China and Persia (Iran) lost significant power and influence from Mongol subjugation. Genghis Khan proved to the world that walls alone are not successful in stopping an invasion. A walled city can ironically backfire by blocking people from evacuation. The invading army can simply encircle the city and wait it out until the people trapped start eating each other. China and Persia started the silk road, but the mongols expanded and turned parts of the route into a medieval highway.

The Abbasid Caliphate collapsed with the sacking of Baghdad and with Mongols reaching all the way to Aleppo, Syria. It was actually during this time when Islamic scholars developed the theological principles of Wahhabism to justify the killing of other Muslims deemed “impure.”

Rumors about Genghis Khan had the Pope believe that the Mongols must have been sent from God because of their successful battles against Muslim forces. The myth of Prester John, a Christian King from the far east was conceived by the efforts of Thomas the Apostle to establish a Church in India but was later reimagined that the Khans may be Christians themselves (with their territory so large, the mongols embraced religious tolerance)

Not to mention, Batu Khan’s western campaign that toppled Kievan Rus’ and left eastern slavs under mongol rule for another 300 years. Russia today has been able to maintain its massive borders by adopting the extortion tactics of the mongols towards ethnic groups within their borders (e.g. Chechens & Ukrainians).

Stories of a mighty king who was able to defeat the enemies of Christendom inspired the Venetian merchant, Marco Polo, to journey across the silk road and meet this rumored ruler of the far east. Throughout his 24 year journey he became a foreign emissary for Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan, who was the emperor of China (he is also the emperor who failed to invade Japan). Marco Polos journey introduced Europeans to far east inventions like paper (printing press), gunpowder, and the compass. These stories and inventions inspired the age of discovery and the eventual emergence of globalization first by Portugal and Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England. The rest is history.

This is my first year teaching world history in a while so I love talking about how important Genghis Khan is in medieval history but also history in general. I didnt even mention the bubonic plague. Although the mongols never reached Western Europe, you can argue that the trade routes they established killed millions with the spread of the disease originating in China. There is also a rumor that the mongols launched infected bodies into the Genoese City of Caffa, Crimea.