The Mongols Are Coming

Welcome to the Wannaskan Almanac for Friday.

   On this day in 1238 the Mongols burned the Russian city of Vladimir. By the time of Vladimir's destruction, the Mongols had been spreading for twenty years from their grassy steppes in Mongolia, and were looking to take over the entire world. And why? Over trade!
   The Mongols were a nomadic, tribal  people, always fighting for supremacy amongst themselves. They raised horses, camels, sheep, etc. but made nothing themselves. They relied on trade for everything: our livestock for your necessities and luxuries. For reasons of their own, the Chinese to the south cut off trade with the Mongols.
   About this time, 1206 to be exact, a young warrior named Temujin decided something needed to be done. In this time of crisis, he was able to unify the Mongol tribes and defeat the Chinese. It was easy. The Mongols, with their fast ponies and compound bows,  surrounded their enemies and wiped them out.
   Temujin had the bright idea to divide the spoils among his warriors instead of giving it to the Mongol aristocrats as was the custom. The aristocrats didn't like this and raised an army against Temujin, but they didn't stand a chance against Temujin's happy warriors.
   With northern China conquered, Temujin (who had anointed himself Genghis Khan) set off to conquer southern China. Other of his generals headed west along the Silk Road, conquering Afghanistan, Persia, and down to Palestine and up to Russia. When the Mongols reached a city, they besieged it, then totally destroyed it and massacred the inhabitants, though they did spare the artisans and skilled craftsmen for their own purposes. If a city surrendered before the siege, the inhabitants were allowed to live as the slaves of the Mongols.
   The Mongol empire eventually covered territory twice the size of the Roman Empire, But it didn't last as long. After the death of Genghis is 1227 his most charismatic son took over, but the empire started fracturing into four regions ruled by lesser khans. An aristocracy grew up around these khans and as soon as the locals sensed a weakness, they rebelled. By the mid-to-late 1300s, Persia and China were lost. The Mongols retreated from Russia over the next four centuries. Ivan the Terrible was hard on them in the 1500s. Crimea didn't fall till 1738.
   Genghis and the Mongols had some positives: he stopped the sale of women and made rape a crime. He allowed religious freedom in his conquered lands; he himself was a shamanist. He established a mail system using ponies and relay stations that was faster than the Pony Express. He made the great Silk Road safe for travel.
   And yet it's hard to get beyond those 40-100 millions massacred. And the Silk Road? It allowed easy transmission of the plague, the Black Death that killed another 100-400 millions. Exact figures are hard to come by.
   And poor Vladimir. It had been the capital of Russia, but while it was rebuilding, Moscow stole its job. The lessons of the Mongol phenomenon: trade is important, don't mess it up. The one country the Mongols could not conquer despite several tries was Vietnam. Why did we think we could do any better? Will the Mongols rise again? Doubtful, but if they do, be sure you have a skill or know a craft. I'll be, "Yes, Mr. Khan, I can fix that toilet."

Tomorrow, the World