Mongol Empire Research Paper

Elements that led to the Rise of Mongol Empire

Mongolia, home to the endless blue sky and vast stretches of steppe occupied by the least dense population in the world, boasts its preservation of nomadic lifestyle and culture, one that can only be witnessed in the historical era of hunter-gatherer society. Landlocked by Russia to the North and China to the South, Mongolia appears to be a peaceful and passive shrimp between the two ambitious whales. Such analogy, however, would have been absurdly inappropriate to draw in the 13th century when, in fact, it was Mongolia that reigned over a vast majority of Europe and Asia, becoming the largest contiguous empire in human history. How the Mongol Empire quickly rose to pose such great menace is still an intriguing matter to explore, …show more content…
As derived sources of The Secret History of the Mongols—oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language—suggest, the success of Mongol Empire is attributed to various unique elements.

Undoubtedly, the first and foremost factor has to be accredited to Genghis Khan who accomplished the most difficult stage in the evolution of the Mongol empire to unify Mongolia itself. Prior to his appearance, Mongolia in the twelfth century was simply a hotchpotch of feuding Turkish and Mongol tribes. Each tribe having its respective khan (a title given to rulers and officials in central Asia) meant that it was no easy task to settle on one supreme khan to reign over them. Admittedly, however, the tribes were desperately in need of unification as they would constantly suffer defeats from their more powerful enemies—the Tatars in eastern Mongolia, and the Jurchen Jin Dynasty in northern China. Yisugei, father of Genghis Khan, came close to being the supreme khan to unite the tribes as he was one of the most powerful contenders to the Tatars. Unfortunately, during his nomadic journey, Yisugei was unknowingly accommodated by the Tatars who poisoned him to death. The

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