102
I
n March 1279, Mongol warriors
swept through southern China,
capturing the last strongholds
of the Chinese Song dynasty. This
defeat, which heralded the start
of the Yuan dynasty, marked the
culmination of the Mongols’ rise
in under 70 years from an obscure
nomadic group from the Central
Asian steppes to the masters of a
vast empire stretching from China
to eastern Europe. One of the major
challenges they now faced was to
make the transition from roving
tribesmen to settled conquerors.The rise of the Mongols
At the start of the 13th century,
the Mongols had consisted of many
different warring clans. However,
in 1206 Temüjin—later known as
Genghis Khan—proclaimed himself
the ruler of a united Mongol nation.
Shrewd and ruthless, Genghis
diverted his people from inter-clan
warfare and directed their energies
to the more lucrative business of
invading—first neighboring tribes
in the steppes, then more organized
states such as Persia, Russia, and
northern China (1219–23). He gave
the Mongol hordes a proper military
structure and exploited the skills
they had learned from their nomadiclifestyle: as expert horsemen, the
soldiers were masters of mobile
warfare and able to descend with
devastating force and lightning
speed on their opponents.The Mongols’ rule in China
Genghis’s grandson Kublai Khan
ruled China from 1260, but the
challenges of mediating between
the nomadic traditions of the
Mongols and the complex culture
of the conquered proved difficult.Paper money was invented by the
Chinese c.800. By the Yuan dynasty,
banknotes (such as the one above from
1287) were issued by the government.IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Mongol rule in ChinaBEFORE
1206 Mongol Empire founded
by Genghis Khan.1215 Genghis Khan sacks
Zhongdu (now Beijing), capital
of the northern Jin dynasty.1227 Death of Genghis Khan
and fragmentation of the
empire into smaller khanates
loyal to a single Great Khan.1260 Kublai declares himself
Great Khan.1266 Kublai orders the
reconstruction of Zhongdu,
and renames it Khanbalik.AFTER
1282 Kublai’s corrupt chief
minister Ahmad killed by
Chinese assassins.1289 Southern extension of
the Grand Canal completed.1368 Mongols driven from
China. Replaced by the native
Chinese Ming dynasty.THE MOST POTENT MAN
AS REGARDS FORCES AND
LANDS AND TREASURE
THAT EXISTS IN THE WORLD
KUBLAI KHAN CONQUERS THE SONG (1279)
US_102-103_kubla_khan_conquers_song.indd 102 15/02/2016 16:41
103
See also: The First Emperor unifies China 54–57 ■ The An Lushan revolt 84–85 ■
Marco Polo reaches Shamgdu 104–05 ■ Hongwu founds the Ming dynasty 120–27 ■
The Mongol invasions of Japan are repulsed 133 ■ The Revolt of the Three Feudatories 186–87THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
The old informal hierarchies of
the steppes no longer sufficed to
administer a land that contained
great cities, and the immediate
rewards of plunder were replaced
by the deferred benefits gained
by good governance and taxation.
As a result, many Mongols missed
the old ways. To appease his fellow
Mongols, Kublai gave them greater
rights and privileges than the native
Chinese. Meanwhile, to gain favor
with the traditional Chinese elites,
he promoted Confucian scholars,
funded Taoist temples, and had hisson educated in Buddhist scripture.
He also set up schools for peasants
and introduced the Mongol postal
system of using horses and relay
stations to link up the empire,
which benefited the merchants.The end of the empire
The need to restore stability in
northern China delayed Kublai’s
attempts to subjugate the Song
in the south until 1268. Although
ultimately successful, the 11-year
campaign was ruinously costly.
To preserve their warrior identity,the Mongols needed the spoils of
conquest to fund their huge army.
Kublai’s successors failed to work
out how to preserve their identity
while also keeping their monopoly
of power, and the Mongol military
gradually declined. After decades
of famine, lethal epidemics, and
corruption at court, in 1368 the
heirs of Kublai were defeated in
a rebellion led by Zhu Yuanzhang,
founder of the Ming dynasty. After
more than a century of occupation,
China was back in the hands of the
native (Han) Chinese. ■Genghis Khan unites
a number of nomadic
Mongol tribes. The Mongols
grow strong
enough
to conquer
advanced states
like China.Mongol rulers have
difficulties preserving their
nomadic ways while
governing large areas.Other tribes join
the Mongols or
are conquered.Kublai Khan Grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai
Khan (1215–94) governed northern
China for his elder brother Möngke,
who became Great Khan (the
senior Mongol ruler) in 1251.
Kublai’s restoration of Chinese-
style administration displeased
many Mongols and he was nearly
removed in 1258, but Möngke’s
death led to Kublai achieving the
position of Great Khan himself
in 1260. Kublai established a
bureaucracy staffed largely by
Chinese officials, but he placed
Mongol officers (darughachi) in
key towns to ensure loyalty to
the empire. He took measuresto restore the economy, initially
encouraged religious tolerance,
and welcomed foreigners such
as Marco Polo to the Mongol
court, aware of the expertise
they might bring. After the
successes in China, Kublai
dispatched armies to Japan,
Annam (Vietnam), Myanmar
(Burma), and Java; however,
these either failed or did not
establish a lasting Mongol
presence. By his death, Kublai
was a disappointed man, who
drank to excess, suffered from
obesity, and had to be carried
to his final campaigns in a litter.Mongols lose military
effectiveness; their
empire collapses.US_102-103_kubla_khan_conquers_song.indd 103 15/02/2016 16:41