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Mongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire, founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, encompassed the majority of territory from southeast Asia to eastern Europe. It is the largest contiguous land empire in history. Formation Genghis Khan, through political manipulation and the force of will, united the Mongol tribes under his banner by 1206. He quickly came into conflict with the Jin empire of the Jurchen and the Western Xia in Northern China, and, under the provocation of the Khwarezmid Empire, moved into Central Asia, devastating Transoxiana and eastern Persia, and raiding into southern Russia and the Caucasus. While engaged in a final war against the Western Xia, Genghis fell ill and died. Organization The Mongol Empire was governed by a code of law created by Genghis Khan, called Yasa. The stiff penalties it enforced made the Mongol Empire an extremely safe and effective institution. Under Yasa, the selection of chiefs and generals was based on a meritocracy, religious tolerance was guaranteed and thievery and vandalization of civilian property was strictly forbidden. Travellers from Europe are said to have been amazed by the organization and strict discipline of the people within the Mongol Empire. According to legend, a woman carrying a sack of gold could travel safely from one end of the Empire to another. The empire, according to Yasa, was governed by a unified central administration similar to a parliament, called Kurultai. The Mongol chiefs met with the Khan himself to discuss domestic and foreign policies. All throughout the empire, trade routes and an extensive postal system (Yam) were revived and created. Many merchants, messengers and travellers from China, the Middle East and Europe used Yam to have cultural exchange and a safer trade network. Genghis Khan also created a national seal; made a universal written language; exempted teachers, lawyers, and artists from taxes; and outlawed all forms of torture and humiliation in the empire. The citizenry had an extreme sense of dedication and loyalty to the empire, and especially to the great Khan himself. After Genghis Khan After Genghis' death in 1227, his successors, under the second khan gedei Khan, continued the expansion. They expanded into Persia, finished off the Xia and the remnants of the Khwarezmids, and came into conflict with the Song Dynasty of China, starting a war that would not end until 1279 with the complete occupation of that country and the assumption of Chinese rule by the Mongols. In the late 1230s, the Mongols under Batu invaded Russia, reducing most of its principalities to vassalage, and pressed on into Eastern Europe. In 1241 the Mongols may have been ready to invade Western Europe as well, having defeated the last Polish-German and Hungarian armies at the Battle of Legnica and the Battle of Mohi. They returned home, however, to participate in the election of the next Great Khan. During the 1250s, Genghis’ grandson Hulegu, operating from the Mongol base in Persia, destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and destroyed the cult of the Assassins, moving into Palestine towards Egypt. The Great Khan Mngke having died, however, he hastened to return for the election, and the force that remained in Palestine was destroyed by the Mamluks under Baibars in 1261 at Ayn Jalut. Disintegration When Genghis Khan died, several years of political unrest and short-lived (literally) khans followed. There were two years without a Khan, and then goti, Genghis Khan's rather drunken successor, took over. He reigned from 1229 until alcohol finally caught up with him in 1241. From 1241-1246, Toregene Khatun held the throne, followed by Guyuk Khan (1246-1248), Oghul Ghaymish (1248-1251), then Mngke Khan, the ruler who unwittingly provided his brother Kublai with a chance to become Khan in 1260. Mngke, the grandson of Genghis, was appointed the Khan of Khans in 1251, and had assigned his brother, Kublai, to a province in North China. Kublai expanded the Mongol empire, and made several good military moves, putting him in the favor of his brother the khan. Later, though, when he began to rule and abide by more Chinese laws, his brother, Mngke, was persuaded by his advisors that Kublai was becoming too Chinese and would become treasonous. After meeting in person and several diplomatic moves on Kublai's part, they were at peace. Mngke kept a closer watch on Kublai from then on until his death campaigning in the west. After his older brother's death, Kublai placed himself in the running for a new khan against his younger brother, and, although his younger brother won one election, Kublai won another, staged in a less traditional place. Kublai was soon known as Kublai Khan. He proved to be a good conquer, but critics said he dwelt too long in China. When he moved his headquarters to Peking, there was an uprising in the old capital which he barely staunched. He focused mostly on foreign alliances, and opened trade routes. He dined with a large court every day, and met with many ambassadors, foreign merchants, and even offered to convert to Christianity if this religion was proved to be correct by 100 priests. However, as his eyes strayed from the Mongol empire he ruled and towards cultural exchange with Europe, the war-ravaged Mongol masterpiece he had worked so hard to expand began to decline, and only his returning attention saved it from a swift fall. Although turmoil always happened when a khan died, even as the empire grew larger, khans were still elected in the traditional manner. The decaying empire sagged when Kublai Khan died, and it rotted through after Kublai's successor failed to maintain the Pax Mongolica policy. After Kublai died 1294, his heirs failed to maintain the Pax Mongolica and the Silk Road closed. Already during the reign of Kublai Khan, the empire was in the process of splitting into a number of smaller khanates. Inter-family rivalry (compounded by the complicated politics of succession, which twice paralyzed military operations as far off as Hungary and the borders of Egypt, crippling their chances of success) and the tendencies of some of the khans to drink themselves to death fairly young (causing the aforementioned succession crises) hastened the disintegration of the empire. Another factor which contributed to the disintegration was the decline of morale when the capital was moved from Kharakhorum to modern day Beijing by Kublai Khan, because Kublai Khan associated more with Chinese culture. Kublai concentrated on the war with the Song, assuming the mantle of ruler of China, while the more western khanates gradually drifted away. Some of these descendant empires include the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty in China, the Golden Horde that controlled Central Asia and Russia and the Ilkhans who ruled Persia. Legacy The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in human history. The 12th and 13th century, when the empire came to power, is often called the "Age of the Mongols." Tamerlane tried to unify the Mongol Empire but the identity of the empire transpired to the lesser Mongol khanates. The Mongol armies during that time were extremely well ignored. Modern Mongolians are proud of the empire and the sense of identity that it gave to them. The principles by which the empire was ruled have been translated in modern times into justification for a democratic state. The death toll (by battle, massacre, flooding, and famine) of the Mongol wars of conquest is placed at about 40 million according to various sources. See also External links
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