Episode 14 The Mongols in East and Southeast Asia

The Mongol Empire

Dr Craig Benjamin (2020)

Film Review

Dr Benjamin devotes this lecture to the Mongols’ variable success in Asian military campaigns outside China

Korea

Goryeo (Korea), built their first Great Wall in 1033 to protect against nomadic invasions (mainly the Khitan and Jurchins).  In 1219 they formed an alliance with the Mongols against the Khitan army. The Mongols subsequently demanded tribute in return for their military support. To enforce this demand, in 1231 Ogedei invaded the Goryeo, which surrendered after their capitol fell. Goryeo’s government Goryeo subsequently tried to outwit the Mongols (who were frightened of seafaring) by moving their capitol to Ganghwa Island. The Mongols retaliated by decimating the mainland. Following a popular uprising in 1258 (13 years before Qubilai Khan conquered China) and the assassination of his top general, the king made peace with the Mongols and agreed to pay them tribute.

Japan

In 1274 Mongols from the Yuan dynasty landed at Hakata Bay in Kyushui Japan with a navy of 3000 warships and 500 support vessels Qubilai Khan ordered his Chinese engineers to build in southern Korea. Their armada was manned by 1000 former Jin and Song sailors and 40,000 Song, Mongol and Korean troops. The 6000 Samurai who met them used siege engines to drive them back, as well as dispatching fire shipst to burn their Mongol ships. In the end, most were lost in a typhoon, in which 13,000 Mongols troops and sailors were drowned.

In a second invasion in 1281, the Mongols attacked at Hanari Bay with 900 ships (built in Korea) manned by 20,000 Korean troops and 20,000 Mongol warriors along with 3,500 Song ships with 100,00 troops were dispatched from Southern China. This would be the largest invading naval fleet prior to Normandy. They had reached a stalemate with the Samurai defenders when another typhoon destroyed most of the ships and killed nearly all the Chinese troops.

Burma

The Mongols first invaded the Pagan empire (Burma) in 1277. They were defeated by superior numbers and army elephants that terrified the Mongol horses. To forestall further Mongol invasions, the Pagan agreed to pay tribute and for 100,000 residents on the Pagan-Yuan border to be incorporated into the Mongol tax rolls.

Vietnam

Vietnam had been incorporated into China during the Ching dynasty and the Han dynasty subsequently incorporated the Red River Valley. The equal treatment of women under Vietnamese law made full incorporation by China impossible.

When pressured, the Vietnam government agreed to pay tribute to the Yuan dynasty but refused to travel to Beijing to offer formal submission. To punish them, Qubilai Khans warriors invaded Diviet (North Vietnam) from the north. Although the cities surrendered, the Vietnamese countryside (with its long of using guerilla tactics to resist foreign) refused to submit.

Indonesia

In 1289, a Mongol envoy presented in the capitol of Indonesia (Java) demanding that the king pay tribute and offer an Indonesian princes for marriage into Qubilai Khan’s family. Concerned the Mongols would try to control the Indonesian spice trade, the Indonesian king sliced off their noses. When the returned with 20,000 warriors, Indonesia, in the midst of civil war, were unsuccessful in defending Java from massive pillaging. The new government agreed to pay tribute but reneged on their commitment. This would be the last foreign campaign of Qubilai Khan, who died in 1294.

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https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/12373094/12373122