Mongol Empire

I

Introduction

Mongol Empire, sprawling empire founded in the early 1200s by Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. By the late 1200s, the Mongol Empire included almost all of East and Southwest Asia and extended into central Europe. It was the largest contiguous land empire in history.

The immense size of the Mongol Empire proved to be its undoing. Under Genghis Khan’s descendants, the empire was divided into separate, virtually independent states. Political rivalries and cultural differences led to disunity, and Mongol cohesiveness dissolved. The empire collapsed as the power of the states disintegrated during the 14th and 15th centuries.

II

Before the Mongol Empire

A

The Mongol Tribes of East Asia

The Mongols were a loose confederation of Mongolian-speaking tribes until Genghis Khan united them in 1206. Their homelands extended through present-day Mongolia, north into the southern fringes of the Siberia region of Russia, and east into what is now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Here, on the eastern edge of the Asian steppe (a vast plateau of grassy plains), the Mongols developed a nomadic way of life.

The Mongols continually moved across the steppe in search of new grazing lands for their livestock. Their flocks of sheep provided food and clothing. Their horses provided transportation as well as a favorite drink, fermented mare’s milk, or koumiss. The Mongols made their homes in portable, circular tents they called ger. These tents (also known as yurts) are still common in Mongolia, where nomadic traditions continue.

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The Mongols began training in horsemanship and archery at a very early age. They learned to shoot their arrows with precision while standing in the stirrups of a galloping horse. This skill was used in hunting, raiding, and warfare. Their domesticated horses came from wild herds native to the steppe. This small, hardy species became known as Przewalski’s horse in the late 1800s.

The importance that the Mongols attached to their horses is evident on every page of the Secret History of the Mongols, written in the mid-1200s. The author of this anonymous native work on the rise of the Mongol Empire never mentions a horse without providing its exact description—for example, how a young Genghis Khan, mounted on a chestnut stallion with a hairless tail, tracked down thieves who had made off with the family herd of eight light-bay geldings.

The Mongols were organized into clans, which in turn were part of a larger, much looser organization, the tribe. The hierarchy of the tribe was bound together by personal bonds of mutual protection and loyalty extending downward from the tribal chieftains, to subordinate clan chiefs, to individual warriors. Tribal and clan affairs were discussed and decided upon at the kuriltai, an assembly of tribal leaders. One of its functions was to elect a khan (leader). Before Genghis Khan, however, the khan had little real power. In addition, the Mongol tribes were deeply divided by clan rivalries, and warfare between them was endemic.

B

Political Background

For almost 2,000 years before Genghis Khan, various nomadic peoples of East Asia had raided the settled peoples of northern China. The Chinese built fortifications along their northern frontier to keep out the raiders. (These fortifications long preceded the impressive stone walls that became known as the Great Wall in modern times.) Nevertheless, several nomadic groups broke through the barriers and established local dynasties in China.

One of these groups, a Mongolian-speaking people known as the Khitans, took advantage of the waning control of the Chinese Tang dynasty to conquer an area that extended well into northern China. They founded the Liao dynasty in the early 900s to rule their empire, Khitai. The Liao prevented the Chinese Song dynasty, which rose to power in 960, from reclaiming lands north of the Huang He (Yellow River) that had been lost by the Tang.

Early in the 1100s the Jurchens, a confederation of Tungusic-speaking tribes, rose up against the Liao. The Song encouraged the uprising in hope of regaining territory held by the Liao. The Jurchens not only conquered the Liao in 1125 but also took over a large portion of the northern Song domains. For their new empire, the Jurchens adopted the dynastic name of Jin (“Golden”). The remnants of the Song court fled south to Hangzhou and established the Southern Song dynasty. The Khitans retreated westward and reestablished their kingdom as Kara-Khitai.

A contingent of the Mongol tribes had fought on the side of the Liao in their final battles against the Jin. The Jin thereafter allied with the Tatars, a Turkic people who lived to the east and south of the Mongols.

C

Rise of Genghis Khan

In 1161 the Mongol chieftain Kutula was defeated by the Jin in alliance with the Tatars. Several years later, Kutula’s nephew and successor, Yesugei, was killed by the Tatars. Yesugei’s son, Temujin, gradually rose to power. By 1196 he was the undisputed leader of the Borjigin tribe. He then led a series of military campaigns in which he managed to defeat all the Mongol and Tatar tribes between the Altay Mountains in the west and the Hinggan Mountains in the east (roughly the area of present-day Mongolia).

In 1206 Temujin convened a kuriltai of all the Mongol chieftains. They proclaimed him supreme ruler with the title of Genghis Khan (also spelled Chinggis Khan), meaning “Great Leader.” The kuriltai also divided Mongol territory among strong military leaders who pledged their allegiance to Genghis Khan.

III

The Mongol Empire Under Genghis Khan

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