Chapter 14 The Last Great Nomadic Challenges: From Chinggis Khan to Timur By: Jayden Alley, Samantha Nichols, Olivia Kissinger

The Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan In the early 13 th century, long-standing obstacles to Mongol expansion were overcome, primarily because of the leadership of Chinggis Khan. The Mongols and allied nomadic groups built an empire that stretched from the Middle East to the China Sea.

Animals were important to the Mongols for things such as trade, clothing, and food The Mongols were skilled horseback riders They were divided into kin-related clans They relied on a strong tribal leader When a leader died or became ill the Mongols would abandon that leader for someone else The Mongols

Chinggis Khan Born in the 1170s His name was originally Temujin but he was renamed Chinggis Khan Attacked by a rival tribe and taken prisoner in 1182 His growing reputation as a warrior and military commander soon won him allies In 1206 he was elected the Khagan, supreme ruler, of the Mongol tribes

The Mongols had a very strong military They used flaming and exploding arrows, gunpowder projectiles, and bronze cannons Chinggis Khan lead campaigns to conquer lands, he started with the Tangut kingdom of Xi Xia and then the Jin Empire The towns people were slaughtered or sold into slavery; their homes, and buildings were reduced to rubble

The Mongols conquered part of northern China they moved westward against the Kara Khitai Then he lead his armies to the conquest of the Khwarazm Empire Ruled an empire from eastern Persia to the North China Sea Chinggis Khan died in August 1227 He divided the kingdoms between his three sons and a grandson Ogedei was elected grand Khan

The Mongol Drive to the West Mongol commanders launched raids into Georgia and across the Russian steppe that set the stage for their conquest of the vulnerable Christian lands to the west

The Mongols began their invasion of Russia in 1236 Batu led a force of more than 120,000 cavalrymen into the Russian heartlands Cities, such as Ryazan, Moscow, and Vladimir, were destroyed: their inhabitants were slaughtered or led into slavery In the spring Mongol forces left Russia but returned to conquer more lands in the winter They conquered Kiev but not Novgorod

Russian princes were forced to submit as vassals of the khan of the Golden Horde and to pay tribute Russian towns made profits on the increased trade made possible by the Mongol links Moscow benefited the most from the Mongol presence, and as in grew in strength, the power of the Golden Horde declined Moscow, in alliance with other Russian vassals, raised an army that defeated the forces of the Golden Horde in the Battle of Kulikova

Europe wanted to be allies with the Mongols to defeat the Muslims, however the Mongols wanted to conquer Europe They raided the Adriatic Sea region, which left the rest of Europe open for them to conquer The death of the khagan Ogedei, in the distant Mongol capital at Karakorum, forced Batu to withdraw from Europe in preparation for the struggle for succession

Under the rule of Hulegu, the Mongols captured and destroyed Baghdad in 1258 The sack of Baghdad and many other cities from central Asia to the shores of the Mediterranean devastated the focal points of Islamic civilization The Mongols were defeated in 1260 by the armies of the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt

The Mongol Interlude in Chinese History After decades of hard campaigning in the mid- 13 th century, the Mongols gained control of the greatest prize of all, China, which they ruled for a century. Although the Chinese capacity to assimilate nomadic conquerors was evident from the outset, the Mongols managed to retain a distinct culture and social separateness

The Mongols looked toward the song dynasty to conquer They were directed by Kubilai Khan From they were continually fighting battles in China Kubilai ruled most of China He passed laws to preserve the distinction between Mongol and Chinese Mongol women had more rights and freedoms than Chinese women Chabi, the wife of Kubilai Khan, was on of the most important confidents on political and diplomatic matters

Kubilai’s efforts to promote Mongol adaptation to Chinese culture were overshadowed in the long run by measures to preserve Mongol separateness His refusal to reinstate the examination route to administrative office prevented Confucian scholars from dominating politics He went to great lengths to bolster the position of the artisan classes Poetry and writing flourished

By the 1350s, the signs of dynastic decline of the Yuan were apparent There was a lot of banditry and piracy but the government was too weak to stop them Secret religious sects, such as the White Lotus Society, were dedicated to overthrowing the dynasty Ju Yuanzhang founded the Ming dynasty which ruled China for the next three centuries

Timur-i Lang Leader of the Turks In 1360s his armies moved out from his base at Samarkand to conquests in Persia, the Fertile Crescent, India, and southern Russia His empire outdid the Mongols in the ferocity of his campaigns to conquer lands His rule brought neither increased trade and cross-cultural exchanges nor internal peace After his death in 1405, his empire fell apart