The Biography of a Leader

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Chapter 14 Mongols

• • • •

Middle East Comparative Generalization

Politically – Mongols took down the Seljuk Turks which eventually allowed the Ottoman Turks to rise to power.

– Destruction of major cities along the trade route.

– Baghdad no longer the political epicenter.

Economically – Lost influence on long distance trade routes.

Socially- Mongols did NOT have a huge social impact. Religiously- Many Mongols that stayed converted to Islam.

The Big Picture

• • • • The Mongols interrupted the big post-classical empires.

Extended the world network through re-defining long distance trade routes.

Ghinggis Khan and his successors brought under their control: – Central Asia – China – Persia and Iraq – Tibet – Asia Minor and southern Russia Last Nomadic group to be a formidable challenge to settled civilizations.

Overview of Mongol Culture

• • • • • • Goat herders and sheep Pastoralists on horseback – young learned early how to ride. (both sexes) Tribe divided into kinship clans Confederations organized for military acts of defense and offense.

Leaders elected by free males Courage culture leadership

Ghinggis the Warrior

• • • His father, Kabul Khan, had established a kingdom in north China.

That kingdom declined after his death.

Kabul Khan struggled to keep control and was killed violently before Temunjin was old enough to defend his rightful place of power.

• • He sought exile as child, was found, captured and managed to escape and form an alliance that would enable him to show leadership. His ability and diplomacy won him respect and notoriety.

• • • By 1206 Temuchin was the first tribal leader to assemble all the Mongol tribes under a single ruler. he was given the title Khan of Khans and the honorific name by which he is better known to history - Genghis Khan. What separates Genghis Khan (1162-1227) from all his predecessors is that Genghis extended his authority over a vast region and created institutions to perpetuate Mongol power.

Building a War Machine

• • • Males taught to hunt, fight and ride as soon as they could walk.

Used short bows fired from horseback Chinggis formalized them into military units (tumens) of 10,000 – Heavy and light cavalry

Courage Culture – Harsh Discipline

• • • • Formal Code – – Punishments Rewards Spies Old technology – Stirrup and chaps New weapons – – Gun powder Cannons

1207 Major Conquest Begins

• • • Xi-Xia began vassal state Qin Empire which had been established by the Jurchens Then, they realized they needed a strategy for taking urban areas… – Submit and send tribute or – Be killed or made a slave

Life Under Mongol Emperium

• • • • • • • Astute, tolerant Chinggis Khan was illiterate, yet open to new ideas and wanted to create a peaceful empire New capital – Karakorum and used talented individuals from all conquered legions Script devised for the Mongolian language Legal code enforced by special police in charge of dealing with rivalries.

In urban centers artisans and scholars freely worked Commerce flourished along secure trade routes.

Kublai Khan – 1271 – Yaun Dynasty

• • • grandson of Chinggis Attempted to preserve the distinction between Mongols and Chinese – Intermarriage was prohibited • No Chinese were allowed to read Mongol script • No more exams for civil service • Capital in Beijing (Tatu) New social structure – Mongols followed by nomadic and Islamic allies – North Chinese – ethnic Chinese and peoples of the south

Gender Roles

• • • • • Mongol women had a strong role originally They remained aloof from Confucian Chinese women Refused to adopt foot binding Retained right to property and control in the household Freedom of movement

Gender Roles Continued

• • Some women hunted and went to war Chabi, wife of Kublai, was an influential woman

Mongol Tolerance

• • • • Rulers were open to outside ideas Kublai was interested in Buddhists, Nestorian and Latin Christians Daoists and Muslims He welcomed foreign visitors like Marco Polo

Reaction by Confucianists

• • • • Thought of the Mongols as “uncouth barbarians” Refusal to reinstate the exam system was resented The bolstering of artisans and merchants bothered them Mongols liked popular entertainment raising the status of actors and actresses which went against the earlier hierarchy

Chinese lower class reaction

• • • • Kubila’s policies favored peasantry, protecting the agricultural land from Mongol cavalry men turning it into pasture Famine relief measures were introduced Tax and labor burdens were reduced Establishment of elementary education at the village level was formulated, but didn’t get done.

Mongol Impact on Russia

• • Russia on the eve of invasion: – Kiev was in decline – Russia divided into petty kingdoms unable to unite.

Invasion by Mongols – Batu, grandson of Ghingiss Khan led the invasion of the Golden Horde in 1240 – Kiev was “taken and ravaged.” – Novgorod was spared when its ruler submitted peacefully.

“Russia in Bondage”

• • • • Russians became vassals of the khan of the Golden Horde Lasted for 250 years Princes collected payment from peasants – taxes for themselves and tribute for the Mongols Many peasants became serfs because of this.

• Moscow benefitted – Profited as tribute collector for the khans – The metropolitan of Moscow was made the head of the Russian Orthodox church

Reaction of Western Europe

• • Christian Western Europe had been losing in the crusades in the past century, so at first they were happy that the Mongol successes against the Muslims. The attitude changed when the Mongols – attacked Hungary in 1240 – Raided widely in central and southeastern Europe • • • When Ghinggis Khan died, his third son Ogedei took over as Supreme Khan.

When Ogedei died, a succession struggle developed which caused Batu to withdrawl from Europe.

With the rich bounty from the Middle East and Asia, there wasn’t much motivation to go back.

Back to Impact on Russia

• • • When the power of the Golden Horde declined, Moscow led Russian resistance to the Mongols.

The Golden Horde was defeated at Kulikovea in 1380 Later attacks by Timur finished breaking the Mongol hold on Russia • • The Mongols influenced military and political organization. (though the Byzantine example of leadership was also retained.) It is argued within the same textbook that the Mongols isolated the Russians from developments in Western European civilization, and that the isolation was not directly a Mongol consequence.

The Mongol Assault on the Islamic Heartlands

• Hulegu, a grandson of Chinggis Khan and ruler of the Ilkhan division of the Mongol empire, moved westward against Mesopotamia and North Africa.

• A major Mongol victory over the Seljuk Turks in 1243, opened Asia Minor to conquest by the Ottoman Turks later on.

Mongols in the Middle East

• • • By about 1250 the Mongol empire had split into three semi-independent realms: China and Mongolia, Persia and Russia In 1255 the Mongol rulers of Persia went to war against the Caliph, invading Syria and Palestine. In 1258 they captured Baghdad, destroyed the city and killed the Caliph.

Iraq in 1258

• • • • • • • was very different from present day Iraq. Its agriculture was supported by a canal network thousands of years old. Already Islam was turning inward, becoming more suspicious of conflicts between faith and reason and more conservative. Baghdad was one of the most brilliant intellectual centers in the world. The Mongol destruction of Baghdad was a psychological blow from which Islam never recovered. With the sack of Baghdad, the intellectual flowering of Islam was snuffed out. Imagining the Athens of Pericles and Aristotle obliterated by a nuclear weapon begins to suggest the enormity of the blow. The Mongols filled in the irrigation canals and left Iraq too depopulated to restore them.

Ayn Jalut