Mongol Compare and Contrast Essay.

Mongol Compare and Contrast Essay.

In the 13th and 14th century in the Eurasia region, a group known as the Mongols where conquering

many lands, and with that came great economic and political shifts. However, with these changes came

new diseases, death, and total devastation of land, especially fields. This destructive path followed with

the Mongols everywhere they traveled. Russia suffered the worst, having large scale slaughtering and

economic trouble, whilst China somewhat benefited from Mongolian rule, for example, reuniting the

broken states in China to becoming one mass.

While there were different effects in each region, both seemed to suffer the same problem,

economic downfall. This was due to heavy taxes on the people. Destruction of much land was also

suffered in each region. In order to successfully conquer each empire, the Mongols would carry out

many raids and wreak havoc on villages and animals. A major contributor to this chaos was the herds

that the Mongols traveled with. These animals would devour the fields they stood on and cause

erosion and agricultural problems, along with destroying the crops. To add to the apocalyptic scene,

the Mongols brought with them one of the most devastating diseases in history, the bubonic plague.

This disease affected China and Russia greatly, killing off a vast third of the entire population. However,

trade was much increased in China, though Russia did not have much trade due to isolation. These

two regions had different Khanates to rule them. Russia had more local leaders whilst China had more

Mongol leaders who made many changes and didn’t only just tax the people to death.

Russia was ruled under “The Golden Horde” suffering from Mongol occupation. Being cut off from

Western Europe they forced into isolation, culturally and economically. With trade routes cut off from

other countries nothing would prosper or would advance. The Mongols had Russia occupied from afar

and only allowed minor Russian rulers. Power struggles budged in the Russian royalty but the traditional

style of government would survive. A main goal for the Mongols in Russia was to extract wealth, so all

of its citizens were heavily taxed, almost obliterating the Russian economy. Russia wasn’t much tended

to because it was seen as being nothing more than a tribute; however China was reformed and made

anew.

Over in China, control was maintained by the Yuan dynasty. China had a very different affect, more

positive than Russia. Before Mongol rule China was just a landscape of separate states. The Mongols

then unified these states and even improved Chinese policies and led to growth of the empire. The

Mongols also created safe and effective trade routes. Unlike Russia, China had much exchangement

in ideas, goods, and skills. This trade promoted by Mongol rule helped spread their trade routes west

to Europe. Though trade may have been good it wasn’t all satisfactory. China, like Russia, was heavily

taxed and this lead to stressful economic situations. Another change was that medical examinations

were discontinued; the next emperor would be the descendant of the last one.

The Mongol empire while being somewhat successful was very devastating politically and

economically on the regions it conquered. Russia took the worst impact of it, being isolated

economically and being heavily damaged. Both China and Russia also suffered crippling taxation and

spreading of new diseases. Though many negative things occurred, positive occurrences happened as

well, such as the uniting of China and the flow of trade that appeared in China. Trade played a major

factor in the spreading of ideas and new technologies that would eventually spread to Europe causing a

new age known as, The European Renaissance.