“One can conquer the empire on horseback, but one cannot govern it on horseback.”

- Chinese Advisor to Kublai Khan

Nomadic Empires: The Mongols, 1200-1550

According to this quote, what will be a major challenge for the Mongols? How does this reflect the Big Picture Themes of 600-1450?

While the Chinese people grew prosperous during the Song dynasty, a great people far to the north were also

gaining strength.

The Mongols• Nomads of the s teppe

– , - Dry wind swept plain– Original home of Aryans

and Hittites

The Mongols

•Skilled horsemen•Courageous in battle•Disciplined and ruthless

Temujin

• When Temujin was 9 years old, his father was poisoned by the Tatars, a rival people

• Effect: He swore he would become a great leader to avenge his father’s death.

Temujin accepts the title Genghis

, Khan or “univers al ruler”

of the Mongolc lans

: Effect His armies and thos e of his: Effect His armies and thos e of his s ucces s ors swept from Poland to s ucces s ors swept from Poland to

Korea and s truck fear in the hearts Korea and s truck fear in the hearts of people of people

Genghis the Conqueror

• Brilliant organizer

• Gifted s trategis t

• Adopted new weapons and

technolog ies

• Us ed cruelty as aweapon

“The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in

tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters.”

Nomadic Empires: The Mongols, 1200-1550

• Pastoral Nomadic Group of the Asian Steppe• Genghis Khan united the tribes of the steppe under the Mongol

banner.• Horsemanship, archery, terror, and military strategy were keys

to the Mongols quick rise to power.• Established the largest continual land empire in history.• GREATEST STRENGTH: Mobility via horses and mandatory

military conscription of all men during times of war (ages 15-70).

Resist and die. Submit and live.

Before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire into administrative states called Khanates to be ruled by his sons and their descendants.

Ilkhan Khanate

Khanate of the Golden Horde

Great Khanate

Chagatai Khanate

Nomadic Empires: The Mongols, 1200-1550

In 1258, Mongols captured Baghdad, looted the city, executed the caliph, and massacred over 200,000 residents

: The Middle East The Ilkhanates

Mongols had a hard time adjusting to administering and governing society.

Hulagu Khan's army

attacks Baghdad,

1258.

• Local rulers kept in place as long as order was kept and sufficient tax revenues were delivered to Mongol authorities.

• Persians served as ministers, provincial governors, lower state officials.

• Westward expansion into Africa was stopped in 1260 when they were halted by the Mamluks of Egypt.

: The Middle East The Ilkhanates

Mongols adopted Persian culture: Toleration of all religions, most Mongols converted to Islam (1295).

• In 1237-1241, Mongols known as the Golden Horde overran Russia.

• They did not occupy Russia, just extracted tribute from Russian cities.

• Mongol conquerors kept many of the local Russian rulers in place. Taxes

on peasants were heavy, but they were collected by Russian bureaucrats.

Trade was also supported.

: Russia The Golden Horde

• Then in 1240, Mongol armies invaded Hungary and Poland

• As news spread of the ferocity of the Mongols, Europe trembled in anticipation of an attack that never came.

• In 1241 Ogodei Khan died, which forced the Mongol armies to withdraw to Russia in order to elect a new khan.

• The Golden Horde weakened due to bubonic plague, civil wars, and

ineffectual rulers (between 1357 and 1370, eight khans ruled).

• It is even thought that bubonic plague spread to Europe after the Mongols laid siege to the port of Kaffa on the Crimean peninsula in 1346. After their own forces were stricken with plague, the Mongols catapulted their corpses over the walls into Kaffa. The ships that left Kaffa and returned to Italy carried the disease.

: Russia The Golden Horde• As a result, Russia experienced a cultural decay

and isolation from Europe. Did not experience Renaissance.

• The empire of the Golden Horde was finally broken up by Timur (1390) to form three Tartar khanates:

Kazan, Astrakhan and the Crimea.

• Established by Kublai Khan who defeated the Song Dynasty in 1279.

• Established centralized rule via the use of foreign ( Persian) bureaucrats.

• Confucianism declined, civil service eliminated.

• Chinese were segregated from Mongol population. Intermarriage was outlawed.

• Chinese were not allowed to learn Mongol Language.

: 1279-1368China The Yuan Dynasty

• Allowed for construction of churches, temples, shrines

• Toleration of all religions. Some Mongols began to convert to Buddhism.

: 1279-1368China The Yuan Dynasty

• Also unlike previous dynasties, the Yuan rulers fostered trade and bestowed merchants a higher social status

• Such government support for merchants, together with the peace imposed on much of Asia by the Mongols, resulted in the greatest expansion of commerce in Eurasian history.

For a century, the continent of Asia was united under Mongol rule resulting in peace and an increase in trade and cultural interaction.

The benefit of this “peace” is debatable when contrasting it the loss of human life during the initial Mongol reign of terror.

: The Pax Mongolia The Mongol Peace

The Mongol Decline

What factors do you think caused the decline of the Mongol Empire?

1. Despite great military accomplishments the Mongol Empire only lasted three to four generations.

2. They were great conquerors, but horrible administrators.

3. Overexpansion (as seen in the failed invasion of Japan) and over spending

4. Rivalries among Mongol leaders

5. By 1350, most Mongol territories had been conquered by other armies.

A Yuan dynasty sea-going war junk fighting off Vietnamese war canoes.

The Mongol Decline

What factors do you think caused the decline of the Mongol Empire?

1. Despite great military accomplishments the Mongol Empire only lasted three to four generations.

2. They were great conquerors, but horrible administrators.

3. Overexpansion (as seen in the failed invasion of Japan) and over spending

4. Rivalries among Mongol leaders

5. By 1350, most Mongol territories had been conquered by other armies.