Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

gjy664 – Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire

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Moreover, psychological warfare and the tactic of “feigned flight” played an important role as recognised in Ystoria Mongalorum , “drawing the army forward for attack”. 64 Furthermore, propaganda enabled the empire to successfully encourage opponents to surrender before fighting, building support as accounted in the Secret History . 65 Ystoria Mongalorum recognised the use of the traditional tactic of feigned flight, 66 with Marco Polo highlighting its effectiveness. 67 Through psychological warfare, the Mongol army was able to summon cities this, even in victory, brute force was used, with the Mongol army slaughtering entire cities, with Ystoria Mongalorum citing punishment, 68 and the Secret History suggesting discipline was at the heart of their success. 69 Moreover, Carpini’s report accurately described a system of discipline linked with personal leadership through “persuasion, compulsion and hardship”. 70 to surrender, threatening death, paralysing and recruiting captives from captured cities. Despite

Thus, across Asia, fear was instigated, making cities easy to defeat, as fear forced many to

submit to the empire, giving Mongol success.

Chinggis Khan’s expansionist policy, particularly his focus on conquering Chinese territory

enabled early success of the empire in its expansion. As Chinggis came to power, his first

concern was conquering Chinese territory, as Mongolia was heavily dependent on China,

giving Chinese control over the Mongols. As China was a divided country, it was used to the

Mongol advantage in trade. Hence, when China cut trade down, Mongolia responded with

threats and raids, followed by a full scale attack. This was one of the first international

responses instigating fear, as the conditions were harsh, with settlement raids, looting and murdering, killing many people. 71 As suggested in the Mongol account, their method of conquest was to ‘lure [opponents] into moving [and] when they came [after them they would] fight’ as they did in Chabchiyal. 72 However, these brutal attacks were not limited to the Chinese conquests, and as the conquest focus shifted, populations were brutally massacred. 73 Similar

conditions were present in other conquests, meaning that fear and terror was critical to

64 Easton, Oxford Big Ideas , 423-455. 65 George Lane, Daily life in the Mongol Empire (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2006) 66 Carpini, History of the Mongols , 36. 67 William Marsden, Marco Polo, and Peter Harris, The Travels of Marco Polo (London: Everyman’s Library, 2008), 262. 68 Carpini, History of the Mongols , 33. 69 Rachewiltz, The Secret History , 76. 70 Carpini, History of the Mongols , 27. 71 Easton, Oxford Big Ideas , 423-455. 72 Onon, Secret History , 234. 73 “Thirteenth Century Mongol Warfare: Classical Military Strategy or Operational Art?,” Dana Pittard, School of Advanced Military Studies, last modified 1994, http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a284506.pdf/.