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The Larger Thirteenth-Century World Context The larger thirteenth-century world was completely transformed by the Mongols, and, in the process, the Mongols were themselves transformed. On the broad pages of Eurasian history, the thirteenth century was the Golden Age of the pastoral nomad; but it was also the beginning of the end of steppe culture. The thirteenth century was noteworthy as a century of wide-ranging cultural transmission and exchange.
The Golden Age of Pastoral Nomads Unlike hunting and gathering societies, pastoral nomads depended on domesticated animals for their livelihood. They herded animals from pasture to pasture in a yearly pattern that varied in response to the availability of water and the prospect of good grassland. Limited resources kept social groups small. And fierce competition among clans and tribes for limited pasture land led to shifting alliances, skirmishes, arranged marriages between clans, and frequent wars punctuated by brief periods of peaceful co-existence. Even a slight unfavorable change in the climate could intensify competition for grazing land. Genghis Khan's great accomplishment was uniting these competing groups into one military system. Before Genghis Khan, the Mongols were a relatively fragmented pastoral people, loosely organized into competing clans and tribes. Genghis established a chain of command with soldiers organized into groups from ten to ten thousand. Commanders issued orders to implement the Khan's strategies, which were put into action on the battlefield. Able commanders were promoted on the basis of merit rather than clan allegiance. One of the results of Genghis Khan's successes was that the members of conquered tribes, like the Turks, would sometimes join the Mongol army. Mongol conquests reached further than those of any previous nomadic empire. Usually history is written by the victors but the Mongols had not developed a writing system. Literate victims of the Mongol conquest shaped our understanding of this period through their bitter stories of brutality and terror. Their stories created the characterization of Mongols as barbarians that has lasted for generations. Eurasian Cultural Diffusion Following each Mongol conquest, small numbers of Mongols were left to administer vast expanses of lands and peoples. The resulting peace opened Central Asia to travel, as Mongols encouraged the expanding trade by land and sea to insure the steady flow of tribute. The consequences were enormous. Like gossip, commercial practices, music, religious teachings, and technical and engineering knowledge passed from East to West and back again. Innovations established in one location soon became common practice in others. Such innovations did not only move in one direction, from more technologically advanced urban cultures to less sophisticated nomads. Instead, nomads changed "civilizations" as surely as "civilizations" changed nomads. The stirrup - invented between the third and fourth centuries - was exploited by horse riders in Eurasia and Africa. Mongols adapted Chinese gunpowder for war and used it against societies they attacked. Others copied this technological advantage. When the Mongols attacked Central Europe in 1240-1241, they brought gunpowder weapons with them. A century later, Europeans were using their own gunpowder weapons against each other. Origins of Gunpowder Empires Eventually Mongol expansion began to falter. Koreans resisted sporadically attempted Mongol invasions for 30 years before they surrendered. Although the Mongols were considered invincible, they failed to capture Japan. After another amphibious invasion, the Mongols successfully held Java until Kublai Khan's death. In the West, the Mamluks ended Mongol expansion toward the Mediterranean. Within a century the great urban cultures under Mongol rule revolted. But these societies had changed forever. They reorganized as land-oriented gunpowder empires with large standing armies, strong cultural identities, and a centralized administration. |
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