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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
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Part 2: “The Mongol World War: 1211-1261”Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2
Chapter 4 Summary: “Spitting on the Golden Khan”
In 1210, Genghis Khan receives a delegation from the Jurched people in modern Manchuria (northern China). They are a major economic force, controlling trade from the cities of China into the Asian interior. The delegation announces the ascension of their new ruler, the Golden Khan, and demands submission. Genghis insults them instead, provoking war. He calls a khuriltai and the tribal leaders give their consent to a southern campaign. The campaigns against the Tangut had given him experience in crossing deserts and attacking walled cities, but no experience in siege, in which the Mongols have to improvise. They cut off food and supplies to the Jurched cities, and attempt to divert their water source, the Yellow River. Weatherford describes this campaign as the first match in a “conflagration” that led eventually to world conquest.
Weatherford next describes the travel methods of the Mongol army. Each man carried what he needed, and the army rarely ate hot food; the absence of cooking fires made them harder to detect. Since the Mongols had no infantry and no supply train, they were more maneuverable than their enemies. Also, they were stronger than the agricultural peoples they encountered due to their protein-heavy diet. The army traveled in loose units of ten thousand, and orders were often sung aloud. The Mongols even developed “fixed melodies and poetic styles” (88) for different varieties of commands and orders, as they did with their laws as well.
Since they are unable to defeat hostile cities in conventional warfare, the Mongols use their traditional tactics of intimidation, destroying the countryside and cutting off supplies to win battles before they had begun. They divide the Jurched kingdom from their allies, the Khitan, with the promise of restoring their former monarchy. Genghis Khan employs a Khitan astrologer who knows Chinese culture and language; this impresses upon him the importance of scholars, whom he would seek out in the future among conquered peoples.
Genghis turns the Jurched’s large population into a liability. The Mongols drive displaced peasants before them, and refugees from the countryside overwhelm the Jurched cities and make travel difficult for the defenders. They even infiltrate a fortified city in disguise as a diplomat and his entourage to dismantle the city’s defenses. Defecting Chinese engineers assist the Mongols in building advanced siege weapons. Weatherford makes clear, however, that the Mongols’ most effective weapon was fear.
In 1214, Genghis besieges the Jurched capital of Zhongdu. The Golden Khan surrenders and promises to pay tribute, but then flees. Genghis takes this as a betrayal, and sacks Zhongdu. The Mongols destroy cultivated and developed land in order to reestablish pasture for their herds, discourage agriculture in the future, and ensure easy travel across China in future campaigns. The army returns across the Gobi Desert with loot from the Jurched campaign, including silks and other valuable items, captives, and skilled workers:“[n]ovelties became necessities, and each caravan of cargo stimulated a craving for more” (100). Westward expansion now seemed inevitable.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Sultan Versus Khan”
Genghis conquers the Turkic empire of Khwarizm in the year 1219. Weatherford gives background on the Turkic empires of Central and Western Asia, the richest in the world at that time and the most advanced in many sciences. These empires were formed on the “ancient bed” of Persian culture, influenced by the Arab Muslim tradition, and further influenced by Mediterranean and Indian peoples. Nearly every settlement in these empires contained literate people and scholars, though the complexity of the civilization and its constituent populations often led to internal tensions. Such instability is believed to have been a factor in Khwarizm’s quick fall to Genghis, as the warrior class and minority populations had no real loyalty to their rulers.
Weatherford describes the formula followed by Genghis when seizing a city: the soldiers were killed first, the civilians divided by profession and put to work, and finally the unskilled were killed. This method inflicted the most losses on the rich and powerful.
Genghis shrewdly uses the literacy of Muslim nations to spread fear by allowing written reports of his conquests to circulate. He sends delegations from conquered cities ahead of him to tell of his victories, and contemporary Muslim accounts include stories from refugees. Muslim sources describe this campaign in apocalyptic terms, fearing that the Mongols will wipe out Islam entirely.
Weatherford lists other medieval rulers who used mutilation, torture, and public execution to spread terror; he contrasts this with Genghis, whose true fearsomeness lay in the “speed and efficiency” (116) of his conquests and total disregard for existing titles of nobility. Numbers of casualties during these wars of conquest are probably dramatically overstated in contemporary accounts; Weatherford argues that the Mongols’ interest was not in aimlessly destroying populations but rather in funneling trade, communication, and transportation into routes they controlled.
Meanwhile, there is dissension among Genghis’s family. Before the campaign against Khwarizm, Genghis had called a khuriltai council to discuss the succession. His firstborn, Jochi, was named his successor, but his other sons Chaghatai, Ogodei, and Tolui had raised doubts about Jochi’s legitimacy (see Chapter Two). As a compromise, Genghis had agreed that Ogodei would succeed him as Great Khan and that the other brothers will have their own separate kingdoms, far away from each other so as to avoid strife. Borte, meanwhile, lives at the capital of Avarga and dies sometime between 1219 and 1224. Genghis tries to repair the relationship between his sons Jochi and Chaghatai, teaching them several lessons that, Weatherford reminds us, will go unheeded by both: speak little, remember tradition, and avoid becoming proud.
In 1222, the Mongol conquest is halted in modern-day Pakistan. Genghis decides against invading India, but holds a great hunt to celebrate the total defeat of Khwarizm. The celebrations, however, do not repair the rift between his sons, and Jochi dies soon after under mysterious circumstances. Caravans bring unimaginable riches from the conquests back to Mongolia, where they are distributed to all. Genghis senses uncomfortably that constant conquest is the only way to keep his empire’s internal divisions at bay.
In 1226, while on a campaign against the Tangut people, Genghis is thrown from his horse while hunting and gravely injured. He completes the campaign and defeats the Tangut but dies six months later. Weatherford tells us that the text, The Secret History of the Mongols, usually full of details, is mysteriously silent about the circumstances of Genghis’s death. His body is returned to Mongolia and buried in his native region of the Onon River. Weatherford considers “what kind of image Genghis Khan thought he was leaving to the world” (129), and speculates on his legacy at the time. He paraphrases a surviving letter from Genghis to a Chinese monk praising modesty, moderation, and a simple life; it seems that Genghis’s view of himself may have been very different from what one might expect. Meanwhile, his project to unite the whole world under one empire remained unfinished.
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Discovery and Conquest of Europe”
In the summer of 1229, Ogodei is installed as Great Khan and generously distributes riches to his subjects. His inauguration is marked by heavy drinking. Already, Weatherford states, the empire has descended from Genghis’s ideals: “[t]he drunken revelry of Ogodei Khan’s inauguration set the standard and the model for his rule, and…it controlled the spirit of the empire as well” (133). Revolts arise in previously conquered kingdoms, including China, and in 1230, Ogodei dispatches his armies to subdue them. Despite a decrease in profits from tribute, Ogodei decides to build a permanent capital city, contravening centuries of Mongol tradition. He names his capital Karakorum; Weatherford interjects that it is already “doomed,” as it was chosen for the qualities that make a good camp, but not a good city (134). Weatherford describes the luxuriousness of Ogodei’s palace, though not all of Karakorum is pure extravagance: Ogodei also builds houses of worship for the several different religions of his followers and wives. This measure of religious tolerance, Weatherford notes, is remarkable for its time.
Ogodei standardizes weights and measures, maintains control of Central Asia, and builds roads throughout his empire. Though his rule, especially domestically, could be considered “a major step away from the policies of Genghis Khan” (137), Ogodei continued his father’s conquests in order to maintain stability at home and keep up his own income. He calls a council to determine possible targets for conquest. His general, Subodei, suggests Europe, then unknown to most Mongols.
In 1221, Subodei had “discovered” Europe while pursuing the sultan of Khwarizm to the far side of the Caspian Sea. He had encountered the kingdom of Georgia and defeated its cavalry armies. By 1223, he had reached the Russian-speaking cities of modern Ukraine. After his ambassadors to the Prince of Kiev were killed, Subodei had defeated the Russians in battle— the first major defeat of a European force by an Asian army since the time of the Huns, one thousand years earlier.
At the council in 1229, Ogodei states that he prefers to invade China rather than Europe, but instead makes the decision to invade in both directions. Weatherford describes this strategic decision as “the worst in the history of the Mongol Empire” (144). The Chinese campaign fails, and the European campaign succeeds, but brings back little wealth. Subodei’s army returns to Europe and begins a three-year campaign in what is now Ukraine. Word of the invading force reaches Western Europe, where in 1240 it produces the first mention of the Mongol Empire in English. Jochi’s son, Batu, becomes ruler of Eastern Europe; tensions boil over and he has a drunken dispute with Ogodei’s sons, Guyuk and Buri. They are summoned home and reprimanded by Ogodei before returning to their respective campaigns.
Subodei defeats large armies of Hungarians and Germans as he takes the plains of Hungary; he uses explosives and gunpowder in battle to devastating effect. An eclipse in October of 1241 seems to confirm to the Europeans that the Mongols have been sent as supernatural vengeance for their nations’ sins. Across Western Europe, a theory arises that the Mongols are in fact ancient Jews, resulting in widespread persecution of Jews in European cities. The Mongols reach the Danube River. Ogodei dies in 1241.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Warring Queens”
Weatherford reminds us that while male members of the ruling family were off fighting their wars, their wives managed affairs at home. Sorkhokhtani, the widow of Genghis’s youngest son, Tolui, rules the home territory in the heart of Mongolia. Chaghatai’s wife rules Central Asia. With Ogodei’s death in 1241, his wife, Toregene, becomes regent. Until 1251, these women struggle over internal control of the empire. None are Mongols by birth—all had married into the family from other nations. At first Torogene fails in her attempt to promote her son Guyuk over Ogodei’s grandson, his chosen heir, but at last she manages to get him elected at a khuriltai in 1246. Under mysterious circumstances, Fatima, Toregene’s closest adviser, is seized and tortured by Guyuk. Toregene dies of unknown causes. Guyuk puts Temuge Otchigen, Genghis’s last surviving brother, on trial for making an attempt to seize the title of khan; Temuge is put to death. Guyuk wants to return to Europe to confront his rival, Batu, but Sorkhokhtani sends word to Batu and Guyuk dies mysteriously before he can return to Europe.
Batu then calls a khuriltai and elects Sorkhokhtani’s eldest son, Mongke, as khan. This khuriltai, held outside Mongolia, is not seen as entirely legitimate, so Sorkhokhtani holds a second ceremony on Genghis Khan’s sacred burial ground. Monk declares a holiday, and Weatherford foreshadows that Sorkhokhtani’s sons will be strong and successful, in contrast to Genghis’s own sons. Monk arrests Ogodei and Guyuk’s sons, convicts seventy-seven people, and kills many of them. Guyuk’s widow is tortured and executed, and a large purge sweeps the entire empire. Sorkhokhtani dies in 1252.
Mongke rebuilds the capital of Karakorum with the labor of captive European metalworkers and a French goldsmith. Christianity is ascendant among the Mongols; a Franciscan monk, William of Rubruck, visits as an emissary from the King of France. Mongke holds public theological debates in front of a panel of Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist judges. Weatherford casts this as an unprecedentedly civil exchange of religious ideas, contrasting with the religious persecution and intolerance rampant in Western Europe at that time. Mongke sends the monk back to Europe with the message that the Mongols are monotheists (worshipping the Eternal Blue Sky) and will conquer the world to spread peace, though any resistance will be destroyed.
Mongke sets things in order domestically to enable the empire to turn once more to conquest. He conducts a census, standardizes weights and measures, settles Guyuk’s debts, and centralizes control of the empire’s paper money. Mongke’s brother, Hulegu, is dispatched to conquer the Arab cities of Mesopotamia, and his brother, Khubilai, is sent to complete the conquest of China.
In 1527, Hulegu besieges the city of Baghdad. His forces encircle the city, build boats to attack by water, and divert the Tigris River. Primitive firearms and cannons are used to great effect. Religious minorities within the city are anxious to be free of Muslim rule and held to break down resistance. Hulegu kills the Caliph of Baghdad and his sons after publicly humiliating them. The city of Damascus surrenders, but in 1260 a defeat by the Mamluks, out of Egypt, marks the Western limit of Mongol expansion in Asia.
Meanwhile, Khubilai has limited success over the minor kingdoms of China. Khubilai has limited military and command experience, and Mongke assumes personal command of his China campaign. Mongke enjoys greater success, but the warm Chinese climate causes the spread of disease among his forces and Mongke dies. Neither Hulegu, in Baghdad, nor Jochi’s sons, in Russia, care much about contesting the title of Great Khan; at a council, Khubilai is given the title by his followers. The empire, now at its greatest territorial extent, is effectively split into four segments: Mongolia proper, the Arab and Persian regions, the Russian territories, and China/the Korean Peninsula. The capital of Karakorum declines in importance as Khubilai assumes the title of khan.
Part 2 Analysis
In Part Two, Weatherford brings his story from Genghis’s original consolidation of power to his empire’s high-water mark. A recurrent theme in his commentary—beginning almost immediately with the death of Genghis and ascension of Ogodei—is his descendants’ gradual slide from Genghis’s ideals and standards, even as the empire becomes more and more prosperous. While it would not be accurate to call this a betrayal of Genghis’s values by his descendants, Weatherford does go out of his way to emphasize that without first-hand experience of the harsh status quo on the steppe before Genghis’s ascension, his sons and grandsons would have a fundamentally different worldview. This explains why Weatherford describes Genghis’s early life in such fine detail.
A paradox arises, however, in this second part of the history. While Weatherford’s argument up to this point has seemed to cast Genghis in the central role of Mongol history, the actions of his successors seem to question that assignment. Since Genghis left much unfinished at his death, and since the empire was not to reach its territorial zenith until the reigns of Mongke and Khubilai, one may wonder why Genghis deserves the most credit for the innovations of the Mongol Empire. What Genghis undeniably deserves to be credited with, however, is creating the uneasy blend of traditional and radical ideas that served as the organizing principles of the empire. That said, it seems to remain an open question who should receive more attention: Genghis, who developed this ruling ethos, or his successors, who put a similar but not quite identical system into practice.
Indeed, all the humanistic and cultural benefits of the empire’s expansion are cast as results of Genghis’s principles and ideas, yet the brutality, destruction, and infighting brought about by that same expansion is chalked up to the deficiencies of his sons. It remains up to the reader to determine to what extent Genghis was responsible for events that occurred after his reign or in his name. In any event, his successors seemed to pay lip service to his commitment to family, and the brutal violence they enacted upon each other (as in the episode of the warring queens) was rationalized by other means.
Weatherford’s emphasis is also on the tolerant nature of the Mongol Empire, but as seen in the siege and fall of Baghdad, the Mongols’ friendly relations with religious minorities did not necessarily imply a commitment to peace or nonviolence. That episode contrasts neatly with the visit of William of Rubruck to Mongke’s court, a bloodless contest between members of opposing religious groups. Weatherford makes sure to emphasize the Mongols’ inquisitiveness as to Western religion; he also seeks to correct the under appreciation of Christianity’s influence on the Mongol rulers, many of whom (or whose wives) were members of that faith.
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