The Mongol Empire is today credited to be the largest continuous land empire to have ever existed, spanning the geographical areas from Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Sea of Japan, Siberia, South East Asia, through the Indian subcontinent to the Middle East. The Empire rose in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, following the unification of the Mongol and Turkic tribes. Its rise to superiority was almost spontaneous, but so was its fall. Despite the well-organized military, a massive labor force when needed and vast supply of almost all kinds of resources, the empire finally collapsed in the period shortly after 1335 CE (Rogers 2005). Since it had all these resources, did the vast size cause the fall of the Mongolian Empire?
The Mongol Empire had the first emperor as Genghis Khan, and was succeeded by his son Ogedei Khan (Porter 2009). Ogedei then engaged in a massive expansion campaigns, where he would send troops, and whatever land that they conquered, it was brought under the rule of the Mongolian empire. Through these conquest events, he was able to bring several dynasties like Bashkirs, Bulgars, Eastern Xia, and Song Dynasty (Stubbs 2006). This was extended through his successors until the Mongolian Empire reached its maximum size, becoming the world biggest territorial empire at that time.
The military might of the empire was insurmountable by any other of its time. This is one of the reasons why the empire experienced rapid expansion within a remarkably short time. In fact, not all the territories were conquered through war, but many especially in Southern Persia voluntarily accepted Mongol supremacy (May 2005). The army was divided into small units for ease of command and administration. These divisions included arbans, zuuns, myangans and tumens, consisting of ten, hundred, thousand and ten thousand soldiers respectively. This was one of the earliest forms of well-organized military, forming an un-formidable force in the battle. Survival in these days required any empire to maintain a strong army (Stalcup 2003).
In order to make it extremely effective, the military had perfected the art of siege. Whatever was so fortified would therefore be brought down with time, since they would lay a siege around the city until resources inside were depleted and the city crumbled. The military also recruited some exceptionally talented professionals, who would even make weapons on the site of war, since carrying them over vast distances that the empire encompassed proved to be tiresome. The soldiers possessed considerable discipline and skills making the effective in mobility and speed. Additionally, they adopted some smart war techniques like use of smoke to confuse their enemies. With this formation, the empire had the most formidable army of the time, ensuring stability and security (Stalcup 2003).
The organization of the empire was highly valued. There was an empire currency which was extensively used in trade. The empire enormously encouraged trade between the nations and had merchants moving goods virtually from one end of the empire to another and to neighbouring lands (Prawdin 1940). There was also a national assembly for Mongol chief would meet to discuss policies affecting the empire. These chiefs were chiefs were appointed on merit to ensure competency. For communication purposes, there was a well-organized mail system which made communication remarkably easy. This was even adapted in the other parts of the world. The road network was so well built such that movement of people from one point to another was easy. Due to its vast size, the empire had a vast resource of wealth from different corners of the empire. So, what caused its fall?
After the death of Genghis Khan, there was a split among his grandchildren over succession issues (Edwards and Stanfield 1997). Since the empire was monastic, there were disputes on which of his sons would be the succession line. These disputes began to bring enormous cracks in the administration of the dynasty. Various historians suggest that this was the reason why the dynasty collapsed. On the other hand, others argue that this was not underlying factor.
The issue of size also raises serious questions. Although the empire was extremely large, could it have been that it grew too large to manage? This cannot be the reason, because there were an elaborate leadership styles and structures, including chiefs and some form of an informal parliament. This ensured that power was decentralized even to the grassroots (Morgan 2007). The size was therefore not an issue in the administration.
The real reason for the collapse can therefore not be assumed to be just one factor, but all of these working together to cause the fall of the dynasty. When all these were in the correct proportions, the empire began to crumble (Prawdin 1940). Therefore, the empire did not fall just because of its vast size.
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