Genghis Khan: Encyclopedia II - Genghis Khan - Mongol Empire

Genghis Khan - Mongol Empire

Genghis Khan - Politics and economics

The Mongol Empire was governed by civilian and military code, called the Yassa code.

An interesting aspect of Mongol Empire was it did not emphasize the importance of biological and cultural ethnicity and race among nomadic groups. The exception was the role of Genghis Khan and his family. The Mongol Empire was therefore one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse empires in history, as befitted its size. Many of the empire's nomadic inhabitants considered themselves Mongols in military and civilian life, including Turks, Mongols, Arabs, and others.

There were to some degree ideals such as meritocracy among the Mongols and allied nomadic people in military and civilian life. There were tax exemptions for intellectuals like teachers and doctors. The Mongol Empire practiced religious tolerance to a large degree because it was generally indifferent to belief. The exception was when religious groups challenged the state. Those Ismaili Muslims that resisted the Mongols were exterminated.

The Mongol Empire linked together the previously fractured Silk Road states under one system and became somewhat open to trade and cultural exchange. However, the Mongol conquests did lead to a collapse of many of the ancient trading cities of Central Asia that resisted invasion. Taxes were also heavy and conquered people were used as forced labor in those regions.

Modern Mongolian historians say that towards the end of his life, Genghis attempted to create a civil state under the Great Yassa that would have established the legal equality of all individuals, including women [1]; however, there is no contemporary evidence of this or of the lifting of discriminatory policies towards sedentary peoples such as the Chinese. Modern scholars refer to a theoretical policy of encouraging trade and communication as the concept of Pax Mongolica (Mongol Peace).

Genghis Khan - Military

Genghis Khan made advances in military disciplines, such as mobility, psychological warfare, intelligence, military autonomy, and tactics.

Genghis Khan built a highly efficient army with remarkable discipline, dedication, loyalty and military intelligence. More specificaly the Mongol armies were known for their strict discipline, good weapons and the mobility when mounted on their fast and tough horses. Also he refused to divide his troops into different ethnic units, instead creating a sense of unity, and he punished even small infractions against discipline severely. He also divided his armies into a number of smaller groups based on the decimal system, taking advantage of the superb mobility of his mounted archers to attack their enemies on several fronts simultaneously. Genghis Khan expected unwavering loyalty from his generals and gave them free rein in battles and wars. Muqali, a trusted general, was given command over Mongol forces over Jin while Genghis Khan was fighting in central Asia, and Subutai and Jebe were allowed to use any means to defeat the Russians.

Another important aspect in the military organization of Genghis Khan is the communications and supply route or Yam, to which he himself dedicated a special attention.

Military generals and strategists who served Genghis Khan, such as Subutai and Jebe, played considerable roles in the practicalities of the war, using a hands-on approach. These generals were purely chosen as part of a meritocracy, as none of them were from the direct family line of Genghis. Genghis Khan did not as a general rule trust his relatives to command large number of troops for larger campaigns, and so he did not allow them to command significant numbers of soldiers.

• Jebe - (nickname meaning "the Arrow"), was one of the four "dogs of war". After surrendering to Temujin, Jebe made several accomplishments, including destroying Kuchlug's Kara-Khitai and defeating the Kievan Rus' in several battles, expanding the Mongol Empire considerably.

• Subutai - He was one of the four "dogs of war". One of the most prominent generals from the others, a brilliant strategist and good friend of Genghis Khan and his sons, he accompanied Jebe in his battles against Kara-Khitai and the Kievan Rus' and in the conquest of eastern and central Europe after Genghis Khan with his grandson Batu Khan.

• Muqali - Joined before the defeat of Jamuqa. One of the four "talented men" of Genghis Khan. Made the general of left-wing tumen. During Genghis Khan's conquest of Khwarezmid Empire, Muqali was the supreme commander of all Mongol forces in Jin China.

• Borchu - One of the four "talented men" of Genghis Khan, Borchu joined as one of the earliest generals of Genghis Khan. He was made the general of right-wing tumen and was revered as a tough commander with great leadership skills.

• Borokhul - One of the four "talented men" of Genghis Khan, Borokhul defected from Jamuqa.

• Chilaun - One of the four "talented men" of Genghis Khan, Chilaun's family helped Temujin when he was captured by the Tai'chuids.

• Qubilai - He was one of the four "dogs of war".

• Jelme - Another early general of Genghis Khan. He was one of the four "dogs of war" and was the commander of the personal guard of Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan - Division of the empire into Khanates

Before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and grandsons into several Khanates. These Khanates were sub territories and the Khans of these Khanates were expected to follow the Great Khan, who was, initially, Ögedei Khan.

Following are the Khanates in the way in which Genghis Khan assigned after his death:

• Empire of the Great Khan (China) - Great Khan Ogedei Khan
• Il-Khanate - Hulegu Khan
• Mongol homeland (present day Mongolia, including Kharakhorum) - Tolui Khan
• Chagadai Khanate - Chagatai Khan
• Blue Horde and White Horde (combined into the Golden Horde) - Batu Khan and Orda Khan

Genghis Khan - After Genghis Khan

The empire's expansion continued for a generation or more after Genghis's death in 1227 — indeed, it was under Genghis's successor Ögedei Khan that the speed of expansion reached its peak. Mongol armies pushed into Persia, finished off the Xia and the remnants of the Khwarezmids, and came into conflict with the Song Dynasty of China, starting a war that would last until 1279 and that would conclude with the Mongols' successful conquest of China.

Then, in the late 1230s, the Mongols under Batu Khan started the Mongol invasion of Europe and Russia, reducing most of its principalities to vassalage, and pressed on into Central Europe. In 1241 the Mongols may have been ready to invade western Europe as well, having defeated the last Polish-German and Hungarian armies at the Battle of Legnica and the Battle of Mohi. However, at this point, news of Ögedei's death led to first the partial suspension of the invasion and then to its effective conclusion as Batu's attention switched to the election of the next Great Khan.

During the 1250s, Genghis's grandson Hulegu Khan, operating from the Mongol base in Persia, destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and destroyed the cult of the Assassins, moving into Palestine towards Egypt. The Great Khan Möngke having died, however, he hastened to return for the election, and the force that remained in Palestine was destroyed by the Mamluks under Baibars in 1261 at Ayn Jalut.

The Mongols eventually pushed deep into Vietnam, completely conquered the Korean peninsula and attempted two unsuccessful invasion of Japan. The whole area of the Mongol Empire at its height would be 35 million km² (13.8 million miles²) and more than 100 million people with initially Mongols around 1206 counting only 200,000 and around 70,000 troops when the first battle with Western Xia took place right after 1206 under Genghis Khan. Various Mongol Khanates would rule almost all of Eurasian continent except India, western Europe, northern Siberia, South East Asia and the Arabian subcontinent in little less than 200 years as a result of suberb military discipline, tactics, intelligence, mobility, loyalty and social setup instituting some degree of religious tolerance, meritocracy and absorbing new skills and techniques throughout their reign. The Mongol Empire would become the largest contiguous and second largest empire in world history.

Genghis Khan - Destruction and effects after conquests

There are many differing views of the amount of destruction Genghis Khan and his armies caused. The peoples that suffered the most during Genghis Khan's conquests, like the Persians and the Chinese, usually stress the negative aspects of the conquest and some modern scholars argue that their historians exaggerate the numbers of deaths.

Genghis Khan generally preferred to offer opponents the chance to submit to his rule without a fight, but was merciless if he encountered any resistance. In such cases he would not give an alternative and would mercilessly slaughter the population of the resisting cities, leaving only the skilled engineers, artists, spies and any troops who submitted and incorporating them in the Mongol system to expand their manpower, while absorbing their technology and skill as needed. There also were instances of mass slaughters even where there was no resistance, especially in Northern China where the vast majority of the population had long histories of accepting nomadic rulers. Genghis Khan's conquests were widely characterized by wholesale destruction on an unprecedented scale and radical changes in the demographics of Asia by many ancient sources. For example, over much of Central Asia Indo-European Persian-speakers were replaced by Turkic speakers. According to the works of Iranian historian Rashid al-Din, the Mongols killed over 70,000 people in Merv and more than a million in Nishapur. China suffered a drastic decline in population during 13th and 14th century. For instance, before the Mongol invasion, a unified China had approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the complete conquest in 1279, the census in 1300 showed it to have roughly 60 million people. How many of these deaths were attributable directly to Genghis Khan and his forces is unclear as are the highly generalized numbers themselves.

His campaigns in Northern China, Central Asia and the Middle East caused massive property destruction for those that resisted his invasion, however there are no exact factual numbers available at this time. For example, the cities of Ray and Tus, the two largest and most populous cities in Iran at the time, both centers of literature, culture, trade and commerce, were completely destroyed by order of Genghis Khan. Nishapur, Merv and Samarkand suffered similar destruction.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Mongol Empire", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki