Mongol Conquests and Empire

1200s - 1300s

Mongol Conquests and Empire1200s - 1300s

““The greatest happiness is to The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to see his scatter your enemy, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in those who love him shrouded in tears, and to carry off his wives tears, and to carry off his wives and daughters.”  and daughters.”  

TemujinTemujin(a.k.a. Chinggis Khan)(a.k.a. Chinggis Khan)(a.k.a. Genghis Khan)(a.k.a. Genghis Khan)

Generally speaking, the Generally speaking, the Mongols:Mongols:

Had few technological breakthroughsHad few technological breakthroughs Spread no new religionsSpread no new religions Wrote few books and playsWrote few books and plays Brought no new crops or agricultural methodsBrought no new crops or agricultural methods Left few artifacts and buildingsLeft few artifacts and buildings Didn’t hold on to an empire very longDidn’t hold on to an empire very long

I’ll kill you.

According to many perspectives in different times, the Mongols:

• were destroyers of civilizations

• were ruthless uncivilized barbarians

• were evil forces against Christians, Buddhists, Confucians, or Muslims

• In other places, they (especially Genghis Khan) are revered.

They lived on horseback.

• Ate there, slept there, spent a week or more there.

• Especially fought from there.

• Opposing armies were not prepared for this style of rapid, mobile warfare.

• Mongolian horses were slightly smaller than most other breeds and would lose in a race.

• BUT… they were tough and the Mongols fought much lighter than most of their opponents, so they could still outmaneuver, outlast, and go faster than their enemies.

Compare it to Medieval European horses like the Ardennes, big and bulky for carrying heavy armored knights.

They were also used for lots of things.

Mmmm… horse milk.

The main weapons were the scimitar, axe, and bow.

• Heavier cavalry also used lances.

• The Mongols were skilled horsemen and mounted archers. Their bows were the best of the time.

• They were composite bows (meaning they were layered and laminated together).

• Their draw weight was 100-170 pounds and had an effective range of 350 yards.

• Compare this to the celebrated English longbow which had a draw weight of 70-80 pounds and a range of 250 yards.

• Soldiers would even have special arrows, such as whistling signaling arrows.

How to shoot a Mongolian bow.

How not to let someone teach you how to use a Mongolian bow.

They created the largest land-based empire in human history.

• At its peak, the Mongolian Empire covered 12.7 million square miles, roughly 22% of the earth’s land surface.

Central Asian Central Asian NomadsNomads

Social Classes – based on abilities Social Classes – based on abilities Women had greater status than in most settled Women had greater status than in most settled

regions.regions. Leaders were “elected” by the free men of the clan, Leaders were “elected” by the free men of the clan,

tribe, or confederation. (Kuriltai-Meeting of all Mongol tribe, or confederation. (Kuriltai-Meeting of all Mongol Chieftains)Chieftains)

ConquestsConquests Under the leadership of Under the leadership of

Chinggis Khan, the Chinggis Khan, the combination of Mongol combination of Mongol discipline, technology, discipline, technology, strategy, and ruthlessness strategy, and ruthlessness helped the Mongols take helped the Mongols take control of Central Asia, then control of Central Asia, then Northern China.Northern China.

By Chinggis Khan’s death in By Chinggis Khan’s death in 1220s, Mongol armies had 1220s, Mongol armies had moved west into the Islamic moved west into the Islamic lands and Central Europe.lands and Central Europe.

1206-1227

• Genghis was exceptionally ruthless, but also very shrewd.

• He was excellent at exploiting new technologies and tactics.

• Had a spy network that reported on happenings elsewhere.

• Was good at playing rivals against each other.

• Had very good maps.

Before Genghis Khan

After Genghis Khan

Also

The Mongols made an impact by . . .• adapting the use of gunpowder,

improving it, and spreading its use.

• spreading the Bubonic Plague (the Black Death)

• Creating a situation in which new groups could take control of territories after the Mongols retreated (Ottoman Turks)

Speaking of the plague….

The Plague

• The plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis (for those of you biology people, it’s a gram negative, bipolar staining coccobacilli).

• You can actually be infected in several different ways.

1. One is pneumonic plague and is the second most common variety.

• It can come from bacteria migrating from the lymph nodes to the lungs or from inhalation.

• Flu-like symptoms present quickly and there may also be coughing up of blood.

• It will kill in one to six days and has a mortality rate of nearly 95% when left untreated.

2. Septicemic plague

• Usually associated with the hunting and skinning of infected animals.

• Bite-like bumps appear on the skin and leave black patches.

• If left untreated, the mortality rate is nearly 100% and death usually comes on the same day symptoms first appear.

3. Bubonic plague

• The most common variety and the most well-known. This is what we’ll talk about.

Bubonic plague

• Spread by fleas and rodents, usually rats.

• Here’s what happens:

1. A flea bites an infected rat and gets the bacteria in its gut.

2. The bacteria multiplies and forms a plug in the flea’s gut. This plug makes the flea very hungry and more aggressive than normal.

3. The flea attempts to feed on a human, but the plugged gut keeps it from keeping down the blood. Instead, it vomits the blood back into the body with plague bacteria mixed in. The human becomes infected.

4. The flea will eventually starve to death. The human gets the plague.

• Symptoms

• Will set in three to seven days after infection.

• Chills, fever, diarrhea, headaches, and swelling of the lymph nodes.

• Lymph nodes are part of your lymphatic system, which transports fluid and immune system stuff around the body. The nodes are like filters stocked with lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) that kill bacteria and viruses that come through.

• They’re mainly clustered in a few places in your body, like the armpits, groin, neck, chest, and abdomen.

• It causes a swelling of the lymph node – whichever node it gets to first, but usually the groin since people will get bitten on the legs – because the bacteria multiply like crazy there.

• This swelling is called a bubo and is a bump 1-10 cm across and very painful, even to the touch. It may be so painful that the person can’t even move that part of the body.

• If left untreated, the mortality rate is about 50%.

The Black Death refers to the plague outbreak that began about 1347

• It actually wasn’t just an epidemic, it was a pandemic as it popped up in other parts of the world at the same time.

• It appears to have first broken out in central Asia and then traders and Mongols spread it from there.

• In one case, the Mongols laid siege to the city of Caffa in the Crimea, controlled by the Genoese. The Mongols were being decimated by the disease and started catapulting the corpses over the walls in a form of biological warfare.

• The Genoese fled and took the disease back to southern Italy with them. Most were dead or dying by the time they got to port. Some ran aground with all aboard dead. From there, it spread like wildfire.

• Modern scholars estimate that anywhere from half to two-thirds of Europe’s population died during the outbreak of 1348 to 1350. (but estimates have ranged from 1/3 to 2/3).

• Whatever the proportion, tens of millions of people died in just a little over two years.

• Towns and cities were filthy and tightly packed, which helped spread the disease.

• People were afraid to leave their homes and they would die there with nobody finding them. They were only known to be dead because neighbors would complain of the smell from the decaying bodies.

• Most were afraid to handle the dead or be around the sick. Bodies stacked up. In Paris, a city of 100,000 – 800 people were dying per day.

• Mothers refused to see their sick children. Close family members were to be fled from and not taken care of.

• There were too many dying at once to give proper burials in individual graves. Instead, large pits were dug and the bodies dumped in.

• As Catholics, they believed they needed to be given last rites in order to enter heaven, but many of the living priests didn’t want to be around the sick. Other priests charged exorbitant prices to give the rites.

• People had a variety of responses to the pandemic.

• Doctoring wasn’t all that advanced. Some were fanciful costumes meant to scare away the evil spirits.

• People carried around flowers and herbs in their pockets thinking the scents would ward away the disease.

• Other places thought sound was the answer and rang church bells or fired cannons.

• Plague hospitals filled up and were more hospices to isolate the sick than anything else.

• Others gave themselves over to religious devotion.

• The Church, however, was unable to stop the pestilence. The clergy died like everyone else. Monks died off even faster due to the close quarters of the monasteries.

• The plague was seen as a punishment by God for the people’s sinfulness.

• Some became flagellants. They traveled from town to town, singing hymns and chanting while flagellating themselves, i.e. whipping themselves, in a sign of physical penance.

• People at first flocked to the flagellants, especially considering the Church’s inability to do anything. Some flagellant groups, though, actually spread the plague to new towns.

• Some blamed the Jews and wild conspiracy theories developed that they were poisoning the water and food supplies.

• In fact, Jews died at a lesser rate than others, but this was likely due to Rabbinical laws dictating greater hygiene and the fact that they were isolated in ghettoes. They still, however, died in alarming numbers.

• The Christians responded by persecuting the Jews. They were arrested, tortured, and put to death. Still others were simply seized by mobs and burnt to death. Tens of thousands died in this way.

• Surviving Jews started migrating to eastern Europe, especially Poland where the king was giving them protection.

• Ironically, fleeing this first Holocaust to eastern Europe worsened the 20th century Holocaust when the Nazis took the region.

• Some became exceptionally morbid. Art and literature focused on death and disease.

• Yet still others became hedonists who lived for the moment and the plague was blamed for a loosening of morals.

• Results

• A lot of people died.

• This was, strangely, a good thing for the survivors.

• Europe had become overpopulated by the mid-1300’s and this thinned the herd.

• Economically and socially, it helped to break down the feudal/manorial system.

• There were no longer enough serfs and peasants to go around and little ability to force them to stay on the land. Landowners started competing for labor through wages and freedom.

• Moreover, laborers could start demanding them, which gave them greater power.

• More land and food was available.

• The Church was also weakened.

• Its image had been tarnished by its inability to stop the plague.

• It didn’t help that the clergy had also been decimated and some of the replacements were inexperienced and/or not very devoted to their religious responsibilities.

• The weakening of the Church helps lead to the Renaissance and Reformation later on.

• There’s even some speculation that the Black Death helped end the Medieval Warming Period and begin the Little Ice Age because the empty field reforested and sucked carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.