Nomadic EmpiresClass 11 History Notes
NOMADIC EMPIPIRES
The term ‘nomadic empires’ might sound like a contradiction. We often think of nomads as wanderers with simple social structures, while empires are seen as stable, complex states with fixed territories. However, this view is too narrow. The history of nomadic groups like the Mongols shows that they were capable of building vast and sophisticated empires.
This chapter focuses on the Mongols of Central Asia, who, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, created a massive transcontinental empire during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. While their society was less complex than the settled agricultural empires of China, they were not isolated. They interacted with, learned from, and had a huge impact on the world around them.
Understanding Mongol History Through Sources
Our knowledge of nomadic societies is challenging because they usually produced no literature themselves. Most of what we know comes from chronicles and travelogues written by city-based authors, who often held biased and ignorant views.
However, the Mongols' incredible success attracted many educated people (literati) from diverse backgrounds—Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Turkish, and Muslim. Some served the Mongol rulers and wrote sympathetic accounts, challenging the typical negative portrayal of nomads as "primitive barbarians."
Significant research on the Mongols was also done by Russian scholars in the 18th and 19th centuries. Later, in the 20th century, Marxist historians interpreted the rise of the Mongol empire as a transition from a classless tribal society to a feudal one.
Historians face a major challenge because sources on the Mongols are written in many languages, including Chinese, Mongolian, Persian, and Arabic. Often, different language versions of the same text don't match, such as the Mongolian and Chinese versions of The Secret History of the Mongols. This means historians must also be experts in language (philologists) to understand the true meaning of the texts.
Introduction
In the early thirteenth century, a new power emerged from the steppes of Central Asia: Genghis Khan (d. 1227) had united the Mongol people. His vision went beyond just creating a confederacy of tribes; he believed he had a divine mandate to rule the world.
While Genghis Khan himself focused on conquering nearby areas like north China, Transoxiana, and the Russian steppes, his descendants continued his mission. They created the largest empire the world had ever seen.
His grandson, Mongke (1251-60), sent a chilling warning to the French ruler, Louis IX, stating: 'In Heaven there is only one Eternal Sky, on Earth there is only one Lord, Genghis Khan, the Son of Heaven...' This was not an empty threat. Between 1236-41, another grandson, Batu, led campaigns that devastated Russia, seized Poland and Hungary, and reached the outskirts of Vienna. To many in China, the Middle East, and Europe, the Mongol conquests seemed like the "wrath of God" or the beginning of the Day of Judgement.
The Capture of Bukhara
An account by the Persian chronicler Juwaini describes the capture of Bukhara in 1220. After the conquest, Genghis Khan addressed the city's wealthy residents, telling them, 'O people know that you have committed great sins... I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you'.
This story highlights the Mongols' terrifying reputation and their belief that their conquests were divinely sanctioned.
Social and Political Background
The Mongols were a diverse group of people, linguistically related to the Tatars, Khitan, and Manchus. Their society was primarily composed of two groups:
- Pastoralists: They herded horses, sheep, and other animals in the steppes of Central Asia (modern-day Mongolia).
- Hunter-gatherers: They lived in the Siberian forests to the north, trading furs.
The region had an extreme climate with harsh winters and brief summers. Agriculture was limited, so there were no cities. The Mongols lived in tents called gers and were nomadic, moving with their herds between seasonal pastures.
Mongol Society and Politics
- Social Structure: Society was organized into patrilineal lineages (descent through the father's line). Richer families had more animals and pasture lands, which gave them more followers and political influence.
- Conflict: Scarce resources often led to conflicts over pasture lands and raids for livestock. Families would form temporary alliances for defense or attack, but these were usually small and short-lived.
- Relationship with China: The Mongols' harsh environment drove them to trade and barter with their settled neighbors in China. They exchanged horses and furs for agricultural products and iron tools. This relationship was often tense.
- When united, the Mongols could use military force to get better trade terms or simply resort to plunder.
- When the Mongols were disorganized, the Chinese would assert their influence in the steppes.
- The Great Wall of China: China suffered so much from nomadic raids that various dynasties built fortifications. Starting in the third century BCE, these were integrated into what we know today as the Great Wall of China, a massive symbol of the conflict between nomadic and settled societies.
The Career of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan was born around 1162 near the Onon river in Mongolia. His birth name was Temujin.
- Early Life: His father, Yesugei, a chieftain, was murdered when Temujin was young. He and his family faced extreme hardship; Temujin was even captured and enslaved.
- Building Alliances: In these difficult years, he made important friends like Boghurchu and his blood-brother (anda) Jamuqa. He also restored an alliance with Tughril/Ong Khan, his father's old ally.
- Rise to Power: Through the 1180s and 1190s, Temujin used his alliance with Ong Khan to defeat powerful rivals, including Jamuqa, who had become his enemy.
- Universal Ruler: By 1206, after defeating all his major rivals, Temujin was the dominant leader in the steppes. At an assembly of Mongol chieftains (quriltai), he was proclaimed Genghis Khan, meaning ‘Oceanic Khan’ or ‘Universal Ruler’.
Campaigns of Conquest
Before the quriltai, Genghis Khan had already reorganized the Mongol people into a disciplined and effective military force.
- China: He first targeted China, which was divided into three realms. By 1209, the Hsi Hsia were defeated. He breached the Great Wall in 1213 and sacked Peking in 1215.
- Central Asia: After defeating the Qara Khita in 1218, the Mongol empire bordered the state of Khwarazm. When the ruler, Sultan Muhammad, executed Mongol envoys, he unleashed Genghis Khan's fury.
- Khwarazm Campaign (1219-1221): The Mongols swept through the region, devastating great cities like Otrar, Bukhara, Samarqand, and Herat. Towns that resisted were completely destroyed.
- Pursuit Westward: Mongol forces pushed into Azerbaijan, defeated Russian armies at the Crimea, and encircled the Caspian Sea.
Genghis Khan died in 1227. His military achievements were astounding, largely due to his ability to innovate.
- Military Strategies: He transformed traditional steppe combat. The Mongols' horse-riding and rapid-shooting archery skills were perfected. They conducted campaigns in deep winter, using frozen rivers as highways.
- Siege Warfare: Though nomads traditionally struggled against fortified cities, Genghis Khan quickly learned the importance of siege engines and naphtha bombardment, using light, portable equipment with devastating effect.
The Mongols after Genghis Khan
After Genghis Khan's death, Mongol expansion continued in two major phases:
- 1236-42: Conquests in the Russian steppes, Bulghar, Kiev, Poland, and Hungary.
- 1255-1300: Conquest of all of China (completed in 1279), Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
After the 1260s, however, the Mongol advance into the West stalled. This was due to two main reasons:
- Internal Politics: The descendants of Genghis Khan’s sons, Jochi and Ogodei, were more focused on struggles over succession than on campaigns in Europe.
- Shift in Focus: The Toluyid branch of the family (descendants of Genghis Khan's youngest son, Toluy) gained power. Their interest in conquering China meant that forces and supplies were diverted away from the western front. A smaller Mongol force was consequently defeated by Egyptian armies, marking the end of their westward expansion.
Social, Political and Military Organisation
Genghis Khan transformed Mongol society by creating a new military and political structure that broke down old loyalties.
- Erasing Tribal Identities: He systematically dismantled the old tribal groupings. Members of different tribes and clans were mixed together in new military units. This created a new, unified identity loyal only to him.
- Decimal System: The army was organized into decimal units of 10s, 100s, 1,000s, and 10,000s (tuman). Moving from one's assigned group without permission was harshly punished.
- A New Aristocracy: Leadership was based on loyalty to Genghis Khan, not old tribal status. He honored his most loyal followers as ‘blood-brothers’ (anda) or gave them special rank as his bondsmen (naukar). The army was commanded by his four sons and specially chosen captains called noyan.
Governing the Empire
Genghis Khan assigned the governance of conquered lands to his four sons, creating four ulus. Initially, an ulus was not a fixed territory but a domain.
- Jochi (eldest son): Received the Russian steppes.
- Chaghatai (second son): Received the Transoxianian steppe.
- Ogodei (third son): Was chosen to succeed Genghis Khan as the Great Khan and established his capital at Karakorum.
- Toluy (youngest son): Received the ancestral lands of Mongolia.
The sons were meant to rule collectively, and major decisions about campaigns, plunder, and succession were made together at the quriltais.
Communication and Trade
- The Yam (Courier System): Genghis Khan established a rapid courier system with outposts and fresh horses at regular intervals. It was maintained by the qubcur tax, where nomads contributed a tenth of their herd. This system allowed the Great Khans to administer their vast empire effectively.
- Pax Mongolica (Mongol Peace): After the initial brutal conquests, the Mongol empire ushered in a period of peace and stability. Trade and travel along the Silk Route flourished and reached their peak. The routes now extended north into Mongolia.
- Safe Travel: Travellers were given a pass (paiza) for safe conduct, and traders paid a tax (baj) for protection, acknowledging the authority of the Mongol Khan.
From Plunder to Governance
Over time, the Mongol approach to ruling settled societies began to change.
- Initially, in the 1230s, some Mongol leaders wanted to massacre peasants in north China and turn their fields into pastureland.
- By the 1270s, Genghis Khan's grandson, Qubilai Khan, ruled as a protector of peasants and cities in south China.
- In the 1290s, the Mongol ruler of Iran, Ghazan Khan, warned his commanders to stop pillaging the peasantry, arguing that it would ruin the realm in the long run.
The Mongols also recruited civil administrators from the societies they conquered. These administrators helped manage the empire, raise revenue, and soften the harsher aspects of nomadic rule.
By the mid-thirteenth century, the single empire began to fracture. Succession struggles led to the emergence of individual dynasties in each ulus, which now meant a fixed territorial dominion.
- Yuan Dynasty in China and Il-Khanid state in Iran (ruled by Toluy's descendants).
- Golden Horde in the Russian steppes (ruled by Jochi's descendants).
- Rule over Transoxiana and Turkistan (by Chaghatai's descendants).
Yasa: The Law of Genghis Khan
The memory of Genghis Khan was carefully shaped by his successors, especially through the concept of the yasa.
- Original Meaning: The term was originally yasaq, which meant ‘law’, ‘decree’, or ‘order’. It referred to administrative rules about the organization of the hunt, the army, and the postal system.
- Evolved Meaning: By the mid-thirteenth century, the Mongols began using the related term yasa to mean the sacred ‘legal code of Genghis Khan’.
- Purpose of the Yasa: The Mongols were a minority ruling over vast, culturally sophisticated societies. The yasa served several crucial functions:
- It helped protect their distinct identity.
- It united the Mongol people around a shared set of beliefs linked to their great ancestor.
- It gave them the confidence to impose their ‘law’ on their subjects, claiming a divine authority similar to other great lawgivers like Moses.
Conclusion: Situating Genghis Khan and the Mongols in World History
Today, Genghis Khan is remembered in two very different ways:
- The Destroyer: To the settled peoples of China, Iran, and Europe, he was a brutal conqueror responsible for the deaths of millions.
- The Unifier: To the Mongols, he was the greatest leader of all time. He united their people, freed them from tribal wars, brought them prosperity, and built a grand transcontinental empire.
The Mongol empire was remarkable for its time. It was a multi-ethnic, multilingual, and multi-religious regime. The Mongol Khans themselves followed different faiths—Shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, and eventually Islam—but they never let their personal beliefs dictate public policy. They recruited administrators and soldiers from all ethnic and religious groups, creating a pluralistic system that was highly unusual. This model of governance influenced later empires, such as the Mughals of India.
The legacy of Genghis Khan remained a powerful force for centuries. In the late fourteenth century, the conqueror Timur did not dare to declare himself a monarch because he was not of Genghis Khanid descent. Instead, he took the title guregen, or ‘son-in-law’, marrying into the family to legitimize his rule.
Today, the nation of Mongolia, after decades of Soviet control, is rediscovering its national identity. Genghis Khan has been embraced as a great national hero, a symbol of a glorious past used to inspire the nation's future.