Chinggis’s Successors

Although Mongol leaders traditionally had had to win their positions, after Chinggis died the empire was divided into four states called khanates, with one of the lines of his descendants taking charge of each (Map 12.1). Chinggis’s third son, Ögödei, assumed the title of khan, and he directed the next round of invasions.

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MAP 12.1The Mongol EmpireThe creation of the vast Mongol Empire facilitated communication across Eurasia and led to both the spread of deadly plagues and the transfer of technical and scientific knowledge. After the death of Chinggis Khan in 1227, the empire was divided into four khanates ruled by different lines of his successors. In the 1270s the Mongols conquered southern China, but most of their subsequent campaigns did not lead to further territorial gains.> MAPPING THE PASTANALYZING THE MAP: Trace the campaigns of the Mongols. Which ones led to acquisition of territory, and which ones did not?CONNECTIONS: Would the division of the Mongol Empire into separate khanates have made these areas easier for the Mongols to rule? What drawbacks might it have had from the Mongols’ point of view?

In 1237 representatives of all four lines led 150,000 Mongol, Turkish, and Persian troops into Europe. During the next five years, they gained control of Moscow and Kievan Russia and looted cities in Poland and Hungary. They were poised to attack deeper into Europe when they learned of the death of Ögödei in 1241. To participate in the election of a new khan, the army returned to the Mongols’ new capital city, Karakorum.

Once Ögödei’s son was certified as his successor, the Mongols turned their attention to Persia and the Middle East. In 1256 a Mongol army took northwest Iran, then pushed on to the Abbasid capital of Baghdad. When it fell in 1258, the last Abbasid caliph was murdered, and the population was put to the sword. The Mongol onslaught was successfully resisted, however, by both the Delhi sultanate (see “The Delhi Sultanate”) and the Mamluk rulers in Egypt (see “The Mongol Invasions” in Chapter 9).

Under Chinggis’s grandson Khubilai Khan (r. 1260–1294), the Mongols completed their conquest of China. Proceeding deliberately, the Mongols first surrounded the Song empire in central and south China (discussed in Chapter 13) by taking its westernmost province in 1252, as well as Korea to its east in 1258; destroying the Nanzhao kingdom in modern Yunnan in 1254; and then continuing south and taking Annam (northern Vietnam) in 1257. As their invasion moved forward, the Mongols used a variety of forms of battle, employing experts in naval and siege warfare from all over their empire. During their advance toward the Chinese capital of Hangzhou, the Mongols ordered the total slaughter of the people of the major city of Changzhou, and in 1276 the Chinese empress dowager surrendered in hopes of sparing the people of the capital a similar fate.

Having overrun China and Korea, Khubilai turned his eyes toward Japan, launching invasions in 1274 and 1281. On both occasions the Mongols managed to land but were beaten back by Japanese samurai armies. Each time fierce storms destroyed the Mongol fleets. Twelve years later, in 1293, Khubilai tried sending a fleet to the islands of Southeast Asia, including Java, but it met with no more success than the fleets sent to Japan.

1206 Temujin made Chinggis Khan
1215 Fall of Beijing (Jurchens)
1219–1220 Fall of Bukhara and Samarkand in Central Asia
1227 Death of Chinggis
1237–1241 Raids into eastern Europe
1257 Conquest of Annam (northern Vietnam)
1258 Conquest of Abbasid capital of Baghdad; conquest of Korea
1260 Khubilai succeeds to khanship
1274 First attempt at invading Japan
1276 Surrender of Song Dynasty (China)
1281 Second attempt at invading Japan
1293 Mongol fleet unsuccessful in invasion of Java
mid-14th century Decline of Mongol power
Table 12.2: MONGOL CONQUESTS

Why were the Mongols so successful against so many different types of enemies? Even though their population was tiny compared to the populations of the large agricultural societies they conquered, their tactics, their weapons, and their organization all gave them advantages. Like other nomads before them, they were superb horsemen and excellent archers. Their horses were extremely nimble, able to change direction quickly, thus allowing the Mongols to maneuver easily and ride through infantry forces armed with swords, lances, and javelins.

The Mongols were also open to trying new military technologies. To attack walled cities, they learned how to use catapults and other engines of war. At first they employed Chinese catapults, but when they learned that those used by the Turks in Afghanistan were more powerful, they adopted the better model. The Mongols also used exploding arrows and gunpowder projectiles developed by the Chinese.

The Mongols made good use of intelligence and tried to exploit internal divisions in the countries they attacked. Thus in north China they appealed to the Khitans, who had been defeated by the Jurchens a century earlier, to join them in attacking the Jurchens. In Syria they exploited the resentment of Christians against their Muslim rulers.

> Three Generations of Mongol Conquerors:

  • Chinggis Khan: Led the first round of Mongol conquests
  • Ögödei Khan: (Son of Chinggis Khan) Oversaw the westward expansion of the Mongol Empire
  • Khubilai Khan: (Grandson of Chinggis Khan) Completed the Mongol conquest of China