Mongol Cartoon Transcript PDF

The Mongols were responsible for the Ottoman Empire, the spread of Islam across Asia, brought gunpowder to Europe, created the Mughal Empire in India, and is even responsible for the meaning of the word Kamikaze. So let’s look at the rise and fall of the Mongol Empire Chapter 1: Creating an empire T...

The Mongols were responsible for the Ottoman Empire, the spread of Islam across Asia, brought gunpowder to Europe, created the Mughal Empire in India, and is even responsible for the meaning of the word Kamikaze. So let’s look at the rise and fall of the Mongol Empire Chapter 1: Creating an empire The Mongol Empire started here, in modern day Mongolia and Siberia. The Mongol people were one of many nomadic groups living in this part of the world. And the Mongols would constantly ght over who controlled what territory. But they were not a united people. Within the Mongols were various clans. Each clan claimed to be the descendants of a legendary Mongol warrior of the past. And each of these clans fought for control of lands within the Mongol ethnic group. One of these clans was the Khamag Mongols. In 1162 the leader of the Khamag Mongols had a son that we know today as Chengis Khan. But his father called him Temüjin. He was named after a man his father had captured on the day of his birth. This showed to other people that his father was a strong man and that therefore Temüjin would become a strong man too. In Mongol culture, this type of prestige was important in politics. At the age of 9 his father was killed, Temüjin was too young to rule, and so another clan took over the leadership of the Khamag Mongols. As a result Temüjin lost all his power and he swore vengeance against the people who took over his clan. To exact his vengeance he would need an army. So over the years he gathered a band of Mongol warriors who followed him. His small army impressed the chief of another tribe. This chief married his daughter to Temüjin, thereby creating an alliance between Temüjin and the chief. Together they conquered a territory called Orkhon Valley. This region was fertile, controlled important trade routes, and was religiously important. It was believed that whoever ruled over this valley was capable of creating great empires. By the age of 40 Temüjin was strong enough to attack the clans which took his father’s land and conquered the Naiman and the Mergid clans in 1204: their warriors now became Temüjin’s warriors, their unmarried princesses married Temüjin’s family, and and their rulers now became Temüjin’s vassals. But Temüjin would rule his land di erently from other Mongols. Because other Mongols put people in positions of power based on family relations. So a stupid uncle could be a general but a smart footsoldier could not. Temüjin instead put people in positions of power based on their performance. So if you are a nobody who is really good at commanding an army then even you could become a general. He created a system where people cared more about personal successes than family relations. This meant that Temüjin’s clan had better administrators, better generals, better everything. And if you were a nobody who rose to power in Temüjin’s system, then you would become a strong supporter of him because you owed your wealth and status to him. Thus creating a system that was both competent and loyal. In just a few years Temüjin became the most powerful Mongol in Mongolia thanks to this system of competence. The rest of the Mongolians were afraid that Temüjin would come after them next and so all the leaders of the Mongol clans came together to hold a meeting in 1206. At this meeting they discussed what to do about Temüjin. He held a lot of prestige, he was a competent commander, an e cient ruler, and a skilled diplomat… And so they decided that the best thing they could do was crown Temüjin the ‘Great Khan’ of all Mongols, the Chinggis Khan. This position was similar to that of an emperor. And so he created the Mongol Empire in 1206, at age 44. Chapter 2: Chinggis Khan’s Empire This new Mongol Empire had only 2 simple goals. The rst goal was to make sure ONLY Chingis Khan’s family could rule the empire. While he had created a system where only the most competent people get positions of power, this rule did not include his own family. And by securing that only one of his sons could become the next Great Khan after Chinggis, ff fi fi ffi  it meant that nobody else could ght for the throne. And as a result, the empire was a lot more stable because random people couldn’t start a rebellion to become the new Great Khan. The second goal was to secure the Mongol borders by conquering all their neighbors, such as the Turks and Tatars. Because your neighbors can’t invade you if you invade them rst. But this just causes a new problem: if you conquer people who don’t want to be conquered, then they will eventually start a rebellion. But there is a solution to this problem: assimilation. What this meant is that a person was forced to abandon their culture, their customs, their whole way of life and replace it with the Mongol’s culture, customs, and way of life. But in order to understand how a person could become a Mongol, we rst need to understand who the Mongols were. The Mongols lived in large groups. These groups were called hordes. A single horde could be a few hundred people or tens of thousands of people. A horde included children, elderly, soldiers,craftspeople, and even cattle. A single horde was self-su cient, meaning they were able to get all the food and materials they needed on their own. But in order to get enough they had to move around a lot. That’s because Siberia doesn’t have a lot of food and materials. When a particular area ran out of food to gather, grass for cattle to eat, or animals to hunt, then the entire horde picked up all their belongings and migrated somewhere else. In order to assimilate other people in this culture they forced people from other tribes and hordes to join Mongol Hordes. Every person had a speci c location within the horde where they could set up their tent, depending on your prestige within the horde. Those outsiders would be forced to place their tent between other Mongols. That meant all their neighbors were Mongols and they didn’t have anyone from their own tribe to practice their own culture with, as a result they were forced to participate in the Mongol culture instead, and over time their children would grow up to become Mongols. And so the other tribes slowly had their own culture replaced with the Mongol culture. And tribes that went along with the assimilation process were rewarded: they were given land, they were given a share of spoils in war, and they received positions within the Mongol government. But at the same time Mongols would also take over useful parts of other cultures. For example, this process I just described wasn’t invented by the Mongols. The Mongols learned it from the Turks. When they invaded China the Mongols learned about catapults, handgrenades, and simple missiles from the Chinese. And there are hundreds of small examples of Mongols adopting useful parts of other cultures, adding their technological and cultural distinctiveness to their own. And speaking of invading China, after the Mongols had subjected all the tribes around them, they attacked the Chinese. At the time they were ruled by several di erent countries. The Chinese country closest to the Mongols was called the ‘Great Jin’.. The Great Jin had more people than the Mongols, better technology, and a large professional army experienced in ghting o nomadic invaders, like the Mongols. So the Chengis Khan needed to be smart. And they had developed a strategy of invading in winter. You see, before modern technology armies couldn’t ght in winter. That’s because it wasn’t possible to supply an army with food in winter when everything was covered in snow. But the Mongols were born in Siberia, they had learned to live to survive in the harsh Siberian winter, and were able to gather food no matter how cold it got. So the Mongols could move around freely during the winter, attacking isolated armies and cities, and retreating quickly if an army did approach. The Chinese could win almost any battle, so the Mongols simply avoided ghting their armies directly. And if the enemy did manage to get close, then the Mongols would get on their horses, walk away from the army chasing them, and shoot arrows at them. The Chinese didn’t have horse archers of their own. Meaning that their cavalry and foot soldiers could never ght back. Their only options were to follow the Mongols and die or let the horde go. The only way to defeat the Mongols was by outmaneuvering them with multiple armies… which almost never happened. Chingis Khan managed to conquer most of the Northern Great Jin provinces between 1211-1215. The next year, in 1216, the Mongols focussed on Central Asia. Here they crushed an empire called Qara-Khitai, they convinced the Uyghurs to join the empire peacefully becoming important bureaucrats in occupied territories, and then they fi ff fi fi fi ff fi fi fi ffi fi  attacked the Khwarazmian Empire in 1218, which controlled parts of Central Asia and Iran. After 3 years, they too were conquered in 1221. After that was the Kimek Khanate. They were also a nomadic group, just like the Mongols, but they were not as good at war and were conquered by 1227. When Mongols conquered new territory they did not install themselves as the rulers. The Mongols lived in nomadic hordes and had no interest in settling down in cities. So they found competent people in the territories they conquered and installed them as the rulers and administrators of occupied territory. Unless they surrendered without ghting, in which case kings were allowed to keep their positions of power, but had to pay taxes, supply soldiers, and accept Mongols administrators into their court. Through this system gunpowder technicians from China moved to Central Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; Uyghur bureaucrats ruled Iran, and Chinese peasants created farms in Mongolia. All the rulers and administrators became part of something called ‘the Mongol Bureaucracy’, which was the organization that administered the empire for the Great Khan. And the rulers of occupied territory were forced to join this bureaucracy. All the kings, administrators, and other important people in the Mongol Empire would meet regularly to discuss the future of the empire. And whenever anyone did something important within the Mongol Empire, such as declaring war or starting large building projects, they would have to ask permission from the Mongol Bureaucracy. And in exchange for supporting their actions, they would in turn support the actions of other administrators in the Mongol Bureaucracy. As a result, the Mongol Empire was ruled on the basis of consent. So you would need the approval of other members of the Mongol Bureaucracy, and other members of the bureaucracy would need your approval. Joining this bureaucracy had many advantages. That’s because the Mongols frequently started wars. In those wars they would plunder the territories they invaded and take tribute from them after they were conquered. That plunder and tribute was brought back to Mongolia. The Mongols had no interest in accumulating wealth. They were nomadic and moved around a lot, so they could only own as many possessions as they were able to carry with them. So this plunder was distributed amongst the Mongol Empire. The Great Khan would divide the plunder amongst all the loyal tribes and kingdoms within the empire. The more loyal and useful you are, the more plunder you receive. The leaders of those tribes and kingdoms would then divide it amongst their lords and clan leaders, who in turn divide it amongst their own people, until eventually every loyal subject got a portion of the plunder. And the Mongol leaders were able to keep their subjects loyal by constantly getting more plunder and tribute. And so now the year is now 1227. The Mongol Empire stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the East. And in that year Ginghis Khan’s eldest son died. A few weeks later Ginghis himself died. Both the ruler and his heir were dead. Chapter 3: The Mongol Empire. Will. Be. Divided. All the leaders of the Mongol Empire traveled to Mongolia to decide who should rule the empire next. The decision had to be unanimous. And after 2 years they nally elected Ginghis’s 3rd son Ögedei, becoming Ögedei Khan in 1229. The empire was too large for him to manage on his own anymore. So he divided the Mongol Empire into 3 regions. Each of these regions was called a Khanate, because they were ruled by a khan. These khans would all be members of Ginghis Khan’s family. And each of the 3 khanates would in turn be ruled by the Great Khan. This is similar to how an empire has 1 emperor, with multiple kings who rule a region within that empire. The rst of these khanates was the Golden Horde. It was located in Southern Russia and was given to Ghingis’s eldest son, Jochi. But because he was dead, his sons ruled the Horde fi fi fi  instead. Russia had lots of open grassland making it perfect for Mongols to live on. The second Khanate was the Chagatai Khanate, located in Central Asia. It was given to Ghingis’s 2nd son, Chagatai… hence the name. Being at the center of the Mongol Empire, they provided a lot of the bureaucracy, trade networks, and tribute networks. The third Khanate was that of Ögedei himself. He ruled Mongolia, Northern China, and Iran. And while he was getting elected, the Mongol’s enemies were getting ready for war. And so the rst couple of years were spent crushing rebellions and foreign invaders. After that he continued expanding the empire. He commanded the Golden Horde to invade Eastern Europe. He commanded his troops in Iran to invade the rest of Iran. And he commanded the chagatai Khanate to invade India… although that one wasn’t successful. And he himself would focus on nally destroying the Great Jin in 1234, Northern Korea in 1239, and began invading another Chinese country called the Song dynasty. While his conquests weren’t particularly great, he managed to take out all the countries that had managed to survive Chingis’s invasions. Ögedei died after 12 years in 1241. After a 5 year election, they chose Güyük. Becoming Güyük Khan in 1246. The Empire he inherited was big. So big that it was di cult to rule all of it. The reason it was so di cult was that every part of the empire had a di erent political system. Because if you’ll remember, the Mongols didn’t change the political systems after conquering new territory. They simply put Mongol administrators in charge of those political systems. But this made it di cult to control all the di erent types of governments. So Güyük ordered the bureaucracy of all the Mongol vassals to be converted into the same system that the Mongols used, with their own version of the Mongol Bureaucracy. Then he instituted a nation-wide census, sending people all over the empire to make an inventory of what exactly they have conquered in the last 35 years. But he would never see his work nished, because he died after just 2 years, in 1248. The Mongols once again held another election campaign, this time the various candidates fought a war over who should be elected Great Khan. Say what you will about modern democracy, but at least election campaigns don’t include military campaigns. After 3 years they elected Möngke, becoming Möngke Khan in 1251. He is considered to be the last successful Mongol emperor. He continued the reforms of Güyük and began taking more direct control of the empire: he limited the expenditure of the Mongol rulers, cracked down on corruption, began taxing merchants, and banned plundering civilian populations in order to turn them into vassals. Under his reign the Mongols conquered Eastern Syria, Baghdad, and parts of Turkey in the Middle East. They conquered the Dali Kingdom in China and turned the Koreans and Vietnamese into vassal states. And in Europe the Mongols conquered all of Russia. The Mongols were so successful they began believing it was their destiny to conquer the whole world under the motto “One World. One Ruler”. As a result of these conquests the Asian trade routes were safer than they had ever been: A merchant could buy silk in Korea and walk all the way to Europe without ever getting robbed. Möngke died in 1259, having ruled an empire that stretched from Korea to Romania. After him the empire spent another 5 years ghting a civil war disguised as an election, eventually choosing Kublai Khan in 1264. And this civil war was one too many for the Mongols. While Kublai Khan had won, the rest of the empire didn’t want him as their ruler. One of the reasons was that Kublai Khan had always been fascinated by Chinese culture and felt a lot more Chinese than Mongol. And Kublai even decided that his life goal should be to conquer the last parts of China. But the other Khanates wanted to attack somewhere else: the Golden Horde wanted to invade Europe, the Ilkhanate wanted to invade the Middle East, and the Chagatai wanted to invade India. Kublai Khan was unable to keep the Mongols united and in 1266 the Mongol empire split up into 4 new empires: the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, the Chagatai in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in Iran, and the Mongol Ulus in East Asia. Each of these 4 groups of Mongols had their own unique downfall and we will look at each of them individually. First o , we will start with Mongol Ulus in East Asia. Chapter 4: The Yuan Dynasty Now that Kublai Khan had lost most of his empire, he decided to focus entirely on China. Afterall, China was the wealthiest region on Earth. So he decided to stop living in a Mongol Horde and instead settle down in Beijing in 1267. And fi fi ffi ffi ff ff fi fi ff ffi 4 years later he changed the name of his empire. From now on, the Mongol Empire in East Asia would be called the Yuan Dynasty, a Chinese name for a Mongol Emperor. And after becoming the emperor of China, he also invaded Korea, Myanmar, and Tibet. But his most famous invasion is that of Japan… When the Mongols wanted to go to war, they needed some sort of justi cation they could give to their people. A good justi cation could be that the Mongols feel insulted or threatened. For example, Mongols would threaten to invade another country. That country would then assemble their army in defense. Then the Mongols would claim that they were being attacked because of that army on their border. And that therefore the Mongols should invade in self-defense. The Mongols “defended themselves” all over Europe and Asia. To give an example of this, I am going to read you a letter Kublai Khan sent to Japan: “The Japanese live ten thousand li across the sea and although they were in constant contact with China, they did not carry out the practice of sending annual tribute. Yet, in the past, the Chinese did not care. They would treat [the Japanese] kindly when they came and would not interfere with them if they did not come. [...] But now, under our sage emperor, all under the light of the sun and the moon are his subjects. You, stupid little barbarians. Do you dare to defy us by not submitting?” When the Mongols nally invaded in 1274, their ships were destroyed by a typhoon. So they tried again in 1281. And this time their invasion was destroyed by a typhoon. These typhoons were known in Japan as “heavenly wind”, the word for which is Kamikaze. The invasion of Japan showed the limits of Mongol expansion, their biggest enemy was the sea. And this caused a problem for the Mongols. Because as you might remember, the Mongols gained loyalty by dividing plunder and tribute amongst them. And up until this moment the Mongols just got more and more tribute. But with further conquest impossible, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty had a problem: how were they going to get more tribute? And the solution to this was reconstruction: when the Mongols invaded they destroyed a lot of infrastructure in China. If they rebuilt China then they would get more tribute. But in order to have a large infrastructure project, you need a lot of power within 1 organization. Afterall, if you want to build a road then you need enough control over local rulers that they won’t try to stop you. But the Mongol system relied heavily on every region ruling itself. And this meant that if the Mongols wanted to earn more money from China, they had to abandon the Mongol government. So Kublai Khan instead used the Chinese system of governance where the emperor and his court holds all the power. And this Chinese system oversaw the construction of canals, roads, and rice elds. Eventually Chinese citizens were sent to Mongolia to establish towns and cities. That way the Mongolia could take food directly from local Chinese, instead of getting it all the way from China. But this meant that even Mongolia needed Chinese bureacrats. And as a result, the Mongols would slowly stop being Mongols and become Chinese. By 1307 the Chinese bureaucracy had completely taken over the Mongol Bureacracy. The Mongol population became split. On one side were the people who moved into the cities and integrated into Chinese culture and their descendents live in China today. On the other hand were the Mongols who kept living inside the Horde. The downfall of the Yuan dynasty eventually came after a series of natural disasters. In the 1350s they were hit by oods and plage. The people blamed the Mongols. That’s because those Mongols demanded tribute regardless of whether the people could give it or not. And so people starved as they handed their food over to the Mongols, while getting nothing in return. And so the people revolted. And while the Mongols could defeat any army, they could not defeat millions upon millions of revolting civilians. The local governors joined fi fi fi fl fi  the rebellion and started their own independent countries. And in 1368 the Mongol Hordes realized they couldn’t win this battle, picked up all their stu , and retreated to Mongolia. Without the Mongol army to support the emperor, the Yuan Dynasty broke apart into multiple countries. Chapter 5: The Golden Horde The Golden horde was rst ruled by Ginghis Khan’s eldest son. After he died Ginghis Khan’s grandsons would rule the Horde. They started out as a relatively small Khanate, but with lots of open grasslands, meaning it was a perfect place for Mongols to live. After Ginghis Khan died they spent a few years crushing rebellions. And in 1237 they decided to invade Eastern Europe, particularly the part of Eastern Europe that today is part of Russia. The biggest advantage the Russians had was that it was incredibly big and incredibly cold. Meaning that any army trying to march through Russia would die in winter long before they won the war. But the Mongols did not march. They rode horses. And large open elds were perfect for Mongol Hordes to set up tents and live o the land. In just 4 years the Mongols had conquered parts of Modern Day Ukraine and Russia. From there they tried conquering the rest of Europe. There were 2 ways into Europe: through Hungary and through Poland. They formed an alliance with several German states to form a shield against the Mongol Horde… and failed almost completely: in 1242 the Mongols slaughtered half the Hungarian population and conquered Bulgaria. In Poland they fought a decisive battle that scared the German general so much he tried to hide himself and his armies from the Mongols. Europe’s defenses were broken and the Mongols would plunder their way across the continent… but then the Mongols received a letter: the Great Khan, Güyük Khan had died. And that meant it was time to elect a new Khan… which would take 3 YEARS! So in the biggest plot twist in world history, the Mongols retreated right as they were on the verge of victory, and Europe was spared from the Mongols. Afterwards the Golden Horde showed little interest in conquering Western Europe. There are 2 main reasons for this. The rst is that Western Europe has a lot of rivers, mountains, and swamps. These made it di cult for the horde to move around and collect tribute. So it wasn’t very valuable. The second reason was in ghting. In 1266 the Mongol Empire broke apart into 4 Khanates. And these 4 Khanates began waging war against each other upon independence. So if the Golden Horde ever tried to invade Western Europe, then either the Ilkhanate or the Chagatai would invade. And so invading Europe was almost impossible and the Mongols never got further than Poland and Hungary. This meant that the Golden Horde couldn’t expand much anymore. And so they began focussing on internal politics. Because if you were a ruler within the Golden Horde, than the most power you could gain was withing that horde. And soon di erent clans began ghting with each other, creating small civil wars. And as the clans began ghting, they needed allies. And this is where the native Russians came in. The Russians were forced to pay tribute to the Mongols. And they would begin forming alliances with di erent clans in order to reduce this tribute, be granted more land, and even allow their children to marry into Mongol families. The Russians could provide soldiers, weapons, and supplies. Over time the Golden Horde would rely more and more on Russian support in order to gain power. And those Russian rulers who gained more power, were able to develop their territory: they built new roads, created new settlements, and cultivated new farmland. As a result those Russian rulers became more powerful. And this caused even more civil wars within the Golden Horde. You see, when they rst conquered Eastern Europe they divided the regions up between the clans. They did this in such a way that no clan would become more powerful than another. But over the course of the 13th and 14th centuries some regions became richer and some poorer. And remember, in order for a Mongol leader to stay in power, they had ffi fi fi fi fi ff fi ff ff fi fi ff  to distribute tribute amongst their people. But if the tribute became less, then you might be removed from power. So the clans started even more civil wars in order to hold on to power. And in the 14th century they civil warred so much that all of Chingis Khan’s descendents living in the Golden Horde died. This was a big problem. As you remember from earlier in this video: only a member of Chingis Khan’s family was allowed to rule the Golden Horde. But now there were none of them left. And this meant that basically anyone could become the Great Khan. And so every major clan began ghting to put someone on the throne… causing even more civil wars. Eventually some Mongols wondered what was even the point of staying inside the Golden Horde, when they would just be ghting over who was in charge. And so in the 15th century some Mongols simply packed up all their stu and moved back to Mongolia. While others simply declared independence. And while the Mongols slowly destroyed their empire through in ghting, the Russians slowly built their wealth through careful diplomacy. Eventually the Mongols became dependent on the Russian allies for support. While the Golden Horde fractured, the Russians united under the leadership of Moscow, and launched a rebellion against their Mongol overlords. In 1480 Russia became an independent country. And all the problems that came along with it. And for the next 303 years they would try conquering all the territories of the Golden Horde. The last Golden Horde Khanate to join Russia was the Crimean Khanate on April 8th 1783 In the end the Mongols of the Golden Horde either went back to Mongolia or they stayed and integrated. Today their descendants are Russian, Ukrainian, Latvian, and many other ethnicities. Chapter 6: The Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate was founded in 1256 by Mongke Khan after he conquered most of Iran, Baghdad, and parts of Anatolia. They tried conquering all of the middle east, but after Baghdad the rest of the Arab countries began preparing their defense. The Mongols were great at ghting in the open eld and the Middle East had A LOT of open elds. But those open elds are largely desert. This means there are only a couple of routes a person can take to invade the middle east before the invention of cars. And so the Mongols were forced to ght in narrow passages instead of outmaneuvering their enemies or appearing out of nowhere. And even worse, horses are afraid of camels. And Middle Eastern armies often had a lot of camels. This put a limit on the westward expansion of the Ilkhanate. They never reached the Mediterranean Sea and were now stuck between the deserts, the Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, and the arabs. And they would frequently nd themselves at war with their neighbors. And this was a problem because the Ilkhanate weren’t able to sustain a large Mongol Horde. The reason for this is that the Ilkhanate ruled over a lot of territory. But most of it was unsuitable for Mongols hordes to live in. A horde required lots of grassland for their animals to graze in. but a lot of their territory was mountains, deserts, and seas. And a horse can't eat rock, sand, or salt water. This limited where the Mongols could move around. But at the same time a lot of these places had important cities. For example, Baghdad was a major city. But it’s located in the desert along a river. And a Mongol horde simply could graze in this area. But if the horde didn’t go to these regions regularly, then they would start to rebel. So the horde was forced to make a tough choice: they could either stay in fertile grasslands and risk a rebellion. Or they could move to sparse elds close to important cities and lose a portion of their horde to starvation. This was a di cult choice and the horde had to move around frequently in order to both get enough tribute and enough food. But this made uniting the Ilkhanate very di cult. Because it’s di cult to rule a location if you can’t go to that location when you have to. And when there was a drought, there wasn’t enough food for anyone. The Mongols clans would frequently ght with each other over land and resources because there simply wasn’t enough for all of them.This caused instability. Because of this instability traders would often choose to fi ffi fi ff fi fi fi fi fi ffi ffi fi fi fi fi  travel via Russia instead of via the Middle East. This caused the Mongols to have even less tribute, meaning they fought even more over resources, causing more instability… Countries are usually quite good at dealing with a crisis. But a country that is already in crisis, usually can’t handle another one. All that was needed was a single bad crisis to make the whole thing come crumbling down. This came in 1316 when the khan died. His son was a child and too young to rule. This caused factions to ght over the throne until the boy became a man. As a man he became the new khan. He died at 31 in 1335. And while he had A LOT of wives, he had only one child. Worst of all, that child was a woman. And women were not allowed to rule a Khanate. And even worse than that, the Black Death had ripped through the Ilkhanate in the 1330s, killing anyone else who might sit on the throne. They did nd a new ruler for a time but he faced so many crises all at once that he wasn’t able to keep the Ilkhanate together. He was captured in a battle, the Ilkhanate lands were divided up amongst several countries, and Mongol rule over the Middle East and Persia came to an end in 1335. Chapter 7: The last Mongol Empire (Chagatai Khanate) The Chagatai Khanate was founded by Chagatai Khan in 1227, ruling most of Central Asia. And Central Asia had lots of open grasslands for the Mongol Horde to graze their horses and cattle. As a result, it was very easy for them to live here. And over time the Mongols integrated themselves into the local lifestyle. There were 3 big reasons for this. The rst was that the Mongols were forced to do so by Kublai Khan, as part of his attempt to unite the Mongol Empire under a Chinese-style government. The second reason was that guns were invented. Guns were easy to use if you’re a footsoldier, but they are very di cult to use if you’re on a horse. That’s because in order to reload a musket you needed both your hands. But riding a horse requires at least one hand you can use from time to time. So you can shoot a bow easily, but you can’t spend over a minute reloading a musket. And as muskets gained a longer range than bows, it meant an army could defeat the Mongols before they could shoot arrows back at them. And no matter how tough you think you are, if you get into a ght with a bullet, you’re going to lose. And the last main reason is that the Mongols simply lived here for almost 500 years. Over that time the Mongols simply learned to live alongside the people they were ruling over. And as the world advanced, eventually, the Mongols stopped being nomads and settled down, becoming farmers and city dwellers. There isn’t really much to tell about their downfall. They were eventually conquered by another country called the Dzungar Khanate. Their people were once conquered by the Mongols themselves, and 500 years later were coming for their revenge by conquering the Chagatai Khanate. And in 1755 they were conquered by China. And to this day, this part of the world is Chinese territory. A rather unceremonious end to an empire that shaped our world so much. The Chagatai Khanate did have a great legacy while it lasted, though. After the Ilkhanate was destroyed the Chagatai moved in and conquered most of Iran, creating the Timurid Empire in 1370, named of Timur Khan. His conquest of Iran and Central Asia marked the last major expansion of a Mongol empire. From there they would slowly decline. And they did eventually managed to conquer India: One of its members was exiled, he moved to India, and founded the Mughal Empire in 1526. And this was the Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire. [OUTRO] I don’t usually do this, but I feel like the Mongols deserve a sequel to see what happened after they were gone. Maybe a Rise and Fall of Russia, the Mughal Empire, or the Yuan Dynasty… So if this video gets 30k I will do a poll on which of these topics you’d like me to cover rst. And if you want to see those videos then subscribe to my channel. And leave us a comment with a topic you would like us to cover next. We’re ALWAYS looking for new video ideas. This was Avery from History Scope, thank you for watching English fi ffi fi fi fi fi All From History Scope Ancient History Related Watched