UNIT 2 TOPIC 2

The Mongol Empire and the

Making of the Modern World

THEMES: Governance, Economic Systems, Cultural Developments and Interactions

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1: Explain the process of state building and decline in Eurasia over time.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2: Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 3: Explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change.

It’s time to talk about the Mongols . And when you think of the largest land-based empires in history,
maybe you think of the Greeks or maybe the Romans .

It was in fact the Mongols who hold the title for the largest contiguous land-based empire ever. We need to talk
about how they did it and all the effects it had.

RISE OF THE MONGOL EMPIRE

Now let’s begin in the beginning with the birth of a man named Temujin who, according to legend, was
born holding a giant blood clot in his fist, which in his culture was a sign that this kid was going to grow
up into a mighty leader .

Speaking of his culture, Temujin was a Mongol, and the Mongols were pastoral nomads living around
the Gobi Desert. And nomads are traveling people. They move from place to place ,
depending on the season, and that’s their whole way of life.

Temujin grew up and proved to be a powerful leader, and through skillful diplomacy
allied himself with powerful people. Then after leading several important military raids and finding
himself victorious, Temujin united the various Mongol groups under himself in 1206, and assumed the title
Chinggis Khan .

Maybe you’ve heard of him under a different name, namely, Ghengis Khan , but we say Chinggis now.
Ghengis is the westernized version of his name and Chinggis is closer to how it would be pronounced
in Mongolian, so we’re sticking with Chinggis.

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The Mongol Empire and the
Making of the Modern World

RISE OF THE MONGOL EMPIRE cont’d.

And from there, Chinggis got busy taking over the world . He attacked and conquered
northern China then territory in Central Asia and then up into Southern Russia. Then Chinggis Khan
died in 1227, but his sons who succeeded him one after another just kept expanding the
empire until it reached its peak in 1279.

The military forces of the Seljuk Empire and Delhi Sultanate and Song China were
significant. So how did the Mongols, who were often very much outnumbered by superior military
forces in these empires win so many victories? Partly it was their military organization .
Chinggis Khan organized his forces into groups of 10,000, 1000, 100, and 10 which made controlling and
commanding them devastatingly efficient .

And then partly it was superior weaponry and skills. The Mongols’ weapon of choice was a bow
that was larger than traditional bows and could sink arrows into their enemies from much further away.
Also they were exceedingly skillful horse riders and could often outride those they encountered. And
another part is that their timing was pretty lucky. The Song Dynasty had recently lost control
of its northern territory, and large states like the Abbasid Empire had been declining in power for a
long time, and it was the Mongols who brought it to an end with the destruction of Baghdad in 1258.

But another explanation of their success was their reputation for brutality . In some cases Mongol
armies would slaughter nearly everyone in a settlement, and then leave a few alive so they could run
to the next town and warn them of the ferocity of Mongol invasion. And in that way, the Mongols didn’t
even have to fight in some places: they just showed up, everyone unceremoniously surrendered.

But what’s interesting, is that even though the Mongol body count was staggering during their wars of
expansion , once they ruled everything, they were pretty peaceful . In fact, there’s a whole
word for the peace experience under about a century of Mongol rule, namely, the Pax Mongolica .

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The Mongol Empire and the
Making of the Modern World

RISE OF THE MONGOL EMPIRE cont’d.

As the Mongol Empire expanded , it replaced the empires we talked so much about in the last unit,
and after Chinggis Khan’s death, his grandsons organized the empire into several khanates
or military regions. And in many cases, Mongol rulers adopted a lot of the cultural norms of the people
over which they ruled.

For example, Kublai Khan ruled China and set up a new Chinese dynasty called the
Yuan Dynasty . And because he had united warring factions across China, many of the Confucian
elite believed that he possessed the Mandate of Heaven to rule China, which was a way of saying that
because he united everyone, he must be our rightful ruler. Additionally, Kublai Kahn styled himself
as a benevolent , Confucian style ruler. To be clear, the Mongols in China did not become
Chinese, but I’m just trying to show you that in China, and elsewhere, Mongols adapted their style of rule
to the conditions in that place.

SUMMARIZE the previous section in your own words. (2-4 sentences)

MONGOLS AND ECONOMICS

Let’s talk about the economic situation under Mongol rule. And if you remember when we talked
about the Silk Roads, you’ll remember that those trade routes were expanding like mad. But
arguably, the Silk Roads were never more organized and prosperous than they were under Mongol
rule, and here’s why.

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The Mongol Empire and the
Making of the Modern World

MONGOLS AND ECONOMICS cont’d.

These trade routes passed through lots of different states and empires over time, and depending on
where you were, those routes could be more or less safe . But when the whole length of the Silk Roads fell
under the control of the Mongols, then that meant that one state was responsible for keeping everyone
safe and goods flowing from one side of the world to the other. Additionally, Mongol rulers improved
the infrastructure of many of the places they ruled by building many bridges and repairing
roads, all of which facilitated more and more trade . And so thanks to the Pax Mongolica, trade
flourished across the Silk Roads during this period.

A side benefit of that increased flow over the Silk Roads was an unprecedented increase in
communication and cooperation across Eurasia. For example, Persian and Chinese courts often
worked together across great distances, sending skilled artisans back and forth, exchanging
ambassadors, and sharing military intelligence , all done with the help of the Yam system
which was a series of communication and relay stations spread across the empire. And because of this
interregional diplomatic collaboration, far flung parts of the empire were more friendly, and that further
increased trade, which further increased the wealth of all involved.

SUMMARIZE the previous section in your own words. (2-4 sentences)

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The Mongol Empire and the
Making of the Modern World

TECHNOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL TRANSFERS

And certainly no discussion of the Mongols would be complete without talking about the technological
and cultural transfers that occurred during their rule. The Mongols had a high opinion of intellectuals
and skilled artisans , and when they were on their tours conquest, they often were careful to not
kill those kinds of people.

But because it was the Mongol policy to send skilled people to all different parts of the empire, that
movement encouraged the transfer of technology and ideas and culture. One significant consequence
of that was the transfer of medical knowledge developed by Ancient Greeks and Islamic scholars over to
Western Europe .

Another significant transfer was the Mongol adoption of the Uyghur script to write their language. It
was Chinggis Khan who first decided that conquering literate societies probably meant that his own
Mongolian language needed to have some kind of writen form too. So he adopted the Uyghur
script from a conquered people in Central Asia, and that written form of the language became the lingua franca or
widely adopted imperial language of the empire.

Despite their brutal rise, the Mongol Empire facilitated loads of cultural transfers across many parts
of Eurasia. But the Mongols fell out of power about as quickly as they rose to power. And as the Mongol
Empire exited the world stage, many of the people who were under Mongol rule redoubled their efforts
to install powerful centralized rulers and create a unified culture, thus paving the way for the rise of the
modern world.

SUMMARIZE the previous section in your own words. (2-4 sentences)

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 UNIT 2 TOPIC 2
The Mongol Empire and the
Making of the Modern World

RESPOND to the learning objectives with an evidence-based, argumentative thesis.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1: Explain the process of state building and decline in Eurasia over time.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2: Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.

© Heimler’s History Please do not share or post online. Authorized use for school year 2023-2024.
TM

*Advanced Placement® and AP® are trademarks registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product. page 6 of 7
 UNIT 2 TOPIC 2
The Mongol Empire and the
Making of the Modern World

RESPOND to the learning objectives with an evidence-based, argumentative thesis.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 3: Explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change.

© Heimler’s History Please do not share or post online. Authorized use for school year 2023-2024.
TM

*Advanced Placement® and AP® are trademarks registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product. page 7 of 7