Bellwork
Several lessons ago, we discussed the Chinese
Empire. Please try to describe any of the
following of the Chinese Empire:
– Purpose of the Great Wall of China
– Mandate of Heaven
– Confucius
– Qin Dynasty
– Geography of China
World History
Section 4, Unit 3
The Mongol Empire
Objectives
• Describe the geography of the Asian Steppes
• Describe the lifestyle of the nomads and Mongols in the
region
• Identify who Genghis Khan was and list out important
achievements made under Genghis
• Analyze the effects of Mongol conquest on both Asian
and European cultures
• Analyze the influence of the Chinese on western
civilizations due to Mongols rule
• Explain why the Mongols were unable to conquer Japan
• Examine the affects of Mongol rule on the Chinese
people
• Identify the differences between the Mongol rulers and
their Chinese subjects
• Identify the reasons why the Mongol Empire fell
China
• Several lessons ago, we discussed the rise of
the Chinese empire.
• The last Dynasty we discussed was the Han
Dynasty, which was successful and unifying
much of China.
• Since that time, the Han Dynasty has fallen
and both the Tang and Song Dynasties
restored China to it’s former glory.
China
• While China, under the Tang and Song
Dynasties flourished, another group north
of them began to expand.
• As we will see in the next two lessons,
despite the fact that China was ultimately
unable to protect itself against these foreign
groups, China’s culture would ultimately
survive and endure.
Mongols
• The Mongols of the
Asian steppe lived a
nomadic lifestyle.
• While the Song Dynasty
was growing prosperous,
the Mongols of this
region grew in strength.
• These people prided
themselves on their
discipline, ruthlessness,
and courage in battle.
Mongols
• Conflict between the
Mongols and the
peoples across Eurasia
was about to explode
into violence.
• The Mongol conquests
would forever
transform both Europe
and Asia.
Geography
• Across the landmass of Eurasia stretches a
vast belt of dry grassland called the steppe.
• The steppe had two important impacts on
neighboring civilizations:
1. It served as a land trade route connecting the
East to the West (think, Silk Roads).
2. It was home to nomadic peoples who
frequently swept into cities to plunder, loot,
and conquer.
Steppes
• There are two main expanses of the
Eurasian steppe- western steppe and the
eastern steppe.
Steppes
• The western steppe spans from Central
Asia to Eastern Europe. It was the
original home of many of the invaders
we have discussed, such as the Hittites
and Aryans.
• The eastern steppe takes up much of
Mongolia, was the first home of the
Huns, Turks, and Mongols.
Geography
• The steppes receive
very little rainfall, but
short, hardy grasses
grow in the windy
plain.
• Temperature can
change dramatically,
from -57 degrees F in
the winter to 96
degrees F in the
summer.
Geography
• Rainfall is somewhat more prevalent in the
western steppe.
• Aside from the that, the climate is more
mild, meaning more people tended to be
from the western or southern parts of the
steppe.
Boundaries
• The boundaries of the steppe was often a
political one, not geographical.
• It was not uncommon for the Chinese to
continuously push the line that was
considered the “steppes” farther back so
they could expand their cultivation.
– In this, one way to define the steppes was to say
that the steppes ended where cultivation began.
Nomadic Lifestyle
• The people of the
steppes were nomadic
in nature.
• They were referred to
as pastoralists–
meaning they herded
domesticated animals.
Nomadic Lifestyle
• These people were constantly on the move,
searching for good pasture to feed their
herds.
• These nomads followed seasonal patterns
and repeatedly camped in places they had
been before.
Nomadic Lifestyle
• Being on the move consistently made
owning land very difficult.
• It was not unusual for nomadic groups to
fight over grassland and water rights in the
steppes region.
Nomadic Lifestyle
• Asian nomads
practically lived on
horseback as they
followed their herds.
• These people fully relied
on their animals for
food, clothing, and
housing.
A modern yurt
– The average diet
consisted of meat and
mare’s milk (horse). They
wore clothing made of
skins and wool and lived
in portable felt tents
called yurts.
Clans
• Steppe nomads traveled together in groups
called clans, based on family.
• The members of the clan were claimed to be
from a common ancestor.
• Clans required good leaders to make
decisions and devise military strategies.
– In some cases, different clans came together
when they needed to attack a common enemy
or raid neighbors.
Question
How do you think the nomadic peoples
of the steppes interacted with the
settled peoples around them?
Nomads v. Settled Peoples
• The differing ways of life between nomadic
and settled peoples resulted in constant
interaction between them.
• In some cases, trade was peaceful.
– The nomads exchanged horses for some goods
they lacked, such as grain, cloth, or metal.
– In most situations, the nomads were fine with
the little they had. They were accustomed to
the life they had.
Nomads v. Settled Peoples
• However, nomads were sometimes tempted
by rich land and relative wealth of
townspeople and took what they wanted.
• Because of this, the townspeople feared
raids on their villages.
Protection
• Throughout history, the people of steppes
sometimes rode out of the steppe to attack
border towns and villages.
• In many cases, the empire, such as the
Chinese, could defend these towns.
– The purpose of the Great Wall, for example, was
to keep out nomadic invaders.
Raids
• However, when an
empire became weak,
this provided an
opportunity to attack
and get more goods.
• In some cases, they
might take over a
region and settle
there.
Mongols
• Occasionally, a powerful
group is able to conquer
a whole empire.
• In this case, the Mongols
proved to be too much
for the Chinese empire
and would soon conquer
all of China.
– In doing so, the Mongols
would become part of the
civilization they
conquered.
Rise of the Mongols
• For centuries, the Mongol people had
roamed the eastern steppe in loosely
organized clans .
• Since they were never united, they were
unable to conquer larger empires.
– It would have to take a military and political
genius to unite the Mongols.
Genghis Khan
• Around 1200, Temujin, a
Mongol khan (clan
leader) sought to unify
the clans under his
leadership.
• Across the Mongolian
steppe, he defeated
rivals one by one.
• In 1206, Temujin
accepted the title
“Genghis Khan” or
“universal ruler” of the
clans.
Genghis Khan
• Over the next 21 years, Genghis led the
Mongols in conquering much of Asia.
– His first goal was China.
• After invading the northern Jin empire in
1215 his attention turned to the Islamic
region west of Mongolia.
Genghis Khan
• Genghis Khan attacked because Mongol
traders and an ambassador had been killed
by Muslims.
Question: What do you think Genghis Khan is going to do to
the Arabic regions because of this?
Genghis Khan
• In revenge, he launched a campaign of terror
across central Asia.
“In retribution for every
hair on their heads it
seemed that a hundred
thousand heads rolled
in the dust.” –court
historian’s written
account of Genghis’
revenge.
Genghis Khan
• The Mongols destroyed one city after another
in Central Asia.
– Utrar
– Samarkand
– Bukhara
• Aside from destroying the cities, the Mongols
slaughtered many of the inhabitants.
• By 1221, Central Asia was under Mongol
control.
Characteristics
• Genghis Khan’s
success lay in several
of his characteristics.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Organizational Skills
Strategic Skills
Use of new weapons
Cruelty
Do not write these down yet, we
will go through each in a
moment. Write them down
when we get to them.
Organizational Skills
• Genghis Khan was a
brilliant organizer
• He successfully assembled
his Mongol warriors into a
united fighting force.
• Following the model of
the Chinese military, he
grouped his warriors into
armies of 10,000 and then
turned these into smaller
groupings, such as
brigades, platoons, and
companies.
Gifted Strategist
• Genghis was a gifted strategist.
• He used various tricks to confuse his enemy.
– Sometimes he would pretend to be retreating,
and when the enemy followed, the Mongols
would appear suddenly and then slaughter the
exhausted forces.
– Genghis also utilized spies to find out enemy
weaknesses before battle.
New Weapons
• Genghis adopted new
weapons and
technologies used by his
enemies.
– For example, he captured
Chinese engineers and
had them work on
building catapults and
creating gunpowder
charges.
– He would use these
weapons to conquer
various Chinese cities.
A hand cannon used by later Mongols
Cruelty
• Genghis used cruelty as a
weapon.
• He believed in terrifying
his enemies into
surrender.
– If a city refused to open
their city gates, for example,
he might kill an entire
population once he forces
the gate open.
– The terror the Mongol’s
spread prior to their arrival
led many towns to simply
surrender without a fight.
Towns who surrendered were often treated very well.
Death
• Genghis died in 1227 from an illness.
• Despite his death, however, his successors
continued to expand his empire.
• In less than 50 years, the Mongols
conquered territory from China to Poland.
To compare this, he conquered almost twice the
amount of land that the Romans controlled–
and it took the Romans almost 1000 years to
reach their maximum size.
Mongol Empire
Question:
How were the
Mongols so
successful at
spreading
their empire
so far?
What tactics
or techniques
did they use?
Ogadai
• Following the death of Genghis Khan, his
son Ogadai became the Great Khan.
• The Great Khan headed the whole Mongol
Empire.
• Under the Great Khan’s leadership, Mongol
armies commanded by Genghis’ other sons
and grandsons completed their conquest of
northern China and invaded Korea.
Khanates
• However, when Ogadai died in 1241, western
expansion ended.
• The commanders were called back to their
capital to elect a successor.
• By 1260, the Mongols decided to break the
empire down into four large territories,
called Khanates.
Khanates
• Each Khanate was ruled by a descendent of
Genghis. The four Khanates were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Khanate of Chagatai (Central Asia)
Ilkhanate- Dominions of Timur (Persia)
Khanate of the Golden Horde (Russia)
Khanate of the Great Khan (Mongolia and
China)
Khanates
Kublai Khan
• In 1260, the grandson of Genghis Khan
named himself the Great Khan and ruled
from the Khanate of the Great Khan.
– We will discuss more of Kublai Khan in the next
part.
Rulership
• Many areas invaded by the Mongols never
recovered.
• Some populations of cities were wiped out
and, in some cases, the Mongols even
destroyed ancient irrigation systems of
areas such as the Tigris and Euphrates
Valley.
– With this, the land could no longer support
resettlement.
However, according to some historians, the destruction caused by the
Mongols may be overstated, as to make them seem like the “bad guys”
in history.
Assimilation
• Over time, some Mongols began to adopt
aspects of cultures they ruled.
• The Ilkhans and the Golden Horde became
Muslims.
• The Great Khans made use of Chinese
institutions.
– The cultural differences of these khanates
eventually contributed to the splitting up of the
empire.
Mongol Peace
• From the mid-1200s to the mid-1300s, the
Mongols imposed stability, law, and order
across much of Eurasia.
• This period is sometimes known as the
Mongol Peace or Pax Mongolica.
Mongol Peace
• During the Mongol Peace, Mongols:
1. Guaranteed safe passage of trade caravans,
travelers, and missionaries. Trade increased
between Europe and Asia.
2. With trade came the spread of ideas and
inventions.
i.
For example, Chinese gunpowder, reached Europe.
Disease
• However, with increased
contact came increased
risk of disease.
• Historians speculate
that the Mongols may
have spread the bubonic
plague (i.e. “Black
Death”) into Europe
during their conquest or
during increased trade.
Break
• Take two minutes to
relax.
Kublai Khan
• Kublai Khan, in 1260,
assumed the title of
Great Khan.
• In theory, the Great
Khan ruled all of the
Mongol Empire.
• However, this did not
apply very well to reality.
– After the empire split into
four Khanates, each acted
as a semi-independent
state.
Khanate of the Great Khan
• The Great Khan, instead of trying to
manage of the whole of his empire, instead
focused on extending the power and range
of his Khanate, which already controlled
Mongolia, Korea, Tibet, and Northern
China.
– To fulfill this goal, Kublai Khan would conquer
all of China.
Conquering China
• It took three generations of Mongol leaders
to complete the conquest of China.
o Genghis began his conquest first of Northern
China.
o Genghis’ son, Ogadai, conquered Northern
China and tried to attack Southern China.
Ogadai, however, was unable to get past the
Chinese soldiers.
o However, Kublai Khan finally overwhelmed
them in 1279, 40 years after Ogadai tried.
Chinese fears
• Throughout all of Chinese history, the
Chinese feared and fought off invasions of
northern nomads.
• China had, in some situations, lost territory
to nomadic groups, but no foreign invader
had ever been able to rule the whole
country.
Yuan Dynasty
• Kublai Khan became
the new emperor of
China and called his
dynasty the Yuan (yooahn) Dynasty.
• It lasted less than a
century, until 1368.
– However, during the
time it ruled it was
extremely important to
Chinese history.
Yuan Dynasty
• The Yuan Dynasty was very important to
Chinese history:
1. China was united for the first time in 300
years (for this, Kublai is considered one of
China’s greatest emperors).
2. Control by the Mongols opened China up to
greater foreign trade and contacts.
3. Kublai and his successors tolerated Chinese
culture and made few changes to their society.
Yuan Dynasty
• Unlike his Mongol ancestors, Kublai Khan
spent almost his entire life in China.
Question: How might having spent his entire life in China affected
his feelings towards civilizations (i.e., how might he feel about the
nomadic way of life)?
• As well, he had no hatred for civilizations. He
rather enjoyed the lifestyle of civilizations,
including his own luxurious palaces.
– In fact, Kublai Khan also built a square-walled
capital in present day Beijing.
Moving the Capital
• Kublai Khan built his palace to enhance his
prestige, but there was another purpose to
this capital:
1. For the first time in Mongol history, the
Capital of the Mongol empire is not in
Mongolia, but rather in China.
2. Kublai wanted to make his mark as emperor
of China.
Japan
• After conquering China,
Kublai Khan tried to
extend his rule to Japan.
• In 1274 Kublai sent his
huge fleets against
Japan.
– The Mongols forced
Koreans (who are close to
Japan) to built, sail, and
provide provisions for the
boats.
– This attempt failed.
Look at the map carefully. Why
might it be difficult for them to
conquer Japan?
Second Attempt
• The second fleet of attackers- in 1281attempted to conquer Japan with a fleet of
150,000 Mongol, Chinese, and Korean
warriors– the largest seaborne invasion
force until World War II.
– After 53 days, Japanese warriors fought the
invaders to a standstill.
Typhoon
• On the following day, the sky darkened and
a typhoon swept furiously across the sea of
Japan.
• Mongol ships were upended, swamped, and
dashed against the rocky shore– despite
attempts to escape to open sea.
Kamikaze
• Many Mongols drowned and those who
made it to shore were slain by Japanese
warriors.
• The Japanese spoke of reverently of these
“divine winds”, or kamikaze, that saved
Japan.
Mongol Rule in China
• Mongol rule in China did face some
problems.
• Mongol ways– i.e., a nomadic way of life–
could not work in sophisticated Chinese
society.
• For Kublai to govern successfully, he would
have to use already existing institutions and
non-Mongol officials to help him rule.
Differences
• The Mongol rulers had little in common
with their Chinese subjects.
• Because of their differences, the Mongols
had to keep a separate identity.
– Mongols, for example, followed different laws
than their Chinese subjects.
Differences
• Mongol rulers only gave high positions in
government to other Mongols and, in some cases,
foreigners.
Question: Why a foreigner rather than a Chinese national?
• The Mongols would sometimes bring a foreigner in
from one of their other Khanates to rule, as they did
not trust the Chinese to rule.
• The Chinese, however, were given positions of
power on the local level.
Achievements
• Despite difference,
Kublai was an able
leader.
• He restored the Grand
Canal (a artificial river)
to increase trade in
China and added a
paved highway
• These routes ensured a
steady supply of grain
and other goods from
southern China.
Foreign Trade
• Kublai encouraged foreign trade.
Question: What was the Pax Mongolica?
• Due to the Mongol Peace, caravan routes
across Asia were safe for trade and travel.
• Kublai established mail routes and linked
China to India and Persia.
Silk Roads
• Over the Silk Roads and
other routes, traders
transported Chinese silk
and porcelain, which
was still in high demand
in foreign nations.
• Other Chinese products
and inventions also went
West, including
printing, gunpowder,
the compass, and the
concept of paper
currency.
Faltering of the Mongols
• During the last years of Kublai Khan’s reign,
Mongol rule began to fall apart.
• In an attempt to expand his empire, he sent
several expeditions to Southeast Asia, where
they suffered many humiliating defeats.
– These defeats were costly, causing huge
expenses of both lives and equipment.
Issues with Taxes
• The Chinese citizens were also tired of the
high tax burdens, which went to pay for the
luxuries of the Yuan court, public works,
and unsuccessful wars.
• These expenses burdened the treasury and
only increased Chinese resentment towards
the Mongol rule.
Weakening of Mongol Rule
• Kublai Khan died in 1294 and after his
death, Mongol rule was weakened.
• Although the Yuan Dynasty was able to stay
in power for another 74 years, family
members struggled among themselves for
power.
Rebellion
• Rebellions broke out
in many parts of China
in the 1300s.
• The Chinese had long
resented their Mongol
rulers and the Mongol
humiliation of the
Chinese only increased
after Kublai Khan’s
death.
Rebellions
• The rebellions were also fueled by years of:
– Famine
– Flood
– Disease
– Increasing economic issues
– Corruption of public leaders.
Ming Dynasty
• After the fall of the
Han and Yuan
Dynasties, the Chinese
reestablished Chinese
rule with the Ming
Dynasty.
• The Ming Dynasty
would go on to rule
China (and unite the
country) for another
276 years, until 1644.
Mongol Future
• Some Mongols remained in China during
the Ming Dynasty.
• These Mongols were highly prized for their
skill as cavalrymen (warriors on horseback)
– However, most Mongols returned to the
Mongolian Steppe.
Legacy of the Mongol Empire
• When the Yuan Dynasty fell, the entire
Mongol Empire had fallen apart.
– By this time, the Ilkhanate in Persia lost power
in the 133os.
– The Chagatai Khans lost power in Central Asia
by the 1370s
– While the Golden Horde were able to rule
Russia for another 250 years, they would
eventually lose power in 1480.
Video
Crash Course History- Mongols
Legacy of the Mongols
• The rise and fall of the Mongol rule affected
civilizations from eastern Europe to China.
• The Mongols, in their might, united Eurasia
and expanded both trade and knowledge
across the East.
– The Mongols were extremely successful in the
spread of their empire. Within a span of 25
years, they conquered more area than the
Romans did in 400 years.
Legacy of the Mongols
• The Mongols created a truly united East.
• They expanded trade to a point it had never
existed before.
• Because of the Mongols, the Silk Roads were
finally able to reach Europe, which brought
them new goods and ideas they had never
experienced before.
– However, in part due to these roads, the plague
was also spread to Europe as well.
Review Objectives
• Describe the geography of the Asian Steppes
• Describe the lifestyle of the nomads and Mongols in the region
• Identify who Genghis Khan was and list out important
achievements made under Genghis
• Analyze the effects of Mongol conquest on both Asian and
European cultures
• Analyze the influence of the Chinese on western civilizations
due to Mongols rule
• Explain why the Mongols were unable to conquer Japan
• Examine the affects of Mongol rule on the Chinese people
• Identify the differences between the Mongol rulers and their
Chinese subjects
• Identify the reasons why the Mongol Empire fell
Question
• If you have a question, please ask now.
Next Lesson
• In the next lesson, we are going to be
discussing the Japanese Civilizations
Reading Review
• Please read the “Mongol Empire Reading”
and answer the questions on the paper
itself.