AE2

Unit Twelve Transcript: Mongols 12.1 Nomads We Have Known

The geography of Mongolia, away from the ocean and bordered by forest, mountains, and desert, meant that the climate of the region—characterized by seasonal extremes—made it unsuitable for agriculture. In pre-modern times, therefore, the region was inhabited by nomadic herdsmen and their sheep, cattle, camels, and horses.

This did not mean that the population was cut off from the rest of the work, but instead they were connected by an expansive east-west trade route known as the Silk Road, that ran across the southern region of the steppe. This important trade route connected China with the Mediterranean. Agricultural communities developed to the south of the Silk Road and wealthy cities developed along the course of the trade route. This is also the first region where the horse was domesticated and this would have significant implications for military battles. There were several different linguistic groups living in the high plateau of the region, the Mongols were one of these groups, but initially were among the least important of them. Turkish people also lived in the region and were culturally similar but linguistically distinct.

Sometimes these nomadic people band together to form much larger tribes—sometimes empires—that expanded outward beyond the region of the steppes. For example, the Xiongnu from the region of Mongolia were a large collection of tribes who fought against the Han dynasty in China and eventually became tributaries of Han China, although they maintained political and territorial sovereignty until the 1st century. In the western part of the steppes, between the 4th and 6th centuries, the Huns, a nomadic group from Eastern Europe established an empire and fought several times against the Roman Empire. A few centuries later, again in the East, the Jurchen people established the Jin Dynasty and gained control of Northern China until the twelfth century, when they were defeated by the most expansive empire from the steppes, the Mongols. 12.2 Mongols Uniting

The Eurasian Steppe region was home to several different tribes but these nomadic tribes were united by a powerful leader, eventually known as Genghis Khan (or Chinggis), in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Genghis Khan’s birth name was Temujin and he was the son of the leader of the Borjigin clan, the ruling Mongol clan—here “Mongol” is a linguistic grouping, only loosely affiliated with a region, and not a country. We don’t know much about his early life because the there is only one written primary source—and, while historians have used other methods like archaeology to verify the story written in The Secret History of the Mongols, it is difficult to evaluate the accuracy of the story of the rise of Genghis Khan.

Temujin’s father died before he reached manhood and he and his brothers lived with their mother. After his father’s death, the Borjigin clan was scattered throughout the region. Reuniting the clan was the first military and political feat that Temujin achieved. He used his lineage but also his skills in cultivating relationships as well as his military expertise to succeed in this mission. He also expanded his family as he defeated rival tribes—he had his mother adopt boys from each of the tribes and acknowledged them as his younger brothers. In doing so, he symbolically joined the tribes through family. This practice is described as “fictive kinship,” and Temujin accepted conquered people into his tribe on premise that they were now equal and full members of the tribe.

According to the Secret History, one of his followers told Temujin about a dream that he had in which he became “master of the nation.” Over the next few years, more and more Mongol bands joined Temujin’s cause and in 1189 he was proclaimed Khan of the Mongols. At this time he took the name Genghis Khan—“Khan” was a word used to describe the ruler of a tribe or nation, but scholars disagree regarding the meaning of Genghis (or Chinggis), some say “universal” while other argue for some variation of “strong.”

Genghis expanded his empire—though not without some setbacks and defeats—but eventually he was able to isolate his enemies. His strategy relied increasingly on discipline and violence and this helped him achieve decisive victories that destroyed the enemy. 12.3 Mongols United

Genghis Khan is remembered as a violent ruler. He rewarded his followers and treated them well, but to his enemies he was merciless. By the turn of the 13th century, Genghis Khan had gained considerable power but his Mongol confederation still have a few important rivals in each direction. But he quickly defeated the remaining rivals and became the sole ruler of the Mongol steppe in 1206. He used intelligence gathering and a spy network to shape his military strategy and implemented new technologies and strategies, such a siege warfare.

Genghis organized this large and diverse group of people not by tribal origin but instead into equally sized units and promotion was based on merit and not family lineage. Households remained intact and each larger unit was composed of both civilian and military communities. This system allowed him to easily incorporate new populations from different regions and inspired dedicated loyalty among his officers and soldiers.

The nomadic life of the tribes of the Mongol confederation made it relatively easy for Genghis to assemble large military units on short notice. All men between 16 and 61 years old could be summoned to serve at any time. The troops were paid in shares of the plunder they collected on military campaigns, but while Mongol expansion remained in the steppe, the plunder was mainly livestock and captives and not precious metals or other trade goods. Mongol expansion out of the steppe, was partly inspired by the need to reward his army and by doing so maintain their loyalty.

Genghis followed a long tradition of Mongol incursions into China for his first campaign abroad, but his efforts were aided by internal divisions in China. The Chinese empire was divided into three regimes: the Hsi Hsia (or Xi Xia), the Jin, and the Sung (or Song). Genghis first attached the Xi Xia whom he defeated quickly, but rather than incorporating the soldiers into his existing army, they remained in the cities because Genghis was not convinced that they could keep up with his more mobile army. Soon after Genghis retreated to the steppes, the Xi Xia declared war against the Jin who had refused to support them against the Mongols.

Genghis next turned to the Jin and his campaign was facilitated by intelligence gathering by Muslim merchants many of whom controlled the trade along the Silk Road. These merchants allied with Genghis to help ensure the safety of their caravans. Nevertheless, Genghis faced a daunting opponent given the Jin’s military expertise and the size of the military as well as the overall population of the empire. The Jin also had impressive fortifications and walled cities. In 1215, Genghis attacked and captured the Jin capital Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing) and forced the Jin emperor to abandon the northern part of the empire. The Jin dynasty would eventually collapse, but only under opposition from Genghis’s son.

Genghis soon turned his attention westward in a series of campaigns, but the most important conquest was in 1219 when he defeated Qara-Khitai, the most important muslim

power in Central Asia. This moment signaled the Mongol transition from a regional empire to a global power.

To consolidate his state, Genghis established a law code and appointed judges. Importantly, he commissioned a Turkic-speaking scholar to invent a written version of the Mongolian language. Genghis sought religious advice from a Buddhist and Confucian and a religious scholar from the Jin court who convinced him to preserve the agricultural regions of the empire instead of converting all land for pastures. 12.4 China

Genghis Khan’s third son and his successor Ögedei Khan continued Genghis’s expansion and Mongol armies reached Persia and pushed further into Russia and Eastern Europe. Two of Ögedei’s nephews continued this expansion after his death. Kublai, one of these nephews, was elected the great Khan of the Mongols and he adopted the dynastic name Yuan as the ruler of China. Khanbalik (now Beijing) was the capital of his Chinese empire and under his rule, trade flourished; land routes under Mongol control facilitated travel between Europe and China. While the Yuan dynasty was modeled on the traditional Chinese administrative system, the Mongol rulers discriminated against the Chinese and reserved key government positions for people from central Asia. Because of this discrimination, many skilled Chinese people turned to the theatre, painting, and fiction and Yuan dynasty was a period of great vibrancy in artistic activity. Because of the discrimination under Mongol rule, the Chinese resented the Yuan dynasty and resisted when possible. Under Kublai’s successors, the Mongol hold on China weakened and they were finally overthrown by the founder of the Ming dynasty, Chu Yüan-chang.

Kublai Khan sent a letter to the emperor of Japan inviting him to join the Mongol Empire and threatening him if he declined. The letter was ignored. In consequence, Kublai launched his first fleet in 1274. Mongols had typically done battle on land, but they had learned naval warfare in their defeat of the Sung dynasty. The Mongols met samurai on shore who were both skilled in hand to hand combat as well as with bow and horse and they were driven back to their ships. Storms drove the ships back and from the Mongol account a typhoon destroyed the ships. But Japanese sources credit the gods for offering protection.

In 1281, the Mongols sent a much larger fleet to attack Japan, but the Japanese had prepared and protected the only viable landing place. After a two-month battle, again a storm hit the fleet and destroyed many of the ships. Archival and archaeological evidence does support the narrative that a typhoon hit the region in 1281, but a recent discovery of a Mongolian ship wreck also reveals shoddy and hurried construction which may also have contributed to the fleet’s demise. The Mongols were in poor shape to combat the samurai since their traditional and successful methods of warfare could not be put to use. 12.5 Persia The Mongols succeeded in defeating China, and they were no less successful in controlling Persia. The first incursions into Persia by the Mongols were led by Genghis Khan in 1219. This invasion was followed a generation later by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulagu, beginning in 1251. Hulagu led a brutal and sustained attack on the Abbasid dynasty, culminating in an attack on the city of Baghdad -- the Abbasid’s capital city -- in 1258. The city was sacked by Mongol forces, and perhaps 200,000 inhabitants slaughtered. The Caliph himself was captured, rolled up in a rug, and then trampled to death by Mongol horses. The defeat of the Abassids and the execution of the Caliph signaled the collapse of the Abassid dynasty.

In the place of the Abassids, the Mongols established the il-Khanate, taking over the administrative apparatus of the Abassids. The Mongols initiated a brutal system of taxation, in which the population was assessed multiple times in a year, and tax collection was enforced through corporal punishment and physical coercion. Agriculture -- especially the planting, reaping, and sowing cycle was significantly disrupted, as was peasant life generally. The herding practices of the Mongols also compounded the problem because their animals destroyed farming practices and tore up fields. Additionally, to prepare the attack on the Abbasids, the Mongols destroyed the intricate underground irrigation systems, and this further compounded the ruination of persian agriculture. Nonetheless, other industries flourished, either because they were connected to attempts to satisfy Mongol demands, or because they enjoyed connections to the China markets through the silk road. That said, the overall picture of the Mongol invasion of Persia is one of destruction on a wide scale. However, Persians also transformed the occupying Mongols. Persians continued to run the bureaucracy, and there were attempts to fix what had been broken. Also, the Persians succeeded in converting many of the Mongols to Islam, and there are some instances of population blending, as when Mongol invaders married into the local population. Indeed, we see examples of Mongols setting aside nomadism in favor of settled agricultural livelihood. Over time, we see the Mongol invaders being assimilated into Persian society, and as we will see, victims of attacks by other Mongol groups in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. 12.6 Central Asia: Chagatai Khanate The Mongols succeeded in defeating the Abbasid Dynasty as well as the dynasty in China. nonetheless besides range and diversity meant the Mongol Empire was difficult to manage and there were conflicts among the various heirs. These conflicts were focused most intensely in Central Asia, in what is called the Chagatai Khanate. The Chagatai Khanate occupied territory that was the heartland of the Mongol Empire. It retained a nomadic lifestyle more so than other Mongol regions, and it was less populated. Its central location also meant that territorial expansion could come only at the expense of other Mongol groups. At first, the Chagatai refused to launch incursions into territory controlled by other Mongols, but over time they changed their strategy and began to invade the other Khanates.

The Chagatai took offense at the conversion of other Mongol groups to different religions (such as Islam in Persia or Buddhism in China), seeing in these religious changes a diversion from some kind of essential quality. In short, the religious conversions of other Mongols served to legitimize attacks on their territories. One can imagine this process in part as an attempt on the part of the Chagatai Khanate to ensure that the legacies of past greatness were not diminished. Indeed, the Mongols of the Chagatai Khanate sought to make Mongolia great again by recalling the legacy of Genghis Khan and preserving the traditional Mongol ways. For instance, Chagatai rulers decreed that subjects should live in yurts rather than in fixed buildings, and they also launched attacks to the East against the Great Khan. While the initial attack was repulsed, it demonstrated the fractured nature of Mongol power as well as the desire on the part of some Mongols to maintain adherence to the old traditions. 12.7 Russia and the Hordes

After Genghis Khan’s death, the Mongol Empire was divided between his four sons, but the four appanages were united under a supreme Khan. Eastern Europe was awarded to his eldest son’s grandson, Batu, because the son had died six months before Genghis’s death. To claim

control of the region, Ögedei Khan, Genghis’s successor, dispatched Batu to the region with an army. Batu led an army of Tartars to Russia in the 13th century and left a trail of burned towns and dead bodies. The army pillaged the towns, as was typical after a Mongol victory. Batu camped in a large beautifully embroidered silk tent which inspired the label “golden” for his army. He settled his camp on the River Volga to establish the capital of his empire.

The Russian principalities in the region retained semi-independence and controlled local government but they were tributaries of the Khan who controlled princely succession and collected exorbitant taxes. Following Ogedei Khan’s death, rivalry among the Khan’s effectively ended the united Mongol Empire and the Khanate of the Golden Horde was a semi-autonomous state.

Batu Khan’s successor converted to Islam in 1255 but tolerated other religions in the empire. Eventually, in the early 14th century, the Golden Horde adopted Islam as the official religion. As a result, Islam spread to most of the population. The Golden horde established diplomatic relationships with the Byzantine Empire and the Mamluk Empire in Egypt and had extensive commercial relations in the East and West.

A rapid series of successions and constant warfare with neighboring a khanate weakened the empire in the second half of the 14th century. The Golden Horde also fell victim to the bubonic plague which depleted the population by about a quarter. The rise of Tamerlane forced the end of the Golden horde and the region was divided into a series of smaller states. The Crimean Khanate issued the final blow to the golden horde and eventually the entire region fell to the grand duke of Moscow, the predecessor state of modern Russia. 12.8 Mongol Empire as Conduit Mongol Empire as Conduit

The Mongols are often depicted as a destructive force in world history but that misses some important elements of their story. One significant aspect of the Mongols is that as a group they were the one that joined all the others together: Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists were all connected in and through the Mongols. The Mongols, in short, are usefully understood as being a bridge that connected the Eurasian world together. Connections between east and west were facilitated by the Mongols who supported trade, and travel guidebooks to the voyage from Europe to China were even produced that allowed travelers to understand where they were going and what they might see and do along the way. Famous travelers on the Silk Road like Marco Polo provide just one example of the ways in which the Mongols facilitated travel and trade between Europe and Asia. The Mongols themselves didn't directly produce many goods, and therefore they relied on taxation on travel and trade in order to maintain their power. Because the Mongols controlled the overall network they could enrich themselves without doing much of the work, but they also did other things to make trade function more smoothly and efficiently. They attempted to enforce standard weights and measures, they supported merchants, and most importantly they provided a type of security throughout the network. The Mongols also provided a system of diplomatic missions the connected east and west through their power centers. In this way it became possible for Europeans and the Chinese to connect with one another through the networks provided by the Mongols. Scholars call this promotion and protection of travel and trade by the Mongols the Pax Mongolica -- the Mongolian peace -- that recalls but transforms older structures like the Pax Sinica or the Pax Romana. The Mongols also fostered a type of cultural exchange. They accomplished this by uprooting populations and forcing them to relocate. These population migrations, along with

religious missions along the Silk Road, accomplished a transformation of the cultural horizon of Eurasia. In addition, cross-cultural or cross-confessional marriages (meaning marriages between people of different religious traditions) also helped shape new types of connections between east and west. There's one final aspect to the Pax Mongolica that we want to pay attention to, and that has to do with the transmission of disease. The Black Death, or the bubonic plague was dependent on the Mongols for transmission to new populations. The plague began in China around 1320, then was transmitted through the network via trade and through religious missions along the Silk Road and through Mongol herd animals into Central Asia, Persia, and then finally to Europe. In these ways the Mongols helped shape in dramatic form not only the course of world history but also the nature and quality of transcultural interactions in the pre-modern period. 12.9 Mongols Fading

As we have seen, following Genghis Khan’s death, his vast empire was split among his four heirs. While each of these Khans expanded further over time, this division of Genghis Khan’s empire also set in motion a death-spiral of competition. The divisions that existed between the Golden Horde, the Great Khan, the il-Khan of Persia, and the Chagatai Khanate meant that Mongol rule after Genghis Khan was divided and Mongol ambitions never unfolded as a concerted effort.

By the 1330s -- even as the plague was spreading through Mongol-controlled networks -- the Mongols were already in decline. The Chagatai Khanate split into two; in China, the Great Khanate saw quick dynastic turnover and protracted rivalry for the throne. The Mongol lands also experienced a sequence of disasters, some man-made, others not. The Mongols endured agricultural declines that generated famine; their irrigation systems failed; and currency devaluation threatened economic collapse. The result was a contraction of Mongol power throughout Eurasia, and outright revolution in China, where the Mongols were popularly understood to have lost the Mandate of Heaven. The result of these political critiques was nothing less than catastrophic for the Mongols, who were supplanted by the Ming dynasty in 1368. 12.10 Timurid Empire

The Mongol legacy, despite contraction and revolution, remained potent. We see evidence of the ways that the Mongols continued to inspire dreams of empire when we consider the life of Timur Lenk, or Tamerlane. Tamerlane sought to rekindle the Mongol empire in the late 1300s, leading attacks on political entities throughout Eurasia.

Timur Lenk -- or Timur the Lame -- was born in 1336. He developed his ambitions in the frayed political context of the Chagatai Khanate, and he learned how to play factions off one another in order to promote his own fortunes. He succeeded in building a fearsome force of horsemen, his cavalry able to sweep through his enemies with ease.

Timur established a capital in the city of Samarkand, located in current-day Uzbekistan. From this base, Timur could launch attacks on enemies throughout central Asia and Persia. He first attacked Persia, in 1380. Then, he moved his horsemen onto Baghdad, which he conquered in 1393. Before the turn of the fifteenth century, he had launched attacks into modern-day Russia, wiping out the Khanate of the Golden Horde in little more than a year. He then turned his attention to India, attacking Punjab and destroying Delhi in 1398. His final target was the

Ottoman Turks, defeating their troops in Ankara and capturing the Sultan, Bayezid I -- using him as a footstool in order to demean him. Launching yet another campaign, this time against the Ming in China, Timur died in 1405. The Mongols represented a novel force in world history. A triumph of nomadism, the Mongols succeeding in knitting together the Eurasian world in novel ways. They extracted wealth from trade even as they protected travelers and promoted a Eurasian marketplace. The proved to be remarkably adaptable when it came to the questions of social organization, political administration, and religious belief. Most importantly, they provided a conduit not only for goods and for people, but also for the pathogens that would imperial the system as a whole.