Mongol Conquests from 1206 to 1696 affected all Civilizations giving new Course to their History

The Mongol Invasion of AD 1241

The Mongols, a primitive nomadic people from the depths of Asia, had tremendous influence on the course of world history. Few in number but augmented by Turcoman auxiliaries they threw themselves against the old centers of civilization in east and west. After overrunning the Ch’in empire in north China between 1211 and 1234, they defeated the Sung army and ruled over the whole of China from 1280 to 1367. They even launched seaborne expeditions against Java and Japan, though neither was successful. In the west their first victim was the Muslim empire of Khwarizm (1220), after which they turned against the Abbasid caliphate, sacking Baghdad in 1258. But the decisive Mameluke victory at Ain Jalut (1260) halted their advance in this direction. Meanwhile they had thrown themselves against Christian Europe, overrunning the northern Russian principalities in 1237-8 and sacking Kiev in 1240, before advancing into Hungary and Poland and destroying a German-Polish army at Legnica in 1241.

The architect of these amazing victories was a certain Temujin, known to history as Genghis Khan, son of a Mongol chief, who united the different Mongol tribes under his leadership (1206) and subdued other neighboring, mainly Turcoman tribes, before turning against China in 1211. Genghis died in 1227 but his wars of conquest were continued by his sons and grandsons, among whom Ogedei, elected Great Khan in 1229, and Mongke, who succeeded in 1251, were outstanding. But the vast empire lacked coherence and stability. And the Mongols failed to develop adequate institutions. Genghis himself divide d his empire like earlier Frankish rulers in the west and with similar results. Already on the death of Ogedei (1241), Genghis’ grandson Batu. Commander-in-chief in the west withdrew his army from Poland to the base on the lower Volga, in order to take part in the choice of a successor. It never returned and western Europe was spared, though Russia remained a Mongol tributary for over two centuries. Finally on the death of Mongke (1259) the brittle unity dissolved. Kublai (d. 1294) was elected Great Khan, but instead of a general over-lordship, his authority was confined to the east. The western Khanates (Chaghtai, II-Khan and the Golden Horde) went their own way. By the 16^th century only the eastern Khanates survived. In Persia the Ilkhanids were replaced by a local Turcoman dynasty in 1353 and later the successors of the Golden Horde, which had broken up into smaller Khanates at the time of Tamerlane the Great, were mopped up by a resurgent Russia.

The Mamelukes effectively checked the wave of Mongol conquests

It was paradoxically, Timur or Tamerlane (1336-1405) traditionally the last great Mongol conqueror (though in fact he was a Turcoman from Trans-oxiana), whose victorious career initiated the decline. Timur’s vast empire fell apart rapidly after his death while leading an expedition against China. But in the course of conquests he destroyed the Chagatai khanate which ceased to exist in 1405, and dislocated the Golden Horde. Henceforth the Mongols were under attack from all sides, increasingly at a disadvantage as the introduction of firearms weighed the balance on the side of their adversaries. In the west Russia absorbed the territories of the Golden Horde. In the east the Mongols threw back a main Chinese assault in 1449 and resumed their offensive under Altan Khan (1507-82). But in end Mongolia itself was brought under Chinese dominion in 1696 by the new Ch’ing dynasty. Nevertheless the Mongol impact had lasting results. All the older civilizations were affected. Faced by the Mongol challenge their history took a new course.