, to come and invade the Middle East
  over the next 2 centuries

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Regional Effects SW Asia

• Muslim societies had highest levels of commerce
  had renowned civilization -- likewise, Mongol
  invasion did most damage here.
• They sacked Baghdad --the heart of the Muslim
  world -- using pontoon boats along rivers, more
  powerful gunpowder, exploiting religious
  differences among people.
• No other non-Muslim troops would conquer Baghdad
  until 2003 not since the birth of Islam had so
  much of the Muslim world been ruled by
  non-believers. While the Crusaders had only
  managed to seize a few ports, the Mongols had
  then conquered every Muslim kingdom city from
  the Indus River to the Mediterranean. -- Only
  the Arabian Peninsula North Africa were outside
  their control.
• Under the Ilkhanate of Persia, Persian culture
  reemerged from centuries of Arab domination.

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The Mongols and Islam, 1260-1500

• A. Mongol Rivalry
• In the 1260s the Il-Khan Mongols murdered the
  Abbasid Caliph because of religious differences.
• However, Batu - the khan of the Golden Horde in
  Russia, had converted to Islam and vowed to
  attack the Il-Khan region.
• Europeans attempted to pit the Mongols against
  one another, but the Il-Khan ruler Ghazan became
  a Muslim in 1295.

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• Islam and the State
• The goal of the Il Khan state was to collect as
  much tax revenue as possible.
• In the short term the tax farming system was able
  to deliver large taxes, but over-taxation led to
  the rise of the price of grain and a severe
  economic crisis
• 1349 ? the Golden Horde destroyed the Il-Khan
  empire
• As the Golden Horde and the Il-Khan empires
  declined in the 14th century, Timur built the
  Jagadai Khanate and his descendents - the
  Timurids - ruled the Middle East for several
  generations.

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• Culture and Science in Islamic Eurasia
• Juvaini wrote the first comprehensive work of the
  rise of the Mongols under Genghis Khan
• Rashid al-Din published a history of the world
• Muslims under Mongol leadership made great
  strides in astronomy, calendar making, and the
  predication of eclipses
• Devised decimal fractions, calculated the value
  of pi, and had a significant effect on the
  development of European science and mathematics.

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Invasions of Eastern Europe
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The Mongol Drive to the West

• Russia and Europe were added to the Mongols
  agenda for world conquest, and subjugating these
  regions became the project of the armies of the
  Golden Horde, which drove westward .
• Kiev was in decline by the 13th century, and
  Russia was unable to unite before the Mongols
  (called Tatars by Russians)
• Chinggis Khans grandson, Batu, defeated the
  Russian armies one by one, resisting armies were
  razed
• Kiev was taken by 1240 very few towns survived
  (only Novgorod and Moscow because they submitted)

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Russia in Bondage

• The Russians became vassals of the khan of the
  Golden Horde, a domination which lasted for 250
  years
• Peasants had to meet the demands from both their
  own princes and the Mongols, and many sought
  protection by becoming serfs, changing the
  Russian social structure until the 19th century
• Some cities like Moscow benefited from Mongol
  rule by increased trade, but when the Golden
  Hordes power weakened, it led the resistance
• Although Mongols remained active in the region
  through much of the 15th century, Moscow became
  the center of political power in Russia
• The Mongols influenced Russian military and
  political organization, but most significantly
  isolated them from developments in Western Europe
  ? did not experience the Renaissance or
  Reformation

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Regional Effects Russia under the Golden Horde

• In RussiaMongol forces successfully attacked
  Russia in 1224 by defeating Kiev Rus.
• Destroyed most cities demanded high tribute.
• However, the Mongols left Russia largely to its
  own devices few Mongol officials were there
  (INDIRECT rule). Russia had lots of independent
  principalities, each required to send tribute or
  else.
• New places --like Moscow (Muscovy) to the north
  --began to grow with the Mongols implementation
  of a postal system, financial structures,
  census. Moscow became a cultural economic
  center.
• Armenians, Georgians, Russians thought Mongols
  were a punishment from God who fetched the
  Tartars against us for our sins.
• Limited Russias interaction with Western Europe
  (e.g. Russia was isolated from the cultural
  effects of the Renaissance) --a period of
  cultural decay except in northern Russia.
• Lasted the longest of the all the khanates (until
  1480)

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Another description

• The Mongols were terrible to look at and
  indescribable, with large heads like buffaloes,
  narrow eyes like a fledglings, a snub nose like
  a cats, projecting snouts like a dogs, narrow
  loins like an ants, short legs like a hogs, and
  by nature with no beards at all
  An Armenian observer

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Mongols in Russia

• Good
• Centralization politically
• Protected Russia from attacks (Teutonic Knights)
• Bad
• Russia cut off from political, economic, and
  intellectual development

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Mongol Incursions and the Retreat from Europe

• Christians in western Europe were initially
  pleased with Mongol success against Islam many
  thinking the Mongol khan was Prester John, a
  mythical Christian monarch.
• As Mongols continued moving westward, they became
  more concerned
• With the death of Ogedei and the resulting
  struggle for power, Batu was forced to withdraw
• The Mongols did not return to Europe, satisfied
  with their rich conquests in Asia and the Middle
  East

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Regional Effects Europe

• Mongols defeated Germans, Poles, Bulgars,
  Hungarians (whose land was most desired because
  of grassy plains).
• Eastern Europe was poor compared to Chinese
  Muslim areas, so the Mongols turned away from
  several areas leaving Europe to suffer the least
  from the Mongol attacks
• Europe gained SO much from the advantages of the
  contact through merchants exchange of
  diplomatic religious envoys.

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Regional Effects Europe

• Clerics looked to Bible for answer thought the
  Mongols were a missing Hebrew tribe that was
  acting in collusion with European Jews.
• Unable to defeat the Mongols, the Europeans could
  defeat the Jews (their imagined enemies at home)
  and began attacking Jewish quarters in cities
  throughout Europe setting fire to homes,
  massacring residents, forcing Jews to flee as
  refugees throughout Europe
• prompting the Catholic Church to order Jews to
  wear distinctive clothes emblems in order to
  identify newly arrived Jews in communities.

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More Effects on Europe

• Disappointed with loot from European invasions,
  Mongols allowed Italian merchants in Crimea to
  take many of their European prisoners to sell as
  slaves (esp. to Egypt) in exchange for large
  amounts of trade goods.
• This began a long profitable relationship
  between Mongols merchants of Venice Genoa who
  set up trading posts in Black Sea Italians
  supplied Mongols with manufactured goods in
  return for the right to sell the Slavs as slaves
  in the Mediterranean market slaves who would
  ultimately defeat the Mongols as the Mamluks in
  Egypt.
• Silk routes opened then spread PLAGUE to
  Europe.

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• New States in Eastern Europe and Anatolia
• Mongol armies drove to the outskirts of Vienna,
  but withdrew in 1241 because they needed to elect
  a successor to the deceased Great Khan Ogodei.
• Europeans then initiated a variety of diplomatic
  and trade overtures toward the Mongols.
• Mongol invasions and the bubonic plague caused
  Europeans to question their religious beliefs.
• After Mongol power began to wane in the 13th and
  14th centuries, strong centralized states such as
  Lithuania and the Balkan Kingdoms began to assert
  their control over their neighbors.
• Anatolia functioned as a route by which Islamic
  culture spread to Europe

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The Mongol Interlude in Chinese History

• Kubilai Khan, another grandson, moved against the
  Song in China and by 1271 his dynasty became the
  Yuan.
• Kubilai forbid the Chinese from learning Mongol
  script, intermarriage was forbidden, and he
  refused to reestablish exams for civil service.
• Despite restrictions, Kubilai was fascinated with
  Chinese civilization and adopted much of their
  culture into his court. He built his capital at
  Tatu in the north, a site occupied by previous
  dynasties, put the empire on the Chinese
  calendar, and introduced Chinese rituals and
  music into his own court.

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Society in the Yuan Dynasty

• A new social structure emerged
• Mongols at the top
• nomadic and Islamic allies were next
• then north Chinese
• finally ethnic Chinese and peoples of the south

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Gender Roles and the Convergence of Mongol and
Chinese Culture

• Mongol women remained aloof from Confucian
  Chinese culture, refusing to accept foot-binding
  and retaining property rights and control of the
  household, as well as freedom of movement.
• Some Mongol women hunted and went to war.
• Chabi, wife of Kubilai, was especially
  influential convincing him that harsh treatment
  of survivors was counter-productive and promoting
  Buddhists interest in government.
• The Mongol period in China was too brief and
  their numbers too small to change Confucian
  patterns and freedom of women declined after
  Kubilai

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Mongol Tolerance and Foreign Cultural Influence

• The Mongol rulers were open to outside ideas and
  drew scholars, artists, and office seekers from
  many regions
• Muslims were among the most favored, and they
  brought much new knowledge into the Chinese world
• Kubilai welcomed foreign visitors ? most famous
  was the Venetian Marco Polo
• He was interested in all religions ? Buddhists,
  Nestorian and Latin Christians, Daoists and
  Muslims were all present at court

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Social Policies and Scholar-Gentry Resistance

• The scholar-gentry resented the Mongols refusal
  to reinstate the examination system, and regarded
  them as uncouth barbarians
• Artisans and merchants prospered under Mongol
  rule, and their patronage stimulated urban life
  including popular entertainment, especially
  musical dramas.
• Actors and actresses, who had long been relegated
  to the despised status of mean people by the
  scholar-gentry, achieved celebrity and social
  esteem.
• Peasantry land was protected and their tax and
  labor burdens lessened, and plans for
  establishing elementary education at the village
  level were formulated

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And according to one Chinese observer

• They smell so heavily that one cannot approach
  them. They wash themselves in urine

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The Fall of the House of Yuan

• The Yuan dynasty was weakening by the time of
  Kubilais death, as Song loyalists revolted in
  the south Mongol forces were defeated in
  Vietnam and Java
• Kubilais successors were weak and their
  administration was corrupt.
• Secret religious sects, claiming to have magical
  powers, such as the White Lotus Society, were
  dedicated to overthrowing the dynasty.
• The scholar-gentry called on the peasants,
  suffering from famines, to drive out the
  barbarians and the dynasty was too weak to
  control (1350)
• Many Mongols returned to central Asia as a
  peasant leader, Ju Yuanzhang, triumphed and
  founded the Ming dynasty

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How did Japan resist Mongol invasion?

• One series of events that severely weakened the
  Mongols in China were the expeditions to Japan
• The Mongols attempted to invade Japan twice
  1274 and 1281
• Twice they were repelled by typhoons
• Kamikaze or divine wind

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Inspiration for WW II kamikaze
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The Mongols

• The Good, the Bad the Ugly

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THE GOOD (accomplishments contributions)

• Military Strategy Innovation Cavalry, Horse
  Archers, surprise attacks, sieges - Genghis first
  needed to disband tribal loyalties
• Religious Tolerance (converted to all faiths in
  region except Hinduism)
• Common Legal Code
• Utilized skills of conquered peoples artisans,
  soldiers

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THE GOOD (accomplishments contributions)

• Discipline, obedience to own laws
• Sense of honor and loyalty, respect for these
  qualities in others, even opponents
• High status of women
• These qualities attested to even by European
  observers who generally detested the Mongols

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THE GOOD, cont

• Golden Horde was the only group to successfully
  conquer Russia
• Created largest continental empire in history
• TRADE source of diffusion goods, ideas
  people - under Mongol rule it was less risky ?
  Pax Mongolica

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The Mongol Empire at its height
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THE BAD (failures struggles)

• Constant in-fighting for power Khan
• Genghis never setup centralized rule, Kublai
  struggled with it (Yuan Dynasty)
• Kublai failed to conquer Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia
  Japan
• Inability to control China without considerable
  force
• Over-spending

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Shortly after Chinggis Khans death, his empire
split into four Khanates
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THE BAD, cont

• THE PLAGUE!!!
• Over-extension loss of control in Persia
• Struggle between nomadic lifestyle and need to
  settle (centralized government)

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THE UGLY (What!?! Those Mongols were CRAZY!!)

• Surrender or Die
• Looting Destruction of Cities
• Massacres (1.6 Million in 1 Afghan city, as many
  as 18.4 Million total killed)
• Use of organized tactical terror
• All exemplified by the Ilkhanates conquering of
  Middle East (Persia)

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THE UGLY, cont

• Lots of Babies - as many as .5 of the Earths
  current male population can trace genetic lineage
  back to Genghis (500 wives concubines)
• Plague catapults biological warfare?
• Strange diet, hairstyles and odor
• Cannibalism?
• Genghis funeral parade of death?

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Question

• How did the Mongol conquests bring an end to the
  post-classical civilizations in Eastern Europe,
  Western Europe, and Islam?

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Answer

• Russia end of Kievan dominance ? power shifts
  to Moscow
• Byzantium Ottoman dominance and fall of
  Constantinople (1453).
• Western Europe limited direct impact but Black
  Death has later effect. Trade increases with
  East.

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After-Shock Timur-i Lang (Timur the Lame)
(Tamerlane)

• Just as the world was recovering from the
  Mongols, another group of invaders, the Turks of
  Central Asia, under the leadership of Timur,
  began raids on the Middle East, India and
  southern Russia
• Unlike the Mongols, Timurs invasions represented
  ABSOLUTE BARBARISMlittle tolerance for anything
  in his path
• Pyramids of skulls, wanton slaughter of innocent
  peoplehe did spare artisans and scientists from
  Muslim lands though and took them back to his
  capital at Samarkand
• For a brief period there was no increase in
  commercial tradea halt to cultural
  exchangeinternal peace subsided
• His death in 1405 signified the end of the great
  nomadic challenges to Eurasian civilizations as
  the Turks under future leaders (Mehmed II) sought
  a sedentary empire

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TIMURS WORLD
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The Impact of the Mongols

• POLITICAL
• Mongol conquest left Russia more divided
  culturally less developed than Western European
  nations
• Descendants of Genghis Khan Timur established
  the Mughal Empire in India
• Introduced new military techniques organization
  to Turks Europeans such as small organized
  units, the use of cavalry the effective use of
  gunpowder
• Mongol defeat of the Seljuk Turks in 1243 CE
  allowed for the later rise of the Ottoman Turks
  in the Middle East

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The Impact of the Mongols

• ECONOMIC
• Global trade expanded dramatically under Mongol
  control Italians were the primary beneficiaries
  in Europe security, use of paper currency,
  control management of Silk Road all increased
  trade in the Eastern Hemisphere
• Europeans were exposed to a much greater number
  of Chinese goods on a large scale gunpowder
  printing being among the most influential
• The global trade network became more intertwined
• Mongol decline made land travel more dangerous
  a shift to seafaring occurred in Europe China
  after 1400 CE
• Mongol conquest likely spread the Black Plague to
  the Europe which would have devastating economic
  effects

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The Impact of the Mongols

• SOCIAL
• Mongols practiced religious toleration in the
  Middle East Europe and often converted to local
  religions allowed Islam Orthodox Christianity
  to continue to thrive
• Russia became isolated from European trends like
  the Renaissance continued the split between
  Eastern Western Europe started w/ the Byzantine
  Empire
• The Black Plague devastated Europe in the 14th C
• Mongol expansion control of the Silk Road
  allowed for cultural diffusion exploration on
  an unprecedented scale including the journey of
  Marco Polo

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• Global Connections The Mongol Linkages
• Mongols brought the Muslim and European worlds
  new military knowledge, especially the use of
  gunpowder
• Trade and cultural contact between different
  civilizations throughout Eurasia became much
  easier
• Trading empires established in their dominions
  by Venetians and Genoese provided experiences for
  later European expansion
• An unintended consequence was the transmitting
  of the fleas carrying the bubonic plague (black
  death) from China to central Asia to the Middle
  East to Europe