The Mongols
Genghis Khan, Mongol Dynasty, Religion, & Government
Genghis Khan
STRONG RULER
Temujin was his real name.
Set up the capital city of Karakorum
Died in 1227
Khan's Heirs
Khan's heirs divided the empire that their father built into "khanates" each under the rule of one of them.
Thier Decline
Like most of the Empires that we have studied, the Mongols were at fault for their decline. They spent too much money on foreign conquests and they were growing internal instability. A man named Yuanzhang put together an army, defeated the Mongols and created his own army.
Buddhism and Daoism & the Government
Early Tang rulers supported the Buddhists monasteries. Several buddhists were advisers at the imperial court. After the Buddhists gained a bunch of land, the government stepped in, destroying thousands of Buddhist temples, forcing more than 260,000 monks and nuns to leave and return to secular life.
Neo-Confucianism & the Government
The heart of the state government was a revived confucianism known as neo-confucianism.
Golden Age
Poetry
During the Tang dynasty more than 48,000 poems were written by 2,200 different authors. The poems described the beauty of nature, the joys of friendship and the changes of the seasons. Li Bo and Du Fu were two of the most famous authors of the time.
Painting and Ceramics
During the Song and Mongol dynasties, landscape art was the most popular. Artist of this time tried to reveal the hidden forms of landscape. The artist left blank spaces in the painting to represent that we don't know the whole truth.
Porcelain was also a popular medium.
The Life as a Mongol Soldier
- a tumen moved slow, moved only about 5 miles per day
- calvary riders had 2-4 remounts to keep his horse fresh for battle
- 75,000 oxen and camels carried all the supplies
- women in charge of tending to the animals, they killed wounded enemy soldiers during battle
- men were expected to be expert horsemen, archers and fighters
- 100,000 sheep and 10,000 goats gave milk, meat and wool to the army
- children were taught to fight and cook