Largest Land Empire in Human History

 Genghis Khan united the nomadic tribes into a unified force  Located in the Russian Steppes

 Code of Law – Yassa  Under Yassa, chiefs and generals were selected based on merit, religious tolerance was guaranteedmeritreligious tolerance  Central assembly, called Kurultai, in which the Mongol chiefs met with the Great Khan to discuss domestic and foreign policies.Kurultai

 Very tolerant of religions and sponsored several at the same time  Ghenghis Khan was Shamanist  Most of the major Mongol leaders adopted the religion of the conquered territories

 Clan based  Nomadic  Lived in Yurts

 Well Organized into 10,000 man, 100 man, and 10 man units  Gifted Strategist – feint a retreat, dummies to make army appear bigger  New Weapons – cavalry had stirrups, crossbow, and silk. Each cavalryman had 3 horses  Cruelty as a weapon

 In this brief war, lasting less than two years, not only was a huge empire destroyed utterly, but Genghis Khan introduced the world to tactics that would not be seen again until the Germans used them so well in World War II - indirect attack, and complete and utter terror and slaughter of populations wholesale as weapons of war.  Population of Area went from 2,500,000 to 250,000

 After death of Ghenghis, his son Ogadai returns with more expansion and conquers Middle East and Kievian Russia  Conquered areas were put under virtual slavery and required to pay heavy taxes

 Pax Mongolica facilitated cultural exchange and trade between the East, West, and the Middle East in the period of the 13th and 14th centuries. The Mongol Empire established commercial and political connections between the Eastern and Western areas of the world Pax MongolicaEastWest Middle East  Travels of Marco Polo  It was said that a virgin carrying a sack of gold could ride unharmed from one border of the empire to the other. [1 [1

 Mongol Empire is divided into four large khanates  Khanate of the Great Khan – Mongolia and China  Khanate of Chagatai – Central Asia  Ilkhanate – Persia  Golden Horde - Russia

 Grandson of Genghis Khan  Conquered all of China  Established Yuan Dynasty

 Inter-family rivalry compounded by the complicated politics of succession  Mongols began to adopt and integrate into local cultures  Two-weeks for messages to reach capital of Karakorum  Capital of Karakorum is moved to Beijing and this weakens moral

 Unified Mongols and allowed for the formation of Mongolia  Reunited China  Moscow rose to prominence  Europe gained greater knowledge of the known world because of Pax Mongolica  Some think the Mongols brought the plague to Europe