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Theme 5.Nomadic Empires

.(Imperial formations constructed by nomadic groups)

The Mongols under the leadership of Genghis Khan built a transcontinental empire spanning Europe and Asia during
the 13th and 14th centuries.

Sources
• The Mongols produced little literature on their own. So we have to rely on chronicles, travelogues and documents
produced by city based littérateurs. These authors often produced extremely ignorant and biased reports of nomadic
life. The imperial success of the Mongols attracted many travellers. They came from a variety of backgrounds- Buddhist,
Confucian, Christian, Turkish and Muslim. Many of them produced sympathetic accounts and others hostile. The earliest
narrative on Genghis khan was The Secret History of the Mongols.
• Later literature (19th century) was mainly based on surveys directed by the Tsar when the region was under Russian
domination. Since these were produced within a colonial milieu by travellers, soldiers, , merchants and antiquarian
scholars, so their authenticity is also questionable.
• In the 20th century during Stalin’s regime, due to his antagonistic attitude towards regionalism, any sympathetic and
positive assessment of the career and the achievements of the Mongols under the Genghis Khan was not possible.
• Since the Mongols produced a little literature on their own and were instead written about by literati of foreign
cultural milieus, so wide variations are found in the meanings of phrases for their closest approximation to Mongol usage.

Mongols-Background
The Mongols were a diverse body of people and spoke similar languages. Some of the Mongols were pastoralists while
others were hunter-gatherers. They were nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The Mongols were divided into patrilineal
lineage. The richer families owned more animals and pasture lands. Hence, they had large followers and were influential in
local politics. Whenever there was harsh winter or drought conditions then there were conflicts among the families over
pasture lands. Predatory raids were occurred in search of livestock. Groups of families form alliance in defense or offence
during these occasions. But these alliances were for a short period.

Genghis Khan's Political System(Comparison with Attila's)

The size of Genghis Khan's confederation of Mongol and Turkish tribes perhaps matched in size to that of the
confederation in the fifth century by Attila. Genghis Khan's political system was different from Attila's. It was more durable
as it survived its founder. It was stable enough to counter large and better equipped armies of China, Iran and Eastern
Europe. They also administered complex agrarian economies and urban settlements far from their home.

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a visual testament to the disturbance and fear that was brought by the nomadic raids on the
agrarian societies of north China and Central Asia.

Genghis Khan
Early Career
Genghis Khan was born in1162 near the Onon river in the north of present-day Mongolia. Originally named
Temujin('blacksmith'), Genghis was the third son of the minor chieftain Yesugei. Of the kiyat tribe.He was 9 when his
father was assassinated by the neighbouring Tatars. He along with his brothers and step-brothers, was brought up by his
mother. The next ten years were full of hardships. He was captured and enslaved at one occasion. Soon after his marriage he
had to fight to recover his wife (Borte)who was kidnapped. He also formed alliances with Boghurchu,a friend;Jamuqa,his
brother, and his old uncle, Ong Khan. Between 1180 and 1190, he used his alliance with Ong Khan against Jamuqa. After
this he gained confidence and moved against other tribes. He defeated the Tatars, the Naimans,the Keraits etc. Finally, he
defeated the powerful Jamuqa in 1206.Then the assembly of Mongol chieftains(quriltai), declared Genghis Khan the Great
Khan of the Mongols. He took the title Genghis Khan: ‘Oceanic ruler' or Universal Ruler.

Campaigns of Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan united the Mongol people in to a more effective, disciplined military force. The first of his concern was to
conquer China. At this time, China was divided in to three kingdoms. Chin the north, the His Hsia in the north west and the
Sung in the south. By 1209, the His Hsia was defeated. The Great Wall of China was breached until 1213 and Peking
sacked in 1215.Long-drawn out battles against the Chin continued until 1234.But Genghis Khan was satisfied enough with
the progress of his campaigns to return to his Mongolian homeland in 1216 and leave the military affairs of the reign to his
subordinates.
 Defeated Qara Khita who controlled the Tien Shah mountains Northwest of China in 1218, Mongol dominions
reached the Amu Darya and the states of Transoxiana and Khwarazm. Muhammad,Shah of Khwarazm in central Asia
executed Mongol ambassadors. Genghis had to respond to their execution. The Mongols destroyed cities such as
Samarqand, Nishapur, Bokhara, and Herat.

Genghis Khan and India

Mongol forces in pursuit of Khwarazm Shah pushed into Azerbaijan and defeated Russian forces. Another wing followed
the Shah's son, Jalaluddin, into Afghanistan and Sindh province. At the banks of the Indus, Genghis Khan considered
returning to Mongolia through North India and Assam. But because of heat, natural habitat and ill omens that were reported
to him by his soothsayer which made him change of his mind. Thus, India escaped from the visit of Genghis Khan. He died
in 1227.
Causes for the Success of Ghengis Khan
• The military achievements of Genghis Khan were astounding. He had achieved all the military victory by his ability to
innovate and transform various aspects of steppe combat into effective military strategies.
• The horse riding and hunting skills of Mongols and Turks provided speed and mobility to the army.
• Their abilities as rapid shooting archers from horseback were further perfected during regular hunting expeditions
which doubled the chance of victory over the enemies.
• They carried out campaigns in the depths of winter by using frozen river as highway to enemies ‘cities and camps.
• They brought their knowledge of moving light in terrain as an effective military strategy.
• He learnt the importance of siege engines and naphtha bombardment quickly.
• His engineers built light portable equipment which he used against his opponents.
Military Organisation under the Mongols
• Among the Mongols all the able-bodied, adult males of the tribe bore arms. They constituted the armed forces when the
occasion demanded.
• He reorganized the army by creating groups consisting of members from different tribal groups, thus bringing an end to
their tribe affiliations and in the process unifying them under his authority.
• The army of Genghis Khan was composed of different people which complicated the relatively small undifferentiated
army into a mixed mass of people.
• He altered the old steppe system of decimal units’ system. i.e, divisions of 10s,100s,1,000s and 10,000 soldiers.
• He divided the old tribal groupings and distributed their members into new military units.
• No individual could move from his allotted group without permission. If they did so they were punished severely.
• Thus, the largest unit of soldiers (10,000 soldiers(tumen) now included different tribes and clans.
• The military units were to serve under his four sons and specially chosen captains of his army units called noyan.
• A band of followers who had served Genghis Khan loyally through grave adversity for many years also became
important within the new realm.

Conferring titles
• Genghis Khan conferred title of 'blood brothers' publicly to military persons who had served him loyally through grave
adversity for many years.
• He also honoured humbler persons as bondsmen (Naukar) a title that indicated their close relationship with Genghis
Khan.
• He did not preserve the rights of old clan chieftains and new aristocracy derived its status from its closeness to Genghis
Khan.

Political Organisation under Genghis Khan

• Genghis Khan assigned the responsibility of governing the newly-conquered people to his four sons. These
comprised the four ulus.,a term that did not originally mean fixed territories.
• Genghis Khan envisaged that his sons would rule the empire collectively.
• Military contingents of the individual princes were placed in each ulus
• The sense of a dominion shared by the members of the family was underlined at the assembly of chieftains,
quriltais.
• Quriltais, where all decisions relating to the family or the state for the forthcoming season campaigns, distribution
of plunder, pasture lands and succession were collectively taken.
• A rapid courier system connected distant areas.
• For the maintenance of this communication system the Mongol nomads contributed a tenth of their herd.
• This was called the Qubcur tax,a levy that the nomads paid willingly for the multiple benefits that it brought.
Communication and Trade Under the Mongols
Courier System (Yam)
• Genghis Khan had formed a rapid courier system that connected the distant areas of his regime.
 • Fresh mounts and dispatch riders were placed in outposts at regularly spaced distances.
• The Mongol nomads contributed a tenth of their hard- either horsed or livestock-as provisions for the
maintenance of this communication system. This was called the Qubcur tax ,a levy that the nomads paid
willingly for the multiple benefits that it brought.
• The courier system(yam)was further refined after Genghis Khan's death and its speed and reliability surprised
travellers.
• It enabled the Great Khan to keep a check on developments at the farthest end of their regime across the
continental land army.
Outcomes of Genghis khans’ expeditions
• Conquered people hardly felt a sense of affinity.
• During the first half of the 13th century, cities were destroyed.
• Agricultural lands laid waste.
• Trade and handicraft production disrupted.
• Thousands of people slaughtered.
• All classes of people, from the elites to the peasantry suffered.
• Due to lack of periodic maintenance, underground canals (qanats) fell into despair and the dessert crept in.
• Led to ecological devastation from which Khurasan never recovered.
• Resulted in political instability.

Trade
• Europe and China were territorially linked.
• When peace was established after Mongol conquest (Pax Mongolica), trade connections matured.
• Travel and trade along silk route increased under the authority of Mongols. It continued north of
Mongolia and to Karakorum.
• Communication and ease of travel was essential to maintain the authority of the Mongol regime.
• Travellers were given a pass (paiza in Persian; gerege in Mongolian) for safe conduct.
• Traders paid by tax for the same purpose, there by acknowledging the Mongol authority.

Administrative features of Genghis Khan's Rule

• During the reign of Genghis Khan, civil administrators were recruited from the conquered lands.
• But they were deployed in distant areas. Chinese Secretaries were posted in Iran, and Persians in China.
• These administrators retained the confidence of their masters till the time they continued to increase the
revenues for them.
• These administrators could sometimes command considerable influence.

Yasa (Legal code of Genghis Khan)

• It is believed that Yasa was officially proclaimed by Genghis Khan at the Quariltai of 1206.
• In its earliest formulation, theterm was written as 'yasaq' which meant 'law'.'decree' or 'order'.
• By the middle of the thirteenth century, Mongols started using the term yasa in a more general sense to mean
the 'legal code of Genghis Khan'.
• The yasa was most probably a compilation of the customary traditions of the Mongol tribes.
• The yasa served to join together the Mongol people around a body of shared believes.
• It recognised the affinity to Genghis Khan and descendants and ,even as they absorbed different aspects of
sedentary life style ,it gave them the confidence to retain their ethnic identity and impose their 'law' upon their
defeated subjects.
• It was an extremely empowering ideology inspired by Genghis Khan's vision and was vital in the construction
of a Mongol universal dominion.

Situating Genghis Khan and the Mongols in World History

• Genghis Khan is remembered in the history as a conqueror, destroyer of cities and a person responsible for the
death of thousands of people.
• But for the Mongols, Genghis Khan was the greatest leader of all time.
• He united the Mongol people, freed them from wars, brought them prosperity and restored trade routes and
markets.
• Mongols were a diverse body of people. Inspite of their own faith in Buddhism, Christianity, Islam etc. the
Mongol rulers never allowed their personal beliefs to dictate the public policy.
• They recruited administrators and armed contingents from various conquered lands. All this was unusual for the
time when they were ruling.
• Mongols provided ideological models for the Mughals of India. Timur, another monarch who aspired to
 universal dominion, hesitated to declare himself monarch because of Genghis Khan.
• After decades of Soviet control, the country of Mongolia is recreating its identity as an independent nation.
• Genghis Khan has appeared as an iconic figure for the Mongol people, mobilising memories of a great past in
the foraging of national identity that can carry the nation into future.

Key Words
➢ Barbarians:The term barbarian is derived from the Greek barbaros which meant a non-Greek,someone whose
language sounded like a random noise:'barbar'.Cruel,greedy and politically unable to govern.
➢ Yasa:Genghis Khan's code of law
➢ Tama:The military contingents of the individual princes
➢ Quriltais:The assembly of chieftains where all decisions relating to the family or the state-campaigns,distribution
of plunder,pasture lands and succession -were collectively taken.
➢ Anda: Blood brothers of Genghis Khan.
➢ Naukar:Special ranking as his bondsmen,a title that marked their close relationship with their masters.
➢ Qanats: Underground canals
➢ Yam:A courier system introduced by Genghis Khan
➢ Qubcur Tax:A levy that few the nomads paid willingly for the multiple benefits that it brought.
➢ Jochi- Russian steppe
➢ Chagatai -Transoxiana steppe
➢ Ogodei -Gengis Khan's successor ( the title of “Great Khan’)
➢ Toluy - Ancestral lands of Mongols
➢