I recently finished Ghenghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. I am always a bit nervous of 'great dates and great men' style histories as they often claim every minute historical point is pivotal. Arthur Hermann has a habit of writing that style of history. It doesn't detract from them as useful historical texts but they sometimes lean into hyperbole. Does the Mongol Empire have a claim to making the modern world?
Firstly, the book is very well written in a modern, easy to read style. The sentences are calm on the eye and not overly complex. It tracks the history of Temujin through his youth until he becomes the Great Leader [Ghengis Khan] and then slowly expands his military dominance south into China and west into Turkey.
The Mongols were a steppes people descended from the Huns and consequently their military was entirely cavalry. The Persian, Muslim and European armies were infantry based and the Mongols had specific tactics which tired the heavy knights while bombarding the infantry from horseback beyond the range of western weaponry. They went through Hungary and Russia like a dose of salts.
Under Ghengis' expansion the Mongols collapsed the trading routes into a smaller number which they guarded. This increased trade. The Mongol bureaucracy also removed the taxes, tolls and extortions along the trade routes which had hindered trade in the past. This put China in direct trading contact with the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
As the Mongols were cavalry based they often removed or destroyed farming areas so that the land would return to pasture and enable them to graze in the future as they passed through on military campaigns or to put down an uprising/revolution. The pastures became their supply depots. This was important logistically as a Mongol soldier had five horses with him which supplied fresh horses for travel, battle and food.
The Mongols had freedom of religion and their 'court' contained Pagans, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists. It was only in the very end of the Mongol Empire when black plague was decimating it that they made Buddhism their state religion. Their laws were also secular which placed them at odds with the legal order of the Middle East and Europe.
The next series of innovations from the Mongols was after Ghengis' death and the consolidation of Khubilai Khan in China. Because of the large multi-ethnic territory the empire covered there was several bureaucratic innovations; including printing presses for public data as well as books on public interest such as farming, criminal law etc.
Khubilai introduced a more liberal penal code in Sung China which reduced executions to single figures annually and required reason (investigation) before torture to get confessions. Khubilai also introduced a parole system where released offenders had to report to authorities periodically. Another innovation was devolution of power by establishing local councils and paid civil servants which minimised tyranny and extortion that had been present in the Chinese state system prior to the Mongols.
Did the Mongol Empire make the modern world?
Like Rome, its main benefit was the Pax Mongolica or Pax Tartarica which removed political violence along a large swathe of Eurasia. This increased trade between Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, China and the Steppes. Technologies and goods went back and forth with relative ease. The Mongols reduced the number of trade routes and then guarded them, limiting banditry and other violence such as economic extortion. Because of the length of the trade routes and the cost of transporting weight they introduced paper money but this did not survive political turmoil in the Mongol Empire and coin became common again.
The book does bust many myths. Especially the barbarian myth which took root in the 18thC and 19thC as race became 'scientific' where non-science like eugenics and the organisation principle of ethnic-nationalism became popular. The definition of the 'mongoloid' as birth defect comes from this era.
The Mongol Empire is quite remarkable for what was a tribal group which was open to any technology it came across, whether for war or the functions of state. They were obviously a tough and tactically innovative people too. It is interesting to see that the Mongol Empire was more liberal than the Middle East, China, Japan and Europe of the time.
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