ERA 4'2 Interregional Expectation: THE MONGOLS

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ERA 4.2 Interregional Expectation THE MONGOLS

• Craig Benjamin
• Day Two
• Session 2A

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Introduction

• This lecture considers how the Mongol invasions
  altered the course of world history!
• Invasions are the quintessence of cultural
  evolution and syncretism in Eurasia
• Second half of 13th C they moved out of Central
  Asia to conquer China, India, the Middle East and
  Europe, establishing a vast world empire
• Chinggis Khan (1162-1227) claimed to have a
  mandate from heaven to rule the world
• Although they were destroyers of cities, they
  also fostered trade and exchange between east and
  west, patronized the arts, promoted religious
  tolerance, and provided security and cultural
  unity across Eurasia

www.millikin.edu/history
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Mongol Origins

• Mongols were Central Asian nomads who interacted
  with the agrarian sedentary communities from the
  4th C BCE
• Decisions made by a council of warriors chiefs
  were first among equals but had substantial
  power women had relative freedom, respect and
  influence
• Mongols held military advantage through their
  cavalry tactics, mobility and prowess with the
  bow and arrow
• Eventually Mongols themselves became sedentized
  and acquired the languages, religions, cultural
  patterns and administrative skill of the peoples
  they conquered

steppe.hobi.ru/materials/ gorelic-26.shtml
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Includes

• Part One Formation of the Mongol Empire
• Part Two Mongol Military and Tactics
• Part Three Mongol Imperial Structure
• Part Four China Under the Mongols

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Part One Formation of the Mongol Empire

• Early in the 13th C Mongols began their campaigns
  of conquest - within a century they had subdued
  Eurasia from China to the Danube River
• Established a Pax Mongolica which facilitated
  trade and exchange across Eurasia until the 17th
  C largest empire the world had ever known
  (similar in size to the Soviet Union)

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An Empire that is TOO Big?

• When it expanded far beyond its administrative
  centers it began to weaken, depending on
  provincial governors with autonomous power
• Empires difficult to hold together once they
  expand beyond the distance that the rulers army
  can march in a single season

trionfi.com/ 0/e1/001/t.html
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Chinggis Khan

• Mongol success owed much to the guiding genius
  who launched his people into history
• Son of a minor Mongol chief, he was born c. 1162
  and named Temujin (Man of Iron)
• When his father was killed by enemies, Temujin
  spent years in exile on the steppes, gathering
  followers and using tribal war to form a new
  Mongol confederacy
• 1206 recognized by the Mongol confederation as
  Chinggis Khan (Oceanic Ruler) indicating the
  aspirations to world power of the Mongols

www.stanford.edu
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Mongol Expansion First Phase Overview

• In the first stage of expansion (to 1241) Mongols
  conquered the Uighurs and Tanguts, invaded N
  China, seized Turkestan and Afghanistan, then
  invaded Persia
• Chinggis died in 1227, succeeded by his two-year
  old son Ogedei (1229-1241)

faculty.cua.edu
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Conquest of Northern China
Jurchen (Jin) Peoples

• Chinggis Khan himself extended Mongol rule to
  Northern China
• Since 1127 the nomadic Jurchen people had been in
  control of the north, while the Song Dynasty
  continued to rule in the south
• In 1211 Mongol armies began to raid Jurchen
  northern China, and by 1215 Mongols had captured
  the Jurchen capital near modern Beijing
• City was renamed Khanbaliq (City of the Khan)
  which became the capital of Mongol China
• By 1220 the Mongols had complete control over
  northern China

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Invasion of Persia

• Leaving part of his army to control N. China,
  Chinggis Khan led the Mongol forces west into
  Afghanistan and Persia
• These regions were ruled by the Khwarazm Seljuq
  Turks
• Mongols had offered the Khwarazm shah the chance
  to establish trade relations, but when the shah
  tried to have Chinggis Khan murdered, the Mongols
  sought revenge
• The Khwarazm shah died on an island in the
  Caspian Sea, and his armies were shattered

Revenge against the Khwarazam Shah
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Mongols Ravage Persia

• To make sure the Khwarazm state could never again
  be a challenge to his own empire, Chinggis Khan
  wreaked destruction on the region
• Mongols ravaged dozens of cities, demolishing
  buildings and killing hundreds of thousands of
  people
• Also destroyed the delicate qanat irrigation
  systems, resulting in severely reduced
  agricultural production
• Devastation wrought by the Mongols was felt for
  centuries afterwards

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Death of Chinggis Khan

• By the time of his death in 1227, Chinggis Khan
  had laid the foundations for a vast and mighty
  empire
• He had united the Mongols and established Mongol
  supremacy in N. China, Central Asia and Persia
• However, he ruled through his control of the
  army and did not establish a central government
  for his empire
• Chinggis Khans heirs continued his conquests,
  but also took up the task of designing a more
  permanent imperial structure

Image of Chinggis Khan in a hillside in Nadaam,
Mongolia to mark the 800th anniversary of the
founding of the Mongol Empire
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Division of the Empire

• Chinggis Khans death set off a power struggle
  amongst his sons and grandsons
• Eventually his heirs divided vast realm into four
  regional empires
• Great Khans ruled China the wealthiest part of
  the empire
• Descendants of Chaghatai (one of the sons of
  Chinggis Khan) ruled Central Asia
• Persia was dominated by rulers known as the
  Ilkhans
• The khans of the Golden Horde dominated Russia
• But as long as the empire existed, ambition
  fuelled constant tension between the four Great
  Khans

Coins of the Persian Ilkhans
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Mongol Empire The Four Khanates
depts.washington.edu/
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Mongol Invasions of Russia and Europe
In the 1230s and 40s, Mongols of the Golden Horde
under the control of Chinggis Khans son Ogedei
invaded Russia and Eastern Europe When Ogedei
died his widow ruled for a time as regent There
was a second period of female rule in 1248 when
Guyuk Khan died
faculty.cua.edu/
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The Mongols in Russia

• Mongols of the Golden Horde prized the steppes
  north of the Black Sea as prime pastureland for
  their horses
• Raided Russia frequently but did not occupy it,
  because they saw Russia as an unattractive land
  of forests
• However they did maintain hegemony over Russia
  until the mid-15th century, when the princes of
  Moscow rejected Mongol domination and began to
  build their own powerful state
• But Mongols descended from the Golden Horde
  continued to rule Crimea until the late 18th
  Century

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Further Expansion in Central Asia and Persia

• Between 1251 and 1259, Chinggis grandson Mongke
  led armies into Tibet and Korea his brother
  Hulegu defeated the Abbasid caliphate of Persia,
  Palestine and Syria, bringing to an end the
  classical era of Islam
• But by 1260 the Mongol tide in West Asia was
  stopped in Syria by the Egyptian Mamaluk army
• Hulegus army was cosmopolitan, including Chinese
  catapult operators
• He integrated the soldiers, artists and
  professionals of the conquered peoples to create
  an effective syncretic culture

Mongol Suit of Armor
ubpost.mongolnews.mn
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Mongol Rule in Persia
Persians (right) attack the Mongols

• The Mongols adopted different tactics in
  different lands they controlled
• In Persia they made major concessions to local
  interests
• Mongols occupied the highest positions, but
  Persians served as ministers, provincial
  governors and state officials
• The Mongols basically allowed the Persians to
  administer the ilkhanate so long as they
  delivered tax receipts and maintained order

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Mongols and Religion
Courtiers at the Court of Ghazan

• Over time the Mongols assimilated to Persian
  traditions
• Mongol rulers observed their native shamanism,
  but they tolerated all faiths Islam,
  Nestorianism, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism
• Gradually the Mongols converted to Islam
• In 1295 Ilkhan Ghazan publicly embraced Islam and
  most of the Mongols in Persia followed his lead
• Ghazans conversion led to large-scale massacres
  of Christians and Jews, and restored Islam to a
  privileged position in Persia

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Mongol and Persian Women

• This 14th C painting shows a Mongol Princess on
  a promenade (a horseback ride) from a Persian
  miniature about mid-14th century. Note that the
  Persian women in the background are veiled.
  Mongol women had their heads covered, but their
  faces were not veiled.

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Part Two Mongol Military Structure and Tactics

• Mongol military organization was simple, but
  effective
• Organization based on an old tradition of the
  steppe, which was like todays decimal system
• Army was built upon a squad of ten, called an
  "arban" ten "arbans" constituted a company of a
  hundred, called a "jaghun
• Ten "jaghuns" made a regiment of a thousand
  "mingghan
• Ten "mingghans" would then constitute a regiment
  of ten thousand ("tumen"), which is the
  equivalent of a modern division

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Discipline and Planning

• Army's discipline distinguished
• Mongol soldiers from their peers
• Forces tailored for mobility and speed
• To ensure mobility soldiers were lightly armored
  compared to many of the armies they faced also
  functioned independently of supply lines,
  speeding up army movement
• Discipline was inculcated in traditional hunts or
  nerge
• Campaigns preceded by careful planning,
  reconnaissance and gathering of information
  relating to the enemy territories and forces
• The success, organization and mobility of the
  Mongol armies let them fight on several fronts at
  once

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Mongol Soldier

• All males who were aged from 15 to 60 and were
  capable of undergoing rigorous training were
  eligible for conscription into the army

www.photoglobe.info/ gb
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Siege Skills

• Unlike other mobile fighters such as the Huns or
  the Vikings, the Mongols were also very
  comfortable in the art of the siege
• They were very careful to recruit artisans from
  the cities they plundered, and along with a group
  of experienced Chinese engineers, they were
  expert in building the trebuchet and other siege
  machines
• These were mostly built on the spot using nearby
  trees

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• Another advantage of the Mongols was their
  ability to traverse large distances even in
  appallingly cold winters
• Frozen rivers led them like highways to large
  urban settlements on their banks
• In addition to siege engineering, Mongols were
  also adept at river-work, crossing the river Sajo
  in spring flood conditions with thirty thousand
  cavalry during one night during the Battle of
  Mohi (April, 1241 pictured below right),
  defeating the Hungarian king Bela IV
• Similarly, in the attack against the Khwarezmshah
  a flotilla of barges were used to prevent escape
  on the river.

Fieldcraft Skills
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Mongol Tactics

• Mongols used terror tactics to control conquered
  people in the early stages of expansion
• Commanders practiced mass murder, torture and
  forced resettlement on conquered peoples
• In Baghdad Hulegu probably executed hundreds of
  thousands of men, women and children
• Destroyed ancient irrigation systems, almost
  ruining Mesopotamian agriculture
• Mongke moderated these policies by restoring
  economic productivity, and providing security for
  trade

Mongols Attack Baghdad Feb 10th 1258
www.herodote.net
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Part 3 Mongol Imperial Structure

• Mongols eventually learned to administer the
  largest empire in history (required many
  languages to control it)
• Under Mongke cultural differences were
  accommodated, coins were minted, taxes collected,
  a census taken, and a Mongol courier system
  across Eurasia established
• Trade tolls regularized, roads improved, and
  merchant security guaranteed, all of which
  boosted trade and travel
• Government within the empire was conducted by
  tributary vassal rulers who were rewarded with
  lavish gifts

www.chuu.com/shop
Nucleus of the military was a cavalry of 130,000
Mongols, augmented by infantry and siege troops
from captured states. 14th C Japanese Woodblock
Mongols attempt to invade Japan
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Mongol Trade Networks Silk Roads Revived

• Mongols prized their commercial and trade
  relationships with neighboring economies and they
  continued this policy during the process of their
  conquests and during the expansion of their
  empire
• All merchants and ambassadors with proper
  documentation and authorization, traveling
  through their realms were protected, which
  greatly increased overland trade
• During the 13th and early 14th Cs, European
  merchants, numbering hundreds, perhaps thousands,
  made their way from Europe to the distant land of
  China
• (Marco Polo only one of the
• best known of these)
• Well-traveled and relatively
• well-maintained roads linked
• lands from the Mediterranean
• basin to China

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Maritime Trade

• However, the Mongol Empire had negligible
  influence on seaborne trade
• And Maritime trade was much larger, both in
  value and volume than the overland trade that
  passed through the territories under the control
  of the Mongol Empire

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Part Four China Under the Mongols Kublai Khan
andMarco Polo

• During the reign of Kublai Khan (1260-1294) the
  Mongol court moved to Peking and the new Yuan
  dynasty established
• Most of knowledge comes from the Venetian
  traveler Marco Polo who arrived at Kublais court
  in 1275
• Polo served the khan for about 17 years as his
  trusted advisor before returning home
• His detailed descriptions of the Chinese court
  was believed to be lies, and when he returned to
  Europe he was imprisoned for a time

Kublai Khan
www.china-inc.com/education
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Yuan China as Reported by Marco Polo

• Kublai retained some traditional government
  structures in China, although Mongol law
  prevailed
• Chinas social system took care of the sick, aged
  and orphaned, and the khan had 12,000 personal
  retainers
• Mongol court was not greatly influenced by
  Chinese cultural traditions they dismantled the
  Confucian educational and exam system e.g.

www.jugendheim-gersbach.de
Polos description of the great canals,
granaries, social services, technology and
regular bathing (all unknown to Europe) not to
mention amazing creatures he saw on his journey
were astonishing, his book a bestseller. 14th
Century Painting of the Polos in China
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Decline of Mongol Rule in Persia

• Excessive spending gradually drained the
  treasury, and the tax revenues also began to dry
  up
• In the early 1290s the ilkhan tried to resolve
  these financial difficulties by introducing paper
  money (to drive precious metals into the hand of
  the government)
• But merchants closed their shops rather than
• accept the worthless paper money, so that
• commerce ground to a halt
• After the death of Ilkhan Ghazan in 1304,
• the dynasty went into a steep decline
• blighted by factional disputes
• When the last Mongol ruler died without
• an heir in 1335, the ilkhanate collapsed
• and local governors ruled Persia until the
• arrival of the Turks late in the 14th C

Mongol Ilkhan
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Decline of the Yuan Dynasty
Kublai Khan hunting

• The Mongols also used paper money in China (as
  the Tang and Song had done) but did not maintain
  adequate reserves of bullion to back up the paper
  currency
• The people lost confidence in the economy as
  prices rose sharply
• Political infighting also hastened Mongol decline
• From the 1320s on, power struggles, assassination
  and civil war blighted Mongol China

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Ming China

• A nationalist rebellion broke out in the south in
  1352- young Buddhist ruler called Hong Wu
  established the Ming Dynasty (which would rule
  until 1644)
• In 1368 Ming forces captured Khanbaliq and the
  Mongols departed China for good, to return to the
  steppes
• Under the Ming government was stabilized and
  China defended from invasion for three centuries
  (as we will see next week)
• Chinas prosperous and indigenous culture
  fostered in an era that blocked out foreign
  influences, although early Ming emperors engaged
  with the west

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The Pax Mongolica Relinking East and West

• During the century-long Mongol peace, East and
  West closer than ever before
• Mongol rulers positively encouraged travel and
  communication
• They established a courier network that rapidly
  relayed news, information and government orders
• With this sort of Mongol encouragement,
  missionaries, traders and adventurers journeyed
  with ease to and from Africa, Asia and Europe

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Diplomatic Missions

• Throughout the Mongol Era the great khans of
  China, the ilkhans of Persia, and the other khans
  maintained close communication by means of
  diplomatic embassies
• Also had diplomatic relationships with rulers in
  Korea, Vietnam, India and Western Europe
• Several European ambassadors traveled to Mongolia
  and China to deliver messages from authorities
  seeking to form alliances with the Mongols
• Diplomats also traveled west,
• including Rabban Sauma, a
• Nestorian Christian monk born in
• Khanbaliq, who visited Italy and
• France as a representative
• of the Persian ilkhan

Modern Mongol women dressed like courtiers at the
Court of the Persian Ilkhans
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(No Transcript)
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• Like the Silk Roads in earlier times, Eurasian
  trade routes during the Mongol Era served as
  highways for missionaries
• Christian missionaries journeyed to the Mongols
  John of Plano Carpini who was sent by Pope
  Innocent IV to visit the great khan in 1246
• Later the Flemish Franciscan William of Rubruck
  visited Mongkes court in 1254 and John of Monte
  Corvino made thousands on converts in Peking
  between 1289 and 1322

Missionary Efforts (Map of the journey of
William of Rubruck)
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Journeys of Ibn Battuta

• Between 1325 - 1354 famous Muslim traveler Ibn
  Battuta visited Constantinople and every Middle
  Eastern Islamic state, India, Sri Lanka,
  Indonesia and China
• He noted that traders benefited from lower
  tariffs, and silk and spices flowed from east to
  west along the old Silk Roads, and by sea

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• Although renowned for the slaughter and havoc
  wrought by their invasions, Mongol control also
  led to stability
• Encouraged trade and borrowed from old
  established civilizations, helping spread the
  knowledge of explosives, ship building, medicine,
  printing and navigation to Europe
• In the Middle East they patronized art,
  architecture and the writing of history brought
  new crops, astronomy and ceramics to China
• Gave Europe a new
• awareness of the wider world
• which eventually set Europeans
• off on a path of global
• expansion and colonization
• But largest empire in
• history was fleeting, and could
• not endure because of logistical
• problems and difficulty
• of administration

The Mongol Legacy
Descendants of the Mongols working in a Beijing
market
home.tiscali.be
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Conclusion

• For millennia either side of the BCE/CE divide
  the role of steppe nomadic peoples was critical
  in diffusing Eastern culture and technology to
  the West, and European religions and beliefs to
  the East
• The list includes Indo-Europeans, Semitic
  peoples, Hittites, Assyrians, Aryans, Xiongnu,
  Dorians, Huns, Germanic tribes, Turks and now the
  Mongols
• After the collapse of the Classical Era, the Silk
  Roads and other major trans-Eurasian exchange
  systems fell into disuse, and the first great
  world system ceased to operate.
• But a thousand years later, as a result of the
  Pax Mongolica, an intensive exchange of goods and
  ideas once again began to take place that created
  a new medieval world system - and this was to
  be the forerunner to the emergence of capitalism,
  globalization and the subsequent age of European
  hegemony