Category: Mongol Empire

Considered one of the oldest empires in the world, the Mongol empire existed between the 13th and 14th centuries after originating from steppes in Central Asia. The existence of the empire was due to the efforts of Taizu, Borjigin Temujin, also identified as Genghis Khan, who the empire considers the greatest military leader. With the rising population over the years, the empire grew drastically stretching to the Sea of Japan from central Europe.

With Genghis Khan at the helm of management, the Mongolia Empire was able to unify its nomadic tribes in 1206. In addition, the continuous population growth of the empire posed major threats to the surrounding communities as the empire leaders invaded the neighboring communities from all directions. These attacks constitute the major reasons for the growth of the empire over time. The empire was insensitive to the cultural values of the neighboring communities like Chinese and went ahead to distrust the influence of the neighbors.

With these factors, most of the local communities considered the Mongol empire as the barbarians whose interests were mainly maiming, destroying, and killing (Ibn et al. 101). Considering the quest of the empire to retain the northern and southern China, it damaged these two territories considerably leading to loss of lives. China’s population declined due to these attacks.

Besides the killing of the Chinese, the Mongols abolished the civil service tests, which the Chinese considered one of their elementary institutes. The institution remained closed until 1315 when the Mongols reopened it. However, the Chinese were no longer officialdom of the institution. In 1271, the Mongolian empire founded the Yuan Dynasty of the Great Yuan Great Mongol State under the leadership of Kublai Khan from the clan of Mongolia Borjigin (Polo, Marsden, and Corbino 230). The major change brought by the dynasty was the proclamation of the traditional Chinese style, which had a great impact on the culture of the Mongolians.

The dynasty significantly contributed to the culture of the Mongolians and the perceptions they had about the Chinese people. Even though the dynasty contributed to the integration of the two cultures, Chinese and Mongolian, some clans like khanates isolated themselves to control some parts of modern China and Mongolia. In a bid to prevent the erosion of their culture and language, the Mongolians emperors, especially from the Yuan, did not master the Chinese dialectal but rather resorted to their local dialectal and Phag-pa scripts. In the history of the Chinese, the Yuan Dynasty was the first foreign dynasty to exercise authority in their land (Polo, Marsden, and Corbino 234).

When the Mongolian potentates adopted and coined the name ‘dynasty,’ it validated the Mongolian rule in China through the integration of the government and political replacement of the Chinese, which was more old-fashioned compared to that of the Mongolians. The reign continued up to 1368 when the Genghisid leaders decided to go back to their native home in Mongolia to exercise a new ruling method identified to be the Post-Imperial Mongolia after Ming Dynasty overthrew them. The name khanates signify the Mongolian clans within Kublai Khan’s territories. At the time of his demise in 1294, the Mongolian kingdom already had four distinct khanate empires, which had different intentions and goals.

Chagatai khanate was initially part of the Mongolian empire before the split that led to the emergence of the Moghulistan and Chagatai Khanate of the western empire. Even though Chagatai’s ambition of conquering the whole of China did not materialize due to his death, family quarrels marred his leadership, as evidenced by the unsettled transition of the authority to Guyuk. Chagatai’s wife championed the transition and preparations prepared without the presence of Batu, who was the leader of the independent-minded Golden Horde. Besides the problems originating from linages and inheritance, Chagatai’s empire experienced threats from cultural diversity and ethnic divide between the locals and Islamic Iranic (Polo, Marsden, and Corbino 235).

On the other hand, Golden Horde flourished from the mid of the 13th century due to available resources within the area. It covered the western part of the empire and endowed with the diversified culture of the Turks, Mongolians, and aristocracies. The western territory belonged to the eldest son Juchi who predeceased Genghis Khan in 1227. However, through his brilliant son Batu, the territory was able to expand its domain, including capturing the Iranian territories belonging to the Mongol dynasty referred to as Il-khans. Batu created an atmosphere favoring the Turkish and Islamic. Through the years, Horde continues to grow extensively while engaging in trade with people from the Mediterranean.

Although the Mongolians were able to capture china as their territories, their leadership did not continue well, considering the fact that the leaders like Kublai Khan opted to offer the foreigners jobs that the locals should handle. Some of the foreigners include Marco Polo, who was a Venetian merchant traveler. Instead of appointing the local Chinese leaders, Khan created a culture of mistrust among the Chinese and the Mongolians through appointing foreigners to be governors and judges.

Moreover, the fact that the Mongols retained their language and culture without considering acting like the Chinese contributed in creating a rift between the two communities. The Yuan dynasty enjoyed benefits relating to economic development through agriculture. Since it became a might state, the dynasty heavily contributed to the growth in the fields of science, thus leading to investments in proper agricultural techniques. These factors heavily contributed to the sustainability of the growing population through ensuring there is a continuous supply of food. The demise of Khan subjected the entire empire to the ‘Black Death,’ a plague that contributed to the deaths of millions of people, making it difficult to keep the empire together (Ibn et al. 125).

This bubonic plague is one of the most feared diseases in the ancient and medieval domains. It is still not clear on the major cause of this disease highly contagious disease evidenced by the fever and black spots all over the body. The disease was one of the major factors that contributed to the failure of the Mongolian empire. The Mongolian empire rooted its strong foundation by focusing on diplomatic activities. It offered a safe and well-established business environment for the foreign envoys, merchants, and those travelers with intentions of traversing the bordering seas and Mongolian culture. Among the most prosperous travelers of the empire was the Italian mercantile, Marco Polo, who played a crucial role in transmitting and integrating Chinese cultures into the West.

Through the years, the Mongolian empire experienced many challenges leading to the partitioning and scrambling for the resources among the natives. These factors contributed to the existence of the four successor states considered to have their origins from the partition of the empire. The successors were distributed only among the four sons of Genghis Khan. The eldest son Jochi acquired the vast territory stretching River Yenisey to the Aral Sea westwards. Chagatai obtained the Kashgaria region, which is presently the southern portion of Xinjiang and covers the area between the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, while the Ogodei took control of the western Mongolia and areas stretching to Tarbagatai.

Finally, the youngest son, Tolui, received the ancient Mongolian empire. The continued campaigns in Russia and China by Ogodei contributed greatly to the fragmentation of the Junchen Dynasty that occurred in 1234, bringing the Mongolians to face to face with Nan Song Dynasty of the Yangtze Valley (Polo, Marsden, and Corbino 257). Additionally, Ogodei maintained the imperial system of representation among the Central Asians while subordinating the Golden Horde. Guyuk, his son, succeeded him after his death. Guyuk died while preparing for a battle by his cousin Batu who led the Golden Horde.

Kublai was the grandson of Chinningis Khan, who most the Mongolians remember for fighting his brother in a quest to win the Great Khan title. Moreover, Khan encouraged foreigners in his territory before meeting with Marco Polo, who impressed him with his level of intelligence and knowledge of languages. Khan decided to employ the services Marco Polo as an emissary and advisor on issues relating to politics. After gaining full control of the army belonging to Neyan, Khan decided to move to the capital, present-day Beijing, where he was able to establish the Yuan Dynasty from 1271 to 1363.

However, Khan did not build much trust on the scholar-gentry; as a result, he decided to throw them out of the empire, replacing them with the Mongols and the foreign servitors (Polo, Marsden, and Corbino 261). These activities angered the Chinese locals. In 1253, Hulegu Khan, who was working in Persia, which is another station point of the Mongol empire, succeeded in destroying the Abbasid Caliphate within Baghdad.

Consequently, the attack leads to the destruction of the group considered the cult of the Assassins forcing them to move into Palestine and Egypt. The destruction marked the Mongolian campaign against Islamic religion in Persia. These Assassins had been terrorizing the region, but Hulagu managed to take on their fortress. Hulegu managed to capture the Abbasid Dynasty that he considered the city endowed with many resources.

The Assassins, through their mentor, Altair Ibn-La’Ahad, and the Mongolian Assassins, were able to cause the death of Genghis Khan. Moreover, the Mongolians Assassins intended to control the policy-makers. The Kublai’s brother established the IL-khanate Empire in Persia, whose major challenge was to formulate strategies of curbing the rising Assassins and the kills of Abbasid Khalifa (Polo, Marsden, and Corbino 264). With the growing rate of the Mongol empire, division among the leaders was inevitable. During the period of withdrawal, the Turks outnumbered the Khanate leading to the replacement of the Mongolian language by the Turkish paving the way for Islamic religion to dominate.

Partition of the Mongolian kingdom greatly contributed to some of the attacks experienced by Mongolian clans. The rulers became ambitious in their bid to expand their territories to the extent of attacking the other neighboring Mongolian clans. Through integration with other communities, the culture of the Mongolians began to erode. Some of the factors that contributed to the erosion include shifting from local language to embracing the foreign languages (Polo, Marsden, and Corbino 301).

However, apart from Khalkha, through trade, the community was able to coin cultural practices from other clans considered minor like the Chinese, Turkish, and Hungarian. A quasi-feudal system existed before the Mongolians began practicing socialism. The system had the responsibility of administering pasturelands, settling disputes among the herding households, and collecting taxes on behalf of the empire. These roles were designated to the aristocratic families and the monasteries from the local communities. The rise of the Mongolian clans and partitions changed the institutional method addressing issues related to politics and culture.

Some of the leaders preferred collaborating with foreigners with an aim of building proper relations with the different states, while other states opted to attack others in a bid to increase their territories. In addition, contamination of the Mongolian culture resulted in shifting from organized nomadic clans to trade. The empire was unresponsive to the cultural principles of the adjacent groups like Chinese and went ahead to doubt the effect of the neighbors. With these aspects, most of the native people regarded the Mongol territory as the barbarians whose intentions were largely killing, destroying, and maiming. Peace among the Mongolians did not last due to its large size and lack of unity among the clan. Even though most of the Mongolian cultures changed, some of the clans managed to retain their cultural diversity, practices, and food. A leader like Batu managed to utilize properly the resources brought by foreigners with the aim of developing the economic condition of his clan members.

Works Cited

Ibn, Batuta, C. Defremery, B R. Sanguinetti, H A. R. Gibb, C F. Beckingham, and A D. H. Bivar. The Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, A.d. 1325-1354. London: Hakluyt Soc., 1958. Print.

Polo, Marco, William Marsden, and Jon Corbino. The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian. Garden City: Doubleday, 1948. Print.

Introduction

The Mongol realm was famously called the Mongolian empire. The domain existed during the period of 14^th to the 15^th century. The territory is believed to be the largest and strongest joining empire that existed in history. The kingdom began in the central Asian steppes extending to the Middle East that was a wide area. Figuratively, it spanned averagely 9,700 km that is averagely 24,000,000km², with a population of 100 million. In its last years, the Mongol empire was wiped by a plague that was famously named the Black Death. The paper discusses the age of the plague in relation to the Mongol empire and how it represented the birth of the modern world.

Discussion

The plague and birth of the new world

The assumption that the plague represented the birth of the new world is quite accurate. It is written that the black plague brought the end of the Mongol empire starting from the east, and heading to the west. The plague came into play during the era of learning and discovery in Europe. The Mongolians had ignored to conquer Eastern Europe since they felt that they did not have anything that they thought would be of any value to them. In addition, the land of the Hungarians was unsuitable for their lifestyle that was nomadic. From that relation, Eastern Europe was not affected by the euphoria of the Mongols, and thus the spread of the Black Death led to the rise of the empire in the real sense since it did not affect Eastern Europe adversely. Consequently, this led to the great power shift since the Mongolian empire was unfavorably weakened by the plague (Sue 3). In reality, the Mongolians may have been part of the spread of the plague since they had been quite hygienic.

Prior to the spread of the disease, as aforementioned, the Mongolian empire was the strongest in the world. The Black Death, therefore, led to the rise of Western Europe since if the Mongols had not spared the lands, they all would be wiped out, and the Mongols, although weak, would still have some control of the world and would not fall. Sparing Eurasia was a bad idea due to the facts that have been aforementioned. The end of the Mongolian empire led to the rise of the new power that is Western Europe. Therefore, in line with the thesis statement, it is evident that Western Europe that later became very strong in the subsequent years would not have been possible if there was no way that they were spared. The plague wiped out the Middle East that included Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Primarily the Mongols occupied these areas. The death rates that occurred in the area wiped out almost 70% of the population (Chua 4). The death in Paris, which was a city that had almost 200,000, was reduced by a half. The Mongols also occupied this city. In addition, Italy was another city that the Mongols occupied, and the population like in Paris was almost halved. These and many more issues led to the fall of the Mongolian empire and the rise of the Western power that they had ignored to wipe out. The plague did not affect the lands of the Western Europeans due to the minimal contact that they had with the outside world, and this was an added advantage to the strength that they were already brewing in their lands. By the time there was a cure for the plague, about half of the population of Europe was wiped out, and that was a serious issue of concern.

From the foregoing literature, it is evident that the Mongolian empire fell through its own obliviousness. The rulers had ignored to fight Western Europe, and what this led to is the rise of a much younger power (Chua 45). Although insignificant during that time, the plague that rocked the world during that time led to the creation of a power gap after the Mongol empire fell, and the break was filled by Eastern and Western Europe. Consequently, this led to the birth of the modern-day world, and that is one of the underlying principles of the rise of civilization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the end of the Mongol empire represented the birth of the new world. The ignorance that was shown by the army generals led to the rise of a somewhat insignificant power that was Europe. However, through the spread of the plague, the Mongolian empire was weakened, and this led to the further rise of Europe that was later somewhat considered as the modern world. Thus, in summation, it is quite evident that the rise of the new world was precipitated by the fall of the Mongol empire that at one time in history was one of the strongest in the world. However, what really led to the fall of the empire were the Black Death and a combination of the aforementioned factors, and thus the modern-day civilization.

Works Cited

Chua, Amy. Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance–And Why They Fall, New Jersey: Anchor Books, 2009. Print

Sue, Rebecca 2009, The Mongols and Plague. 2012. Web

Summary

The film narrates the story of Temujin (Temudgin), the founder of the ancient Mongol Empire. The story begins when a nine-year-old Temujin (Odynyam Odsuren) goes for an expedition with his father, Khan Yesugei (or Esugei) to choose a girl for his future marriage. Despite his father’s objections, the young boy chooses Borte (Bayertsetseg Erdenebat). The father is against because the girl is not a member of the Merkit ethnic group. According to the film, the Khan wants to make a treaty with the Merkit tribe through intermarriage (Puig 27). However, Temujin successfully persuades his father to accept Borte. When they return, an enemy clan poisons the Yesugei. Just before his death, Yesugei makes Temujin the Khan. However, Targutai, one of Yesugei’s top warriors, leads a mutiny and raids the Khan’s camp. They capture the young Temujin but his mother protests, asking Targutai not to break the customary laws by killing a child.

Targutai vows to return as soon as winter begins to kill the boy. Temunjin decides to run away after the onset of the winter, seeking to find refuge near the mountains of god. However, he falls into a frozen lake. A small boy named Jamukha (Amarbold Tuvshinbayar) rescues Temujin. After that, two boys perform an oath that binds them as “blood brothers”. Targutai, who is now the Khan, captures Temujin when he is about 18 years. However, Temujin escapes. The Khan captures him again and vows to kill him because he has attained the maturity age. Similarly, Temujin finds another plan to escape and finally finds Borte (Chuluuny Khulan). He brings her to his family, hoping to make her his wife. However, they are attacked by the Merkit tribe under the command of Chiledu (Xing Ga). Chiledu captures Borte, while Temujin escapes and finds Jamukha, who is now a Khan in his tribe

. After one year, Jamukha helps Temujin find his wife by attacking the Merkit territories. However, they find the young girl pregnant with a child from another man. Temujin decides to adopt the child after rescuing his wife.

Despite their long-term friendship, Jamukha and Temujin develop enmity after some of Jamukha’s soldiers, together with their horses, shift the camp and decide to follow Temujin. Temujin and his men are defeated in the battle against Targutai. As a result, Temujin is captured and exiled to Tangut.

While working as a slave to a Tangut Chief, Temujai is kept under the care of an old Buddhist monk, the chief’s advisor. The monk, inspired by gods, realizes that the new slave has great potential and warns the master. The monk pleads with the slave, urging him to save his life after his escape and eventual rise to power. In return, the monk delivers a secret message to Borte, informing her that Temujin is still alive. The monk dies just after his arrival at Borte’s residence.

Meanwhile, Temujin escapes and forms a large army that defeats both Targutai and Jamukha. The “Lord of the Great Blue Sky” aids him (Puig 27). Eventually, he becomes the founder of the Great Mongol Empire after uniting several Mongolian tribes and clans.

Subject matter

The plot indicates that the film is based on a historical event that took place in Asia. The event is important because it describes the origins of the ancient Mongol Empire. In addition, it describes the life of the founder from childhood to adulthood, depicting his ability to make several successful plans for escaping from various enemies (Smith B12). It also shows his ability to persuade and influence others. For instance, as a boy, Temujin successfully persuades his father to accept Borte, although she is not a Merkit. In addition, he successfully influences some of Jamukha’s best troops to join his camp.

From a historical perspective, it is believed that the Mongol Empire under the Khan dynasty, which Temujin established, existed between 1206 and 1370 (Addiego 12). This film shows that the foundation of the empire began after Temujin defeated both Targutai and Jamukha in 1206. He also conquered the Tangut Empire in 1227, expanding his empire (Smith B12). In addition, He ruled between 1206 and 1227 AD. Ogedei Khan succeeded him in 1229 (Smith B12).

Therefore, the film was made to portray the history of Mongols, including their ancient culture and politics. During this era, Genghis Khan became the first Khan to unite several clans and tribes, establishing an empire that was about 4 times larger than the Roman and Greek Empires (Addiego 12).

Themes

The first theme is the theme of love that is portrayed in various scenes throughout the film. For instance, Temujin’s love for Borte is undisputable. As a young boy, he falls in love with her and persuades his father to accept her. He also escapes several times to find her, each time risking his life. Thirdly, he decides to take Borte after finding her under the Merkit tribe, despite knowing that he was not responsible for her pregnancy.

The second theme is betrayal and greed for power. It is depicted in several parts of the film. For instance, after the Khan’s poisoning, Targut, one of the Khan’s loyal soldiers, betrays the dying king, raids his camp, and captures his son. He also keeps chasing the son in an attempt to retain his power (Puig 27).

Another theme is revenge. This theme is also revealed in the film. For instance, Temujin desires to kill Targutai to avenge his father’s death. He also vows to kill the Merkits for capturing his wife and humiliating his mother.

The director’s motive and objective

Sergei Bodrov spent several years doing research to find some historical evidence supporting the story of Temujin and the foundation of the Mongol Empire (Puig 27). In particular, the director realized the need for portraying the origins of the Mongolian empire. At the beginning of the film, there is a prologue explaining (through an audio narration) the reason for developing the film. According to the explanation, the Mongolian Empire is “…one of the largest kingdoms the world has ever witnessed…” (Puig 28). The director was also inspired by the story of the Mongols in Lev Gumilev’s book. Thus, the objective was to develop a story that would increase the understanding of the Mongolian culture and inspire scholars to carry out additional studies to elaborate on the history and culture of the Mongols.

Historical contributions of the film

Specifically, the director wanted to portray various aspects of the ancient Mongolian culture to historians. For instance, the film asserts that the Mongolians were nomadic groups of people that occupied a vast area in Asia. However, they lived within the clans, which often fought with each other. The Khan was the supreme ruler of each clan. Although the inter-clan wars often caused massive losses of lives and property, the Mongol culture was against the killing of children and women (Rothkopf 24).

Weaknesses

Nevertheless, the film is mainly based on non-historical evidence because it does not depict the true story of the Mongolian empire. Most of the events in the storyline are based on the directors’ knowledge of history, which was primarily derived from Lev Gumilev’s story as well as a short poem from an unknown author.

Recommendations

I would recommend history students and other scholars to watch and analyze the film. Although it does not show the real events in history, it attempts to examine the history of the Mongolian empire.

Works Cited

Addiego, Walter. “Review: ‘Mongol’ revisits Genghis Khan.” San Francisco Chronicle 2008: 17. Web.

Mongol. Ex. Dir. Sergei Bodrov. Moscow, Russia: Picturehouse Entertainment. 2007. DVD.

Puig, Claudia. “Tepid ‘Mongol’ A sweeping historic tale.” USA Today, 2008: 27. Web.

Rothkopf, Joshua. “Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan.” Times Out 2008: 24. Web.

Smith, Kyle. “Sweet Mongolia: How Genghis Got His Horde.” New York Post 2008: B12. Web.