Destruction Under the Mongol Empire

The 13th-century Mongol invasions resulted in massive damage, which has been well documented in academic literature. Hundreds of cities and villages were captured by the Mongol army, which also slaughtered millions of men, women, and children. According to estimates, approximately 11% of the world's population was murdered during or shortly subsequently the Mongol attacks (about 37.75 - 60 million people in Eurasia). If the figures are correct, the events will rank among the worst mass murders in human history. In addition, the Mongol invasions caused population relocation "on a scale never seen before," according to Oliver Chancellor, especially in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and "the impending approach of the Mongol hordes spread dread and panic."

Genghis Khan, also recognized as Chinggis Khan and previously known as Temujin, and his generals and successors preferred to offer their enemies the option of surrendering without resistance and becoming vassals in exchange for tribute accepting Mongol residents or contributing troops rather than fighting. Only those who surrendered to Mongol authority were assured safety by the Khans. If there were the opposition, sources would report enormous damage, fear, and death. "Terror and wholesale slaughter of anybody opposing them was a well-tested Mongol technique," writes David Nicole in The Mongol Warlords. Resistance forced Mongol commanders to order the mass killing of populations and the destruction of property as an alternative to capitulation. During the Khwarezmid Empire's conquests, such was the destiny of opposing Muslim villages.

Terror

Fear was key to the Mongols' effectiveness in inducing submission from hostile people. "Perhaps terrorism generated a dread that paralyzed and crippled the forces that would have resisted," Quester said, based on current theories of international relations. Despite its reputation as savage, the Mongol policy of "surrender or die" realized that conquest through submission was preferable to constantly having to spend men, food, and money fighting every army and sacking every town along the campaign's route. Nations regularly confronted the Mongols with larger armies and resources. Temujin, Genghis Khan's birth name, began with a band of youths and a few women, and by the time he had 20,000 troops, he was facing the city-states and interests of the Kin domain, which primarily included China, with a 2-million-strong army. Each city was populated with hundreds of thousands of people, and simply invading all of them was out of the question.

Furthermore, a passive nation was preferable to one that had been sacked. While both gained territory, the former would continue to supply taxes and conscripts long after the battle. The latter would be depopulated and economically useless after accessible commodities and slaves were captured.

As a result, Mongol armies accomplished effective conquests wherever feasible, employing the "threat" of wholesale death in the event of opposition, allowing them to assault several targets and divert soldiers and equipment where they were most needed. The Mongols could control huge regions even after their main force had left because of their reputation for guaranteeing mass enactment on all who opposed them. Even if the subjugated people were hundreds or thousands of kilometres distant from the tumens (tyumens), they would not dare to meddle with the token Mongol occupying army for fear of a Mongol return. The notion among Mongol opponents that they were up against an unstoppable juggernaut that could only be appeased by surrender was crucial to their success. To scare their enemies, the Mongols may have relied on stories of horrific murders and torture. The objective was to persuade everyone that the costs of surrendering were not nearly as high as the expenses of fighting an unwinnable war with the certainty of total devastation if they lost. This tactic was chosen in part due to the Mongols' smaller numbers. If their foes were not adequately subjugated, there was a larger risk that they would rise and attack the Mongols when the latter went out to deal with other villages. Thus, the Mongols effectively guarded their rear and flanks, avoiding a situation where they would have to fight and subjugate a nation they had previously defeated. Moreover, the Mongols were able to avoid a second needless confrontation.

As the Mongol conquests progressed, that type of psychological warfare proved efficient in crushing Mongol opposition. As a loyalty test, lone Mongol warriors rode into surrendering villages and executed villagers at random. A single act of resistance was well known to send the whole Mongol army against a town to destroy its people. As a result, they used terror to secure compliance. In addition, Mongol armies regularly appear to have enlisted the help of peasants, who appear to have gladly accepted their demands.

Only experienced engineers and artisans (and, at the reign of Kublai Khan, doctors) were spared since most countries resisting Mongol conquest were conquered by force (some were subjugated to vassaldom rather than total conquest). The goal was to instil fear in others. Some troops submitted to or rose against their rulers were absorbed into the Mongol system, allowing the Mongols to acquire new technology, expertise, and abilities for military battles against other opponents. However, Genghis Khan was generally tolerant of other religions, several examples of him and subsequent Mongols fighting religious wars even when the populace were loyal. He issued an order requiring all Taoists to pay higher taxes. All of the campaigns entailed the purposeful destruction of religious sites. Genghis Khan's conquests were portrayed by ancient sources as destruction on an unparalleled scale in some geographical regions, resulting in major demographic shifts in Asia. The Mongols slaughtered more than 700,000 people in Merv and more than 1,000,000 in Nishapur, according to Iranian historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318). As a result of mass slaughter and starvation, Persia's overall population may have decreased from 2,500,000 to 250,000 people. Occasionally, population swaps took place. During the 13th and 14th centuries, China's population is said to have plummeted. Before the Mongol invasion, Chinese dynasties were said to have 120 million people; when the conquest was finished in 1279, the 1300 census revealed 60 million people. While it is easy to blame the significant fall entirely on Mongol cruelty, historians currently have conflicting feelings about the matter. The South Chinese might account for 40 million unregistered people who would not have been counted if they did not have passports. In addition, whole peasant populations joining or enlisting for labour may result in a huge population drop because of food shortages. Scholars like Frederick W. Mote argue that the large drop in numerous reflects an administrative omission of records rather than a de facto lessening. In contrast, others, such as Timothy Brook, argue that the Mongols enslaved many of the Chinese population, causing many to vanish from the census entirely. Other historians, such as William McNeill and David Morgan, claim that the Black Death, which the Mongols spread, was the primary cause of the period's demographic collapse. The disease also spread to parts of Western Europe and Africa that the Mongols never made it. By catapulting sick cadavers into the cities they besieged, the Mongols practised biological warfare. Fleas found on the corpses of the carcasses are thought to have served as vectors for the spread of the Black Death. During the Mongol invasion of Rus, almost half of Kievan Rus' population may have died. The area depicted in the diagram closely corresponds to modern-day Ukraine. [12] According to Colin McEvedy (Atlas of World Population History, 1978), European Russia's population fell from 7.5 million before the invasion to 7 million after that. Historians tell that the Mongol invasion of Europe killed up to half of Hungary's two million people.

Mongol wars in Northern China, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East wreaked havoc, although specific statistics are unavailable. The Mongol forces ravaged Balkh, Bamiyan, Herat, Kiev, Baghdad, Nishapur, Merv, Konye-Urgench, Lahore, Ryazan, Chernigov, Vladimir, and Samarkand. For instance, there is a noticeable lack of Chinese literature from the Jin dynasty, which predates the Mongol conquest, and libraries, books, literature, and hospitals were burned during the Siege of Baghdad (1258), with "some of the books thrown into the river in quantities sufficient to turn the Tigris black with ink for several months"; and "in one week, libraries and their treasures that had been bee According to one writer, "so many books were thrown over the Tigris River that they constructed a bridge that could sustain a man on horseback." The devastation of Iran's and Iraq's irrigation systems by the Mongols set back millennia of work in these areas to develop irrigation and drainage infrastructure. The lack of accessible food may have resulted in more people dying from famine in this area than the fighting itself. The Persian Gulf region's Islamic civilization did not revive until after the Middle Ages.

Farmland was briefly known to be burned by the Mongols. In addition, crops were largely destroyed to starve the population during at least six consecutive invasions of Korea by the Goryeo Dynasty to capture the Ganghwa Island palaces. Other strategies included diverting rivers into and out of cities and towns and launching sick corpses over city walls to infect the populace. Some accounts claim that the usage of diseased remains during the siege of Caffa spread the Black Death to Europe; however, dead bodies are unlikely to harbour infected fleas.

Those who consented to pay tribute to the Mongols were spared invasion and remained in relative peace. While populations resisting the Mongols were usually annihilated and thus did not pay heed in a regular tribute, exceptions to the rule which also included Korea (under the Goryeo Dynasty), which eventually agreed to pay to heed regular tributes in exchange for vassaldom and various measure of autonomy as well as the holding of the ruling dynasty, emphasizing the Mongol preference for tribute and vassals. Different cultures contributed to other tributes. Goryeo, for example, was valued at 10,000 otter hides, 20,000 horses, 10,000 silk bolts, military attire, and a huge number of youngsters and artisans as slaves.

According to the study by the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Global Energy, Genghis Khan's destruction of so many people and their cities may have removed as much as seven hundred million tonnes of carbon (C) from the atmosphere by allowing forests to regrow on previously cultivated and populated land.