The Mongols controlled an enormous section of Eurasia during their period of influence, two of their largest conquests being China and Russia. Throughout the duration of their stay, they irrevocably affected the politics and economy of those regions. When the Khubilai Khan and his Mongols came for China, they did so with great force. The two armies met on the North China plain, the armies of Jin numbering 10,000 compared to the Mongols cavalry of some 200,000 horsemen. Once the obvious outcome came about, the Mongols moved south and defeated the Sony army with gun-powder based weapons that they had borrowed from the Chinese, who did not expect them to be used against them. Once Khubilai Khan had finished the ruling emperor of that time, he began his full conquest, allowing his armies to plunder, destroy, and kill as they pleased. They brought violence and destruction to all aspects of China’s civilization, being very insensitive to their cultural values and government. From the bottom up, the Mongol invaders eliminated many Chinese institutions, their civil service and government to name a few.
Since the Mongols only perceived China as just one section of their vast empire, they discriminated greatly against the Chinese, creating a caste system with the Mongols at the top, followed by the Islamic population, and ending with the conquered Chinese. Another political reformation brought by the Mongols to China was that no Confucian scholars or native Chinese were eligible for any positions in their government. The Mongols had changed the Han Chinese way of life greatly. The Mongols came for Russia in the 13th century, attacking stealthily from many fronts. They defeated the Russian army easily as they lacked the unity or military organization to defeat the large army that came from all directions. They went on into the heartland of Russia and burnt Moscow to the ground, destroying the inhabitants at will.
The Essay on The Opium Wars Chinese Trade China
At the end of the 1800 s China's four million square miles held 450 million people, up from 200 million a century earlier. The ruling dynasty was the Ching, established by Manchus from Manchuria, who in 1644 had superseded the Ming. These descendants of the Tatars appreciated Chinese civilization and adopted a conciliatory attitude toward their subjects. They refused, however, to allow ...
They didn’t stop there. They methodically pillaged, plundered, and destroyed every city in every region until they reached Kiev. They then established a rule that would last nearly 300 years. They ruled Russia very much like they had done to China, but with worse long term effects. The destruction and slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Russians is very similar to the sacking of Han China, to put it simply, many people died. This may even be the cause why Russia’s landmass is so large but there are few inhabitants in comparison.
Mongols soon dominated the population, which soon became predominantly Mongolian. There was a difference to the Han rule that the Russian conquest held. The Mongol rule kept Russia isolated from most of Europe, the former falling behind technologically and contemporarily in many ways. Russia stayed medieval for the full 300 years the Mongols held control of their country. Russian development took a step back from the rest of the world and missed out on much innovation they could have enjoyed. Not until a very forward thinking and imaginative Peter the Great took control would Russia catch up with the rest of the world. The Mongols were a terrifying people and changed the world vastly with their conquests.
