AP World Chap 4 - The Mongol Moment

Building of Mongol Empire

• Started by Temujin or Chinggis/Genghis Khan

  • Family was outcast and had to abandon pastoralism after father’s murder

  • Formed connections with friends and became a tribe chief, “magnetic” personality

  • No one knows where’s he’s buried

• Temujin won battles against other fractured Mongolian tribes and centralized Mongols around himself

  • Took advantage of politically disorganized clans

• Mongol World War

  • Began south to China

  • Genghis Khan took over and built empires in settled societies in Asia, Russia, Europe, and Middle East

  • Usually killed off vast amounts of people in a conquered region, destroyed cities and people who resisted/didn’t surrender

• Advantaged in battles/conquering other civilizations

Who are the Mongols

• Pastoralists with power from mobility caused by pack animals

  • Able to build empires in places unable to support farming

• Decentralized, fragmented before Genghis Khan took over

Mongol Effects on Trade & Communication

• Brought Eurasia together

• Incorporated technology and goods from conquered areas into their own trade networks

• Conquered artisans, merchants, and craftsmen were forced to work for Mongols, spared from fighting in military

• Rapid communication system for government fostered trade (Marco Polo liked it)

• Supported commerce and merchants

  • Offered raised payments for products

  • Allowed traders to use relay stations for transporting goods

  • Helped raise merchants’ status in China

• Ortughs: merchant organizations that pooled goods/resources to limit losses from caravan failures (like an olden-day job union)

  • Members also received financial aid through low-interest loans, tax breaks, and money for caravans

Effects on Technology, Religion, & Culture

• Technology:

  • Adopted tech from conquered civilizations, such as siege warfare techniques/technology from China

• Religion:

  • Accepting of most religions, unless they had political opposition

    • Allowed Muslims to convert Mongol people

  • Rejected offers from Western Europe to aid in Christian crusades, attempts to convert Mongols to Christian

  • Tolerance was attractive to missionaries/religious traders

    • Caused fusions of religions, such as Muslim artwork using Buddhist/Christian traditions

    • Varying religious infrastructure

• Culture:

  • Fusion of different cultures

  • Skilled workers forcibly sent to distant areas of the empire

  • Ideas/goods spread

    • Medical practices such as pulse taking

    • Crops, technology, and knowledge to Europe

Mongol Government

• Systemic and organized government

  • Rapid communication system for relaying information

  • Systemic taxation and census-taking of conquered people

• Centralized Bureaucracy with specialized offices

  • Located in the capital of Karakoram

• Mongols held highest parts of gov, but Chinese/Muslim people held lower official roles as well

• Tolerant of different religious beliefs

  • Allowed for less rebellion against government due to oppression of religion

Mongolian Origins

• Began as fractured and disorganized nomadic clans/tribes who traveled on pack animals until Genghis Khan took over

  • E.g. Mongols, Turks, etc.

Mongol World War

• Began south to China

• Genghis Khan took over and built empires in settled societies in Asia, Russia, Europe, and Middle East

• Usually killed off vast amounts of people in a conquered region, destroyed cities and people who resisted/didn’t surrender

Advantages of Mongol Empire

• Weak Opponents: China and Middle East (Abbasid Caliphate) were weak due to current events including decentralization

• Armies were smartly organized and better led than opponents

  • Structured into small groups

  • Varying military units with designated commanders

• Organized People: Disciplined citizens, strict penalties, and loyalty to leaders/commanders

• Wealthy: Gained resources/wealth from conquered civilizations, even for Mongol commoners

• Started off small

  • Drafted conquered people to add to their military

    • Other people were drafted to work, build infrastructure, or transport supplies

  • Still advantaged due to smart planning/organizing

China & Mongols

• Mongol invasion unified China, began the Yuan dynasty

• Killed off Chinese pastoral societies

• More accommodating with Song Dynasty China

• Took wealth/resources from developed China after conquering instead of transforming it into a giant pastoral society

  • Accommodated China by incorporating its previous government/ways including administrative practices, Confucian values, and supporting artisans/scholars

  • Still harsh/hostile towards China, set up tents everywhere, discriminated against Chinese more than foreign cultures such as Muslims

• Eventually replaced by the Ming Dynasty in mid-1300s (ended 1600s) following rebellions and weaknesses from plague, bad economics, and factionalism.

  • Recovered from Mongol rule

  • Forbid Mongol-related activities, supporting/teaching of earlier Confucian values and traditional Chinese gender roles

  • Re-established civil service examination, restored land, began ocean expeditions (Sea Roads)

Persia & The Mongols

• Heartland of Islamic world

• Brutally conquered by both Genghis Khan and his grandson

  • Damaged agriculture, farming infrastructure, natural land

  • Established Ilkhanate (mid 1200s-early 1300s)

• Adopted Islamic culture

  • Many Mongols converted to Muslim, continued Persia’s bureaucracy, some abandoned pastoral lifestyle, married local Persians

• Eventually disappeared from Persian society due to lack of their and no mass rebellion/driving force to leave

  • Caused collapse of political order, including a failed attempt to restore Mongol power

  • Safavid empire’s entrance caused people to convert to Shia Islam, causing divides between Sunni and Shia Muslims

Russia & The Mongols

• Russia’s decentralized states were unable to fight against Mongol forces, many killed/raped/enslaved, culture was weakened

• Was not as taken over as China or Persia

  • Economy was less developed and incentivizing towards Mongols

  • Mongols stayed at the steppes and exploiting Russia for resources

    • Heavy taxation, continued slavery and raids, attacks if cities didn’t surrender/collaborate

  • Generally religiously tolerant

• Mongols were less influenced by Russia than in other conquered areas, partly due to distance of the steppes from actual Russian society

  • Russians adopted Mongol administrative practices/other traditions
    

Mongols & Eurasian Economy

• Support for merchants/trade benefited both Mongols (through taxation

• Promoted international commerce (benefited from taxing and wealth building)

  • Financially aided caravans/merchants

Mongols & Eurasian Diplomacy

• Western Europe spared Mongol conquest due to death of Ogodei and lack of pastures

  • Tried to form allyship with Mongolia to aid in crusades, didn’t work

  • Reports from affairs gave more info about outside world to Europe

• Close relationships with Chinese and Persian governments, traded info, workers, ambassadors

The Bubonic Plague

• Spread through trade routes from China, through rodents to fleas to humans

• Internal bleeding and swollen lymph nodes, death within days

• Caused further fusion of religions, along with need for religion

• Economic changes

  • Shrinking group of available workers demanded higher wages

  • Undermined serfdom, peasant uprising

  • Temporary increase in job opportunities for women

  • Supported maritime trade, especially with Europe, whose economy began to strengthen after the Mongols’ began to fall

• Mongol Empire changes

  • Weakened greatly, caused loss of power in China, Persia, ad Russia

  • Caused collapse of Central Asian train route