World History Class Notes: November 19th 

World History Class Notes: November 19th 

China and the Mongols

• Mongol conquest of China was difficult, took from 1209 to 1279
• Began in northern China ( ruled by dynastic 
• Conquest of southern China (ruled by Song dynasty) was far less violent 
• Mongols unified a divided China
  • The Mandate of Heaven 
• Gave themselves a Chinese dynastic title, the Yuan (great beginnings)
• Built a new capital- Khanbalik (city of the khan; now Beijing)

Khubilai Khan (1271-1294)

• Mongol rule was harsh, exploitative, and foreign
• By 1368, rebellions had forced the Mongols out of China 

Persia and the Mongols

• Conquest of Persia: first invasion
• Mongols were transformed for moe in Persia than in CHina
• Extensive use of Persian bureaucracy 
• Converted to Islam on a large scale
• Mongol elites learned some Persian
• Some Mongols took up agriculture 
• Mongol dynasty collapsed in 1330s

Russia and the Mongols

• Mongol devastation of Russia 1237-1240
• Russia was a number of independent principalities
• Could not unite against Mongol threat 
• Russia was integrated into Mongol Empire as the Kipchak Khanate (Golden Hoard

Military Strengths and Tactics

• Fast horses
• Composite bow
• Coordinated attacks; ambush, hit-and-run, wave, feigned retreat
• Rapid communication (relay stations)
• Spies
• Isolated cities through siege: starved inhabitants, flooded towns. 

Geographies (real and imagined)