Genghis Khan. Beginning of the conquest of China

Having completed the task of uniting the Mongolian peoples inhabiting the plateau of Central Asia into one State, Genghis Khan’s gaze naturally turned to the East, to a rich, cultured China inhabited by non-warlike people, which had always represented a tasty morsel in the eyes of the nomads. The lands of China proper were divided into two states - Northern Jin (Golden Kingdom) and Southern Song, both of Chinese nationality and Chinese culture, but the second was headed by a national dynasty, while the first was ruled by a foreign dynasty of conquerors - the Jurchens. The first object of Genghis Khan's actions, naturally, was his closest neighbor - the Jin state, with which he, as the heir to the Mongol khans of the 11th and 12th centuries, had his own long-standing scores to settle.

In fact, it was none other than the Jin emperor who destroyed - and not so much with the help of military force, but with his insidious policies - the strong Mongol state that was emerging under the khans Khabul and Khatul, setting envious and greedy nomadic neighbors against it. One of the Mongol khans, Ambagai, was captured and given a painful execution by the Jin. The Mongols remembered all this well and deeply harbored a thirst for revenge in their hearts, they were just waiting for an opportunity to give this feeling an outlet. The exponent of such popular aspirations, naturally, had to be the newly born folk hero - the invincible Genghis Khan.

However, as a man who equally possessed both military and political genius, the Mongolian Autocrat understood perfectly well that the war with China is not an enterprise that can be rushed into headlong; on the contrary, he knew that it was necessary to carefully and comprehensively prepare for it. The first step already taken in this direction was the merger of the nomadic tribes of Central Asia into one power with a strong military and civil organization. In order to lull the vigilance and suspicion of his enemy, Genghis Khan during this period of accumulation of forces refrains from everything that could be interpreted as hostile intentions, and for the time being does not refuse to recognize himself as a nominal tributary of the Jin Emperor.

Such peaceful relations contribute to the establishment of trade and other ties between the Mongol and Jin states, and Genghis Khan uses these relations with amazing skill to carefully and comprehensively study the future enemy. This enemy is strong: he has an army that far exceeds in number the forces that can be put up against it by Genghis Khan, an army that is well trained and technically equipped, based on many dozens of strong cities and led by leaders who are well-educated in their specialty.

In order to fight it with any hope of success, it is necessary to put at least all the armed forces of the Mongolian state against it, leaving its northern, western and southern borders without troops. So that this does not pose a danger, it is necessary to first protect them from possible attacks by other neighbors during the entire period while the Mongol army is busy fighting its eastern enemy, in other words, it is necessary to ensure one’s rear in the broad sense of the word. To this end, Genghis Khan undertakes a series of campaigns that do not have independent significance, but serve as preparation for the Chinese campaign.

The main object of secondary operations is the Tangut state, which occupied vast lands in the upper and part of the middle reaches of the Yellow River, which managed to join the Chinese culture, and therefore became rich and quite firmly organized. In 1207 the first raid was made on it; when it turns out that this is not enough to completely neutralize him, a campaign is launched against him on a larger scale.

This campaign, completed in 1209, gives Genghis Khan complete victory and enormous booty. It also serves as a good school for the Mongol troops before the upcoming campaign against China, since the Tangut troops were partly trained in the Chinese system. By obliging the Tangut ruler to pay an annual tribute and weakening him so much that there was no fear of any serious hostile action in the coming years, Chinggis Khan could finally begin to realize his cherished dream in the east, since by the same time security and on the western and northern borders of the Empire. It happened as follows: the main threat from the west and north was Kuchluk, the son of Tayan Khan of Naiman, who, after the death of his father, fled to neighboring tribes. This typical nomadic adventurer gathered around him multi-tribal bands, the main core of which were the sworn enemies of the Mongols - the Merkits, a stern and warlike tribe that roamed on a wide scale, often coming into conflict with neighboring tribes, whose lands it invaded, as well as hiring service to one or another of the nomadic leaders, under whose leadership one could count on profiting from robbery. The old Naiman followers who had gathered near Kuchluk and the gangs that had newly joined him could pose a threat to peace in the western regions newly annexed to the Mongolian state, which is why Genghis Khan in 1208 sent an army under the command of his best commanders Jebe and Subutai with the task of destroying Kuchluk.

In this campaign, the Mongols were greatly assisted by the Oirat tribe, through whose lands the route of the Mongol army ran. The leader of the Oirats, Khotuga-begi, expressed his submission to Genghis Khan back in 1207 and, as a sign of honor and submission, sent him a white gyrfalcon as a gift. In the present campaign, the Oirats served as guides for the troops of Jebe and Subutai, which they led to his location unnoticed by the enemy. In the battle that took place, which ended in complete victory for the Mongols, the Merkit leader Tokhta-begi was killed, but the main enemy, Kuchluk, again managed to avoid death in battle or captivity; he found refuge with the elderly Gur Khan of Kara-China, who owned the land now called Eastern, or Chinese, Turkestan.

The moral preparation for the campaign against the Golden Kingdom was that Genghis Khan was trying to give it a religious character in the eyes of the Mongols. “The Eternal Blue Sky will lead his troops to take revenge for the previous insults inflicted on the Mongols,” he said. Before setting out on a campaign, Genghis Khan retired to his tent, offering prayers for victory. “Eternal Creator,” he prayed, “I have armed myself to avenge the blood of my uncles... whom the Jin emperors killed in a dishonorable manner. If You approve of my enterprise, send Your help from above, and command the earth that people and good and evil spirits unite for defeating my enemies."

The people and troops surrounding the tent all this time cried out: “Tengri! Tengri!” (Heaven!) On the fourth day, Genghis Khan came out and announced that Heaven would grant him victory.

The measures taken to secure the northern, western and southern borders of the empire allowed Genghis Khan to concentrate almost all his available forces for the upcoming campaign. However, to be even more sure of success, in order to divert part of the Jin forces in another direction, he enters into an agreement with the rebellious vassal of the Golden Kingdom, the Prince of Liaodong, on a simultaneous attack on a common enemy.

In the spring of 1211, the Mongol army set out on a campaign from its assembly point near the Kerulena River; to the Great Wall of China she had to travel a path of about 750 versts, a significant part of its length running through the eastern part of the Gobi Desert, which, however, at this time of year is not deprived of water and pasture. Numerous herds followed the army for food.

The Jin army possessed, in addition to outdated war chariots, a team of 20 horses, serious, by the standards of that time, military weapons: stone throwers; large crossbows, the strength of 10 people was required to tension the bowstrings of each of them; catapults, which each required the work of 200 people to operate; In addition to all this, the Jin also used gunpowder for military purposes, for example, for constructing landmines ignited by a drive, for equipping cast iron grenades, which were thrown at the enemy with catapults for throwing rockets, etc.

In the position of Genghis Khan in the Chinese campaign, Harold Lamb sees similarities with the position of Hannibal in Italy. Such an analogy can really be seen in the fact that both commanders had to act far from the sources of their reinforcements, in an enemy country rich in resources, against superior forces that could quickly replenish their losses and were led by masters of their craft, since the military art of the Jin people stood, like in Rome during the Punic Wars, at high altitude. Likewise, like Hannibal, who in Italy attracted to his side all the elements that were still weakly united with the Romans or dissatisfied with their rule, Genghis Khan could benefit from the national discord existing in the enemy troops, since the Chinese, who made up the most numerous, but subordinate contingent in the Jin army, some of them with displeasure endured the dominance of the Jurchens, who were alien to them by blood, and the Khitans who were in the army, the descendants of the people who ruled over Northern China before the Jin people, were equally hostile to the latter, i.e. the same Jurchens.

With all this, the situation obliged Genghis Khan to be careful: the defeat suffered in China could free the hands of the western and southern enemies of the Mongol Empire. Even decisive success had to be achieved with as little loss of men and horses as possible. A huge advantage of the Mongol army was its excellent knowledge of the enemy army and the country, achieved through preliminary reconnaissance; This reconnaissance was not interrupted during subsequent military operations, with the immediate goal of finding out the most convenient site for crossing the Great Wall.

This wall is on a section of about 500 versts from the intersection with the Yellow River to the area north of Zhongdu (Beijing), i.e. on that section of it, which, covering the capital from the north-west, represents two strong, parallel barriers - the outer and inner walls, separated from one another at the point of greatest distance by two hundred versts. Fairly calculating that he could encounter the strongest resistance on the shortest route to Zhongdu, Genghis Khan, demonstrating in this direction, forced the outer wall with his main forces in a weakly protected area 150 - 200 versts to the west of this shortest direction. The Mongol army encounters stronger resistance after passing the outer wall, but the victory won over the Jin commander Yelu Dashi gives the entire territory lying between the outer and inner walls into the hands of Genghis Khan, and allows him to turn its means to his advantage, of which the most The numerous imperial herds of horses grazing here were important.

After this, the passage through the inner wall at the mountain pass Ju-yun-guan (in Mongolian Hab-chal) was captured by the vanguard of the Mongnai army, which, consisting of three tumens under the command of the best leaders - Mukhali, Jebe and Subutai, preceded the main forces, supporting with them the closest connection and had, in turn, in front of him a curtain of reconnaissance detachments of light cavalry. The overall command of the vanguard troops apparently belonged to Jebe Noyon.

Genghis Khan was accompanied on the campaign by his four sons: Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedei and Tuluy (aka Ike-noyon, i.e. Grand Duke). The three eldest occupied command posts in the army, and the youngest was with his father, who directly commanded the center of the army, which consisted of 100,000 people of the best Mongol troops.

Having passed the Great Wall, the individual groups that made up the main forces dispersed according to the accepted system in different directions for the better use of the country's funds. In the first major battle after crossing the wall, Jebe inflicted a heavy defeat on the Jin, who had scattered their forces, going to their rear. It was in this battle that it turned out that the Mongols were familiar with the terrain much better than their enemy. Meanwhile, the senior princes, who received from their father the task of taking possession of the districts and cities lying in the north of Shanxi province in the large bend of the Yellow River, successfully completed this assignment. After another victory won in the field, the main forces of the Mongol army approached the “Middle Capital” of the Jin state, the city of Zhongdu (Beijing), where the court was located.

Thus, with amazing speed, within a few months, the resistance of the Jin field army was broken and a vast territory with a dozen fortified cities was captured. This success is all the more surprising since the enemy was not at all taken by surprise by Genghis Khan’s attack. Aware of the intentions of the Mongol Khan, the Jin people managed to prepare for a rebuff by the spring of 1211. Nevertheless, a few months later, all their hope, pending the gathering of new forces in the southern regions of the state, rested only on the inaccessibility of the walls of Zhongdu.

In fact, Genghis Khan did not expect to defeat this stronghold with his primitive siege weapons and, not yet having enough data to conclude that its defenders had lost heart to risk an assault, in the fall of 1211 he withdrew his army back behind the Great Wall.

The next year, 1212, he again approached the Middle Capital with his main forces, rightly looking at it as a bait to attract the enemy’s field armies to it in order to gain revenue, which he expected to defeat piecemeal. This calculation was justified, and the Jinski armies suffered new defeats in the field from Genghis Khan. A few months later, almost all the lands lying north of the lower reaches of the Yellow River were in his hands. But Zhongdu and a dozen of the strongest cities continued to hold out, since the Mongols were still not prepared for siege warfare. Not so strongly fortified cities were taken by them either by open force, or through various tricks, for example, by feigning flight from under the fortress, leaving part of the convoy with property in place, in order to lure the garrison into the field with the prospect of booty and influence the weakening of security measures; if this trick was successful, the city or the garrison, deprived of the protection of the fortress walls, was subjected to a surprise attack. In this way, Jebe captured the city of Liaoyang in the rear of the Jin army, which was operating against the Liaodong prince. Other cities were forced to surrender by threats and terror.

In one of the military clashes under the walls of Zhongdu in the fall of 1212, Genghis Khan was wounded. The army lifted the blockade of the capital and was again withdrawn behind the Great Wall. Such breaks in the campaign were completely inevitable for the possibility of recovery and repair of the exhausted horse composition of the army. Political considerations also played some role in this regard, namely the need to keep other neighbors of the state at bay.

The next year, 1213, passed in a similar manner. The war was obviously becoming protracted. On this occasion, G. Lam expresses the following considerations:

"Genghis Khan could not, like Hannibal, leave garrisons in the captured cities. The Mongols, not yet accustomed to defending themselves in fortresses by that time, would have been destroyed by the Jin during the winter. A number of victories in the field, won thanks to the secrecy of the marches of the Mongol columns and the ability to quickly concentrating them for the upcoming battle took place only as a result of the fact that the surviving field troops were driven into fortified cities. The approach to Zhongdu was intended to reach the emperor, but the impregnable walls of the fortress prevented it from being taken. At the same time, the Jin had success over the Liaodong people. the Tanguts who provided the flanks of the khan... Under these conditions, an ordinary leader of the nomads would have been satisfied with the spoils of previous campaigns and the prestige of the winner over the powerful Jin Empire and would have remained in his nomads outside the Great Wall. But Genghis Khan, although wounded, was still there. unyielding, he enriched himself with the experience of war in new conditions and tried to use it for subsequent campaigns, while gloomy forebodings were already beginning to sharpen the soul of the ruler of the Golden Kingdom."

1. CONQUEST OF CHINA BY THE MONGOLS

In the 12th century. On the territory of modern China, four states coexisted: in the north - the Jurchen Jin Empire, in the northwest - the Tangut state of Western Xia, in the south - the South Song Empire and the state formation of Nanzhao (Dali) in Yunnan.

This balance of power was the result of foreign invasions of nomadic tribes that settled on Chinese lands. There was no longer a united China. Moreover, when at the beginning of the 13th century. the danger of Mongol conquest loomed over the country, each of the states turned out to be extremely weakened by internal turmoil and was unable to defend its independence. Tribes consisting of Tatars, Tai-chiuts, Kereits, Naimans, Merkits, later known as the Mongols, appeared on the northern borders of China. at the beginning of the 13th century As early as the middle of the 12th century, they roamed the territory of modern Mongolia, in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River and in the steppes surrounding Lake Baikal.

The natural conditions of the Mongols' habitats determined the occupation of nomadic cattle breeding, which emerged from the primitive complex of agriculture, pastoralism and hunting. In search of pastures rich in grass and water, suitable for grazing large and small livestock, as well as horses, the Mongolian Tribes roamed the vast expanses of the Great Steppe. Domestic animals supplied the nomads with food. Felt was made from wool - a building material for yurts; shoes and household items were made from leather. Handicraft products were used for domestic consumption, while livestock was exchanged for the products of agriculture and urban crafts of sedentary neighbors necessary for the nomads. The significance of this trade was all the more significant, the more diversified nomadic cattle breeding became. The development of Mongolian society was largely stimulated by ties with China. Thus, it was from there that iron products penetrated into the Mongolian steppes. The experience of the blacksmiths of Chinese masters, used by the Mongols to make weapons, was used by them in the struggle for pastures and slaves. The central figure of Mongolian society were personally free arats. In conditions of extensive nomadic cattle breeding, these ordinary nomads herded livestock, sheared sheep, and made traditional carpets necessary in every yurt. Their farms sometimes used the labor of enslaved prisoners of war.

The nomadic society of the Mongols underwent significant transformation over time. Initially, the traditions of the tribal community were sacredly observed. So, for example, during constant nomadism, the entire population of the clan at the sites was located in a circle around the yurt of the clan elder, thereby forming a kind of camp-kuren. It was this tradition of spatial organization of society that helped to survive in difficult, sometimes life-threatening conditions of the steppe, when the nomadic community was not yet sufficiently developed and needed the constant cooperation of all its members. Starting from the end of the 12th century. With the growth of property inequality, the Mongols began to migrate as ails, i.e. small family groups connected by blood ties. With the disintegration of the clan, during a long struggle for power, the first tribal unions took shape, headed by hereditary rulers who expressed the will of the tribal nobility - the Noyons, the people of the “white bone”.

Among the heads of clans, Esugei-Batur (from the Bordzhigin clan) especially rose to prominence, who roamed the steppe expanses east and north of Ulaanbaatar and became the leader-kagan of a powerful clan - a tribal association. Yesugei-batur's successor was his son Temujin. Having inherited his father's warlike character, he gradually subjugated the lands in the West - to the Altai Range and in the East - to the upper reaches of Heilongjiang, uniting almost the entire territory of modern Mongolia. In 1203, he managed to defeat his political rivals - Khan Jamu-khu, and then Van Khan.

In 1206, at the congress of noyons - kurultai - Temujin was proclaimed the all-Mongol ruler under the name of Genghis Khan (c. 1155-1227). He called his state Mongolian and immediately began his campaigns of conquest. The so-called Yasa of Chinggis Khan was adopted, which legitimized wars of conquest as a way of life for the Mongols. In this activity, which became an everyday activity for them, the central role was given to the cavalry army, hardened by constant nomadic life.

The pronounced military way of life of the Mongols gave rise to a unique institution of nukers - armed warriors in the service of noyons, recruited mainly from the tribal nobility. From these clan squads, the armed forces of the Mongols were created, bonded by blood ties and led by leaders tested in long grueling campaigns. In addition, conquered peoples often joined the troops, strengthening the power of the Mongol army.

Wars of conquest began with the Mongol invasion of the Western Xia state in 1209. The Tanguts were forced not only to recognize themselves as vassals of Genghis Khan, but also to side with the Mongols in the fight against the Jurchen Jin Empire. Under these conditions, the South Song government also went over to Genghis Khan’s side: trying to take advantage of the situation, it stopped paying tribute to the Jurchens and entered into an agreement with Genghis Khan. Meanwhile, the Mongols began to actively establish their power over Northern China. In 1210 they invaded the state of Jin (in Shanxi Province).

At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII century. Great changes took place in the Jin Empire. Some of the Jurchens began to lead a sedentary lifestyle and engage in agriculture. The process of demarcation in the Jurchen ethnic group sharply aggravated the contradictions within it. The loss of monolithic unity and previous combat capability was one of the reasons for the defeat of the Jurchens in the war with the Mongols. In 1215, Genghis Khan captured Beijing after a long siege. His generals led their troops to Shandong. Then part of the troops moved northeast towards Korea. But the main forces of the Mongol army returned to their homeland, from where in 1 2 1 8 they began a campaign to the West. In 1218, having captured the former lands of the Western Liao, the Mongols reached the borders of the Khorezm state in Central Asia.

In 1217, Genghis Khan again attacked the Western Xia, and then eight years later launched a decisive offensive against the Tanguts, inflicting a bloody pogrom on them. The Mongol conquest of Western Xia ended in 1227. The Tanguts were slaughtered almost entirely. Genghis Khan himself participated in their destruction. Returning home from this campaign, Genghis Khan died. The Mongolian state was temporarily headed by his youngest son Tului.

In 1229, the third son of Genghis Khan, Ogedei, was proclaimed Great Khan. The capital of the empire was Karakorum (southwest of modern Ulaanbaatar).

The Mongol cavalry then headed south of the Great Wall of China, seizing the lands remaining under Jurchen rule. It was during this difficult time for the Jin state that Ogedei concluded an anti-Jurchen military alliance with the Southern Song emperor, promising him the lands of Henan. By agreeing to this alliance, the Chinese government hoped, with the help of the Mongols, to defeat long-time enemies - the Jurchens - and return the lands they had seized. However, these hopes were not destined to come true.

The war in Northern China continued until 1234 and ended with the complete defeat of the Jurchen kingdom. The country was terribly devastated. Having barely finished the war with the Jurchens, the Mongol khans launched military operations against the southern Songs, terminating the treaty with them. A fierce war began that lasted about a century. When Mongol troops invaded the Song Empire in 1235, they met fierce resistance from the population. The besieged cities stubbornly defended themselves. In 1251, it was decided to send a large army led by Kublai Kublai to China. The Great Khan Mongke, who died in Sichuan, took part in one of the campaigns.

Beginning in 1257, the Mongols attacked the South Sung Empire from different directions, especially after their troops marched to the Fans of Dai Viet and subjugated Tibet and the state of Nanzhao. However, the Mongols managed to occupy the southern Chinese capital of Hangzhou only in 1276. But even after that, detachments of Chinese volunteers continued to fight. In particular, the army led by the major dignitary Wen Tianxiang (1236-1282) offered fierce resistance to the invaders.

After a long defense in Jiangxi in 1276, Wen Tianxiang was defeated and captured. He preferred the death penalty to serving Kublai. The patriotic poems and songs he created while in prison became widely known. In 1280, in battles at sea, the Mongols defeated the remnants of the Chinese troops.

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“To bridle the world with golden reins”: the testament of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan began his campaigns against other states in 1206, and died in 1227, as befits a commander on the battlefield. During the campaign, an arrow hit him in the knee, and he died from the wound. His body was transported to his native place and buried in a secret place on the mountain. Before his death, Genghis Khan repeated what he had said many times before: the goal of a Mongol warrior’s life was to achieve wealth, glory, and power with weapons in order to enjoy the death and shame of the enemy. We must despise sedentary life, but conquer sedentary peoples. And reach the "Sea of ​​Franks". Perhaps that is why the Mongols combined his name with the words khan-ocean, khan whose power is boundless as the ocean. For 20 years, Genghis Khan conquered several states, large and small, several hundred different tribes and peoples. He started with his neighbors.

Stages of the conquest of China by the Mongols. The regions closest to the Mongols historically belonged to China. At that time, the northwestern parts of the Chinese Empire had already been conquered by the nomadic Tanguts (in the 11th century) and the Jurchens (in the 12th century). So the Mongols had to first confront them and, at the first stage, destroy the Tangut state, at the second stage, the Jurchens, and only at the third stage, deal with southern China. They were stuck in China for almost 80 years. There was a lot to do there: they captured 862 cities, and if the residents resisted, they were then all destroyed.

Fertile lands, gardens, and enormous wealth of one of the largest and most prosperous countries in the world fell into their hands.

Genghis Khan had already captured the first 90 cities, those that passed into his hands along with the Tanguts. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols managed to conquer only them. The first military campaigns against the Tanguts were carried out immediately after the Kurultai, and then Genghis Khan went there himself along with his four sons.

Tactics of the Mongols in the territories of China. The Mongols acted quickly. And, as is clear from what has already been said, they were hostile to the local population. The Mongols practically exterminated the Tanguts, the people disappeared from history. The Mongols did not destroy the Jurchen warriors: they created 46 combat units from them and included them in their army.

Then they did the same with other nations. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of foreign warriors joined the Mongol army. Sometimes they were forced to fight even against their own, especially during the siege of cities.

As for the Chinese, at first the Mongols wanted to destroy all of them, then every fifth, but, after thinking about it, they declared everyone “captured and deprived of their rights.” Many were turned into slaves, even learned people.

In Beijing, which was conquered by 1215 and 50 years later turned into the capital by the Mongols, they left a military garrison. It was the same in all other large cities of the empire. This order remained until the end of the 13th century. Marco Polo, the famous merchant and traveler, just at that time found himself in China in the service of the Mongol Khan, who declared himself emperor. And he reports: “In every city there are at least 1000 soldiers, and another city is guarded by 10 thousand, or even 20 or 30.”

The Mongols steal wealth. The Mongols captured and took away everything they could: gold and silk fabrics, porcelain and tea, oxen and horses, boys and girls. They acted in full accordance with the oath that the soldiers swore to Genghis Khan:

Rush against your enemies in an advanced detachment, Always try for you, To win beautiful wives and maidens.

Yurts, things, tall nobles, Beautiful-cheeked maidens and wives, Horses, excellent breeds Take, take, take. The number of Mongol troops.

Historians still cannot accurately determine the number of Mongol troops due to inconsistencies in the testimony of contemporaries of the events and other sources. For example, in relation to the army of Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, who conquered Rus', old Russian historians cited figures of 200-300 thousand people. Modern research shows that the total number of Mongol troops, even in the largest campaigns, was 120-150 thousand people, the largest - 200 thousand. The role of the “Chinese experience”.

Already the first years of the conquest of Chinese territories brought the Mongols the experience of conquering sedentary peoples. In addition, they were able to put into their service all the technical and military achievements of the Chinese: battering guns, catapults, gunpowder. Chinese engineers and military specialists taught them techniques for storming and besieging fortresses and walled cities. At the same time, the Mongols themselves took the specialists with them on campaigns. And here it all started with Genghis Khan. His dream of reaching the “Sea of ​​the Franks” actually resulted in campaigns in a western direction, primarily towards the Muslim world. Read also other topics Part IX "Rus between East and West: battles of the 13th and 15th centuries."

• section "Rus and Slavic countries in the Middle Ages":
• 39. “Who is the essence and the split-off”: Tatar-Mongols by the beginning of the 13th century.
• 40. Genghis Khan and China: the beginning of conquest
• 41. Genghis Khan and the “Muslim front”: campaigns, sieges, conquests
  • 42. Rus' and the Polovtsians on the eve of Kalka
  • Polovtsy. Military-political organization and social structure of the Polovtsian hordes
• 44. Crusaders in the Eastern Baltic
  • Invasions of the Germans and Swedes into the Eastern Baltic states. Foundation of the Order of the Swordsmen
• 45. Battle of the Neva
  • Alexander Nevskiy. Novgorod land: economy, government structure, management system
• 46. ​​Battle on the Ice

In 1206, a new state was formed on the territory of Central Asia from the united Mongol tribes. The gathered leaders of the groups proclaimed their most warlike representative, Temujin (Genghis Khan), khan, thanks to whom the Mongolian state declared itself to the whole world. Operating with a relatively small army, it carried out its expansion in several directions at once. The most powerful blows of bloody terror fell on the lands of China and Central Asia. The Mongol conquests of these territories, according to written sources, were of a total destruction nature, although such data have not been confirmed by archeology.

Mongol Empire

Six months after ascending the kurultai (congress of the nobility), the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan began planning a large-scale military campaign, the ultimate goal of which was the conquest of China. Preparing for his first campaigns, he carries out a number of military reforms, strengthening and strengthening the country from the inside. The Mongol Khan understood that to wage successful wars, strong rears, a strong organization and a protected central authority were needed. He establishes a new government structure and proclaims a single set of laws, abolishing old tribal customs. The entire system of government became a powerful tool for maintaining the obedience of the exploited masses and assisting in the conquest of other peoples.

The young Mongol state with an effective administrative hierarchy and a highly organized army was significantly different from the steppe state formations of its time. The Mongols believed in their chosenness, the purpose of which was to unite the whole world under the rule of their ruler. Therefore, the main feature of the policy of conquest was the extermination of rebellious peoples in the occupied territories.

First campaigns: Tangut state

The Mongol conquest of China took place in several stages. The Tangut state of Xi Xia became the first serious target of the Mongol army, since Genghis Khan believed that without its conquest, further attacks on China would be pointless. The invasions of the Tangut lands in 1207 and 1209 were carefully planned operations, with the khan himself present on the battlefield. They did not bring much success; the confrontation ended with the conclusion of a peace agreement obliging the Tanguts to pay tribute to the Mongols. But in 1227, under the next onslaught of Genghis Khan’s troops, the state of Xi Xia fell.

In 1207, Mongol troops under the leadership of Jochi were also sent to the north to conquer the tribes of the Buryats, Tubas, Oirats, Barhuns, Ursuts and others. In 1208 they were joined by the Uyghurs in East Turkestan, and years later the Yenisei Kyrgyz and Karlyks submitted.

Conquest of the Jin Empire (Northern China)

In September 1211, Genghis Khan's 100,000-strong army began the conquest of Northern China. The Mongols, using the enemy's weaknesses, managed to capture several large cities. And after crossing the Great Wall, they inflicted a crushing defeat on the regular troops of the Jin Empire. The path to the capital was open, but the Mongol Khan, having sensibly assessed the capabilities of his army, did not immediately storm it. For several years, the nomads beat the enemy piece by piece, engaging in battle only in open spaces. By 1215, much of the Jin lands were under Mongol rule, and the capital of Zhongda was sacked and burned. Emperor Jin, trying to save the state from ruin, agreed to a humiliating treaty, which briefly delayed his death. In 1234, Mongol troops, together with the Song Chinese, finally defeated the empire.

The initial expansion of the Mongols was carried out with particular cruelty and, as a result, Northern China was left practically in ruins.

Conquest of Central Asia

After the first conquests of China, the Mongols, using intelligence, began to carefully prepare their next military campaign. In the fall of 1219, a 200,000-strong army moved to Central Asia, having successfully captured East Turkestan and Semirechye a year earlier. The pretext for the outbreak of hostilities was a provoked attack on a Mongol caravan in the border town of Otrar. The army of invaders acted according to a clearly constructed plan. One column went to the siege of Otrar, the second moved through the Kyzyl-Kum desert to Khorezm, a small detachment of the best warriors was sent to Khojent, and Genghis Khan himself with the main troops headed for Bukhara.

The state of Khorezm, the largest in Central Asia, had military forces in no way inferior to the Mongols, but its ruler was unable to organize unified resistance to the invaders and fled to Iran. As a result, the scattered army took a more defensive stance, and each city was forced to fight for itself. Often there was betrayal of the feudal elite, colluding with enemies and acting in their own narrow interests. But the common people fought to the last. The selfless battles of some Asian settlements and cities, such as Khojent, Khorezm, Merv, went down in history and became famous for their participating heroes.

The conquest of the Mongols in Central Asia, like China, was rapid and was completed by the spring of 1221. The outcome of the struggle led to dramatic changes in the economic and state-political development of the region.

Consequences of the invasion of Central Asia

The Mongol invasion was a huge disaster for the peoples living in Central Asia. Over the course of three years, the aggressor’s troops destroyed and razed to the ground a large number of villages and large cities, among which were Samarkand and Urgench. The once rich areas of Semirechye were turned into places of desolation. The entire irrigation system, which had been in place for centuries, was completely destroyed, and oases were trampled and abandoned. The cultural and scientific life of Central Asia suffered irreparable losses.

In the conquered lands, the invaders introduced a strict regime of extortions. The population of resisting cities was completely slaughtered or sold into slavery. Only artisans who were sent into captivity could escape the inevitable reprisal. The conquest of the Central Asian states became the bloodiest page in the history of the Mongol conquests.

Capture of Iran

Following China and Central Asia, the Mongol conquests in Iran and Transcaucasia were one of the next steps. In 1221, cavalry detachments under the command of Jebe and Subedei, rounding the Caspian Sea from the south, swept through the northern Iranian regions like a tornado. In pursuit of the fleeing ruler of Khorezm, they subjected the province of Khorasan to severe blows, leaving behind many burned settlements. The city of Nishapur was taken by storm, and its population, driven into the field, was completely exterminated. The inhabitants of Gilan, Qazvin, and Hamadan fought desperately against the Mongols.

In the 30-40s of the 13th century, the Mongols continued to conquer Iranian lands in swoops; only the northwestern regions, where the Ismailis ruled, remained independent. But in 1256 their state fell, and in February 1258 Baghdad was captured.

Hike to Dali

By the middle of the 13th century, in parallel with the battles in the Middle East, the conquests of China did not stop. The Mongols planned to make the Dali state a platform for a further attack on the Song Empire (southern China). They prepared the trek with special care, taking into account the difficult mountainous terrain.

The offensive against Dali began in the fall of 1253 under the leadership of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. Having previously sent ambassadors, he invited the ruler of the state to surrender without a fight and submit to him. But by order of Chief Minister Gao Taixiang, who actually ran the affairs of the country, the Mongol ambassadors were executed. The main battle took place on the Jinshajiang River, where Dali's army was defeated and lost significantly in its strength. The nomads entered the capital without much resistance.

Southern China: Song Empire

The Mongol wars of conquest in China lasted for seven decades. It was the Southern Song that managed to hold out the longest against the Mongol invasion, entering into various agreements with the nomads. Military clashes between the former allies began to intensify in 1235. The Mongol army, encountering fierce resistance, was unable to achieve much success. After which there was relative calm for some time.

In 1267, numerous Mongol troops again marched to the south of China under the leadership of Kublai Kublai, who set himself the conquest of the Song as a matter of principle. He did not succeed in a lightning-fast capture: the heroic defense of the cities of Sanyang and Fancheng held out for five years. The final battle took place only in 1275 at Dingjiazhou, where the army of the Song Empire lost and was practically defeated. A year later, the capital Lin'an was captured. The last resistance in the Yaishan region was defeated in 1279, which marked the final date of the Mongol conquest of China. fell.

Reasons for the success of the Mongol conquests

For a long time they tried to explain the win-win campaigns of the Mongol army by its numerical superiority. However, this statement, due to documentary evidence, is highly controversial. First of all, when explaining the success of the Mongols, historians take into account the personality of Genghis Khan, the first ruler of the Mongol Empire. It was the qualities of his character, coupled with his talents and abilities, that showed the world an unrivaled commander.

Another reason for the Mongol victories is the thoroughly worked out military campaigns. A thorough reconnaissance was carried out, intrigues were woven in the enemy’s camp, and weak points were sought out. The capture tactics were honed to perfection. An important role was played by the combat professionalism of the troops themselves, their clear organization and discipline. But the main reason for the Mongols' success in conquering China and Central Asia was an external factor: the fragmentation of states, weakened by internal political turmoil.

• In the 12th century, according to the Chinese chronicle tradition, the Mongols were called “Tatars,” a concept that was identical to the European “barbarians.” You should know that modern Tatars are in no way connected with these people.
• The exact year of birth of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan is unknown; different dates are mentioned in the chronicles.
• China and Central Asia did not stop the development of trade relations between the peoples that joined the empire.
• In 1219, the Central Asian city of Otrar (southern Kazakhstan) held off a Mongol siege for six months before being captured by treachery.
• The Mongol Empire, as a single state, existed until 1260, then it broke up into independent uluses.

There is hardly a person who does not know that for almost three centuries Rus' was under the yoke of the Golden Horde. But, apparently, not everyone knows that by 1236, the year of the invasion of Rus', and later Eastern Europe, the Mongols had already conquered China and most of Asia, representing a well-trained and uniquely organized military force with colossal experience of victorious battles.

With this material we open a series dedicated to the great conquests of the Mongol Empire, which radically changed the fate of many peoples of medieval Asia and Europe. After all, the Mongols conquered and devastated all regions of the globe known to them, including part of Western Europe. And they owed their victories largely to the military and political genius of an illiterate tribal leader who became one of the greatest commanders in the world.

Khan of Khans

From birth his name was Temujin. But this man went down in history under the name Genghis Khan, which he appropriated to himself only at the age of 51. Neither his true image nor his height and build have reached us. We don’t know whether he shouted orders that changed the lives of entire nations, or muttered, making the thousands of troops lined up in front of him tremble... But we still know something about his life.

Temujin was born in 1155 on the banks of the Onon River. His father Yessugai-bagatur was a wealthy noyon from the Borjigin clan of the Taichjiut tribe. In a campaign against the Mongol “Tatars”, he killed the Tatar Khan Temujin with his own hand. And when he returned home, he learned that his wife had given birth to a son. While examining the baby, Yessugai discovered a blood clot on his palm and decided to name it after the killed enemy, Temuchin. The superstitious Mongols took this as a sign that foreshadowed a powerful and cruel ruler.

When Yessugai-bagatur died, Temuchin was only 12. After some time, the ulus created by his father in the valley of the Onon River disintegrated. But it was from this time that Temujin’s ascent to the heights of power began. He recruited a gang of daredevils and took up robbery and raids on neighboring tribes. These raids were so successful that by the age of 50 he had already managed to subjugate vast territories - all of eastern and western Mongolia. The turning point for Temujin was the year 1206, when at the Great Kurultai he was elected Khan of Khans - ruler of all Mongolia. It was then that he received the formidable name Genghis Khan, which means “lord of the strong.” The great warrior, “Jeganhir” - a man born under lucky stars, devoted the rest of his life, being an elderly man by the standards of those times, to one goal - mastering the world.

In the hearts of his descendants, he remained a wise ruler, a brilliant strategist and a great lawmaker. Mongol warriors - the sons and grandsons of Genghis Khan, who continued the conquest of the Celestial Empire after his death - lived for centuries by the science of conquering him. And his collection of laws “Yasy” remained for a long time the legal basis of the nomadic peoples of Asia, competing with the norms of Buddhism and the Koran.

Neither before nor after Genghis Khan did the Mongols have such a powerful and such a despotic ruler, capable of directing the energy of his fellow tribesmen, tireless in battle and robbery, to the conquest of stronger and richer peoples and states.

By the age of 72, he had conquered almost all of Asia, but never managed to achieve his main goal: to reach the Western Sea “land of decline” and conquer “cowardly Europe.”

Genghis Khan died on the campaign, according to one version, from a poisoned arrow, according to another, from a blow when falling from a horse. The place where Khan Khanov was buried remained a mystery. According to legend, the last words of the Great Warrior were: “The highest pleasure lies in victory: to defeat your enemies, pursue them, deprive them of their property, make those who love them weep, ride their horses, hug their daughters and wives.”

"Mongols" or "Tatars"

The origins of the Mongols still remain a mystery. They are considered the oldest population of Central Asia, believing that the Huns (or Huns), mentioned by the Chinese three centuries BC, were... Mongols, or rather, their direct and immediate ancestors. Over the course of many centuries, the names of the tribes inhabiting the Mongolian Highlands changed, but the ethnic essence of the peoples did not change. Even regarding the name itself, “Mongols,” historians do not fully agree. Some argue that under the name “Mengu” or “Monguli” these tribes were known to the Chinese since the 10th century. Others clarify that only by the beginning of the 11th century most of what is now Mongolia was occupied by Mongol-speaking tribes. But, most likely, before the beginning of the 13th century, such a concept as “Mongols” was not known at all. There is an opinion that the name “Mongols” was adopted after the emergence of a unified Mongol state under Genghis Khan in 1206–1227. The Mongols did not have their own written language until the 13th century. Only among the Naimans (the most culturally developed of the Mongolian tribes) were Uyghur writings in use. By the beginning of the 13th century, the bulk of the population professed shamanism. They worshiped the “Eternal Blue Sky”, the Earth, and also the spirits of their ancestors as the main deity. At the beginning of the 11th century, the noble elite of the Kerait tribe adopted Nestorian Christianity, and both Christianity and Buddhism were widespread among the Naiman. Both of these religions entered Mongolia through the Uyghurs.

Persian, Arab, Armenian, Georgian and Russian chroniclers until the 60s of the 13th century called all Mongols “Tatars”; the same name could be found in Chinese chronicles starting from the 12th century. By the way, the concept of “Tatars” corresponded to the European concept of “barbarians”. Although the Mongols themselves never called themselves that. For one of the tribes that served on the border of Mongolia and China, the name “Tatars” was assigned historically. They were constantly at odds with the Mongols and probably even poisoned Genghis Khan's father Yessugai. In turn, Genghis Khan, having come to power, exterminated them without exception. But this did not stop the stubborn Chinese from still calling the Mongols “Tatars.” It was from China that this name later penetrated into Europe.

As for the commonly used “Mongol-Tatar” hybrid, it arose already in the 19th century. Although there were no Tatars in the troops of Genghis Khan, or later Batu. Modern Tatars have nothing to do with the people who lived in the 13th century on the border of Mongolia with China.

Hike to Asia

The word "horde", meaning a Mongol tribe or army, became synonymous with a myriad of warriors. Europeans of the 13th and 14th centuries imagined the Mongol army as huge, undisciplined crowds; they simply could not believe that they were defeated by a much smaller, but better organized army. Meanwhile, Genghis Khan's army was indeed small. But his warriors had been trained in the art of war since childhood in a cruel school in the Gobi Desert, and were incredibly resilient and resilient.

The Great Mongol Empire began with the conquest of China. 20 years later, the Mongols appeared off the banks of the Volga. Before coming to Europe, they conquered Bukhara, Samarkand, reached the Caspian Sea, devastated the territory of modern Punjab and only, guided by certain “diplomatic considerations,” temporarily postponed the invasion of India. Mongol troops visited Armenia and Azerbaijan, and in 1222 inflicted a crushing defeat on a large Georgian army assembled for the Fifth Crusade. They captured Astrakhan, Crimea, and stormed the Genoese fortress of Sudak.

In addition to Rus', Eastern and Southern Europe, the Mongols conquered Tibet, invaded Japan, Burma and the island of Java. Their troops were not only land forces: in 1279, in the Gulf of Canton, Mongol ships defeated the fleet of the Chinese Song Empire. Five years earlier, 40,000 Mongol warriors in 900 ships invaded Japan, capturing the islands of Tsushima, Iki and part of Kyushu. The Japanese army was almost defeated, but against all odds, the attacking fleet was sunk by a typhoon... But two years later, history repeated itself exactly. Having lost 107,000 soldiers, the remnants of the army of commander Kublai were forced to retreat to previously conquered Korea. By the way, the origin of the word “kamikaze” is connected with the Mongol invasion of Japan; this is how Japanese historians called the “divine wind” - a typhoon that destroyed enemy ships.

Mongols in the 13th century

11901206 Unification of Mongolia under the rule of Genghis Khan
1206 At the kurultai, Temujin was proclaimed Emperor of Mongolia and given a new name Genghis Khan
1211 The beginning of Genghis Khan's first Chinese campaign. Approaching the well-fortified northern Chinese fortified cities and discovering his inability to conduct a siege, Genghis Khan was discouraged
1212 Conquest of the environs of Yanjing
1213 Genghis Khan creates a siege train and conquers the kingdom of Jin to the Wall of China
1214 Emperor Jin signs a peace treaty with Genghis Khan and marries his daughter to him.
1215 Genghis Khan besieged, took and plundered Yanjing (Beijing). Emperor Jin recognizes the rule of the Mongol conqueror.
1218 For the first time, the laws of the Mongol Empire were systematized and recorded (“Great Yases”)
1223 Death of Mukhali, commander of troops in China
1225 × 1226 The final version of the Code of Laws “Yasy” was approved
August 1227 Death of Genghis Khan
1234 × 1279 War of the Mongol-Tatars with the Song Empire
1252 × 1253 Capture of the Mongol-Tatars under the command of Mongke Yunnan, which belonged to Nanzhao, vassals of the Song Empire
1253 Mongke's brother Kublai launched the Chinese campaign: a strong army group under the personal leadership of Kublai blocked the center of the Song Empire
1257 1259 The campaign against the Song was led by Mongke. Decisive victories of the Mongol-Tatars. The Song was saved from final defeat by Mongke's sudden death from dysentery and the subsequent dynastic disputes in Mongolia.
1259 × 1268 The revived Song Dynasty puts up stubborn resistance to the Mongol-Tatars
1276 The fall of the Song capital of Hangzhou. Final capture of the Song by the Mongol-Tatars
1279 Kublai Khan establishes the Yuan dynasty
1279 × 1368
1296 The “Great Yases” laws of the Mongol Empire were promulgated

Conquest of China

Having encountered fortified northern Chinese fortified cities on his way and discovering a complete inability to conduct a siege, Genghis Khan was initially discouraged. But gradually he managed to expand his military experience and, having created the much-needed siege train, conquered the territory of the Jin kingdom to the Chinese Wall...

With three armies, he marched into the heart of the Jin kingdom between the Wall of China and the Yellow River. He completely defeated the enemy troops and captured many cities. And finally, in 1215, he besieged, took and plundered Yanjing.

At the beginning of the 13th century, China was divided into two states: northern Jin (“Golden Kingdom”) and southern Song. The Mongol khans had long-standing scores to settle with the Jin power: the Jin emperor in every possible way set envious and greedy nomadic neighbors against the Mongols, moreover, the Jin people captured one of the Mongol khans, Ambagai, and put him to painful execution. The Mongols harbored a thirst for revenge... The enemy was strong. The Chinese army far outnumbered the Mongol army, their soldiers were highly trained, and their cities were well fortified.

Genghis Khan understood that it was necessary to carefully and comprehensively prepare for a big war. In order to lull the enemy's vigilance, the Mongols established “trade ties” with the Jin Empire. Needless to say, most of the Mongol "traders" were simply spies.

In the eyes of the Mongols, Genghis Khan tried to give the future campaign against the “Golden Kingdom” a special character. “Eternal Blue Sky” will lead troops to avenge the grievances caused to the Mongols,” he said.

In the spring of 1211, the Mongol army set out on a campaign. She had to travel about 800 kilometers to the Great Wall of China. A significant part of this route ran through the eastern territory of the Gobi Desert, where in those days it was still possible to find water and food for horses. Numerous herds of cattle were brought after the army as food.

Genghis Khan was accompanied on the campaign by four sons: Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedei and Tuluy. The three eldest occupied command posts in the army, and the youngest was under his father, who directly commanded the center of the army, which consisted of 100,000 of the best Mongol warriors.

In addition to outdated war chariots with a harness of 20 horses, the Jin army had serious military weapons for those times: stone throwers, large crossbows, each of which required the strength of ten people to pull the bowstring, as well as catapults, each of which was operated with the help of 200 people.

The exact time of the appearance of gunpowder weapons is unknown. The Chinese used explosives as early as the 9th century. Perhaps the world's first gunpowder weapon was the Chinese bamboo musket, which appeared in 1132. It is known that in the wars with the Mongols, the Chinese developed the first combat missiles...

The Jin people used gunpowder both to construct landmines that were ignited by a drive, and to charge cast iron grenades that were thrown at the enemy using special catapults.

The Mongol commanders had to act far from sources of replenishment of supplies, in an enemy country, against superior forces, which, moreover, could quickly make up for losses.

But a huge advantage of the Mongols was their excellent awareness of both the enemy army and the country, achieved thanks to intelligence. Moreover, reconnaissance was not interrupted during military operations. Its main goal was to identify the most convenient site for capturing the Great Wall of China.

Genghis Khan successfully attacked the outer wall in a weakly defended area, 200 kilometers west of the shortest route. But the Mongols met the greatest resistance after they had already passed the outer wall.

In the first major battle after crossing the wall, the talented Mongol commander Jebe inflicted a heavy defeat on the Jin people, going to their rear. It was then that it became clear that the Mongols were familiar with the terrain almost better than the enemy. Meanwhile, the senior princes, who received from their father the task of capturing the cities in the north of Shanxi province in the bend of the Yellow River, completed it successfully.

Thus, within just a few months, having broken the resistance of the enemy army and captured vast territories with a dozen fortified cities, the Mongols approached the “Middle Capital” of the state of Jin Yanjing. It was located near present-day Beijing and was the largest city in Asia. Its population was slightly inferior in size to the population of the current Chinese capital, and its huge towers and high walls could rival in their power any city in the world.

The panic sown by the Mongol troops in the suburbs of the capital greatly alarmed the emperor. All men capable of bearing arms were forcibly taken into military service, and not a single person was allowed to leave the city on pain of death...

Genghis Khan understood that he was unlikely to be able to defeat this stronghold using primitive siege weapons. Therefore, not risking storming the city, in the fall of 1211 he withdrew the army back behind the Great Wall. Then, providing the most favorable conditions for service, and sometimes resorting to force, Genghis Khan created his own engineering corps, no less effective than in the armies of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. In 1212, Yanjing and a dozen of the strongest cities still continued to hold out. The Mongols took less fortified fortresses either by open force or by resorting to cunning. Sometimes, for example, they pretended to flee from under the walls, leaving a convoy with property. If the trick was successful, the Chinese garrison decided to launch a sortie and was subjected to a surprise attack...

In one of the battles near the walls of Yanjing, Genghis Khan was seriously wounded in the leg by an arrow. His army was forced to lift the blockade of the capital and retreat behind the Great Wall again.

In 1214, the Mongols again invaded the Jin borders. But this time they acted according to a new scheme. Approaching fortified cities, they drove local peasants in front of them as human shields. The discouraged Chinese did not dare to shoot at their own people, and as a result they surrendered the city.

Genghis Khan ordered the destruction of many captured northern Chinese cities so that “the Mongol horses could never stumble in the place where the fortress walls stood.” But in the same year, 1214, the Mongol army had to face a new and much more terrible enemy - a pestilence that began to mercilessly mow down its ranks. The Chinese did not dare to attack even such an exhausted army. Moreover, the emperor offered Genghis Khan a large ransom and a princess of the imperial house as his wife. He agreed, and the Mongol army, fairly burdened with untold riches, was drawn back to its native land.

Genghis Khan returned to the capital Karakorum, leaving the commander Mukhali as his viceroy in the conquered regions, giving him the title “Guo-wan”, which in Chinese means “senior”, “venerable”, “sovereign of the district”, and instructing him to complete the conquest of the “Golden Kingdom" by the forces of a small detachment left under the command of Mukhali... Very little time passed, and in 1215 Genghis Khan again moved to the kingdom of Jin with three armies. Having completely defeated the enemy's ground forces, he besieged, captured and plundered Yanjing. Then Emperor Jin was forced to recognize the rule of the Mongol conqueror.

China In the 13th century

1348 The beginning of the uprisings in China
1356 × 1368
1356 × 1366
1368
1368 1644 Ming Dynasty in China
1368 × 1388
1372
1381
1388
1233
1234
1234 × 1279
1263
1268 × 1276
1276

China In the 14th century

1348 The beginning of the uprisings in China
1356 × 1368 Popular uprising in China led by Zhu Yuan-chang. Directed against Mongol rule in China
1356 × 1366 Civil strife between the rebels. Zhu Yuan-chang becomes the sole leader of the rebels
1368 Flight of Togan-Timur to the steppe from Beijing. Founding of the Ming Dynasty in China
1368 1644 Ming Dynasty in China
1368 × 1388 War of the Ming Empire with the Mongols
1372 General Su Da's campaign against the Mongols. Destruction of Karakorum, the capital of the Mongols
1381 Fall of the last Mongol possession in China Yunnan
1388 The Ming defeated the Mongols at the Battle of the Kerulen River
1233 Subudai captured the Jin capital of Kaifeng. For the first time, the Mongols did not completely destroy the city. The merit of Yelu Chutsai, Khitan, adviser to Genghis Khan
1234 Attempt by the Song to divide the Jin with the Mongols. Ogedei refused partition. Song attempt to capture former Jin Province Henan. Beginning of the Mongol-Song War
1234 × 1279 War of the Mongols with the Song Empire
1263 Proclamation of Beijing as the capital of the Mongol Empire
1268 × 1276 Kublai Khan personally led the campaign against Song
1276 The fall of the Song capital of Hangzhou. Final capture of the Song by the Mongols
1279 Kublai Khan establishes the Yuan dynasty
1279 × 1368 Reign of the Yuan Dynasty in China
1290 Census in China. It amounted to about 59 million people

Facing West

For the next half century, the Mongols continued to war in China. In the end, they managed to conquer not only the northern Jin Empire, but also the southern Song. In 1263, the official capital of the vast Mongol state was moved from Karakorum to Beijing.

By 1279, the conquest of China was complete and it became part of the vast Mongol Empire. Kublai Khan, the first Mongol ruler of China, founded the ruling Yuan dynasty there. Even in its name, the Mongols did not fail to emphasize the universal nature of their power: “yuan” in Chinese means “the source of the universe.”

The Mongols, who imposed their own rules in China, despised both the Chinese way of life and their learning. They even abolished the traditional examinations for entry into the civil service, which now accepted almost only Mongols. The Chinese were forbidden to move at night, hold meetings, or study foreign languages ​​and military affairs. As a result, numerous uprisings broke out here and there, and famine occurred. The Mongols won, but only temporarily. And it was in China that they absorbed many of the achievements of a rich and highly developed civilization, which they later used to conquer other peoples. During their reign, the Mongols never managed to destroy the Chinese state, although the pro-Mongol Yuan dynasty ruled in China for just over 150 years. The Chinese not only managed to free themselves from Mongol oppression, but also destroyed the capital of the invaders. The power of the new, truly Chinese Ming dynasty both on land and at sea became undeniable. Even distant Ceylon began to pay tribute to China. The Mongols were never able to regain their former influence in the East.

Now their main interests are concentrated in the West, namely in Europe...