1. Mr. Snell HRHS

2.   China prospering in the Song Dynasty  Mongols to the North gaining power.  Horseback Skills, discipline, ruthlessness, courage  Violent Conflict transformed Europe/Asia forever. Setting the Stage

3.   Steppe – Vast belt of dry grassland.  Trading route between east/west  Home to nomads who swept down on neighbors. Nomads of the Asian Steppe

4.   Receives very little rain  More in West though  Dramatic temperature changes  Modern Mongolia  Winter – -57* F  Summer – 96* F  People usually migrated West/South. More Steppe

5.   Pastoralists – nomads who herded domesticated animals.  Followed a season pattern vs. wandering.  Land Battles  Asian nomads had total dependence on horseback for…  Food, housing, clothing  Yurts – portable felt tent Asian nomads lived in. Nomads?

6.  Mongolian Yurts

7.   Clans – Kinship groups who traveled together  Descend from common ancestor.  Multiple clans can unite for power purposes.  Society: Steppe Nomads vs. Settled Society  Peaceful trading  Nomads were tough  Nomads were tempted by richness and land.  Sometimes took what they wanted by force.  Settled people lived in fear of raids. Nomadic Family

8. The Great Wall of China Chinese built and rebuilt the Great Wall in an attempt to keep out nomadic invaders (Mongols).

9.  The Rise of the Mongols  Mongol clan leader Temujin sought unity around 1200.  Fought and defeated rivals 1 by 1.  1206 – takes title Genghis Khan, or “Universal Ruler” of the Mongol Clans.

10.  Conquests  China – Jin Empire  Lured to Islamic region west of Mongolia.  Campaign of Terror across Central Asia.  1225 – All of Central Asia controlled by Mongols.  Genghis the Conqueror:  Brilliant Organizer  Gifted strategist  Used cruelty as a weapon

11.   Genghis Khan dies from illness in 1227.  The Mongols created the largest unified land empire in all of history.  Sons and grandsons continued with the empire’s expansion.  Conquered Northern China, invaded Korea.  Leveled Kiev in Russia ( became Khanate of the Golden Horde)  Sets eyes on Persia The Mongol Empire

12.  Mongol Empire

13.   Invaded areas usually never recovered.  Ancient Irrigation systems destroyed.  Ferocious in war, tolerant in peace.  Sometimes adopted cultures of conquered people. Mongols as Rulers

14.   Pax Mongolica – Mongol Peace  From the mid-1200s to the mid-1300s, the Mongols imposed stability and law and order across much of Eurasia.  Safe passage for trade caravans, travelers, missionaries from the edges of the Empire.  Chinese gunpowder would reach Europe.  Bubonic plague theory The Mongol Peace

15.   Grandson to Genghis Khan  Assumed title Great Khan in 1260  Completed the conquest in China.  Yuan Dynasty – lasted 100 years  In China:  K.K. united China for the first time in 300 years.  Opened to foreign contacts and trade.  Moved capital from Mongolia. Kublai Khan

16.   In 1274 & 1281 – both fail.  Force Koreans to build, sail, and provide provisions for boats.  Expensive task that nearly ruined Korea.  2 nd fleet was 150,000 strong.  Largest seaborne invasion fleet until WWII.  53 days Japanese held off the Mongols  Typhoon Wave swept across Sea of Japan.  Kamikaze – “divine wind” Failure in Japan

17.  Destruction in Japan

18.   Mongols and Chinese had little in common.  Mongols maintained a separate identity.  Lived apart from Chinese under different laws.  Isolated Chinese rulers to at most, local level.  Foreign trade increased under Kublai Khan.  Mongol Peace routes encourage trade, travel.  Marco Polo – Venetian trader and most famous European to travel to China. Mongol Rule in China

19.   Armies began to suffer humiliating defeats.  Heavy spending on war, luxury, public works.  Overburdened treasury & overtax of Chinese.  Kublai Khan died in 1294, Yuan Dynasty overthrown.  Rest of the Empire began to crumble  Ivan III led Russia to independence from Mongol rule in 1480. Mongol Decline