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The Mongols And The Fall Of The Chinese And Mongol Empire

Decent Essays

The Mongols were a pastoralists people, originating in East-Central Asia. They were expert horse-back riders and used this to their advantage in military scenarios. Led by Genghis Khan, they were able to create an empire, dominating most of Eurasia. After Genghis died, his empire continued to grow, eventually dividing into four parts called Khanates. The Great Khan included China and Mongolia while the Ilkhanate controlled Persia and most of the Middle East. Persia and China were both affected by Mongolian rule, and while both sported efficient bureaucratic systems, Mongolian racial biases sent them on different paths. Also, while the Pax Mongolica originally increased trade, the Mongol’s fascination with paper currency caused the downfall of the trading system for both civilizations.

Right from the start, racial biases from the Mongolians had significantly different effects on the Chinese and Persian political situations. The Mongolians had effectively seized control of China and the leader of the Great Khan, Kublai Khan became the head of the Yuan Dynasty. Though the Mongolian rulers in the time of Yuan Dynasty practiced a version of the existing bureaucratic system, several changes were made that proved to be disastrous in the long run. First of all, the Mongols removed all Chinese people from bureaucratic positions, and put an end to Confucian based education, which in turn led to the collapse of the bureaucracy based on merit. This process was quite the opposite of

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