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 The Mongol conquest of China came in a series of stages. The Western Xia kingdom in the north-west was attacked between 1205 and 1209 and the Jin Empire of North China was first overrun between 1211 and 1215. The Mongols then turned westwards and seized the Western Liao Empire, the state founded by the remnants of the Qidan. After a pause the Mongol attack was resumed, the Jin Empire was destroyed in 1234, the remains of the Nanzhao kingdom in the south-west fell in 1253. Korea was conquered by 1258. The Yuan dynasty was established in 1272 and the Southern Song capitulated in 1279.
Genghis Khan and the conquest of North China
In the twelfth century the people who are known historically as the Mongols lived in separate tribes on the steppes of central Asia. Their economy was based on herding cattle, hunting and the fact that they were expert horsemen. They were frequently in conflict with their neighbors, the Tartars and this was encouraged by the Jin, who wished to ensure that there was dissension on the steppes as a means of keeping themselves free of oppression.
The early history of Temujin, later to be known as Genghis Khan, was recorded in the Secret History of the Mongols. He was born in about 1167 and his father, who fought against the Tartars was said to have been poisoned when Temujin was still a child. This led to the young man seeking to ally the various Mongol tribes against the Tartars and in so doing he became their overall leader. In around 1187 he declared himself to be the khan of the Mongols. Ten years later with the assistance of the Jin, he was able to wreak revenge upon the Tartars for the death of his father. Another ten years of conflict passed until a meeting of the tribes in 1206 proclaimed Genghis Khan universal ruler of the peoples of the steppes. He proceeded to carry out reforms of the religion, laws and politics of the newly united people. Most importantly, he set about organizing the military resources. He declared that he was the instrument of heaven and all that stood against him did so in defiance of heaven and it was on this that his drive for universal rule was based. He handed out titles, created responsibilities for his supporters and had his decrees recorded in written form so that they might serve as precedents. This was something which had not been done in Mongolian society before. So far as the military reforms were concerned, he had ninety-five tribal units each of a thousand men divided into units of tens and hundreds. In total he had over a hundred thousand men under his command, fighting under the leadership of their tribal chieftains. This was an army of men who were capable of great feats of endurance and a fighting machine that was to create the largest land empire the world has ever seen.
Following campaigns which extended from the Black Sea to Korea attacks were then made on northern China between 1211 and 1215. His attention was then drawn to the west where he conquered the Western Liao Empire before he returned his attacks on China. In 1226 he attacked and destroyed the Western Xia but he died the following year. He was succeeded by his third son Ogodei who continued to expand the territories under Mongol control. In 1230 he recommenced attacks on northern China and in 1233 he captured Kaifeng, destroying the Jin dynasty in the following year. The Mongols had continued their nomadic way of life and had turned vast tracks of land that they had captured into pastures. They even considered exterminating large populations of peoples they had overrun in order to extend this practice. However, Yeluchucai recommended the establishment of a strong central government and that an amnesty should be extended to those Chinese who had offended against the Mongols. Yeluchucai's suggestions, which had included a tax system and a means for local administration, proved successful and he was then empowered to extend his use of Chinese administrative methods. He brought Chinese civil servants into government employ and encouraged the study of the Chinese classics. He also attempted to reintroduce the examination system for the appointment of civil servants. It was when Ogodei granted a Muslim businessman the privilege of farming taxes of North China along with the appointment of other Muslims to influential positions that the strategy for ruling China began to fall into decay. When Ogodei died in 1241 and Yeluchucai died a year later, the system of administration was seriously undermined.
The Conquest of the Southern Song
In 1251 Mongke became Khan and the invasion of China resumed. His brother Kublai embarked upon a campaign to subdue the Southern Zhou and in 1254 Mongke invaded Sichuan in 1258, a year prior to his death. A dispute over the succession delayed any further assault on the Southern Song for a further twenty years. The terrain made the traditional use of cavalry by the Mongols very difficult as they had to capture walled cities and suffer the threat of Song naval power. A significant battle led to the fall of Xiangyang following a siege which lasted from 1268 to 1273. In 1276 Hangzhou was occupied and the Song formally surrendered. However, some of the Song militants continued to resist until 1279. They retreated to Guangzhou and were forced to put to sea. The last devoted servant of the dynasty, Lu Xiufu, leapt into the sea with the boy emperor in his arms and they were both drowned.
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