FORUM : HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS

Does anyone have information on the Mongol power from the time of Genghis Khan till Kublai Khan, the land they ruled and influenced?
To me, it must have taken a great people who could expand their empire till the many corners of Asia and Europe at that time. They were also in Indonesia for a brief period. They may be looked upon as vicious, but then weren't other empires such as the Roman and even the Knights Templars in the Near East not vicious?

It is true that many trembled at the mere mention of their name.German legends had them as the lost tribe of Israel....hence giving them the reason to kill Jews at the borders accusing them of smuggling arms. The Hungarians called them dog-faced Tartars. The church thought the Mongols were related to Mogogoli, son of Magog. As for the Chinese, they had built huge walls to keep their realm safe from the barbarians. Such was their aura.

The Mongols had a humble beginning. In comparing  their achievements, one would find how impossible they appeared to be.. As such I feel there must be a lot one can learn from it's development into a nation that ruled 1/3 of the known world of the time.

In time I shall try to relate my perspective of them....

Towards the end of the 12th century, Mongol was one of the nomadic tribes that roamed high plains of Central Asia. The plains were protected by mountain ranges such as the Altai and the Tien Shan in the west, the cold Siberian forest in the north, the Gobi Desert in the south and the Kinghan Mountains in the east from outside attacks for centuries.

However, the geography of the high plains caused the tribes to constantly move in search of better weather and environment. Sometimes the tribes meet up with other tribes. The climate was extreme, life was very difficult. Horses were useful animals. Their horses were fast and strong. With their horses, they have become very skillful hunters. They:

- Invented efficient bows & amp; arrows
- Invented the stirrups. There is a possibility that they might have borrowed it from the Chinese(?)
- Were capable of using the arrows and lasso while riding very fast.

These skills enabled them to rise as a military power in the vast steppes of Asia.

It should be understood that living in the wilderness for centuries and constantly facing up to extreme climate and changes in tribal power, nomads could not build technologies, manufacture goods nor learn to mine. Hence, they became very dependent on the sedentary and civilised communities in China and Middle East. What they need they bought, traded or stole as there were very little they could trade them with except skins and woolen items.

The nomads did not see themselves as less respectable than the sedentary communities. Quite the opposite in fact. For centuries they had not accepted Chinese culture and idealogy except for some things they needed. They looked upon the Chinese as merely kneeling on the ground all their life and for that the Mongols regarded them as less valuable than the horses. The feeling was mutual. Such was the situation.

The first nomad to spread an empire was the Turks who colonised Anatolia. Then the Uighur and Khitan controlled Central Asia. Many incidents developed in Central Asia and China but the Mongols still remained as newly developed people. History of the Mongol nation began with Genghis Khan (original name was Temujin) who had filled up the vacuum when Khitan was defeated by Jurchen. Earlier, the Mongol had been living beside the Tartar, Kereyid, Merkid and the Naimans. Temijin succeeded in becoming the leader of the Mongols and later united the other tribes.

Leadership of the Mongol was passed on to the most capable in battles and other fields. Leaders who failed to show any leadership quality were ousted.

Genghis was related through his father to Qabul Khan, Ambaghai and Qutula Khan who had headed the Mongol confederation under Jin Dynasty patronage until the Jin switched support to the Tatars in 1161 and destroyed Qutula Khan. Genghis' father, Yesugei, khan of the Borjigin, and nephew to Ambaghai and Qutula Khan, emerged as the head of the ruling clan of the Mongols, but this position was contested by the rival Tayichid clan, who descended directly from Ambaghai. When the Tatars, in turn, grew too powerful after 1161, the Jin moved their support from the Tatars to the Kerait.
Here, two things are evidenced :

1. It was a traditional tactic of the Chinese, of whatever dynasty, to develop an alliance with one of the nomadic tribes on its frontier and encourage them to sow unrest amongst the remainder, should another tribe appear to be gaining an upper hand, the Chinese would abandon their ally and take up with the emerging new tribe. The purpose, naturally of course, was to foster internal strife, for as long as the tribes fought amongst themselves they are unlikely to pose a threat to anyone else.

2. Temujin's clan had provided leaders in the past. Though leadership did not pass automatically from father to son, this bred infighting which was to wound the Mongol Empire greatly later on.

As an incentive for absolute obedience and following of his code of laws, the Yassa code, he promised civilians and fighters wealth from future possible war spoils. However the exact words of the Yassa are unknown because it was never found.
Yes, Genghis Khan was a law giver. Although the original recorded early history of the Mongols did not survive, their history remain written in the history books of the Chinese, Persians, Russians, Turks and accounts of other people who have traveled to Central Asia.

The Yasa was Genghis Khan's famous code which was said to have been set down in the quriltai of 1206 and entrusted to his adopted brother Shigi-Qutuqu, a Tartar orphan, as a kind of chief justice.

It enshrine, among others:
- Mongol attitudes towards religious tolerence;
- exemption of priests and religious institutions from taxation;
- prescription of death penalty for espionage, desertion, theft, adultery and in case of merchant, upon declaration of bancruptcy for a 3rd time;
- forbidding of washing and urinating in running water as the rivers and streams were thought to be alive.

His army was also regulated.
- Military service started at the age of 14. Only physicians, undertakers and priests were exempted;
- Wives and children were expected to follow and travel with their herd to where ever he was posted;
- soldiers' tents were layed along standard lines such that they know where to find the physician's tent or the armory to collect their weapons;.
- soldiers were responsible to maintain their weapons in standard order and regular inspections were made by officers. Failure meant his dismissal;
- among other equipment included silk undershirt (arrow proof);
- the army may move in groups of 10(arban), 100(jagun = 10 arbans), 1000(regiment, minghan = 10 jaguns), 10,000(division, tumen = 10 minghans)

Genghis Khan developed a horsemen sport " the hunt" into a military drill. The exercise was usually conducted during the winter months for 3 months and every soldier took part. Another approach was to string an entire division along a line, sometimes 130 km long, and they would ride to a finishing line some hundreds of kilometres away ..............and so on. Whatever animals caught between them were killed........all to train a disciplined and skilled army..............which became a masterpiece and pride of the Mongols unequaled by any other armies in the world!

Never heard of Hulegu Khan. Who was he?
His family tree:

0. Yesugei Bar-atur

1. GENGHIS KHAN (Temuchin) b. 1167 Great Khan 1206-27

2.1. Jochi d. 1227

2.2. Chaghadai d.1242

2.3. OGEDEI, Great Khan 1229-41

2.4. Tolui d. 1233

House of Jochi

3.2.1.1. Orda (White Horde)

3.2.1.2. Batu d. 1255

3.2.1.3. Berke d. 1267

Batu and Berke united to form the Golden Horde.
Last Khan, Berdeck d. 1359.
The Golden Horde continues under other rulers from
Timurid clan.

House of Chaghadai

3.2.2.1. Baidar,

followed by the Khans of the Chaghadai
Khanate until Babur fled to India and
founded the Moghul Dynasty.


House of Ogedei

3.2.3.1. GUYUK, Great Khan 1246-8


House of Tolui

3.2.4.1. MONGKE, Great Khan 1251-9

3.2.4.2. Hulegu d.1265

Followed by Khans of the
Ilkhans in Persia.
Last Ilkhan, Abu Sa'id d. 1335


3.2.4.3. KUBILAI, Great Khan 1260-94

Established the Yuan Dynasty in China..
Last Yuan Emporer, Toghon Temur d. 1370

House of Ariq Boke

He is believed to have died without a successor.

I'd like to post something of the way of the Mongols written by Marco Polo from the Medieval Sourcebook.

"Of the wandering life of the Tartars--of their domestic manners, their food, and the virtue and useful qualities of their women.
Now that I have begun speaking of the Tartars, I will tell you more about them. The Tartars never remain fixed, but as the winter approaches remove to the plains of a warmer region, to find sufficient pasture for their cattle; and in summer they frequent cold areas in the mountains, where there is water and verdure, and their cattle are free from the annoyance of horse- flies and other biting insects. During two or three months they go progressively higher and seek fresh pasture, the grass not being adequate in any one place to feed the multitudes of which their herds and flocks consist. Their huts or tents are formed of rods covered with felt, exactly round, and nicely put together, so they can gather them into one bundle, and make them up as packages, which they carry along with them in their migrations upon a sort of car with four wheels. When they have occasion to set them up again, they always make the entrance front to the south. Besides these cars they have a superior kind of vehicle upon two wheels, also covered with black felt so well that they protect those within it from wet during a whole day of rain. These are drawn by oxen and camels, and convey their wives and children, their utensils, and whatever provisions they require."

"The women attend to their trading concerns, buy and sell, and provide everything necessary for their husbands and their families; the time of the men is devoted entirely to hunting, hawking, and matters that relate to the military life. They have the best falcons in the world, and also the best dogs. They live entirely upon flesh and milk, eating the produce of their sport, and a certain small animal, not unlike a rabbit, called by our people Pharaoh's mice, which during the summer season are found in great abundance in the plains. They eat flesh of every description, horses, camels, and even dogs, provided they are fat. They drink mares' milk, which they prepare in such a manner that it has the qualities and flavor of white wine. They term it in their language kemurs."

"Their women are not excelled in the world for chastity and decency. Of conduct, nor for love and duty to their husbands. Infidelity to the marriage bed is regarded by them as a vice not merely dishonorable, but of the most infamous nature; while on the other hand it is admirable to observe the loyalty of the husbands towards their wives, amongst whom, although there are perhaps ten or twenty, there prevails a highly laudable degree of quiet and union. No offensive language is ever heard, their attention being fully occupied with their traffic (as already mentioned) and their several domestic employments, such as the provision of necessary food for the family, the management of the servants, and the care of the children, a common concern. And the virtues of modesty and chastity in the wives are more praiseworthy because the men are allowed the indulgence of taking as many as they choose. Their expense to the husband is not great, and on the other hand the benefit he derives from their trading, and from the occupations in which they are constantly engaged, is considerable; on which account when he receives a young woman in marriage, he pays a dower to her parent. The wife who is the first espoused has the privilege of superior attention, and is held to be the most legitimate, which extends also to the children borne by her. In consequence of this unlimited number of wives, the offspring is more numerous than amongst any other people. Upon the death of the father, the son may take to himself the wives he leaves behind, with the exception of his own mother. They cannot take their sisters to wife, but upon the death of their brothers they can marry their sisters-in-law. Every marriage is solemnized with great ceremony."


"Of six successive emperors of the Tartars, and of the ceremonies that take place when they are carried for interment to the mountain of Altai........
To Chingis-khan succeeded Cyhn-khan; the third was Bathyn-khan, the fourth Esu-khan, the fifth Mongu-khan, the sixth Kublai-khan, who became greater and more powerful than all the others, inasmuch as he inherited what his predecessors possessed, and afterwards, during a reign of nearly sixty years, acquired, it may be said, the remainder of the world. The title of khan, or kaan, is equivalent to emperor in our language. It has been an invariable custom that all the grand khans and chiefs of the race of Chingis-khan should be carried for interment to a certain lofty mountain named Altai, and in whatever place they may happen to die, even if it should be at the distance of a hundred days' journey, they are nevertheless conveyed there. It is likewise the custom, during the progress of removing the bodies of these princes, for those who form the escort to sacrifice such persons as they chance to meet on the road, saying to them, "Depart for the next world, and there attend upon your deceased master," believing that all they kill do actually become his servants in the next life. They do the same also with respect to horses, killing the best of the stud, in order that he may have the use of them. When the corpse of Mongu was transported to this mountain, the horsemen who accompanied it, having this blind and horrible persuasion, slew upwards of twenty thousand persons who fell in their way."

 I am not sure of the actual Mongol names of the Khans who succeeded Genghis(Chingis) Khan as other sources mention the Great Khans to be :

Genghis (Chingis)
Ogedei
Guyuk
Mongke (Mongu?) and
Kublai

This Hulegu Khan guy, he destroyed Baghdad in 1258. With his barbaric mentality, he had destroyed many valuable books of knowledge. Hundreds of historical artifacts were also were also done with by his hands....what stupidity...
You must remember that whilst the Mongols had an expansionist policy at that time, their attack on Bahgdad was also brought on by the treachery of the Muslim Officials of the city. Had the Caliph paid more attention to what was going on with his PM, history may be different. He himself was a very weak Caliph.

(After this I left the forum. I find it strange when forumners simply cut and paste pages and pages of information without a single comment)