The Mongol Moment and the Re-Making of Eurasia

1200-1450

The Mongol Empire Timeline:

Breakout: The Mongol Empire

• IMPORTANT: The Mongols brought no new languages, religions, or civilizations to their conquered lands.

• The Mongol invasions were in the 1200’s ( 13th century )

  • Their invasions were an interment series of incursions into agriculture civilizations by pastoralists from the steppes and deserts of Eurasia and Africa

• Influenced upon the agrarian civilizations ( A large, organized human society that relies on a large number of its members producing food through agriculture ) on their borders

• Mongol warfare was helped by horseback and camel riding ( known as mounted warfare )

  From Temujin to Chinggis Khan: The Rise of the Mongol Empire

• Temujin ( 1162-1227 ) → Chinggis Khan → Genghis Khan

  • Small family

  • Father was poisoned by tribal enemies

  • Abandoned pastoralism and turned into a nomad → dropped their social status

  • Trusted his friends more that ties on kinship ( the culturally defined relationships between individuals who are commonly thought of as having family ties )

  • Soon he gathered followers and became a chief of his own right

  • Sons - Ogodei, Mongke, Khuibilai

    ATTENTION: Study the table on page 156 and the map on 157

• Mongols were unstable and a fractious collection of tribes and clans

• Lost of stealing and robbery of other peoples and clan groups

• In 1206, a Mongol tribe recognized Temujin as Chinggis Khan, supreme leader of the now unifed Great Mongolian Nation

• It was hard for Khan to hold his position of power because he did not know what he need to form and stabilize his people and army

• Half of a century ( 500 yrs. ) was seen for the Mongol world war

  • Military campaigns

  • Massive Killing

  • Empire building without precedent in world history

• The Mongols withdrew from their expansion into Eastern Europe in 1242

• They were defeated at Ain Jalut in Palestine as the hands of Egyptian forces in 1260

• They failed to invade Japan owning to a typhoon in 1281

Explaining the Mongol Moment

• The Mongol Empire acquired its ideology as it was being constructed

• The Mongols did not like any technological superiority over their many adversaries

• They liked their luck of good timing in their encounters with both China ( Song Dynasty with the pastoral Jurchen ) and the Islamic Middle East ( Abbasid Caliphates )

• If any member in the army should desert another army man, they would be put at the penalty of death

• The army values loyalty

• To compensate for the amount of people that were associated with the Mongol Empire they incorporated huge numbers of conquered peoples into their military forces

• They quickly acquired Chinese techniques and technology of seizure warfare

• Mongols demanded that their conquered people served as laborers, building roads and bridges and ferrying supplies over long distances

• Mongols capital was Karakorum

• Used many forms of psychological warfare so that there was fear embedded in people’s minds and so people would just give up and not fight against them which made it easier for the Mongols

• They had a centralized bureaucracy with varied specialized offices that took shape at the Mongols capital

• There were scribes to translate languages like Persian, Uighur, Chinese, and Tibetan

• relay stations were put in place to easily spread information ( it also fostered trade ) ( and Marco Polo really liked it and thought that it was smart and efficient )

• Fostering commerce was developed and in which Mongol rulers often offered merchants 10 percent or more above the asking price and allowed them free use of the relay stations for transporting their goods

• Ortughs = state-approved associations of merchants that allowed them to pool their resources and limit their losses in the event that a particular caravan failed ( like car insurance )

  • They also received substantial tax breaks and financial backing for their caravans

  • Low Interest Loans were also offered for ortughs

• Mongols supported Buddhism, Christianity, Muslim, and Daoism

  • Muslims could seek converts among Mongol troops

  • Gave Christians much greater freedom than what they had under Muslim rule