The document discusses the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan and his successors. It describes how Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes and established an empire that stretched from China to Eastern Europe. The empire was later divided into four khanates that were largely successful in their military conquests due to factors like their superior horsemanship and mobile warfare tactics. The impact of the Mongol invasions varied in different regions, with some areas experiencing an era of relative peace and communication under Mongol rule while others faced severe destruction.

1. Chapter 14
The Last Great Nomadic
Challenges
From Chinggis Khan to Timur

2.  A young leader unites the nomadic
Mongols of central Asia
 Overrun lands from China to Eastern
Europe – dubs himself “Genghis Khan” –
“world emperor”

3.  Take over N. China, central Asia, and
eastern Persia
 Genghis Khan’s sons and grandson’s will
help conquer the rest of China, Tibet,
Persia, Iraq, Southern Russia, and most of
Asia Minor
 Divide conquered land up into 4 khanates
(kingdoms)

6. http://home.tiscali.nl/~t543201/web-mongol/mongol-battles.htm

7.  Could cover 90 miles on horseback per day (the
“amazing” Roman military could travel 25)
 Bows launched arrows 400 yards (English
longbow limit 250yds)
 Scouts checked out next attack point before full
scale attack
 Ruthless – submit or die
 Villages that resisted were destroyed completely

8. Ghenggis Khan attacking Syria
and Palestine

9. Genghis Khan and his Mongolian Buddies…
fun facts, rumors, interesting bits
 Goal not to loot, but to destroy
 Upon capturing Baghdad in 1258, the last caliph
and his sons were trampled to death
– A fate reserved for rulers, goal? demoralize
 European rumor mill – Mongolians looked like
monkeys, barked like dogs, ate raw flesh, drank
horse urine, knew no laws, showed no mercy
 Water = weakness; could conquer through
mountains, rice paddies, rivers, etc, but not
seas/oceans (Java or Japan)

12. Russia according to the Russians

13. Reasons for Mongol Military
Success
Fernandez-Armesto, "The World, A History" p. 418

14. Impact Varied
 Pax Mongolica – after the initial shock of the attacks, a
peace comparable to the Roman empire, is established.
– Communication from E Asia and W Europe
– **At the end of Pax Mongolica the Silk Road is over.
 Il-Khans - Persia – Mongols assimilated and became
Muslim
– Poor caliph
– Il-Khans became protectors and advocates of Islam,
all Mongols within the Khanate are ordered to convert
– Timur/Tamerlane (from Jagadai) breaks the peace,
attacks from India to Russia
 Timur = Turkish
 Osman (one of his guys) becomes the founder of
the Ottoman Turks

15. Impact Varied
 Khanate of the Golden Horde – Russia - Batu - largely illiterate
clan – cut off Russia’s contact with the West, lasts 240+ years
– Meet great resistance, ruthless results “no eye remained to weep for the
dead”
– Kiev falls, Novgorod hangs on by a thread
– Perks? Russia benefits from trade; Protected from Teutonic Knights
who wanted to attack Orthodoxy and spread Catholicism
– Downsides? Miss the Renaissance
 Khanate of Jagadai - India – Timur Lang (Tamerlane) (Turk, in-law
of the Mongols)
– destroyed just about everything in sight
– destroys the sultanate
– occupation doesn’t last as long
– sultanate restores fairly quickly and Islam continues to grow in India under the
Mogul Empire as Hindus cling to their beliefs

16. Impact Varied
 Khanate of the Great Khan - China – Khublai
Khan
– Known as the Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368
– dismissed Confucian scholars; many had deep
Buddhist beliefs
– forbade marriage between Mongols and
Chinese
– inhibited Chinese from learning Mongol
language (which didn’t exist until GK)
– Chinese maintain their own identity
 never take Vietnam or Japan
– Japan is saved by typhoon winds “kamikaze” – divine wind
– Rebellion – poor rebellion Ju Yanzhang founds

17. Keep in Mind
 Anti-Mongolian Writing is written by literate
urbanites

18. Mongolian Superlatives
 Where was it least oppressive?
 Where did it create and establish an era of
peace?
 Where was it most harmful for the society
politically and culturally?