Quote Originally Posted by Rosacrux redux
And I am quite sure that much of the backwardness of Asia can be contributed to the Mongols. When they started conquering, Asia was way ahead of Europe. When they finished with it... Europe was catching on and the only Asian culture that still was on the rise, where the Ottomans, and they were outside the Mongolian sphere of inlfluence.
You may be quite sure, but you're not right.

For starters, slaughters by medieval armies cannot have been so amazingly large-scale that it could have led to the huge economical and cultural decline that you propose. Such results by war alone are only possible since the Great War.

No, the reason must be searched for elsewhere, and it is quite easily found. The reason that Asia suffered such widespread and great decline in prosperity is the Black Death, from which Europe recovered but Asia did not.

You see, whereas the Europeans reacted to the Black Death with widespread hysterica, urban unrest and revolution, the people of Iran, Arabia and Central Asia reacted by going back to ancient family and tribal traditions and loyalty, reducing birthrates and (presumably, at least ) hoped for better times. Agriculture and trade retreated as the population decreased. Huge areas reverted to nomadism, and as proof this worked, bedouins, who had always been nomads, seem to have survived the plague quite well.

Into this, plus the chaos caused by the desintegration of the Mongol successor states (which did not cause huge devastation, at least not anywhere near the decline caused by the Black Death) in the mid-14th century, was born Timur-i-Lenk. His native Transoxania, paradoxically, was experiencing a revival, and under such a brilliant general it was only logical that the surrounding regions were attacked.

Timur's campaigns, however, were inefficient in leaving the enemy defeated, and he had to return to regions like Iran multiple times to put down rebellions, right to his death in 1405. Since he was a ruthless and bloodthirsty man, he tended to try to crush his enemies through fear alone. As proven, that did not work. This points out that the Mongols were more advanced in administration, and more respected and loved, than a man who lived approx. 200 years later.

The bad administration of and the hate for Tamerlane also resulted in the fact that his great empire fell apart immediately after his death, and the same happened to his successors. Every time a Timurid died, there would be a civil war over his territory. Timur's successors did not lack in ability, but the foundation left by Timur himself was too weak to be useful.

While Europe eventually recovered, Asia could not, for it had to begin anew from becoming nomadic. Asia had to be repopulated and de-nomadisized. This was not exactly easy with the violent wars fought between the Timurids, Uzbhegs, Afghans, Persians and the exploitation by the Europeans (we're talking 18th century now). Weak dynasties, plus a strongly deminished population and therefore deminished economy, lead to the fact that Asia was weak and open for exploitation by European powers such as Russia, France and Britain. This kept them weak, because strong powers could not be profitable.

The latterly mentioned is similar to the dynastical struggles of Sassanid Persia in the late 5th and the 6th centuries, before the ascension of Khusrau Anushirivan. Byzantium was interested in a strong Persia to keep off the nomadical peoples moving about, such as the Chionite Ephtalites and the Huns.

So: Asia became weak do to the reaction of the people there to the Black Death, which on the long term was bad. As opposed to the European reaction to the Black Death, which on a short term cost more lives but on the long term guaranteed a quicker recovery. Add this to the many struggles between the Timurids, and the fact that the Timurids were replaced by the backward Uzbhegs, plus the violent and frequent wars between Persia, the Uzbhegs and the Afghans, because of which the nations in question were weakened sufficiently to be easily manipulated and exploited and therefore kept weak by the European powers, who had recovered quickly from the Black Death and due to the Mongol Silk Road recieved huge amounts of technology from the East, more than ever before.

The Mongols therefore contributed greatly not only to the start of the Rennaissance, but also to the prosperity of the places they conquered. The safety that the Khakhan promoted, and the good administration and legislation of the Mongols, plus their will to cooperate with subjugated peoples, led to a great revival of economic prosperity under Mongol supervision. Sometimes this took a while, such as in the Il-Khanate, but eventually it would prove to be positive, only to be destroyed by Timur-i-Lenk (widely regarded in his day as a Mongol, as his troops were, which explains a lot of the belief in the solely negative effect of the Mongols on conquered territory) and the Black Death before him.



~Wiz