Mongols

1206 unites under Gengis khan- 1368 when empire falls

timeline

origins

central/east asia; north of Gobi desert; on grasslands

pastoral nomads

always moving, moving depends on season and weather

Leader

genghis khan

genghis khan

made a web of alliances, implemented meritocracy, “ruler of all” in 1206

contributions to the success of mongol army

superior military tactics, psychological warfare and adaptability, military organization and hierarchy

Superior military tactics

skilled horsemen who used composite bows that were superior to enemy bows; they would have back-up horses; applied intelligence gathering to their military campaigns

Military organization and hierarchy

army broken into hierarchal units, each had great deal of autonomy; leaders were promoted based on merit, so these army units were led by the strongest and most skilled

psychological warfare and adaptibilty

used various tactics to increase the perceived size of the army; destroyed cities and killed everyone, left few to run and tell others about how scared their army was

why do mongols expand

environmental factors: low temperatures, low grass, shorter growing season; trade issues: dyansties in china began to ut trade with mongols resulting in raidsand later full-scale invasion; genghis Khan beliefs: Sky God Tenggeri commmanded GK to unite the world under his rule

Genghis khan

dies in 1227, son takes over his power in 1229, expansion efforts continued in china, Russia, and eastern europe

mongol splits

golden horde, ilkhanate, chagatai Khanate, tuan dynasty

cultural transfers

pax mongolica facilitated transfer of: mathematics and advanced islamic medical practices to europe

religious tolerance and transfer

religions move around while under mongols; tibetan Buddhism was introduced to the mongols through kublai Khans efforts in the yuan dynasty

uyghur script

horizontal script is arabic, vertical script is mongolian, writing form for communication on silk road

empire that fell to the mongols

western xia empire, jin dynasty, southern song dynasty, khwarazmian empire, Kievan rus, abbasid caliphate goryeo dynasty, seljuk empire, Volga bulgaria

empires that rose after mongols

ming dynasty, Mughal empire, ottoman empire, timurid dynasty, Russian empire