The Mongol Conquests: A Controversial Imperialism
The Mongols in a group of people that placed a huge in impact on the history of mankind during the fourth-teen centuries. The Mongolian, at this time, had made massive conquests to expand the reign. Especially, under the leadership of Genghis Khan — one of the world’s best conqueror — the united Mongols saw a massive expansion.
THE RISE OF MONGOL EMPIRE
Until the twelfth century, the Mongols were tribes with a pastoral nomad lifestyle which they would move several times a year’s searching supplies for them as well as their herds such as grass and water. Because of this mobile life, they appeared to be vulnerable to the environment when then relies too much on the weather. Several times their flocks of castles couldn’t adapt with the cold or the drought cause the Mongolians big problems.
Genghis Khans proclaimed the emperor of the Mongols Empire in 1206 and the greatest conquests happened under his power. In less than 80 years, a band of warriors originally comprised of several men grew to an empire that encompassed all from the Pacific Ocean to the Danube River[1]. When Genghis Khan was young, the Mongols — various Turkic and Mongol-Tungstic tribes — are divided into groups of people. He used his talents as a general and vision to unite the Mongols and turn them into the most powerful army of the world at the time.
From 1180 to 1220, the Mongols experienced a shortened the growing season for grass. Less grass and water meant a real danger to the Mongol herds and the people’s nomadic lifestyle. This ecological threat might have prompted the Mongols to move out into new territories.
After achieving the first battle which was conquering all the Mongolian tribes who had never been connected before. Genghis Khan led the army to conquer every direction. Genghis’s strengths were about making strong alliances and using military tactics[2]. In the east, the attacked Chinese Lands — one of the wealthiest Asian empire at the time. In the West, they expanded their conquest of Central Asia to the Middle East which today are Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Iraq. In almost all of the battles, the win came to Genghis Khan. He died in 1227 and life the leadership title to his son, Ögedei Khan became the supreme ruler of the Mongols.
Ögedei Khan continues his father’s succession along with a valuable heritage. Ögedei basically inherited one of the most organized armies in the world. His father, Genghis Khan, had given enormous efforts to maintain the stability and cooperation between Mongolian people, and the army. The population was divided into units the responsibility for maintaining a certain number of warriors at any given time[3]. The army soon to be the most disciplined, skilled and fearful force of the world.
Ögedei Khan dramatically increases the Empire’s territory during his reign. He invaded Persia and parts of Iraq in 1230. With the most powerful army in hand, Ögedei Khan easily takes over the land in the Middle East and towards his direction to Europe. In the 1230s, invaded the Rus Lands and other parts of Europe — now is Russia, Georgia, and Armenia. To the West, the army won the battle with the Jin Dynasty of Chinese and took over northern China. The Empire stretched from almost the known Asia, parts of Europe and northern Africa.
The biggest loss that the Mongol Empire had made came to the destruction of Bagdad. The Mongol Empire had stopped to expand in a short period since it appeared that the Empire appear too big to control in the early 1250s. However, the peaceful times in the Middle East ended in 1255. The Great Khan, Mongke, put his brother Hulagu Khan in charge of an army whose goals were to conquer Persia, Syria, and Egypt, as well as to destroy the Abbasid Caliphate[4].
Bagdad was the greatest city of the Islamic civilization at the time. The city was the base of science, mathematics, literature, and art of the Muslim world. For knowledge, the city owned the greatest library of Muslim called House of Wisdom. In terms of religion, Bagdad is the base of Islam and home of Caliph — the leader of Sunni Muslims.
The city was wiped out. There possibly 200,000 people were killed by the conquest. Almost everything in the city was destroyed such as the greatest library — House of Wisdom, and the system of irrigation. Neither the Islamic civilization and the city could recover to the stage before the destruction.
THE CONQUESTS’ INFAMY AND LEGACY
The Khan had created the largest contiguous empire in the known history of mankind. Genghis, his sons, and grandsons created this fast-spreading empire which ruled from the islands of Japan across Asia to Eastern Europe and included China, Russia, Hungary, Iran, the Middle East, Mongolia and Indochina[5]. However, this advancement of military tactics had also created a much brutal impact on the people at the time.
The Mongols has been considered brutal conquerors. The army brought extreme violence and destructive habits to the conquests. They, several times, slaughtered all the people of a town that resisted. This type of total warfare spread panic even among Europeans not directly affected by the Mongol onslaught and sent refugees fleeing westward[6]. During the conquests, millions of people were killed.
The biggest loss that the conquests did to human knowledge was destroying the House of Wisdom — the biggest library that had reserved knowledge of the world. Besides, the Muslins advancement has been stopped — the destruction of Bagdad — while that had been having many scholars at their peak time.
Mongol Empire is responsible for the black death in Europe and northern Africa. The Bubonic Plague started out in China in the early 1300s and spread out of the Mongol Empire very quickly. The Mongols decided to use dead and dying soldiers — caused by the plague — as the weapon in the battle when they were attacking a city in Russia controlled by Italians in 1347. By 1351, the disease — called the Black Death — had spread to every part of Europe except Poland and Northern Russia, and became the cause of 25 million of people death — estimated[7].
The legacy of the Mongol conquests might be an open-for-trading and a connected world. Despite the facts that communication across Asia, Europe, and Africa was one of the main cause of the Black Dead, a connected Empire had brought some advancement to the world civilization.
The Mongols created some safer ways for people to trade between the East and the West since the people were then moving within the Empire. The foremost was what historians call the “Pax Mongolica” — a century of peace among neighboring peoples who were all under Mongol rule[8]. The Empire had also created the foundation of modern diplomacy which to understand diplomats, consulates, and embassy including diplomatic immunity. Prior to the period of Mongol rule, the Russian people were organized into a series of small self-governing city-states, the most important being Kiev[9]. The conquest, later, had been considered the main reason for the foundation of Russia.
Educational and religious freedom perhaps one of the best thing the Mongols did. The freedom had cultivated the diversity across the known world. The nomadic lifestyle had affected on the way Mongols governed their Empire. They gathered be people who are good at diplomatic and has a profound knowledge, moved them the place to place to manage the empire[10] so that the learning of the whole Empire would have increased at that time. Furthermore, the tolerant of different of religions could have made a great contribution to the religious diversity.
Source of reference
[1] The Mongol Empire — www.allempires.com
[2] Mongol Empire Overview — www.historyonthenet.com
[3] The Mongol Empire — www.allempires.com
[4] The Mongol invasion and the destruction of Bagdad — www.lostinislamicstory.com
[5] Mongol Empire Overview — www.historyonthenet.com
[6] Effects of the Mongol Empire on Europe — www.thoughco.com
[7] Plague Information and Facts — www.nationalgeographic.com
[8], [9] Effects of the Mongol Empire on Europe — www.thoughco.com
[10] The Mongols — Crash Course of World History — John Green — www.youtube.com/crashcourse
