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

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!

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.

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

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

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)

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

Genghis Khan • Valued individual merit & loyalty• Fighting wasn’t honorable; winning was.

So, used any means necessary to win (trickery, etc.)

• Conscripted peasants: Mongols just didn’t 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: didn’t care if chased or fled (unlike sedentary soldier-farmer), just wanted to kill the enemy.

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.

Pax Mongolica• 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 weren’t profitable trade items unless one possessed medical knowledge for their use, so moved Arab doctors to China & vice versa)

Mongol Passport

Marco Polo traveling the Silk Roads

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”

Inspiration for WW II “kamikaze”