The Mongols Conquer the World

Episode 34: The Mongols Conquer the World

Foundations of Eastern Civilization

Dr Craig Benjamin (2013)

Film Review

This lecture concerns the Mongol conquest of China, along with all of Central Asia and Korea; much of India and the Middle East and even parts of Eastern Europe. Benjamin believes the Mongols would likely have conquered Western Europe, if Ogedei (the third son of Genghis Khan) hadn’t died suddenly when his troops were outside of Vienna preparing to invade Austria and Germany.

While Genghis Khan (1162 -1227) directed the conquest of the Turkic tribes who controlled Central Asia and Persia, it fell to his son and grandson to complete the conquest of the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. Genghis Khan used his army to rule his conquered states and made no effort to establish a central government or provincial administration.

His descendants divided up the rule of their empire under the overall authority of the Great Khans, who directly ruled China, the wealthiest region of the empire, from the capitol Karakoum (in modern day Mongolia).  Descendants of Ghenghis Khan’s son Chagatai ruled Central Asia, the Ilkhans ruled Persia and the Golden Horde ruled Russia until 1480 (continuing control of Crimea until the late 18th century).

Historians marvel that a relatively small army of 130,000 mounted archers could conquer so many stronger well established states. Benjamin attributes their success to strong military organization, extremely mobile forces adept at living off the land and traveling during winter, discipline, careful planning and intelligence gathering, use of skilled Chinese military engineers in the Persian and Eastern European cities they conquered and skilled in the use of terror in controlling conquered peoples.

The Mongol Empire became the largest empire the world has ever known. As they conquered established states, the Mongols adopted the sedentary lives and the administrative structures of the conquered countries. The Pax Mongolica (especially over the Silk Road) had numerous benefits for Eastern civilization, including robust trade, promotion of the arts, religious tolerance and respect for women.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/5808679