The Mongol Empire

Major Facts about the Mongol Empire

In the thirteenth century, the Mongol Empire rose from divided tribes or horsemen to conquerors of Eurasia. This was due primarily to Genghis Khan (1162–1227), who unified his countrymen and directed them in brutal campaigns against his enemies.

Fig. 1- Map depicting Genghis Khan's Conquests.

The Mongol Empire as Brutal Conquerors

Many are quick to paint the Mongolians under Genghis Khan and his successors as savage slaughterers, barbarians from the Asian Steppe who only sought to destroy. That perspective is not entirely unfounded. When invading a settlement, the initial destruction of the Mongol horseback warriors was so severe that populations often took many years to recover.

The Mongols under Genghis Khan took cattle and women, struck fear into the lords of kingdoms across Eurasia, and were generally undefeated on the battlefield. Such was the brutality of the Mongol Empire upon invasion, that the many Mongolian warriors were often required to satisfy a specific tithe of kills to Genghis Khan, leading to the executions of thousands of captive citizens even after their land was taken.

The Mongol Empire as Clever Administrators

During his reign, Genghis Khan established a surprising precedent for his sons to follow during their own reigns. During his initial unification of Mongolia, Genghis Khan respected merit in leadership and battle above all else. The warriors of conquered tribes were assimilated into Genghis Khan's own, separated, and removed from their previous identity and loyalties. Enemy generals were often killed but sometimes spared due to their martial qualities.

Fig. 2- Temujin becomes Great Khan.

Genghis Khan implemented this administrative ingenuity in his expanding Mongol Empire. The Great Khan encouraged trade through his kingdom, connecting kingdoms from Europe to China. He set up a pony express system to deliver information quickly and relocated useful individuals (mostly scientists and engineers) to where he needed them most.

Perhaps most fascinating was Genghis Khan's tolerance of various religions. Being an animist himself, Genghis Khan allowed for freedom of religious expression, as long as tribute was paid on time. This policy of tolerance, along with the fear of invasion, discouraged resistance among the Mongol Empire's vassals.

History of the Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire ruled Eurasia for much of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Its time in power and scale make its history as rich as it is complex. The rise of the Mongol Empire can be easily split between the time of Genghis Khan's rule, and the time in which his children inherited his once unified empire.

The Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan

The Mongol Empire formed in 1206 when Genghis Khan rose as Great Khan of his newly unified people, inheriting his name. (Genghis is a misspelling of Chinggis, which roughly translates to "universal ruler"; his birth name was Temujin). Still, the Khan was not satisfied with just the unification of the Mongol tribes. He set his eyes on China and the Middle East.

The history of the Mongol Empire is one of conquest.

Fig. 3- A portrait of Genghis Khan.

Conquest of China

The Kingdom of Xi Xia in northern China was the first to face Genghis Khan. After introducing China to the terror of a Mongolian invasion, Genghis Khan rode to Zhongdu, the capital of the Jin Dynasty in 1214. Leading a force of hundreds of thousands strong, Genghis Khan easily overwhelmed the Chinese in the fields. In attacking Chinese cities and fortresses, the Mongolians learned valuable lessons in siege warfare.

Conquest of the Middle East

First striking the Kara-Khitan Khanate in 1216, the Mongol Empire swept into the Middle East. Using siege weaponry and knowledge from their Chinese invasion, the Mongolians brought low the Khwarazmian Empire and Samarkand. The battles were brutal and thousands of citizens were slaughtered. Importantly, the Mongol Empire was exposed to the religion of Islam during these initial conquests; Islam would soon play a significant role in the history of the Mongol Empire.

The Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan's Sons

After Genghis Khan's death in 1227, the Mongol Empire split into four Khanates divided among his four sons, and later among their sons. Although still connected beneath the Great Khan Ogedei, this divisional separation would become real in 1260, when the separated Khanates became fully autonomous. Below is a chart of significant territories and their respective rulers that rose after Genghis Khan's death.

The Decline of the Mongol Empire

With empire-wide divisions instilled after Genghis Khan's death, the Mongol Empire continued to flourish and conquer, just with increasing separation between the Khanates. With each decade, the Khanates assimilated into their territories, losing semblance of past Mongolian identities. Where Mongol identity was maintained, opposing forces and vassal states were growing in strength, such as the success of the Muscovite Russians against the Golden Horde in Russia.

Fig. 4- A depiction of the Mongolian defeat at Kulikovo.

Additionally, the interconnectedness created by the Mongol Empire's infrastructure only helped to spread the Black Death, a disease that killed millions, in the mid-fourteenth century. The resulting population loss not only affected the Mongolian populations but also their vassals, weakening the Mongol Empire on every front.

There is no definitive year for the end of the Mongol Empire. Instead, it was a slow fall that can be traced back to Ogedei Khan's death in 1241, or even to Genghis Khan's death in 1227 with the division of his empire. The mid-fourteenth century was markedly a turning point. However, the spread of the Black Death and multiple huge Mongol military defeats, as well as many civil wars, diminished the power of the divided Khanates. The last distinct Mongolian states fell into obscurity by the end of the seventeenth century.