Such was the genius of the Mongols that the platform for long-term success was established from the very beginning. As Genghis Khan and his successors expanded their reach, they had to incorporate new peoples within a coherent system. Tribes were deliberately broken down, with loyalties refocused on attachments to military units and above all allegiance to the Mongol leadership itself. Distinguishing tribal features, such as how different peoples wore their hair, were stamped out, with standardized fashions enforced instead. As a matter of course, those who submitted or were conquered were dispersed across Mongol-controlled territory to weaken bonds of language, kinship and identity, and to aid the assimilation process. New names were introduced in place of ethnic labels to underline the new way of doing things. All this in turn was reinforced by a centralized system of rewards, where booty and tribute were shared out: proximity to the ruling dynasty counted for everything, in turn encouraging a broad if brutal meritocracy, where successful generals reaped rich rewards and those who failed were quickly rooted out.[1]

While tribal identities were extinguished, there was consistent and remarkable broadmindedness when it came to the question of faith. The Mongols were relaxed and tolerant on religious matters. Ever since the time of Genghis Khan, the leader’s retinue had been allowed to practice whatever beliefs they wanted. Genghis himself viewed the Muslims with the eye of respect, so also did he hold the Christians and “idolaters” (that is, Buddhists) in high esteem, according to one later Persian writer. As far as his descendants were concerned, each was left to their own devices and their own conscience in deciding which faith to follow. Some chose to adopt Islam, others Christianity, with others again cleaving to the ancient canon of their fathers and forefathers, and inclining to no direction.[2]

From Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2016 (first published in 2015), pp. 177-178.

Footnotes

1. D. Morgan, The Mongols, Hoboken, N.J., 2007, pp. 88-90; P. Golden, “The Činggisid Conquests and their Aftermath in the Turkic World,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2000, pp. 38-40; T. Allen, Mongol Imperialism: The Policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, Russia, and the Islamic Lands, 1251-1259, Berkeley, 1987, pp. 189-216.

2. A.-M. Juvayni, History of the World Conqueror, Vol. 3, p. 26.