 | The Plague and the Decline the Mongol EmpirePosted Sep-26-06 15:43:31 PDT In Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World the author, Jack Weatherford, makes an impassioned case that one of the primary reasons for the disintegration and eventual collapse of the Mongol empire was the widespread epidemic of the plague throughout Asia and Europe in the 14th century. In an earlier chapter of the book, Weatherford sets up a key foundation for his argument. He argues that one of the key reasons for the success of the Mongol empire, even after it's fragmentation into the independently ruled hordes, was the complex set of co-dependencies that existed between these entities. For instance, he suggests that the success of Khublai Khan's Chinese enterprises were dependent on the trade with the Golden Horde. Meanwhile, those in Persia were dependent on the output of (and the consumptions of items from) the Russian empire. The individual Khans also had significant personal financial interest in each other's lands through the ownership of land, villages, horses, manufacuting facilities, as well as rights to specific skills (astronomers from Persia, astrisans from South China, weavers from Norther China, military experts from Europe, etc.) Therefore, even when the two Khans were at odds with each other and potentially engaged in a dispute, they still allowed the exchange of goods, money, and skills to keep the business of trade, politics, administration, research, and the arts running without interruption. This ability to run different aspects of each empire through import from the other areas, Weatherford argues, was keep to continued success of the empire. When the plauge began to spread, there was a direct impact on the ability of the Mongol kingdoms to trade with each other and with other nations. The limitation came from decreased production of goods, decreased demand for luxuries, as well as the decimation of human life that made it hard to transport goods. With trade coming to standstill, Weatherford suggests that one of the key elements of that had earlier contributed to Mongol success was taken out of the equation, and the overall ecosystem was delt a shattering blow. Weatherford also makes another interesting observation. He argues as long as the Mongol leaders were able to support the brisk and lucrative business of trade and as long they they continued to engage in military conquests that would amass largess in terms of captured loot and further expand trade horizons, the general population was happy, occupied, and engaged in constuctive activity. During the period of the plague and in it's aftermath, the lack of trade and military conquests that the Mongol were so well known for, began to put pressure on the leaders of the various hordes to endear themselves to their populations in different ways. One of the ways in which the leaders did this was to slowly eliminate their Mongol indentity and integrate more closely with the identity of the lands that they ruled. The leaders of the Persian horde, for example, embraced Islam. Those of the Tibetian regions embraced Buddhism. As a whole, Weatherford suggests, the concept of an overarching Mongol agenda and perspective was washed away and the boundaries became etched deeper and insularity grew, which further impacted the free movement across hordes, which was so critical to their survival. I am not sure how to interpret Weatherford's arguments. In my estimation, his arguments support the theory that the overall umbrella of Mongol unity was crushed and the each individual horde probably became much more insular and integrated within it's own boundary. However, I'm not convinced that the impact of the plague was deep enough to unseat what was originally Mongol dominance in each indivudal kingdom.
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