Essay On The Mongols

The Mongols were a group of nomadic people who throughout history invaded, conquered, and dominated multiple civilizations. China and Russia are an example of these dominated civilizations that were conquered in the early 13th century. These two dominations of different regions brought about many political and economic changes but the styles of influence varied from each other as the Mongols has direct control over the Chinese but allowed local princes to govern Russia as long as they behaved and paid tribute. Also both Russia and China were allowed to practice their own religion. On the contrary, there were some similar economic influences caused by the Mongols on both Postclassical civilizations such as the economy improving with trading routes.

In China, political impact from the Mongols came off much more strict and centralized than what politically occurred in Russia, and had a more significant effect. Succeeding the rule of Genghis Khan, the Mongols became a large empire that heavily influenced the Chinese after they defeated the Chinese and claimed themselves as direct rulers. When Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty, he applied a “split effect” in which he would separate the Mongols from the Chinese. Kublai banned intermarriage since he did not want the Mongols and Chinese people to mix. He also said that Chinese scholars were not permitted to learn Mongolian script, as well as the Chinese military remaining separate from the Mongolian military. Kham banned the civil services exams that were important for the Chinese bureaucracy leading to many foreigners staring to obtain higher positions in government while the Chinese were only given positions at the local levels. However, later the Mongols surrounded themselves ...

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...rade routes helped them recover their economy over time as some Russian cities like Moscow began to become tribute collectors and making profit. Benefiting from this, Russia’s princes became wealthy because of their ability to manipulate their roles as tribute collectors.

Mongol rule influenced both Russia and China in different ways but also in similar ways. China became a major trade network with the re-opening of the Silk Road, bringing cultural interactions. Russia however remained isolated but still improved their economy, however not on a global scale like China. Politically, the Mongols ruled China and Russia in different ways as Russia had more political freedom than China. However, the Mongols had a huge impact on the world as they had one of the best militaries and largest empires in the world stretching from the Middle East, parts of India, and to Europe.