Mongol Empire

A

Conquests in China

His power secured in the Mongol homelands, Genghis Khan soon launched a campaign to destroy the Jin dynasty of northern China. First, however, he subdued the Tanguts, whose Xixia (Hsi-Hsia) dynasty ruled the area between the Mongol and Jin domains. Mongol forces invaded Jin territory in 1211. Two years later they broke through the northern Chinese fortifications and surged into the Huabei Pingyuan (North China Plain). By the spring of 1214 the entire area north of the Huang He (Yellow River) was in Mongol hands. The Jin emperor purchased peace at an enormous ransom, and the Mongols withdrew. Shortly after, the emperor judged it prudent to move his capital from its northern site of Beijing. The Mongols interpreted his move as a resumption of hostilities and returned to sack and pillage Beijing.

Genghis Khan then turned his attention westward. In 1218 a Mongol army led by the great general Jebe subdued the neighboring kingdom of Kara-Khitai, located between the Tibetan Plateau (now part of China) and Lake Balqash (now in southeastern Kazakhstan).

B

Campaign in Central Asia

The conquest of Kara-Khitai brought the Mongols into Central Asia. Their new western frontier abutted Khwarizm, a vast but poorly organized empire ruled by Sultan Muhammad. Khwarizm included the western part of Turkistan as well as most of Iran. The sultan gave the Mongols an immediate cause for war by having two of Genghis Khan’s ambassadors beheaded.

The Mongol army reached Khwarizm’s northern frontier city of Otrar in the autumn of 1219. Leaving one unit there, Genghis Khan continued south to capture and plunder the great cities of Bukhara (Bukhoro) and Samarqand. Panic-stricken, Sultan Muhammad fled westward, pursued by a Mongol army, and died on an island in the Caspian Sea. The Mongols then turned north, crossing the Caucasus Mountains into what is now Russia. They defeated a coalition of Kipchak Turks and Russians in Crimea (part of present-day Ukraine) and returned eastward. 

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Genghis Khan passed the summer of 1220 resting his troops and horses in mountain pastures south of Samarqand. In the autumn he moved his forces south into Khorâsân, the eastern province of Iran. At that time Khorâsân extended far beyond its present-day border with Afghanistan. Mongol troops under the command of Genghis Khan’s youngest son, Tolui, laid waste to some of the province’s most important cities, including Nishapur (now Neyshâbûr, Iran), Merv (now Mary, Turkmenistan), and Herât (now in northern Afghanistan).

The region never fully recovered from the devastation of the Mongol onslaught. At Nishapur alone, more than 1 million people were massacred. According to the Persian historian Ala-ad-Din Ata-Malik Juvaini, who became a civil servant of the Mongols and wrote of their conquests in his History of the World-Conqueror, “It was commanded that … in the exaction of vengeance not even cats and dogs should be left alive.”

In the autumn of 1221 Genghis Khan moved to attack Sultan Jalal al-Din, the son of Sultan Muhammad. Overtaken on the banks of the Indus River and surrounded by the Mongol forces, Jalal al-Din made a dramatic escape by swimming across the river. He contrived to harass the Mongols for several years until his death in 1231 in Anatolia (the Asian part of present-day Turkey; also known as Asia Minor).

C

Return to the East

The battle at the Indus River marked the end of Genghis Khan’s campaign in the west. He returned to northern China after receiving news of an uprising there by the Tanguts, the founders of the Xixia dynasty. Genghis Khan led a campaign of brutal suppression that completely destroyed the Tanguts. It proved to be his final conquest, for he died in August 1227.

Genghis Khan was one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever seen. He had conquered a vast area stretching from northern China to the Caspian Sea. In addition, he had laid the foundation for the continuance of his empire by building a strong army and establishing basic laws of governance.

D

The Mongol Army

Genghis Khan unleashed a seemingly invincible military force. Although usually outnumbered, the Mongol forces dominated the battlefield. Their absolute discipline, well-understood chain of command, superior mobility, and innovative military tactics distinguished them from other armies of the day.

Rather than leading their forces into battle, the Mongol generals directed operations from a distance. A standard tactic they employed was to sweep an entire wing of the army around an enemy flank to attack from behind. Prisoners, if not massacred, were forced to form the front line in subsequent operations.

Mongol soldiers were well-trained in marksmanship and horsemanship. A soldier was clad in armor of leather strips lacquered to keep out water. His bow, backed with horn or sinew, was one of the most powerful in the world. After showering the enemy with arrows he would change to his lance or to a curved sword and charge for close fighting.

The Mongols’ greatest advantage was their mobility. They brought with them on their campaigns so many horses that a soldier could ride a fresh mount daily for three or four days running. Once an enemy’s initial resistance was broken, the Mongols would overrun the territory with a rapidity not to be duplicated until the tank warfare of the 20th century. Rivers, however broad, formed no obstacle; the Mongol armies would cross them in a kind of collapsible boat that they carried as standard equipment. They were equally skilled in organizing sieges. On one occasion they even diverted a river that ran through a besieged city and attacked along the dry river bed.

E

System of Rule

Genghis Khan instituted a legal code, the Great Book of Yasas, that formed the basis of governance for most of the empire’s duration. From the fragments that survive, it appears that the yasas (laws) were an amalgam of Mongol customary law and the khan’s own innovations. The yasas included such provisions as a ban on thrusting a knife into fire, possibly based on a fear of offending the spirits of nature. Of particular importance was the yasa exempting the clergy of conquered peoples, as were the Mongols’ own religious leaders, from the payment of taxes and the performance of military service and forced labor.

In governing their empire, the Mongols readily admitted into their service officials belonging to all nations and creeds. Genghis Khan began the practice by taking into his court both Muslim and Chinese advisers. One of his most trusted advisers, the Khitan prince Yeh-lu Ch’u-ts’ai, had shrewdly warned: “The empire was won on horseback, but it will not be governed on horseback.” It is believed that his advice prompted the Mongols to turn from the wholesale massacre of settled populations to using the talents of the conquered peoples in governing the empire.

The Mongols developed an efficient communications system within their vast empire. The system was based on the yam, or post-horse station, which supplied food, horses, and service to the Mongol khan’s troops and couriers. The yam network made it possible for news to travel quickly to and from the khan’s headquarters; the couriers were able, if necessary, to cover a distance of 250 mi (400 km) in one day. In addition, the Mongols encouraged open trade throughout their empire. They revived, secured, and expanded the ancient trade routes known as the Silk Road. Under Mongol rule, these trade routes fostered the first significant cultural exchanges between East Asia and Europe.

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