Ogedei Khan’s Great Mongol Nation

PAX MONGOLICA : THE STEPPE EMPIRE OF THE MONGOLS HIST 1301 | History Ogedei Khan’s Great Mongol Nation The latter years of Chinggis Khan's life were devoted to reclaiming his dominance over his conquests in China. For example, the Jin reclaimed their shaky control over the regions that were between Zhongdu and the seashore. Chinggis considered the Xi Xia's refusal to send troops to support the fight against the Khwarazmians as a betrayal. He attacked the Xi Xia territory after vanquishing the Khwarazmians as retribution for their betrayal. But before his conquest could be fully accomplished, he passed away, probably from being thrown from a horse, some months before he could savour the vengeance that was ultimately exacted upon these refractory subjects. Chinggis Khan's principal wife Borte was to divide his land among his four sons, as was customary among the Mongols. He ruled over a vast portion of the Eurasian continent, home to millions of people and a substantial amount of yearly tribute. Chinggis had urged that one of his sons become the next great khan in order to protect this prosperity and the tranquilly the yassa had brought about for at least the people living in the Mongol Empire. In addition to being the direct ruler of one-fourth of the empire, this son was also expected to lead the armed forces, act as the supreme court, and oversee a central administration that was mostly made up of post offices for correspondence and storage facilities for loot and tribute. Years before to the demise of Chinggis, Ogedei was selected to be this great khan during a kurultai of his closest advisors and relatives. The fact that the judgement was upheld showed how effective Chinggis had been in bringing the steppe peoples together. Additionally, the empire was split between the sons of Borte and Chinggis Khan. The territories that the Jin and Xi Xia captured were given to Ogedei. Parts of the Mongol holdings in central Asia, the Rus realm in modern Russia, and surrounding regions in northwest Eurasia were awarded to the heirs of Jochi, the eldest of Chinggis Khan's sons, who had passed away a few months before his father. They took on the name "Golden Horde," named after one of the most popular titles for the Mongol tribe, under the leadership of Batu, the eldest grandson of Chinggis. The Mongol homeland was given to the youngest son, Tolui, and the remaining portion to the second son, Chagatai. As a result of weeks of festivities and feasting that engaged almost the whole country and the reckless loss of the treasury due to the presentation of copious presents to guests, Ogedei's coronation as khan mirrored his reputation as a party animal. But after word of Chinggis's death spread, tribute offerings had decreased. The Mongols were suddenly in financial difficulties as a result of Ogedei's extravagant spending, and they were unable to meet the aspirations of their new king or the population's rising demands for a higher quality of living. Ogedei had to discover a means to get additional money immediately. By 1234, Ogedei had vanquished the Jin and terrorised the dependent nations. The Mongol treasury received some of the wealth of the Jin culture, but not enough. Ogedei's goal was not just to conquer, but also to dominate the trade routes across Eurasia and syphon off money as tribute. He required funds to accomplish it, which he kept close to Chinggis Khan's storage facilities in the Mongol heartlands; this is how Karakorum, the metropolis, came to be. To finance its building, nevertheless, additional tribute was needed. Ogedei convened a kurultai in 1235 to determine which territories ought to be taken in order to supply it. It was decided, after great deliberation, to invade Song China as well as Europe. The Song conflict proved to be a fruitless endeavour. After significant casualties on both sides, peace talks started in 1241. In the west, the Mongols had greater success. They recaptured lands they had previously subjugated, overran Kyiv (Kiev) in 1240, and almost destroyed the majority of Christian troops east of the Holy Roman Empire, pillaging important cities like Krakow and Buda in present-day Poland and Hungary. Early in 1242, as they arrived in Bohemia, word reached us that Ogedei had passed away in December of the previous year. The Mongols quickly withdrew in order to take part in the anticipated kurultai that would succeed him, but not before completely destroying eastern Europe and leaving ruin in their wake. Even though Ogedei's rule was not entirely successful, his opulence and hedonism were indicative of the way of life the Mongol Empire experienced during the decades of unification brought about by Chinggis Khan's yassa. In the territories he and his father had conquered, Ogedei established stability and order via the implementation of policies that made resource exploitation reasonably successful. The mandarin Yelu Chucai, a Khitan, is mostly credited with providing the information. Ogedei used him to broaden the empire's expanding tax and record-keeping system, which Chinggis Khan had first noticed in 1215. The bureaucratization of Mongol rule is said to have begun when Yelu persuaded Ogedei that "an empire can be conquered from horseback, but it cannot be ruled from horseback." Ogedei accepted Yelu's proposals to replace tribute with a system of regular, ongoing taxes. He built the infrastructure to accommodate his vision of his empire as the hub of global trade. Chinggis Khan had set up a network of horse relay stations, known as yam, on the longdistance roadways across his domain, primarily for military communication. These locations had rest rooms and supply depots, and they were spaced one day apart. Ogedei extended the system's application to diplomats and traders alike, praising traders profusely for bringing in goods he had never seen before. Many merchants were drawn to him because of his extravagant ways and hospitality. Furthermore, Ogedei established the Pax Mongolica, often known as the Mongol Peace, which brought a great deal of the world together by facilitating trade and long-distance movement of people and ideas. This was achieved in two ways: first, it was made possible by the peace and justice that the Mongols enforced on those who submitted to their authority, and second, it was financed by taxes collected from everyone who produced goods or services. Simultaneously, it was confirmed by blatant examples of blatant violence directed at anybody who dared to oppose their expansion into new territories. Many realised that the danger of resistance was not worth it. But Ogedei had not considered succession, and he died leaving behind nearly ten years of internal strife that demanded enormous effort to hold onto the gains that had already been made. Guyuk, the 42-year-old grandson of Chinggis Khan, appeared to be about to engage in combat when he suddenly passed away.