Reexamining the Mongol Invasions
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
Asia and Europe experienced a turbulent period of invasions
that brought vast territories on both continents under the dominion of the Mongol Empire.
Swiftmoving Mongolian cavalry swept like wildfire into China and then across
Central Asia,
later taking parts of modern-day Russia and eventually penetrating deep
into Eastern Europe.
In both historical texts and mainstream culture,
the Mongols have been portrayed as barbaric raiders who brought ruin and devastation
wherever they roamed.
According to such interpretations, the civilizations they subjugated were
devastated by decades of slaughter and oppression.
And though an elaborate political structure was eventually established
in the Empire,
its development was attributed mainly to the competence of conquered bureaucrats
rather than the Mongols themselves.
Finally, according to this interpretation,
it was not until the sophisticated civilizations of Western Europe were
able
to liberate the subjugated peoples of the Empire
that the devastated civilizations embarked on the road to recovery.
Recent scholarship, however, suggests that these assumptions are fundamentally
flawed.
First of all, while it is true that numerous massacres
and extensive plundering occurred during the conquests, the
Mongols’ goal was not annihilation but integration.
Political institutions and economic systems remained relatively intact,
while labor forces and militaries were incorporated into the Empire.
Though the Mongols had supreme authority in the assimilated regions,
former officials continued to carry out bureaucratic duties.
Relying on an intricate balance of suppression and incentives,
shrewd Mongol administrators imposed a political structure from above
that facilitated prosperity through diversity and order.
Modern scholarship also emphasizes that commerce,
rather than conquest, constituted the Empire’s lifeblood, particularly
in later years.
The Mongols originated on the Asian steppe, an expansive, sparsely populated grassland.
Unable to generate wealth through the taxation of vast peasant populations,
they exploited natural resources, such as
spices and silk, to generate wealth through commercial exchange.
Furthermore, while the flourishing of international trade
during the period of Mongol domination has frequently
been viewed as owing to the prowess and ingenuity of European merchants,
contemporary scholars, such as historian Marie Favereau, contend otherwise.
They highlight achievements
such as the Pax Mongolica, a term denoting the period during
which the Empire’s formidable military prowess
and adept governance suppressed armed hostilities,
permitting the secure transit of merchants and trade commodities throughout
the Empire.
This, combined with ingenious business arrangements,
such as limited liability for merchants and payment contracts called bills
of exchange,
laid the groundwork for expanded intercontinental commerce.
Furthermore, according to revisionist historians, the Mongols utilized
trade to entice groups
such as the Bulgarians and Lithuanians into political and economic relationships,
gradually gaining the allegiance of various peoples,
some of whom had been vanquished and some who had not.
The Rus, the forebears of modern Russians,
were also deeply affected by contact with the Mongol Empire,
and modern Russians have long viewed the Mongolian occupation
as a period of humiliation and oppression.
However, scholars such as Favereau argue that contrary to narratives
that portray the Mongols as fragmenting a people
that had once been culturally and politically homogeneous,
they merely catalyzed a process of disintegration that
was already well underway.
These scholars assert that the true significance of the Mongols’ intervention
was that it fostered the economic vitality of an obscure region called Muscovy
while simultaneously suppressing regions that had formerly attained greater
influence,
eventually leading to Muscovy’s ascendency in the territory.
In the wake of the Mongolian Empire’s demise,
Muscovy became the foundation of the modern Russian state.
Had it not been for the Mongols, therefore,
a key player in modern history might never have come into existence.
Eventually, military setbacks, a plague, and internal disputes led to
the Empire’s decline,
and today, the Mongols are more likely to be regarded as a vanquished threat
that jeopardized the cultural and political achievements of other societies
than as a great civilization in their own right.
One reason is that a common criterion for evaluating a civilization is its architectural legacy.
As a nomadic society whose dwellings consisted of simple, highly portable
structures,
however, the Mongols
tended not to leave behind the towering monuments and palaces
that contemporary sedentary societies did.
At the same time, though, it is crucial to keep in mind
that the Mongols’ nomadic culture was one of resilience and self-reliance
that permitted it to adapt and thrive in diverse environments.
Unencumbered by the constraints of a sedentary society,
the Mongols were open to assimilating technologies, intellectual achievements,
and societal innovations from the peoples they encountered,
and Mongol society was characterized by an unprecedented degree of religious
toleration
and an emphasis on stability through mutual economic interdependence.
In fact, in many ways, they bear a greater resemblance to contemporary
human civilization
than their European counterparts, who tended to dismiss or belittle the
Mongols’ achievements.
Indeed, Favereau argues that “Mongol imperial successes came not in spite
of nomadism
but because of it.” |
英語検定 １級(2025年第2回No.4)