The Mongol Empire was the largest land empire ruled during the 13th and 14th centuries. It emerged due to the unification of several nomadic Turkic and Mongol tribes of historical Mongolia. The empire launched invasions in all directions. With the Pax Mongolica or Mongol Peace, the empire bridged the East and the West and facilitated the transfer of trade, technologies, commodities, and philosophies throughout Eurasia. The Mongol invasions and raids were among human history’s bloodiest and most horrifying battles. In the end, the kingdom started to fall apart; it finally disintegrated in 1368, at the moment when the Ming Dynasty took power.

Origin of the Mongol Empire

The  Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in history. It came into existence throughout the High Middle Ages in Europe. The Mongol Empire lasted the 13th and 14th centuries, originating in the steppes of Central Asia. It spanned all of present-day Mongolia, China, portions of  Romania, Burma, Pakistan, Ukraine, Siberia, Belarus, Anatolia, Cilicia, Armenia, Georgia,  Iraq, Persia, Central Asia, and most or all of Russia at its greatest extent. Many additional countries entered the Mongol Empire as subordinate states.

The Mongol empire must be believed to have begun in 1206, when Temüjin, son of Yesügei, was appointed as Genghis Khan of a union of tribes near the banks of the Onon River. The union included additional Turkic tribes in addition to Mongols in the conventional sense, that is, Mongol language-spoken tribes. Before 1206, Genghis Khan was just one of several tribal chiefs striving for control in the steppe areas southeast and south of Lake Baikal. However, his triumphs over the Kereit and later the Naiman Turks gave him absolute control over the entire territory of modern-day Mongolia.

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan was the first Khan and the founder of the Mongol Empire. He spent a large part of his life uniting the Mongol tribes and later on expanded his empire by launching a series of military attacks and seizing parts of Northern China, Persia, and Central Asia. He stabilized taxes and formed agricultural cooperatives, helped the peasant economy of China, and brought the tribes of Mongolia together. He developed a military-feudal system of government and amended the laws governing his people. In addition to embracing the cutting-edge technology of the day, he supported trade and religious freedom and adopted stirrups, composite arrows, leather armor, and gunpowder.

Military Organization of the Empire

The success of the Mongol Empire was based on new innovative military strategies and military organization including psychological warfare, delayed sieges, building up massive arsenals, arrow storms, and repeated hit-and-run barrages. The conquered people brought with them other new tactical and technological improvements including stirrups, which helped the warriors. 

The organization was arranged on the decimal system. The largest independent unit was the Touman. Under the leadership of an orlok (the Mongol field marshal), an army or army corps was typically composed of three toumans. On the other hand, the touman consisted of ten regiments of 1000 soldiers, each under the rule of a noyan or Mongol baron. The regiment consisted of ten squadrons, each with 10 soldiers. Heavily armored cavalry comprised forty percent of a normal Mongol army for shock actions. The remaining 60% consisted of light cavalry with arrows carrying them, who were utilized for screening, surveillance, reinforcing heavy cavalry, mopping up operations, and pursuit.

Mongol intelligence networks existed throughout the known world. The Mongols would establish precise goals along broad axes of march for each of their toumans after thoroughly examining intelligence reports. Significant latitude was granted to subordinate commanders when executing their duties. A touman commander was free to move and meet the enemy anyplace he saw appropriate, both before and after a general battle and within the larger plan.

Mongol Expansion

Northern China

After becoming the Great Khan, the first target of the Genghis Khan was the Jin state in northern China. The Mongol cavalry’s efficiency and terror strategies while dealing with seized cities worked out, forcing the internally split Jin state to flee to the south. A parallel objective was the Tangut state of Xi Xia (aka Hsi-Hsia, 1038-1227), which was situated in northern China and equally incapable of halting Genghis’ unstoppable expansion into East Asia. 

Furthermore, the Song Dynasty of China was the third target during this period. The Song were wealthier and more assertive than their neighbors, and despite Genghis destroying many of their cities, they proved to be more resilient. By 1219, Genghis had attacked northern Korea as he followed the rebellious Khitan tribes hiding there.

Persia

Genghis, known as the universal ruler, after attacking Northern China turned his intentions to western Asia. The Persian Khwarazm Empire underwent an invasion beginning in 1218. A Mongol army of 100,000 warriors seized key cities such as Bukhara and Samarkand and pushed back all opponents. The Mongols entered northern Afghanistan in 1221, demolished a Russian army at Kalka in 1223, and surrounded the Caspian Sea as the army returned home. The Muslims in the region offered Genghis a new title: the ‘Accursed One.’ Cities had been devastated to the ground, residents had been murdered, and irrigation systems had been destroyed.

However, in less than two decades, the Asian world completely turned upside down. Genghis Khan died of an unknown illness on August 18, 1227, but his successors determined that the Mongol new world order endured its creator.

Central Asia

The Shaybanid dynasty controlled another kingdom that should be regarded as essentially Chagatai, even though Genghis Khan’s grandsons ruled it. Shayban, a grandson of Genghis, ruled the east and southeast of the Ural range. Abu’l-Khayr, a descendant of his, established himself as the Uzbeks’ ruler and ruled from 1428 to 1468. The Timurids lost control over Bukhara and Herat to his grandson Muḥammad Shaybani, whose dynasty dominated the city until 1599. A small part of Transcaspia was ruled by different people of the same family, including the Nogay Khans and Astrakhan Khans. Only to the extent that their sultans were ancestral descendants of Genghis could any of these realms claim to be Mongol.

Impact Of The Pax Mongolica

The Pax Mongolica term refers to the stability of the regions which were under the control of Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries. However, the Mongol rulers maintained relative stability and peace in such regions because they did not compel their subjects to follow cultural or religious traditions. However, they continued to uphold a set of laws known as the Yassa (Great Law), which put an end to local aristocratic disputes and made public disobedience unfavorable. It also made sure that quickly organizing an army was simple and granted the Khans access to the daughters of the local rulers.

The constant deployment of armies within the empire also helped ensure that people abided by Yassa laws and ensured enough stability for people and goods to travel over long distances on these routes. In this context, the Silk Road is one of the most significant trade routes in history and has become one of the greatest empires in history. This trade route allowed goods and commodities like pepper, silk, precious stones, cinnamon, leather, and linen to travel between Europe, India, China, and the Steppe.

The major ideas,  innovations, and discoveries were also introduced through travel routes including paper-making, innovative formulas in mathematics and astronomy, and banking systems from varied parts of the world. Notable explorers like Marco Polo thrived from the stability and freedom that the Pax Mongolica brought and were able to return to Europe with significant information about the Mongol Empire and the East.

The Decline of the Empire

Mongol and Tatar raids and invasions against Russian states persisted far into the latter part of the 1200s. Elsewhere, territorial expansions and victories of the Mongols in China continued into the 14th century under the control of the Yuan Dynasty. At the same time,  those in Persia continued to be under the control of the Timurid Dynasty in the 15th century.  

The empire prospered throughout 162 years of rapid expansion. The Mongols controlled over up to 12 million square miles at its height of dominance. Despite its reputation for cruel warfare, the Mongol Empire endured a brief period of “Pax Mongolica” or Mongol peace, which began in or around 1279 and continued until the fall of the empire. During this time, trade, peacefulness, and protected travel were all made attainable. However, the empire that Genghis Khan established finally started to fall after he died in 1227. 

The Genghis Khan’s grandsons disputed whether one of his sons, Ŗgedei, the first heir, ought to be the heir to the empire. Following prolonged rivalry and civil war, Kublai Khan created the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, but as he made a failed effort to retake authority over Genghis Khan’s other children, another civil war started. Conflicts between his descendants ultimately caused the empire to be split into four. All four declined by 1368.

The Mongol Empire ultimately fell, with Russian princes progressively achieving independence throughout the 14th and 15th centuries and the Han Chinese Ming Dynasty seizing power in 1368.

Emperors of the Mongol Empire

Here is the list of Mongol Emperors in history;

• Genghis Khan (1206-1227)
• Tolui Khan (1227- 1229)
• Ogedei Khan (1229- 1241)
• Toregene Khatun (1242-1246)
• Guyuk Khan (1246-1248)
• Oghul Qaimish ( 1248-1251)
• Mongke Khan ( 1251-1259)
• Ariq Boke (1259-1264)
• Kublai Khan (1271- 1294)
• Temur Khan (1294-1307)
• Kulug Khan (1307- 1311)
• Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan (1311-1320)
• Gegeen Khan (1320-1323)
• Yesun Temur (1323-1328)
• Ragibagh Khan (1328)
• Jayaatu Khan (1328-1329)
• Tugh Temur ( 1329-1332)
• Khutughtu Khan Kusala (1329)
• Rinchinbal Khan (1332)
• Toghon Temur (1333- 1368)

Conclusion

In conclusion, the influence and expansion of the Mongol Empire reshaped history. The leadership of Genghis Khan, unification of the nomadic tribes, and vast trade routes such as the Silk Road have left an eternal impact on the world. Further, the administrative reforms that happened during the empire, the innovative military strategies, and the cultural exchanges have greatly contributed to global civilization. The Mongol Empire’s cultural heritage provides significant insights into modern societies and embodies the unifying, determined, and dynamic power of unity.

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