30 chapter one
all the Mongol powers—including the ulus of Jochi, newly settled in the
cuman steppe—in favour of a far more rewarding region, economically
speaking, than europe at the time: this was the Levant, and at its heart, the
Fertile crescent.98
We can thus trace Mongol expansion on the map of eurasian physical
geography and reveal how tightly bound up the limits of chinggisid power
were to the existence of pasture for their horses.99 another factor was
equally significant but worked to counter the limits of grassland, drawing
the nomads from their habitual environment: this was the attraction that
the settled lands held. the deeds of chinggis Khan and his descendants were
carried out between these two poles: the grasslands of home and the great
cities of the Silk road. these two worlds formed the horns of the essential
dilemma of Mongol expansion.
1.2 The Mongols and the Black Sea
Medieval chronicles and miniatures show the Mongol warrior on horse-
back, armed with the typical nomad weapon of all epochs, the bow and
arrow. although a simplification, this classic image reveals the fundamen-
tal nature of the armies which chinggis Khan and his successors used
in their projected world conquest: excellently well suited to land-based
campaigns, the Mongol cavalry was however entirely ineffective as a fight-
ing force on water. all attempts to overcome this weakness were doomed
to failure.
1.2.1 Continental Possessions, Maritime Horizons
In this respect, the failure of the great khan Qubilai’s expeditions to con-
quer Japan, launched from china in 1274 and 1281, are highly significant,
with far-reaching consequences.100 the greater part of the 150,000 sol-
diers who took ship in 1281 died; compared to these enormous losses, the
defeat of Janibek’s attempts at naval domination in the Black Sea was a
98 the Western half of the crescent covers the eastern Mediterranean shore in its
broad sense, while the eastern half includes Iraq; see below, chapters 2.1.2 and 2.2.1.
99 Sinor, “horse,” passim, surveys a number of technical innovations whereby the Mon-
gols sought to overcome the effects of the limitation; where these succeeded, the results
were spectacular but of limited application.
100 Grousset, Empire, pp. 356–357.