Transcript The Mongols - White Plains Public Schools

East Meets West
The Mongols
Temujin's Rise
 Born ca. 1162, d. 1227
 After long period of tribal conflict and
intrigue, succeeded in unprecedented feat of
unifying all Mongols.
 Declared Khan of Khans and given name
Genghis (Chinggis) Khan, 1206.
 Conquest of North (Kin) China 1211-1214
Why did the Mongols erupt from
Mongolia in the early 13th century to
begin their conquests of the rest of the
world, creating the largest contiguous
land empire in world history?
There has been considerable speculation about
the reasons for the Mongol eruption from
Mongolia, and though there is no scholarly
consensus on specific reasons, many have
pointed to the causes of:
• Ecology
• Trade disruptions
• The figure of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan.
War with Persia 1218-1222
 War started after Persians put Mongol
emissaries to death.
 War of annihilation on both sides.
 Mongol detachment sent to pursue Shah
across his own empire.
 Following conquest of Persia, Mongol troop
circled Caspian Sea.
The Legend of Prester John
• A Christian King David ruled a great land
in the East
• His son, Prester John, would come and
rescue Europe from the Islamic threat
• Many Mongols were technically Christians
of the Nestorian sect
 Rumors of Mongol attack on Muslims
reinforced belief in the legend
Mongol Battle Tactics
• Constant practice in riding, archery
• Traveled light
• Extraordinary endurance and
discipline
• Extremely ruthless in battle
• Army was 100% cavalry
• Practical, readily assimilated
advanced siege technology with the
use of swarming to overwhelm the
enemy
Mongol Battle Tactics
 Remarkable ability to coordinate armies separated
by great distances; use of signal flags and flaming
arrows
 Mobility unheard of by armies of the time--up to
100 miles/day.
 Mongol combination of mobility and
communication probably not equaled again until
W.W. II.; swarming technique still in use today
Genghis Khan’s Value Statement
“The greatest joy a man can know is
to conquer his enemies and drive
them before him. To ride their
horses and take away their
possessions. To see the faces of
those who were dear to them
bedewed with tears, and to clasp
their wives and daughters in his
arms.”
Legacy in World History
• To the Mongols, Chinggis Khan is a great national
hero who united all the Mongol tribes and carved
out the largest contiguous land empire in world
history.
• Chinggis and his descendants promoted frequent
and extended contacts among the civilizations of
Europe and Asia, ushering in an era of
extraordinary interaction of goods, ideas,
religions, and technology.
The career of Genghis Khan defies easy
characterization. A man who unleashed terrible
destruction and death on his way to conquest, he
paved the way for a peaceful era that resulted in
the first direct contacts between Europe and
China. An illiterate nomad, he ordered the
development of the first Mongol written language,
supported craft workers and artists, and
patronized a variety of religions. A military man
prone to use violence, he nonetheless devised
rules designed to resolve conflicts peacefully. He
was neither a monster, as he is often depicted in
the West, nor the greatest military genius of all
times, as the Mongols perceive him to be.
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 Moslems.
• Administration commonly more benign,
less corrupt than pre-Mongol government.
Positive qualities of Mongols
 Discipline, obedience to own laws
 Sense of honor and loyalty, respect for these
qualities in others, even opponents
 High status of women
• These qualities attested even by European
observers who generally detested the
Mongols
After Genghis Khan
• Empire splits into three functionally
independent realms called khanates:
– China and Mongolia
– Russia
– Persia
• In principle, the rulers of Russia and Persia
were regents for the Khan in China and
were required to pay tribute
Mongols in Russia and
in Eastern Europe
• Mongols(Golden Horde) conquer Russia, 1236-1242
• A nomadic tribe, the Kumans, asked king of Hungary for
asylum
• Mongols attack Hungary, 1241, when king refuses to
relinquish the Kumans
• Within three months, Mongols obliterate all military
resistance in Eastern Europe
• Mongols break off attack when Khan dies, never return
• Isolate Russia
• Moscow becomes certain of regional trade
• Tribute protects Russian Principalities
• Unites Russian
Mongols in the Middle East
• Mongol-ruled Persia(Il-Khanate) goes to war against the
Caliph(Abbasid)
• Mongols capture, sack, & obliterate Baghdad, 1258
• Canal system of Iraq destroyed
• Psychological blow from which Islam never recovered
• Egypt(Mamluks) saved by battle of Ayn Jalut, 1259;
Mongols fight Mongols for first time:End of Islam’s
“Golden Age”
• Assasination of last caliph remembered by Bin-Laden
calling Bush(Pres) and Cheney(VP) modern Hugudei Khan
after the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in March 2003
Mongols in China
•
•
•
•
Raid North China 1211 - 1214
Full conquest of North China 1225-1230
Final Conquest of South China 1269 – 1279
Yuan Dynasty rules China (1279 – 1368), the first
time that all China had come under foreign rule
• Failed invasions and expeditions to:
–
–
–
–
Vietnam
Burma
Indonesia
Japan(Kamikaze)
Mongols in Japan
• Invasions in 1279 and 1281
• Mongols unable to advance beyond
beachheads
• Japanese unable to drive invaders out
• Both times, a typhoon wrecked the invasion
fleet
• Led to Japanese notion of the “Divine
Wind” - Kamikaze
Foreign contact and exchange
• The Mongols' receptiveness
to foreigners was a critical
factor in promoting cultural
exchange and a truly
"global" history. Their
attitude of relative openness
toward foreigners and
foreign influence led to an
extraordinary interchange of
products, peoples,
technology, and science
throughout the Mongol
domains.
•
From the Mongol period on, then, we
can speak about a Eurasian — if not a
global — history, in which
developments in one part of Europe
would have an impact not only in
Europe but also in Asia, with the
same being true for Asia. And if we
remember that Christopher
Columbus was actually looking for a
new route to Asia when he landed in
America — and that one of the few
books he had with him was Marco
Polo's account of his travels in Asia —
we could even say that global history
begins with the Mongols and the
bridge they built between the East
and the West.
The Christian West was not alone in
pursuing contact with the Mongols. A
century after the first Papal emissaries and
fifty years after Polo returned to Venice, the
Moroccan Muslim traveler, Ibn Battuta,
reached the ports of South China and
continued as far north as Peking. Although
Battuta's account of his experiences in
Mongol China are only briefly described in
his book of travels, the Rihla, his account of
economic life, cities visited and people
encountered, as well as his judgments on
China's culture, tell us much about the
fourteenth-century world.