By: Diamon Mitchell
4B Skinny
December 1st, 2013
The Mongol conquest and rule had a huge effect on China and Russia politically. During 1209 to 1279, the primary target for the Mongol conquest in China was to find agrarian wealth which meant adopting Chinese culture and ways of governing. Between 1237 and 1240, Russia encountered a new third-wave civilization and various independent princes proved unable to unite which brought much devastation and conflict.
The ways the Mongol conquest effected China in the 1200s were tremendous. The Mongol invasion of China involved the defeat of the Jin Dynasty which changed China politically. At first, the Mongols and Song China had a common enemy. They allied together but the alliance broke in 1234. During this time Kublai Khan slowly followed Chinese political structures. The Mongols made use of Chinese administrative practices, postal system, nationalism of Confucians, and some global structures such as Daoist temples. They named themselves a Chinese dynastic title, the Yuan. Despite the accommodations, Mongol rule was still harsh. They did not follow every aspect of Chinese culture. The Mongols controlled the government because they wouldn’t allow the Chinese to be in the government, which was a big mistake. The result of the Chinese not being in the government caused trading to decline.
The Mongol rule affected the Russian political structure. The Mongol conquest of Russia reduced the Russian princes to tribute-payers. The peasants were affected the most; they were reduced to serfdom. City after city fell to Mongol forces which were described in horrific terms. The survivors of the massive conflict were deported to other Mongol lands or sold into slavery. The Mongol impact was extremely uneven,