The Mongol Empire Flashcards
The Mongols
*Nomadic group – nomadism tied to military capabilities
*Practiced tanistry; leaders selected at khuriltai
*Mongol confederations could be held together only through continuous warfare and acquisition of booty
Nomadic poeple like Jurchen = men in hunts and battles left women so held more power = ride horses and move quickly and didnt use footbiding (song)
Military advantage = quick attacks across long distances
Other grps = tanistry = best suited to rule upon death ruler rather than direct succession
Way chosen khan = council of khuriltai = ratifying a speech of a brother or son from a late khan that defeated their enemies and got official rank
Hereditary tribal traditions = swear loyalty to other chiefs =
Men personally support of a leader need in war = if not, not
Successful batlle = women and animals divided = absolute obidience and and secure loyalty with gifts
Large armies = help together for continuous conquests
Chinggis (Genghis) Khan (c. 1162-1227)
*Story of the rise of Temüjin preserved mostly in The Secret History of the Mongols
*Used decimal organization (division into 10s, 100s, 1000s) to break loyalty of followers to their own chieftains
*Received title Chinggis Khan from a shaman in 1206
Rise under him = single mongol source = late 14th cen in chinese caracters phonetically for mongolian
Lots of legends
Infos more useful about conquests = mongolia, inner mongolia (NW beijing) = grasslands = great for pastoral nomadss
Father abandonned him = disadvantaged so win followers and got back in contact and got marriage to daughter of friend of dead and followed by sworn brother of dad
Won = loose confederation = personal skills in battle and lucky (no wound)
Major move = break loyalty to local chieftaisn = broke up traditional forms of organisation
1206 = chamman got the new title ‘ruler of the ocean’ = world rruler
And defeaded all rivals and leadership of armies = could not stop so conquest
The Mongol Empire
*North China attacked in 1214, Jin pushed to Kaifeng, Jurchens finally completely defeated in 1234
*Mongol empire eventually divided into four parts
*Golden Horde
*Chaghataid Khanate
*China/Mongolia (eventually called the Yuan dynasty)
*Ilkhanate
Tax s song = jin
Song = fail = chinese in jin didnt not rise up = but after paying = threat recognized about mongol and refused to pay
Floods and droughts of yellow river = retreaved to kaifong = ceized jin capital of beijing
1219 = conquered russia, then india
1227 = dead
Gerogia, armenia, hungary, not fully resolved = 4 sections = descended of son of khan
- ?
- central asia
- excluded from power then gave another one
-core land including mongolian
Widow = ceize control of whole empire
Further division = EA = 2nd son
Link eurasia =
Travel and trade more common = promotedd mercantile activity
Spread of islamic learning for knowledge
Bulbonic plague = massive death (spread by mongol)
How the Mongols Won
*Mobility of mounted army
*Sophistication of cavalry attack
*Ability to adopt techniques/technologies learned from others
*Climate of fear created by extreme violence
Sie not so large
Mobility = equip with horses, make it look larger and fear = wrfare = archers, cavalry
Flexible = recruited defeaded people, new weapons, all new things they could use (gunpower.)
Master of siege and used it when necessary = terrifying and fear = surrender cities without a fight = not kill them and could govern with a tribute to be payed
Climate = conquer new territtory
Defeating the Song
*Southern Song struggled to access high quality horses as Mongols dominated the entire steppe and limited how many they would sell
*Mongols developed a powerful navy and sophisticated naval techniques, putting non-Mongols to use in commanding naval operations
Conquest was delayed = 1215 of jurchen in 1234
24 years for song = more military, ecological zone that X cavalry = still useful because defeaded without it
Lost ability to buy strong horses
13th = most horses and eleimated
Shortages in song army and had even to share a horse
Song advanttages = navy for coastline and river crossing = mongol had non of that
1270 = buikt a navy staffed with non mongol = 1273 = used in battle with cavalry for battle at the banks = fleet was descroyed
Final battle on water = siege warfare strategy on water and attacked = victory
Mongol Governance
*Yelü Chucai (1189-1243, descendant of Khitan royal family) served as an important official in early Mongol North China
*Numerous Inner Asians (known as semu) played key roles in Mongol administration
*’Phags-pa (1235-1280), a Tibetan monk, developed new script
Yuan Dynasty declared in 1271
Had to devlop strategies to be a ruling minority
Use expertise = yelu chucai = khitan royal family = served as official in jin state = charge of taxation and structured financial policies = established bureaus for taxes = fixes rates for land taxes and for per individuals + influent for census or csexam
Inner asian played ke roles = turkic people, khitan etc.. People of various category = sup of ch = lots of muslims = convert to islam itself
Tibetan monk = phagspa script to have all languages = phonetic = chinese and mongolian = very useful for linguistic for pronounciation = admistrators = for buddhist affairs = mongol used otehr ia people for gover
Chinese style dynasty = yuan = chinese fahion = capital south of beijing until now
Administering the Population
*Four categories of people, ranked
*Mongols
*Semu (Central Asians)
*Han
*Southerners
*Joint administration by Central Asians and Chinese
*Traditional Chinese governmental agencies as well as new Mongol ones
*No civil service examinations in early years – educated Chinese elites have to find other work
+ semu and mongol = 2 diff cat
Han = gvermed by jin dyanty (jurchen, chinese form the n)
Sou = s song = bottom og all = intermarriage of ch and mongols
High ranking positions = mongol and chinese officials = but no qualified mongol (small pop and illeterate) so semu instead = use of chinese skills and governance to have power
Section og chinese gov kept = new branches for mongol problems
Csexam suspended = educated men = confucian household = lower payed and prestiged for the elites (had to take exam before)
1313 = new emperor = confucian tutors = throne was to rieinstate csexam = what tested? = chinese classics and litterary skills? = had to be only the classics (4books with zhu xi commentary) = diff exams per rank = simpler than zhu xi one = restricted people that had chinese = structure retained by other dynasties
Classic zx^= infleunce and idk
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Exam degrees = not a lot
Influece not on yuan court or people ch = intellectual learning and values = 4 books and neoconfuciasm was center of everything and officials and remained present until 1905
Institutianlism of neoconfucaism orthodoxy was dominant politically for mongols (simpler to learn of mongola nd inner asians)
Remaking the Examination System
*Ayurbarwada (reigned 1311-1320) restored exams
*New curriculum focused on the Four Books and Zhu Xi’s commentaries
*Exams only used to a very limited degree under the Mongols, but the new curriculum would have lasting impact on Chinese intellectual life
Discussion: Birge, “Women and Confucianism”
1.Birge discusses three major issues: inheritance rights for women, the authority of widows, and remarriage. What practices were dominant (in culture and/or in law) in each of these realms in the Song period? How about in the Ming period (after the end of Mongol rule)?
2.What attitude did Neo-Confucians take toward female inheritance, the authority of widows, and widow remarriage? What was the influence of Neo-Confucian (Daoxue/“Learning of the Way”) ideas in the changes from Song to Ming that you discussed above?
3.What was the influence of Mongol rule on those same changes? What aspects of Mongol political aims/Mongol society were important in shaping the direction of those changes?
1 - rights = inherite property legaly and important element of culture (dowries, daughters) end of ming = lose their right to inherite = no claim on property of natal family line = goes to agnates (male line) = strong preference in law and culture
Widows = chage of fam property - heir, appointed or not, authority to take dowry property even when remarriage = ming = subjects of control of men, not even dowry
Remarriage = can remary and take property with them, frequently, if not remarry they would go to natal fam = leave husband family = ming = strong norms against remarriage socially (not legally) and remain in husband family and if remarriage, cannot take property including dowry
- two inflences = neoconf = fam around lineage of male = ancestoral rights, sons are only ones that remain in household and continue it, no widows cuz abandonning loyalty to husband and fam = men are in charge of conduct of fam rights = no authoriy of widows
Not just neoconf = interest of the mongols
Mongols = leverate marriage = clan owns all property including widows and remarry other men in family, so remain chaste and stay in fam for chinese = preserving household = cant go instinct for ancestral rights ch) = soldiers for military armies (mon)
Leads to diminishuing of rights of women and compromizinf between cultures and ideas
Recap
*Both the steppe traditions of the Mongols and their flexibility and adaptability were essential to their ability to conquer the largest empire ever to have existed to that point anywhere in the world
*Mongol rule transformed China in unexpected ways – the enshrining of Neo-Confucianism as scholarly orthodoxy and of Neo-Confucian ideas about family and women’s place within it as the basic legal order are both the result of the period of Mongol control
Conference Khitan-Mongol
10th-13th century
after collapse Tang dynasty
from the north = khitan = founded liao dynasty (916-1125)
after, conquested by the jurchen = jin dynasty (1115-1234)
northern song (960-1127)
kaifond sacked by jurchen = song fleed to haizhou? and southern song (
new entity in W = xixia, tangut
beginning 13th cent = mongols began to consolidate its territory by unifying tribes of grasslands mongolia
1206 = genghis khan unified mongolia and tribe = conquest in Nchina (capture of jin dynasty and xixia)
1271 = grand son of genghis khan = kudhai khan = founded yuan dynasty = 8y later = capture all land of southern song and unified china until 1368= then ming dynasty
important = names of dynasties and ethnic groups and dual system of liao and khitan = sinicization
mongols = important = unified eurasia like ever before = pax mongolica = latin name = peace and stability under mongol rule , boosted trade and cultural exchanges, exchange epidemics (black plague, first global spreading disease)
1 - what would you report to the liao emperor as north or south officials?
south = taxes, chinese administration and military = agricultural eco, taxation based on crops
north = herd, camps, tents, lineage? = nomadism, core pillars of
emperor = always moving = not usually in S capital (beijing) = not direct relations with chinese subjects = south was autonomous or ruled by officials = reported twice a year = taxation important element to show relationship ruler/subject
two diff dynamics of economy
2-what were the criterias for north and south officials?
south = examination system = not allowed for khitan because khitan to rule khitan and ch rule ch = no crossing = or not very qualified to do confuciasm = list of other people that could not take = considered of low rank by confuciast scholars = based on confucian ideas = so excluded by scholars
north = inheritance from family, father = emperor would have khitan nobles and tribal leaders as officials = hereditary position
3- what are the advantages and disadvantages of dual system?
south = based on merits so improves upper mobility, efficiency/ complicated, unbalanced power dynamic & not very attached to emperor = when jin take over, so change alleageance
north = conflicts between sons, dynamic of royalty and succession & conquests
khitai = jin dynasty (first page)
techniques to conquest = tactics and strategies
keshin = xixia
other campaign jin = conquest jin for good
other campaign against sarta’ul (islamic rule in today uzbekistan) = before = decided successor = genghis khan was on a campaign so had to have ruler instead
not sure if came back dead or alive, had to sort it out while still alive
decide successor = 4sons = jochi = chaadai = ogodei = tolui
koko cos = general
criteria for succesor = didnt really decide, each have a territory for each qualifying heir
first to nominate ogodei as khan = jochi and caadai will accept cuz rivals but 4 had a piece of land, just tittle of grand khan = gengghis has no absolute say, just affirms
not eldest son = one choosen by a meating = worried that descendants to be qualified to rule
