The Mongols: 1206-1368
A Nomadic Eurasian Empire
Traditional Mongol Society
 Nomads of Central Asian steppe

o horses
 Kinship-based
o
 Deep sense of
 Women w/
Genghis Khan
 1162-1227
 Born “
”

to defeat clan that killed his father

into an empire
 Temujin 
(“
”), 1206
 Capital at
 Began conquests beyond Central Asia
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS
 What motivated Mongols to expand beyond the Central Asian steppe?
 What strategies did the Mongols use to defeat those who tried resisting their rule?
 What military tactics gave the Mongols an upper-hand against their enemies?
Early Mongol Conquests
 Northern China
o Broke through
, 1211
o
(
) fell, 1227
 Mongols learned siege warfare


 Eastern Middle East (
)
o Muhammad Shah II provoked war
o
, 1218-1222
o Mongols circle Caspian Sea
Mongol Rule in Conquered Lands
 goal =
 peaceful when no resistance

if resistance
 local native rule permitted
o
 Mongols usually
with local ways of life
o

– how?
 following conquests, peace across Asia
o “
”(
)
Genghis Khan’s Death, 1227
 empire divided into 4
o son/grandsons ruled each as




[Khanate of the Great Khan (
[Khanate of Jagadai]
[Khanate of the
[Il-Khan Khanate]
 all khans answered to
dynasty)]
(Tatars)]
in
The Golden Horde in Russia
 Russia conquered (
)
o control ~
years
o
destroyed
o
o
 Center of
o Russia further isolated from developments in
 Mongols headed to W. Europe, but halt after Ogedei died
Mongols’ Continued Conquest in the Middle East


o caliph & family murdered
o
o agricultural infrastructure destroyed
 Islam never recovered from this psychological blow
 Mongol expansion into Egypt halted by
o Battle of Ain Jalut, 1259
Mongols in China
 Why was China a prime target for conquest?
 Conquest of China:
o
dynasty fell
o
 Foreigners have Mandate of Heaven?
o Established
dynasty
Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty: 1279-1368

 Some accommodation to Chinese culture:
o
o Supported
o
o Conversion to
o New capital moved to China =
(Tatu) [modern-day
 …but more attempts to preserve Mongol superiority:
o
o Rejected
o Chinese barred from
]
For what reasons would the Confucian scholar-gentry have for rejecting Mongol rule?



o

o
o

 Freedoms for
 Mongols supported
Impacts of Yuan Rule
 Consistently promoted
o Why & How?
o Foreign merchants visit China along
 Ex.
from Venice (1271-1295)


 Technological diffusion:
o
 Black Death (
) spread across Eurasia
Failed Invasions of Feudal Japan
 1274 & 1280

destroyed Mongol invasion fleet
 Japanese notion of the “
”(
o Japan protected by heavenly powers?
o
Fall of the Yuan
 Revolts in Southern China
 Mongol signs of
 Kublai’s successors
o
 Scholar-gentry call upon peasants to revolt
o
o
o
 Formation of secret societies
o

, peasant leader, established
)
dynasty (1368-1644)