Mongol Invasions

Mongol Invasion on Europe & Asia

Starting 1211 CE, Genghis Khan and his nomadic armies went from Mongolia and started to conquer most of Euroasia . After Genghis died, his sons continued the expansion of the Mongol Empire. The Mongols were successful conquers because they used specific tactics that allowed them to defeat armies of large numbers such as using mobile units to spy on them or using small groups to lure enemies so that the major troops could take them out. The Mongols were also very successful because they acquired territories by force, even if that meant destroying the entire land or environment. These Mongol invasions had various positive and negative effects on the Asian and European civilizations.

As far as Europe went, the Mongols wiped out the populations of entire towns and depopulated various regions. This caused panic among Europeans, even the ones that were not directly affected by the invasion and sent refugees fleeing westward. Most importantly, the Mongol invasion allowed a deadly disease to travel from Mongolia to Europe along newly restored trade routes. It was likely the bubonic plague and wiped out 1/3 of Europe’s population. Although the invasion resulted in many negative effects on Europe, a positive one came out of it as well such as the Pax Mongolica or a century of peace which allowed for the reopening of the Silk Road leading to an increase in cultural exchange and wealth all along the trade paths from China to Europe.

When it comes to the invasion of China, this ultimately saw many negative impacts on the Chinese civilization. First of all, the Mongols changed the caste system to fit their values and valued merchants over everyone else because of the similarities they had such as being nomadic and traveling/trading. Although, trade in China ended up bring completely ruined because the Mongols were mainly conquerors and they controlled the government without letting the Chinese in government. This was a mistake because...