Why the Mongols Conquered the World: Key Factors

Introduction: The Rise of the Mongol Empire

The Mongol conquest prompts a fundamental historical question: why did the Mongols emerge in the 13th century to conquer much of the known world? Theirs was the largest land empire ever recorded in human history. This paper attempts to extract the principal factors from the many discussions and speculations surrounding the Mongol conquests, examining the ecological, social, military, and leadership conditions that made such an extraordinary expansion possible.

Ecological and Economic Pressures Driving Conquest

Among the earliest pressures was an ecological one. From 1180 to 1220, the average annual temperature in Mongolia dropped drastically. This phenomenon effectively shortened the grass-growing season and placed direct survival pressure on the Mongols, since their animals would not have had enough to feed on. They had no option but to seek pastures elsewhere.

Compounding this crisis, the northern and western neighbors of China attempted to reduce the volume of trade they conducted with Mongolia. Because the Mongols relied heavily on goods acquired through this trade, any significant reduction threatened their survival. The Xia dynasty, which controlled the northwestern region, and the Jin dynasty, which controlled northern China, both pursued policies that created a situation of acute crisis for the Mongols. The consequence of these pressures was invasion, raids, and outright war waged by the Mongols against both neighbors (Rossabi 15–25).

Before the 1200s, the Mongols lived a nomadic lifestyle, divided into feuding clans inhabiting a harsh climate. These conditions hardened them considerably. The community spent significant energy fighting amongst themselves along clan lines — a lifestyle that produced tough fighters well-suited to outward conquest.

Genghis Khan: Leadership and Unification

The Mongols found a unifying force in Genghis Khan. He was initially an unlikely candidate for such monumental success. As a young man he endured a series of misfortunes: his father was poisoned, leaving him effectively alone, and he was captured by a rival clan before managing to escape. Through political maneuvering he eventually united the Mongols, and then successfully neutralized other tribes that posed a threat to his rule.

The Shamanic beliefs held by Genghis Khan drove him toward an ambitious mission of world conquest. According to mythological accounts, the sky god of the Mongols, Tenggeri, commissioned Chinggis (Genghis) to bring the entire world under one sword. The narratives of the conquest revolve around Genghis as a central figure, making an analysis of his character, career, and policies essential to understanding what the empire ultimately achieved.

Genghis Khan and his sons managed to bring Tibet, Iraq, Persia, most of Asia Minor, and southern Russia under a single Mongolian rule. The empire was divided among Chinggis's sons after his death in 1227, yet the four successor kingdoms continued to dominate most of Asia for over 150 years. The conquests of the Mongols, and the empires that grew from them, presented the most formidable challenge to the worldwide dominance of settled civilizations since the great nomadic migrations of the first century A.D. (Guisepi, para. 1).

Genghis Khan was also notable for his ability to recognize talent among his subjects and reward it appropriately. Jebe, one of the emperor's generals and referred to as one of the "four dogs of war," first drew Genghis's attention by shooting him in the neck during a battle. Jebe later confessed to the act and offered his service. Genghis recognized the talent and never regretted the decision.

Conclusion: A Confluence of Factors

The Mongols valued their horses because they offered a decisive advantage in war. The horses were agile, fast, and resilient, and Genghis Khan is credited as the first to fully exploit these qualities on a strategic scale. The hit-squad horsemen would strike and retreat into the steppes at remarkable speed. Enemies based in sedentary agricultural societies typically abandoned any pursuit because they were unaccustomed to long-distance riding and could not match the pace of Mongol attackers. Farmers also valued their fields too highly to abandon them for extended pursuits (Rossabi 48).

In sum, the extraordinary success of the Mongol conquests was not the result of any single advantage but rather a convergence of ecological pressure, inspired leadership, nomadic hardiness, meritocratic military organization, innovative tactics, psychological dominance, and superior mobility. Together, these factors produced a fighting force that the settled civilizations of the 13th century were fundamentally unprepared to resist. The legacy of the Mongol Empire endured for more than a century and a half after Genghis Khan's death, reshaping the political geography of Asia and the broader world.

Works Cited

"The Mongols in World History: The Mongol Conquests." 2004. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.

Guisepi, Robert. The Last Great Nomadic Challenges — From Chinggis Khan to Timur. 1992. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.

Kingsberg, Harold. How Were the Mongols Able to Conquer Advanced Civilizations? 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.

Rossabi, Morris. "All the Khan's Horses." Natural History 103 (1994): 48.

Rossabi, Morris. The Mongols and Global History: A Norton Documents Reader. WW Norton, 2011.