THE MONGOLS AND THE OTTOMAN TURKS TO 1463 A.D.
175. THE MONGOLS
THE ASIATIC COUNTER-ATTACK
The extensive steppes in the middle and north of Asia have formed, for
thousands of years, the abode of nomadic peoples belonging to the Yellow
race. In prehistoric times they spread over northern Europe, but they were
gradually supplanted by white-skinned Indo-Europeans, until now only
remnants of them exist, such as the Finns and Lapps. In later ages history
records how the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Magyars have poured into
Europe, spreading terror and destruction in their path. [1] These invaders
were followed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by the even more
terrible Mongols and Ottoman Turks. Their inroads might well be described
as Asia's reply to the crusades, as an Asiatic counter-attack upon Europe.
MONGOLIA
The Mongols, who have given their name to the entire race of yellow-
skinned peoples, now chiefly occupy the high plateau bounded on the north
by Siberia, on the south by China, on the east by Manchuria, and on the
west by Turkestan. [2] Although the greater part of this area consists of
the Gobi desert, there are many oases and pastures available at different
seasons of the year to the inhabitants. Hence the principal occupation of
the Mongols has always been cattle breeding, and their horses, oxen,
sheep, and camels have always furnished them with food and clothing.
MONGOL LIFE AND CHARACTER
Like most nomads the Mongols dwell in tents, each family often by itself.
Severe simplicity is the rule of life, for property consists of little
more than one's flocks and herds, clothes, and weapons. The modern Mongols
are a peaceable, kindly folk, who have adopted from Tibet a debased form
of Buddhism, but the Mongols of the thirteenth century in religion and
morals were scarcely above the level of American Indians. To ruthless
cruelty and passion for plunder they added an efficiency in warfare which
enabled them, within fifty years, to overrun much of Asia and the eastern
part of Europe.
[Illustration: HUT-WAGON OF THE MONGOLS (RECONSTRUCTION)
On the wagon was placed a sort of hut or pavilion made of wands bound
together with narrow thongs. The structure was then covered with felt or
cloth and provided with latticed windows. Hut-wagons, being very light,
were sometimes of enormous size.]
MILITARY PROWESS OF THE MONGOLS
The daily life of the Mongols was a training school for war. Constant
practice in riding, scouting, and the use of arms made every man a
soldier. The words with which an ancient Greek historian described the
savage Scythians applied perfectly to the Mongols: "Having neither cities
nor forts, and carrying their dwellings with them wherever they go;
accustomed, moreover, one and all, to shoot from horseback; and living not
by husbandry but on their cattle, their wagons the only houses that they
possess, how can they fail of being irresistible?" [3]
176. CONQUESTS OF THE MONGOLS, 1206-1405 A.D.
JENGHIZ KHAN
For ages the Mongols had dwelt in scattered tribes throughout their
Asiatic wilderness, engaged in petty struggles with one another for cattle
and pasture lands. It was the celebrated Jenghiz Khan, [4] chief of one of
the tribes, who brought them all under his authority and then led them to
the conquest of the world. Of him it may be said with truth that he had
the most victorious of military careers, and that he constructed the most
extensive empire known to history. If Jenghiz had possessed the ability of
a statesman, he would have taken a place by the side of Alexander the
Great and Julius Caesar.
MONGOL EMPIRE UNDER JENGHIZ, 1206-1227 A.D.
Jenghiz first sent the Mongol armies, which contained many Turkish allies,
over the Great Wall [5] and into the fertile plains of China. All the
northern half of the country was quickly overrun. Then Jenghiz turned
westward and invaded Turkestan and Persia. Seven centuries have not
sufficed to repair the damage which the Mongols wrought in this once-
prosperous land. The great cities of Bokhara, Samarkand, Merv, and Herat,
[6] long centers of Moslem culture, were pillaged and burned, and their
inhabitants were put to the sword. Like the Huns the Mongols seemed a
scourge sent by God. Still further conquests enlarged the empire, which at
the death of Jenghiz in 1227 A.D. stretched from the Dnieper River to the
China Sea.
MONGOL EMPIRE UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF JENGHIZ
The Mongol dominions in the thirteenth century were increased by the
addition of Korea, southern China, and Mesopotamia, as well as the greater
part of Asia Minor and Russia. Japan, indeed, repulsed the Mongol hordes,
but at the other extremity of Asia they captured Bagdad, sacked the city,
and brought the caliphate to an end. [7] The Mongol realm was very loosely
organized, however, and during the fourteenth century it fell apart into a
number of independent states, or khanates.
[Illustration: Map, THE MONGOL EMPIRE]
TIMUR THE LAME, DIED 1405 A.D.
It was reserved for another renowned Oriental monarch, Timur the Lame, [8]
to restore the empire of Jenghiz Khan. His biographers traced his descent
from that famous Mongol, but Timur was a Turk and an adherent of Islam. He
has come down to us as perhaps the most terrible personification in
history of the evil spirit of conquest. Such distant regions as India,
Syria, Armenia, Asia Minor, and Russia were traversed by Timur's soldiers,
who left behind them only the smoking ruins of a thousand cities and
abominable trophies in the shape of columns or pyramids of human heads.
Timur died in his seventieth year, while leading his troops against China,
and the extensive empire which he had built up in Asia soon crumbled to
pieces.
[Illustration: TOMB OF TIMUR AT SAMARKAND
Samarkand in Russian Central Asia became Timur's capital in 1369 AD. The
city was once a center of Mohammedan wealth and culture, famous for its
beautiful mosques, palaces, and colleges. The Gur-Amir, or tomb of Timur,
consists of a chapel, crowned by a dome and enclosed by a wall. Time and
earthquakes have greatly injured this fine building. The remains of Timur
lie here under a huge block of jade.]
177. THE MONGOLS IN CHINA AND INDIA
MONGOL SWAY IN CHINA
The Mongols ruled over China for about one hundred and fifty years. During
this period they became thoroughly imbued with Chinese culture. "China,"
said an old writer, "is a sea that salts all the rivers flowing into it."
The most eminent of the Mongol emperors was Jenghiz Khan's grandson,
Kublai (1259-1294 A.D.). He built a new capital, which in medieval times
was known as Cambaluc and is now called Peking. While Kublai was on the
throne, the Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, [9] visited China, and he
describes in glowing colors the virtues and glories of the "Great Khan."
There appears to have been considerable trade between Europe and China at
this time, and Franciscan missionaries and papal legates penetrated to the
remote East. After the downfall of the Mongol dynasty in 1368 A.D. China
again shut her doors to foreign peoples. All intercourse with Europe
ceased until the arrival of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. [10]
TIMUR AND BABER IN INDIA
Northern India, which in earlier ages had witnessed the coming of Persian,
Macedonian, and Arabian conquerors, did not escape visitations by fresh
Asiatic hordes. Timur the Lame, at the head of an innumerable host, rushed
down upon the banks of the Indus and the Ganges and sacked Delhi, making
there a full display of his unrivaled ferocity. Timur's invasion left no
permanent impress on the history of India, but its memory fired the
imagination of another Turkish chieftain, Baber, a remote descendant of
Timur. In 1525 A.D. he invaded India and speedily made himself master of
the northern part of the country.
EMPIRE OF THE MOGULS
The empire which Baber established in India is known as that of the
Moguls, an Arabic form of the word Mongol. The Moguls, however, were
Turkish in blood and Mohammedans in religion. The Mogul emperors reigned
in great splendor from their capitals at Delhi and Agra, until the decline
of their power in the eighteenth century opened the way for the British
conquest of India.
178. THE MONGOLS IN EASTERN EUROPE
MONGOL CONQUEST OF RUSSIA, 1237-1240 A.D.
The location of Russia [11] on the border of Asia exposed that country to
the full force of the Mongol attack. Jenghiz Khan's successors, entering
Europe north of the Caspian, swept resistlessly over the Russian plain.
Moscow and Kiev fell in quick succession, and before long the greater part
of Russia was in the hands of the Mongols. Wholesale massacres marked
their progress. "No eye remained open to weep for the dead."
[Illustration: THE TAJ MAHAL, AGRA
Erected by the Mogul emperor, Shah Jehan, as a tomb for his favorite wife,
Muntaz Mahal. It was begun in 1632 A.D. and was completed in twenty-two
years. The material is pure white marble, inlaid with jasper, agate and
other precious stones. The building rests on a marble terrace, at each
corner of which rises a tall graceful minaret. The extreme delicacy of the
Taj Mahal and the richness of its ornamentation make it a masterpiece of
architecture.]
INVASION OF POLAND AND HUNGARY BY THE MONGOLS, 1241 A.D.
Still the invaders pressed on. They devastated Hungary, driving the Magyar
king in panic flight from his realm. They overran Poland. At a great
battle in Silesia they destroyed the knighthood of Germany and filled nine
sacks with the right ears of slaughtered enemies. The European peoples,
taken completely by surprise, could offer no effective resistance to these
Asiatics, who combined superiority in numbers with surpassing generalship.
Since the Arab attack in the eighth century Christendom had never been in
graver peril. But the wave of Mongol invasion, which threatened to engulf
Europe in barbarism, receded as quickly as it came. The Mongols soon
abandoned Poland and Hungary and retired to their possessions in Russia.
[Illustration: Map, RUSSIA AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES]
THE "GOLDEN HORDE"
The ruler of the "Golden Horde," as the western section of the Mongol
Empire was called, continued to be the lord of Russia for about two
hundred and fifty years. Russia, throughout this period, was little more
than a dependency of Asia. The conquered people were obliged to pay a
heavy tribute and to furnish soldiers for the Mongol armies. Their
princes, also, became vassals of the Great Khan.
MONGOL INFLUENCE ON RUSSIA
The Mongols, or "Tartars" [12] are usually said to have Orientalized
Russia. It seems clear, however, that they did not interfere with the
language, religion, and laws of their subjects. The chief result of the
Mongol supremacy was to cut off Russia from western Europe, just at the
time when England, France, Germany, and Italy were emerging from the
darkness of the early Middle Ages.
RISE OF MUSCOVY
The invasion of the Mongols proved to be, indirectly, the making of the
Russian state. Before they came the country was a patchwork of rival, and
often warring, principalities. The need of union against the common enemy
welded them together. The principality of Muscovy, so named from the
capital city of Moscow, conquered its neighbors, annexed the important
city of Novgorod, whose vast possessions stretched from Lapland to the
Urals, and finally became powerful enough to shake off the Mongol yoke.
REIGN OF IVAN III, THE GREAT, 1462-1505 A.D.
The final deliverance of Russia from the Mongols was accomplished by Ivan
III, surnamed the Great. This ruler is also regarded as the founder of
Russian autocracy, that is, of a personal, absolute, and arbitrary
government. With a view to strengthening his claim to be the political
heir of the eastern emperors, Ivan married a niece of the last ruler at
Constantinople, who in 1453 A.D. had fallen in the defense of his capital
against the Ottoman Turks. Henceforth the Russian ruler described himself
as "the new Tsar [13] Constantine in the new city of Constantine, Moscow."
179. THE OTTOMAN TURKS AND THEIR CONQUESTS, 1227-1453 A.D.
RISE OF THE OTTOMANS
The first appearance of the Ottoman Turks in history dates from 1227 A.D.,
the year of Jenghiz Khan's death. In that year a small Turkish horde,
driven westward from their central Asian homes by the Mongol advance,
settled in Asia Minor. There they enjoyed the protection of their kinsmen,
the Seljuk Turks, and from them accepted Islam. As the Seljuk power
declined, that of the Ottomans rose in its stead. About 1300 A.D. their
chieftain, Othman, [14] declared his independence and became the founder
of the Ottoman Empire.
OTTOMAN EXPANSION
The growth of the Ottoman power was almost as rapid as that of the Arabs
or of the Mongols. During the first half of the fourteenth century they
firmly established themselves in northwestern Asia Minor, along the
beautiful shores washed by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmora, and the
Dardanelles. The second half of the same century found them in Europe,
wresting province after province from the feeble hands of the eastern
emperors. First came the seizure of Gallipoli on the Dardanelles, which
long remained the principal Turkish naval station. Then followed the
capture of Adrianople, where in earlier centuries the Visigoths had
destroyed a Roman army. [15] By 1400 A.D. all that remained of the Roman
Empire in the East was Constantinople and a small district in the vicinity
of that city.
THE JANIZARIES
The Turks owed much of their success to the famous body of troops known as
Janizaries. [16] These were recruited for the most part from Christian
children surrendered by their parents as tribute. The Janizaries received
an education in the Moslem faith and careful instruction in the use of
arms. Their discipline and fanatic zeal made them irresistible on the
field of battle.
[Illustration: MOHAMMED II
A medal showing the strong face of the conqueror of Constantinople]
CONSTANTINOPLE BESIEGED
Constantinople had never recovered from the blow inflicted upon it by the
freebooters of the Fourth Crusade. [17] It was isolated from western
Europe by the advance of the Turks. Frantic appeals for help brought only
a few ships and men from Genoa and Venice. When in 1453 A.D. the sultan
Mohammed II, commanding a large army amply supplied with artillery,
appeared before the walls, all men knew that Constantinople was doomed.
CAPTURE OF THE CITY
The defense of the city forms one of the most stirring episodes in
history. The Christians, not more than eight thousand in number, were a
mere handful compared to the Ottoman hordes. Yet they held out for nearly
two months against every assault. When at length the end drew near, the
Roman emperor, Constantine Palaeologus, a hero worthy of the name he bore,
went with his followers at midnight to Sancta Sophia and there in that
solemn fane received a last communion. Before sunrise on the following day
the Turks were within the walls. The emperor, refusing to survive the city
which he could not save, fell in the onrush of the Janizaries.
Constantinople endured a sack of three days, during which many works of
art, previously spared by the crusaders, were destroyed. Mohammed II then
made a triumphal entry into the city and in Sancta Sophia, now stripped of
its crosses, images, and other Christian emblems, proclaimed the faith of
the prophet. And so the "Turkish night," as Slavic poets named it,
descended on this ancient home of civilization.
AN EPOCH-MAKING EVENT
The capture of Constantinople is rightly regarded as an epoch-making
event. It meant the end, once for all, of the empire which had served so
long as the rearguard of Christian civilization, as the bulwark of the
West against the East. Europe stood aghast at a calamity which she had
done so little to prevent. The Christian powers of the West have been
paying dearly, even to our own time, for their failure to save New Rome
from infidel hands.
180. THE OTTOMAN TURKS IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
CONTINUED OTTOMAN EXPANSION
Turkey was now a European state. After the occupation of Constantinople
the Ottoman territories continued to expand, and at the death of Mohammed
II they included what are now Bulgaria, Rumania, Serbia, Albania, and
Greece. Of all the Balkan states only tiny Montenegro, protected by
mountain ramparts, preserved its independence.
NATURE OF TURKISH RULE
The Turks form a small minority among the inhabitants of the Balkans. At
the present time there are said to be less than one million Turks in
southeastern Europe. Even about Constantinople the Greeks far outnumber
them. The Turks from the outset have been, not a nation in the proper
sense of the word, but rather an army of occupation, holding down by force
their far more numerous Christian subjects.
THE TURKS A MIXED PEOPLE
The people who thus acquired dominion over all southeastern Europe had
become, even at the middle of the fifteenth century, greatly mixed in
blood. Their ancestors were natives of central Asia, but in Europe they
intermarried freely with their Christian captives and with converts from
Christianity to Islam. So far has this admixture proceeded that the modern
Turks are almost entirely European in physique.
[Illustration: Map, EMPIRE OF THE OTTOMAN TURKS AT THE FALL OF
CONSTANTINOPLE, 1453 A.D.]
ISOLATION OF THE TURKS
The Bulgarians, who came out of Asia to devastate Europe, at length turned
Christian, adopted a Slavic speech, and entered the family of European
nations. The Magyars, who followed them, also made their way into the
fellowship of Christendom. Quite the opposite has been the case with the
Turks. Preserving their Asiatic language and Moslem faith, they have
remained in southeastern Europe, not a transitory scourge, but an abiding
oppressor of Christian lands. Every century since 1453 A.D. has widened
the gulf between them and their subjects.
TURKISH INFLUENCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
The isolation of the Turks has prevented them from assimilating the higher
culture of the peoples whom they conquered. They have never created
anything in science, art, literature, commerce, or industry. Conquest has
been the Turks' one business in the world, and when they ceased conquering
their decline set in. But it was not till the end of the seventeenth
century that the Turkish Empire entered on that downward road which is now
fast leading to its extinction as a European power.
STUDIES
1. Locate these cities: Bokhara; Samarkand; Merv; Herat; Bagdad; Peking;
Delhi; Kiev; Moscow; and Adrianople.
2. Who were Baber, Kublai Khan, Othman, Mohammed II, Constantine
Palaeologus, and Ivan the Great?
3. Why should the steppes of central and northern Asia have been a nursery
of warlike peoples?
4. What parts of Asia were not included in the Mongol Empire at its
greatest extent?
5. Trace on the map on page 486 the further expansion of the Mongol Empire
after the death of Jenghiz Khan.
6. "Scratch a Russian and you will find a Tartar." What does this mean?
7. Why did the Mongol conquest of Russia tend to strengthen the sentiment
of nationality in the Russian people?
8. How did the tsars come to regard themselves as the successors of the
Eastern emperors?
9. Compare the Janizaries with the Christian military-religious orders.
10. How was "the victory of the Crescent secured by the children of the
Cross"?
11. Why were the invasions of the Mongols and Ottoman Turks more
destructive to civilization than those of the Germans, the Arabs, and the
Northmen?
12. Enumerate the more important services of the Roman Empire in the East
to civilization.
13. On an outline map indicate the extent of the Ottoman Empire in 1453
A.D.
FOOTNOTES
[1] See pages 241, 247, 314, 316, 334.
[2] Mongolia has long been a part of the Chinese Empire, but in 1912 A.D.,
when China because a republic, Mongolia declared its independence.
[3] Herodotus, iv, 46.
[4] "The Very Mighty King."
[5] See page 20.
[6] For the location of these cities see the map on page 486.
[7] See page 381.
[8] Commonly known as Tamerlane.
[9] See page 616.
[10] See page 622.
[11] For the early history of Russia see page 400.
[12] The name Tartar (more correctly, Tatar) was originally applied to
both Mongol and Turkish tribes that entered Russia. There are still over
three millions of these "Tartars" in the Russian Empire.
[13] The title Tsar, or Czar, is supposed to be a contraction of the word
Caesar.
[14] Whence the name Ottoman applied to this branch of the Turks.
[15] See page 242.
[16] A name derived from the Turkish _yeni cheri_, "new troops."
[17] See page 478.