How Much Land Did Genghis Khan Rule

Ghazan`s faith may have been Islamic, but he continued his ancestors` war with the Egyptian Mamluks, consulting his former Mongol advisors in his native language. He defeated the Mamluk army at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299, but was only able to occupy Syria briefly, as the Chagatai Khanate was able to distract under its de facto ruler Kaidu, who was at war with the Ilkhans and the Yuan dynasty. [ref. needed] Möngke confiscated the property of the Ögedeid and Chagatai families and divided the western part of the empire with his ally Batu Khan. After the bloody purge, Möngke ordered a general amnesty for prisoners and prisoners, but after that, the power of the Great Khan`s throne remained firmly in the hands of Tolui`s descendants. [68] Genghis had decreed that his empire should be divided between his four sons Jochi, Chagatai (Chaghadai), Tolui (Tului), and Ogedei (Ogodei), each ruling a khanate (although Jochi died before his father in 1227). Ogedei became the new Great Khan (r. 1229-1241) and thus ruler of all the Mongols. The united empire lasted until 1260 AD, when the four khanates became fully autonomous (see below).

The first attack (1205-09) was directed against the Tangut kingdom of Hsi Hsia (Xi Xia), a border state in northwestern China, and ended with a declaration of allegiance from King Xi Xia. A subsequent campaign was directed against northern China, which at the time was ruled by the Jin Tungusic Dynasty. The fall of Beijing in 1215 marked the loss of all territory north of the Huang He (Yellow River) to the Mongols; in the following years, the Jin Empire was reduced to the role of a buffer state between the Mongols in the north and the Chinese Song Empire in the south. Other campaigns have been launched against Central Asia. In 1218, the state of Khara-Chitai in East Turkestan was incorporated into the empire. Pastoral traditions are still strong, but Mongolians now have quick access to roads, vehicles, mobile phones and other modern accessories. This change could put increasing pressure on a country where grass and animals have been the main source of wealth. Eventually, each of the successor states adopted the dominant religion of the local population: the Chinese Yuan dynasty ruled by the Mongols in the east (originally the domain of the Great Khan) included Buddhism and shamanism, while the three western khanates adopted Islam. [121] [122] [123] The Mongol Empire was governed by a code of law developed by Genghis called Yassa, which means „order” or „decree.” A special canon of this code was that those of rank shared the same difficulties as the common man.

It also imposed severe penalties, such as the death penalty, if one soldier mounted after another did not pick up anything that had fallen from the mount in front of him. Penalties were also imposed for rape and, to some extent, murder. Any resistance to Mongol rule was met with massive collective punishment. Cities were destroyed and their inhabitants massacred if they defied the Mongol orders. [ref. Under Yassa, chiefs and generals were chosen on merit. The empire was ruled by an anti-democratic central parliamentary assembly called Kurultai, where Mongolian leaders met with the Great Khan to discuss domestic and foreign policy. The Kurultais were also summoned to select each new Great Khan. [117] The Mongols were famous for their mounted archers, but the troops armed with spears were equally skillful, and the Mongols recruited other military specialists from the countries they had conquered. With experienced Chinese engineers and a bombardment corps experienced in building trebuchets, catapults and other machinery, the Mongols were able to besiege fortified positions and sometimes build machinery on the spot with available local resources.

[113] After uniting the steppe tribes, Genghis Khan ruled over about 1 million people. In order to remove the traditional causes of tribal warfare, he abolished inherited titles of nobility. It also banned the sale and abduction of women, banned the enslavement of all Mongolians, and criminalized cattle theft by death. In addition, Genghis Khan ordered the introduction of a writing system, conducted a regular census, granted diplomatic immunity to foreign ambassadors, and granted religious freedom long before the idea took hold elsewhere. Great changes took place in the Mongol Empire in the late 1200s. Kublai Khan, after conquering all of China and founding the Yuan dynasty, died in 1294. He was succeeded by his grandson Temür Khan, who continued Kublai`s policy. At the same time, the Toluid Civil War, as well as the Berke-Hulagu War and the ensuing Kaidu-Kublai War, greatly weakened the Great Khan`s authority over the entire Mongol Empire and the empire split into autonomous khanates, the Yuan dynasty and the three western khanates: the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate, and the Ilkhanate. Only the Ilkhanate remained loyal to the Yuan court, but suffered its own power struggle, partly due to a dispute with the growing Islamic factions in the southwestern part of the empire.

[89] Mongolians may not leave many modern museum curators troubled by their art or beautiful buildings to admire, but they have left a lasting legacy in other ways. Perhaps their greatest influence on world culture was to establish the first serious links between East and West.