"An empire of the land"

The growth of the Mongolian Empire, from here.

a map of the Eurasian Steppe, from Encyclopedia Britannica

Chapter Eight of our textbook is about political geography, so I'm taking the opportunity to make good on a tease in one of my early posts, about the secret to the Mongolian Empire's success.

Early on I said that the Eurasian Steppe was the secret to the Mongolian Empire's success. If you look closely at the two maps I've posted above, you can see that the spread of the Mongolian Empire generally follows and then spreads north and south of the Eurasian Steppe. The Mongols laid waste to a huge area, killing millions of people in the process, and they were fueled by grass. They possessed huge herds of cattle, camels, and horses, and did everything from horseback ("If a Mongol had to move any distance farther than a hundred paces, he jumped on a horse and rode.").  Genghis Khan first united clans of the Steppe to begin their invasions, and they used the resources of the Steppe with great efficiency, until the technology of cannons caught up to them. The author of the above linked article calls them "solar powered, an empire of the land."

I don't mean to play down the destruction the Mongols caused in their invasions, but after the killing it wasn't all bad. The Empire absorbed different cultures, was tolerant of different religions, and was well organized with a strong set of laws that in some places lasted for centuries.

The article I linked above, "Invaders", is a fascinating read I would recommend. It puts the war in Iraq and against Al Qaeda (from 2005, though) into the context of the Mongols' destruction of Baghdad in 1258.  

Also, because it's available, here's a BBC program about Genghis Khan and the Mongol hordes.





And with this entry I'm all caught up! I will continue posting once or twice a week until the end of the semester. Later on this week, I'll talk about the standard of living in Mongolia and other indicators of its development.