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Mongols: "The Mongols Made No Technological Breakthroughs, Founded No New Religions, Wrote Few Books or Dramas"
Mongols: "The Mongols Made No Technological Breakthroughs, Founded No New Religions, Wrote Few Books or Dramas"
The Mongols made no technological breakthroughs, founded no new religions, wrote few books or dramas
To compare
Imagine if the U.S., instead of being created by a group of educated merchants & wealthy planters, had been founded by one of its illiterate slaves, who, by the sheer force of personality, charisma, & determination, liberated America from foreign rule, united the people, invented a new system of warfare, marched an army from Canada to Brazil, and opened roads of commerce in a free-trade zone that stretched across the continents. Jack Weatherford in Genghis Khan
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
1258
1264-1279
Capture of Baghdad
Conquest of southern China
The Mongol warrior used to wear Chinese silk underwear, if it could be obtained, because it was a very tough substance
If arrows are shot from a long distance, it would not penetrate the silk It would also prevent poison from entering the bloodstream
During winter they wore several layers of wool as well as heavy leather boots with felt socks on their feet. The legs were often protected by overlapping iron plates resembling fish scales, which were sewn into the boots. Each warrior carried a battle axe, a curved sword known as scimitar; a lance, and two versions of their most famous weapon: the Mongol re-curved bow. One of the bows was light and could be fired rapidly from horseback, the other one was heavier and designed for longrange use from a ground position
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
In 25 years, subjugated more land & people than the Romans did in 400 years. Destroyed LOTS of less important cities often along less accessible trade routes to funnel commerce into routes that his army could more easily supervise and control.
Genghis Khan
Valued individual merit & loyalty Fighting wasnt honorable; winning was. So, used any means necessary to win (trickery, etc.) Conscripted peasants: Mongols just didnt 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: didnt care if chased or fled (unlike sedentary soldier-farmer), just wanted to kill the enemy.
Pax Mongolica?
Under the Mongols, there was unprecedented longdistance trade Mongols encouraged the exchange of people, technology, and information across their empire
Mongol Passport
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 werent profitable trade items unless one possessed medical knowledge for their use, so moved Arab doctors to China & vice versa)
Buddhist religious objects Chinese bureaucrats Chinese artists, artisans East Asian diplomats
Sugar cane
Black Death
In the short term the tax farming system was able to deliver large taxes, but over-taxation led to the rise of the price of grain and a severe economic crisis 1349 the Golden Horde destroyed the Il-Khan empire
As the Golden Horde and the Il-Khan empires declined in the 14th century, Timur built the Jagadai Khanate and his descendents - the Timurids - ruled the Middle East for several generations.
Russia in Bondage
- The Russians became vassals of the khan of the Golden Horde, a domination which lasted for 250 years - Peasants had to meet the demands from both their own princes and the Mongols, and many sought protection by becoming serfs, changing the Russian social structure until the 19th century - Some cities like Moscow benefited from Mongol rule by increased trade, but when the Golden Hordes power weakened, it led the resistance - Although Mongols remained active in the region through much of the 15th century, Moscow became the center of political power in Russia - The Mongols influenced Russian military and political organization, but most significantly isolated them from developments in Western Europe did not experience the Renaissance or Reformation
Another description:
The Mongols were terrible to look at and indescribable, with large heads like buffaloes, narrow eyes like a fledglings, a snub nose like a cats, projecting snouts like a dogs, narrow loins like an ants, short legs like a hogs, and by nature with no beards at all An Armenian observer
Mongols in Russia
Good: Centralization politically Protected Russia from attacks (Teutonic Knights) Bad: Russia cut off from political, economic, and intellectual development
- Mongol armies drove to the outskirts of Vienna, but withdrew in 1241 because they needed to elect a successor to the deceased Great Khan Ogodei. - Europeans then initiated a variety of diplomatic and trade overtures toward the Mongols. Mongol invasions and the bubonic plague caused Europeans to question their religious beliefs. After Mongol power began to wane in the 13th and 14th centuries, strong centralized states such as Lithuania and the Balkan Kingdoms began to assert their control over their neighbors. Anatolia functioned as a route by which Islamic culture spread
Social Policies and Scholar-Gentry Resistance The scholar-gentry resented the Mongols refusal to reinstate the examination system, and regarded them as uncouth barbarians Artisans and merchants prospered under Mongol rule, and their patronage stimulated urban life including popular entertainment, especially musical dramas.
Actors and actresses, who had long been relegated to the despised status of mean people by the scholar-gentry, achieved celebrity and social esteem.
Peasantry land was protected and their tax and labor burdens lessened, and plans for establishing elementary education at the village level were formulated
The Mongols
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Shortly after Chinggis Khans death, his empire split into four Khanates
Question
How did the Mongol conquests bring an end to the post-classical civilizations in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Islam?
Answer
Russia end of Kievan dominance power shifts to Moscow Byzantium Ottoman dominance and fall of Constantinople (1453). Western Europe limited direct impact but Black Death has later effect. Trade increases with East.
For a brief period there was no increase in commercial tradea halt to cultural exchangeinternal peace subsided His death in 1405 signified the end of the great nomadic challenges to Eurasian civilizations as the Turks under future leaders (Mehmed II) sought a sedentary empire
TIMURS WORLD