The Secret History Of The Mongol Queens Summary

Women around the world have played either a small or no role at all in the success of their societies. Empires such as the Mongol empire succeeded through economic rise and land expansion. In “The Secret History of the Mongol Queens”, by Jack Weatherford, the Mongol Queens helped raise the empire into a great one, but due to an incident “war on women” it collapsed from staying cohesive. Genghis Khan’s daughters were in charge of maintaining healthy relationships with other tribes, and of expanding the empire. Yet, Ogodei, one of Genghis Khan’s sons decided to overthrow his father’s legacy and do things his way. The Mongol empire would have lasted longer and remained well integrated but because of Ogodei’s greed, violation of laws towards women,

and disloyalty it deteriorated.
The Mongol empire had great power and controlled most of the Silk Road that brought in most of the wealth.

The Silk Road is a network of trade connections between China, India, and the Mediterranean that exchange goods. Through the management of Genghis Khan’s daughters, the Silk Road attained a high level of global importance. The significance of achieving a global level is that it shares important information to other societies such as diplomatic correspondence, tax receipts and census summaries along with other things. It is important for information like this to travel around in order for the empire to grow and learn new things to improve. The Mongol’s always had the desire to attained more territory, “As they acquire new lands, they increasingly craved control of richer agricultural and urban areas nearby to increase their wealth and power through tribute,” (WA 395). Genghis Khan’s daughters

receive all of this power by being married to other tribes, “Mongol tribes solidified their conquest by extending kinship networks, building an empire out of an expanding confederation of familial tribes” (Worlds Apart 394). It was a tradition for Mongol elite women to marry a leader of another tribe in order to obtain more land. Therefore, Genghi’s Khan saw it as an opportunity to marry off his daughters to tribes that were located near the Silk Road, “they were alliances sealed by the exchange of daughters.” (394). The alliances guaranteed the Mongols an easier access to the goods and money distribution of the Silk Road. “She was not there merely to administer, but to rule- thereby beginning the expansion of the Mongols from tribal nation into a global empire,” (Weatherford 51).
In addition, besides the elite women, ordinary women also had crucial roles. The common women did not have the same opportunity to marry wealthy leaders and enjoy a luxurious life. They had a tedious life but a beneficial one for the Mongol’s empire future, “Women in Mongol society were responsible for child-rearing, shearing and milking livestock and processing pelts for clothing… but they also took part in battles,” (395). Even though they didn’t deal with political issues, they took care of domestic problems. They made sure to educate Mongol children to become good citizens and serve the empire. Women help the economy trade of goods by producing products and selling them. The goods they produce are export goods that were sold along the Silk Road to people who were traveling. Clothing was an essential trading object, especially because many people would travel during the winter and they needed to stay warm to survive. In instances of war, they engaged in defending their tribe by fighting against their enemies. These duties help maintained the empire as a whole and to keep it growing.
On the other hand, the empire eventually collapsed and stopped expanding due to the ambition that Ogodei had for more power. He was one of Genghis Khan’s sons and did not feel the need to follow his father’s moral conduct. Ogodei disobey his fathers Yassa Laws that were created during the 12th century. The laws established that women: should not be force to marry, religious leaders were exempted from paying taxes, children born out of wedlock were considered legitimate, and collective punishment for those that violated the law. The main component of the Yassa Laws was made to protect the women. An important fact is that it outlawed bride stealing which was very important for the stability of the Mongol Empire. His father value the women of his society and looked after their well being.(Lecture Notes- 1/26/16). The rape of the Oriat Children was one of the worst atrocities to ever occur in Mongol history. Many young girls were violated in despite of the Yassa laws that protected them, “The nearly unbearable horror was committed not against enemies, but against the nation’s daughters,” (Weatherford 89). First, they were raped by Ogodei’s soldiers, and then distributed as merchandise to the elite. Out of the 4,000 young girls that were gathered, two died and the rest were put to servitude. The ones that survive were sold off to prostitution for merchants and other high ranking people. The less fortunate were left to whoever wanted them for their own use. This horrific scene marked the first step towards the war on women, and into Ogodei’s disloyalty. Had it not being for Ogodei’s hell on earth, the Mongol empire would have been more cohesive. They would have had more endurance from both the inside and outside. If women and his sisters had not been prosecuted by Ogodei’s rage, they would still maintain a high ranking among their city.
Furthermore, Ogodei spread his reign of terror into his sisters’ territory. Since he was the great Khan at the time he outranked his siblings, He managed to expand his power by conquering his siblings lands, “Through the attack, Ogodei was taking away the powers left to his sister and imposing his own authority over her lands, her people, and her family,” (Weatherford 91). Ogodei did not only commit the sinful crime of rapping the young Oriat girls, but he also decided to attack his own family. He was not satisfied with what he had and continued his journey of collecting more territories at no mercy. Not only was he offending his sister, he was also neglecting the nation as a whole. He did not take into consideration the damage he was doing to the entire empire due to his greed. Taking away their land was not the only thing he was capable of doing, he went to the extremes to kill his own brother in order to not have any impediment during his reign. If women and the Mongol Queens had not been prosecuted by Ogodei’s rage, they would of still maintain a high ranking among their city and done great things.
Consequently, the Mongol Empire was not completely doom to disaster after Ogodei’s reign.

However, it did not have the same composition that it was built on. In this instance, Genghis Khan’s daughters- in-law took matters into their hands and decided to obtain power. They were not ordinary house wives, “…they had grown up at the center of political and diplomatic life and been exposed to the intrigues that simmer and periodically explode in every power center,” 94 These women were not naïve and had a knowledgeable background in regards to controlling an empire. They knew exactly what needed to be done and how it had to be implemented. They reign until there son’s were old enough to rule for themselves. Toregene, Ogodei’s widowed prove to be worthy to rule her dead husband’s empire. She managed to, “ in pursuit of her own policies, she dismissed all her late husbands’s ministers and replaced them with her own,” (95). Not only did she care for the empire, she also had her own agenda in mind and was ready to start. She later managed to appoint a woman named Fatima to the highest governmental positions in the empire instead of her sons. “Despite being the mother of five sons, she chose not to move them into high positions of critical importance in her new government,” (95). Toregene knew better than to place her own blood into high occupations because they were to young and did not have any experience. She managed to conquer more lands but at the expense of getting rid of the

original Mongol Queens, Genghis Khan’s daughters. The
Overall if it had not been for Ogodei, the Mongol empire would have continued to flourish without any objections. Obviously that is only a suggestion that is not accurate, yet it could not have been as horrendous as Ogodeis. Probably another tribe or region might of have over power the Mongols. Yet, their success in the Silk Road could have made then the most powerful nation of all time. They would have had a great fortune and prestige if Genghis Khan’s daughters were in charge and if everyone followed Genghis Khan’s laws. Yet, ambition always tends to betrayed anything and everyone. It could have been a probability that the