Mongol Empire

The Mongols’ strong communication system, emphasis on trade and religious tolerance facilitated more contact with the outside world, bringing about the assimilation of other cultures. In each territory, the Mongols commenced their campaign by sending ambassadors to demand that the capital city surrender. If their subjects accepted, they were offered protection from their enemies and allowed to conserve their ruling family and religion, as long as they agreed to pay a tribute of all wealth and goods. (Weatherford 146) Since the Mongols knew well enough that they were financially dependent on the people they conquered, they did not mind who they were or what beliefs they observed. Furthermore, their own lack of sophistication caused them to admire
Mongolian tribes inhabited large encampments and were required to relocate frequently, and expect to face enemies at all times. To do this, it was necessary for them to have a certain attitude of boldness and preparedness. (Smith Jr.) This is a reason for the Mongol army becoming so successful--their lifestyle gave them the tools to fight and deal with threats, and remain on alert. Nevertheless, rulers understood the implausibility of continuing to run the growing empire as if it were a collection of tribes on the Mongolian grasslands. (Morgan 127) Convinced that a kingdom conquered on horseback could not be ruled on horseback, Ogodei attempted to create the city of Karakorum as a center of power and administration for the empire. (Chambers 47) The strategy, likely inspired by configurations in other nations, only hindered the Mongols, whose peripatetic center of power and own rule from horseback had shocked and defeated its many opponents. The capital failed because it was dependent on goods brought from far away, its location was on the open steppe without protection from the wind, and a city could not be relocated every season the way the nomadic camps could be. (Weatherford 134) Similarly,
They looked up to China’s culture hoping to absorb it, but by doing so, they lost strength, becoming impotent as an empire. (Schlager and Lauer) As the years passed, it is clear that the Mongols’ focus veered from their violence and resilience to becoming more “sophisticated” in terms of their culture. They showed an enormous amount of care towards how other countries viewed them and their image in the world, insistent that the one way to be respected was to have a refined culture. Rashid al-Din, an Ilkhanid bureaucrat and historian, states that toward the end of the reign of Ghazan Khan, the monarch proposed to pay his troops by issuing them iqtas. He asserted that “at this time, most of the soldiers had the desire for estates and for the (practice of) agriculture”. (Morgan and Morgan 432) The soldiers themselves, who had championed with their adaptability and speed, were now opting to settle and cultivate land instead, disrupting armies and impeding the Mongols from sustaining the territories they had in their possession and invading new