The Last Great Nomadic Changes: Chinggis Khan to Timur-i Lang

1. The Last Great Nomadic Changes: Chinggis Khan to Timur-i Lang Chapter 14 EQs: How was Mongol culture organized? What effects did Mongol conquest have on the world?

2. The Storm • The Mongols were the most formidable nomadic challenge to sedentary life since the nomadic invasion of Europe in the early BCE era • The Mongols are often portrayed as savage barbarians and destructive conquerors who thirsted for blood and power…NOT TRUE…the Mongols were quite peaceful, had organized government, were tolerant of other cultures…they just conquered to control territory • The Mongols would represent in world history a bridge between east and west, opening the exchange of trade and culture from previously isolated/limited contact

3. Mongol Society/Politics • Mongol people were nomads who lived off of sheep/goats • They were a horse based society, they learned to ride the minute they could walk • Mongols were tribal, mostly related kin and were organized into groups/confederations who supported each other (factions)…men dominated though women had rights • To gain power, a man had to win battles, show courage, and demonstrate great diplomacy for an extended period of time • Mongols had established kingdoms in north China between the 4th and 10th centuries and succeeded in many raids of northern China during this period…when their leader Kabul Khan died in the late 12th C, alliances amongst the Mongols crumbled • His grandson Temujin (Chinggis/Genghis) gained strength and was elected ruler in 1206…he took the title khan which means supreme ruler and changed his name to Chinggis

4. The Mongol War Machine • Males were trained instantly from youth to ride horse, hunt and fight • Mongols had powerful short bows • Speed and mobility were their greatest assets • Armies were divided into units of 10,000 (tumens) that included both light and heavy cavalry • The army had a harsh code of discipline, with both punishments for failure and rewards for success • The army had a unit of spies that secured information for future attack • The Mongols also had new weapons unlike ever seen in the west…called GUNS and CANNONS

5. The Mongols under Chinggis (Genghis) Khan • The greatest pleasure of Temujin (Chinggis Khan) was making war • Conquest was the primary goal • Any city that resisted was leveled…Any person who resisted was killed or sold into slavery…if you complied, you paid tribute! • TOLERANCE…live together in peace…Khan took interest in the arts and culture of those he conquered • He refused to stay in places he conquered, so he built his capital of Karakorum and brought everyone to him • Trade was re-established from west to east and a new exchange of ideas and innovations flourished…and an exchange of DISEASES too!

6. Death and Division • By 1226, Genghis had directed his wrath on China, defeating the Xia Xia and Tangut Kingdoms…however, he was injured in battle and fell ill…on his deathbed, he reminded his sons not to quarrel over territory • The Mongol Imperium was thus divided 4 ways (3 sons –Ogedei, Tolui and Chagatai and one grandson - Batu) • Ogedei was eventually elected as the khan…though not a great military leader, he was a skilled diplomat and manipulator, keeping the Mongol Imperium together

7. The Mongols in Russia • Batu led the Golden Horde west, ravaging Russia from 1236-1240…very few towns survived (only Novgorod and Moscow because they submitted) • Russia • Became vassals of the Golden Horde…paid tribute…peasants took orders from their own princes AND the Mongols…many resorted to serfdom for protection • Moscow benefited from Mongol rule…tribute money helped the city grow powerful…Moscow eventually grew so powerful, it defeated the Golden Horde (1380 Battle of Kulikova) and became the new center of Russian political power • The Mongol influence brought military advancements and political organization to Russia • However, Russia was isolated from Europe because of the Mongols and did not experience the Renaissance or Reformation

8. Mongols in the Middle East • Hulegu, another of Chinggis grandsons, led expeditions into Islamic kingdoms…his assaults led to the complete end of Abbasid caliphate (1258) • The honeymoon was short lived, as the Mamluks of Egypt, under the leadership of Baibars with Christian help( wow, really?), rose in rebellion against Hulegu’s forces in 1260 • These events, however, would leave the door open for the cousins of the Mongols, the Turks of central Asia, to come and invade the Middle East over the next 2 centuries (more on this later)

9. Mongols in China • Conquest of China was begun by Chinggis, but not finished by him…his grandson Kublai Khan finished off Chinese invasions of the Song • On the recommendation of his Chinese advisor, Kublai took a Chinese dynastic name (Yuan) • Kublai preserved the distinctions between Mongol and Chinese (did not let his people get assimilated)…Chinese were forbidden to learn Mongol writing and forbidden to intermarry…the civil service exams were suspended • A distinct social order emerged • Mongols first, then their nomad/Muslim allies, then northern Chinese and lastly southern Chinese

10. Mongols in China • Mongol women remained culturally separate from Chinese women…Kublai’s wife made sure the differences were maintained. • Mongol tolerance brought outside influences back into China…Kublai was fascinated by all…Marco Polo made his famed voyage • The scholar gentry regarded the Mongols as uncouth barbarians and resented the termination of the examination system…they also hated that the Mongols elevated the status of lower class people (favor of the peasantry) …taxes and labor burdens on peasants were reduced • The Mongols improved Chinese transportation, expanded paper money, built a large navy, built many cities…arts flourished…elementary school created in villages

11. Mongols in China • Kublai Khan was pretty much the only strong ruler of the Yuan…after his death, the Mongol hold on China declined • One series of events that severely weakened the Mongols in China were the expeditions to Japan between 1274 and 1280…they weren’t defeated by an army, just the weather! • The Chinese scholar-gentry, seeing the Mongol military might at its weakest, called up the peasants to “rise up” and drive out the “barbarians” • By 1350, the signs of decline were all too evident…bandits and pirates terrorized people all too easily…famines occurred causing uprisings…secret societies such as the White Lotus Society emerged from religious factions (Daoist) • The Mongols retreated from China in 1368 and a new dynasty, founded by not a military leader, not a member of the scholar-gentry, not a religious leader…BUT a peasant farmer named Ju Yuanzhang (Hong Wu) took shape

12. Timur-i Lang (Timur the Lame) (Tamerlane) • Just as the world was recovering from the Mongols, another group of invaders, the Turks of Central Asia, under the leadership of Timur- Lang, began raids on the Middle East, India and southern Russia • Unlike the Mongols, Timur’s invasions represented ABSOLUTE BARBARISM…little tolerance for anything in his path • Pyramids of skulls, wanton slaughter of innocent people…he did spare artisans and scientists from Muslim lands though and took them back to his capital at Samarkand • For a brief period there was no increase in commercial trade…a halt to cultural exchange…internal peace subsided • His death in 1405 signified the end of the great nomadic challenges to Eurasian civilizations as the Turks under future leaders (Mehmed II) sought a sedentary empire

13. THIS WEEK • Tuesday: Document Analysis Pg. 317 • Wednesday: Video on Genghis Khan –w/Leader Analysis • Thursday: I/O on Mongols (topic on next slide) • Friday: C14 Test…NOTES DUE.

14. I/O - Debate Thursday • Topic Questions: How did the Mongols Change the World? How were they able to control the largest empire in World History? Were they the world’s greatest empire? Did they institute the greatest changes in World History to date? • Be prepared to debate/argue these concepts. • Breakdown your points by reading through chapter 14…also, read and take notes on page 321, The Mongol Empire as a Bridge Between Civilizations and pages 330-331 “In Depth” Eclipse of the Nomadic War Machine…usethe QUESTIONS at the end of each passage to guide your notes.