Mongols

Question 1

When did Eurasian nomadic herd sizes outgrow the possibility of static grazing?

Answer 1

Late 2nd millenium BC

Question 2

According to the Annals of Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols were ‘good…

Answer 2

at riding and archery. Therefore they took possession of the world through this advantage’

Question 3

What did Mongol commanders do prior to military expeditions?

Answer 3

scatter mare’s milk on the ground

Question 4

When did the Mongols retreat from the Bohemian frontier?

Answer 4

1242

Question 5

In what 1242 retreat did Mongol forces average 40 miles per day?

Answer 5

Retreat from the Bohemian frontier

Question 6

How many miles per day did Mongol average during the 1242 retreat from Bohemia?

Answer 6

40

Question 7

Which words have no native mongolian equivalents?

Answer 7

soldier, war, peace

Question 8

What percentage of the Mongol adult population could be utilised for military service in extremis?

Answer 8

75%

Question 9

What did Mongol men remain under even in peacetime?

Answer 9

military discipline

Question 10

Why did the Mongols not develop a seperate warrior class?

Answer 10

No agricultural surplus to support them

Question 11

When was the Great Kultai?

Answer 11

1206

Question 12

What was the Mongol name for a ten strong unit?

Answer 12

arban

Question 13

What was the Mongol name for a ten thousand strong unit?

Answer 13

tumen

Question 14

What did Chingghis Khan do with his officers?

Answer 14

paired juniors with senior mentors

Question 15

What did Chingghis do to recalcitrant tribes within the army?

Answer 15

dispersed them between military units

Question 16

At what approximate age was Chingghis when his father, Yesugi, died?

Answer 16

10

Question 17

When were the early Mongol campaigns against the Xi Xia?

Answer 17

1205-7, 1209

Question 18

Which Xi Xia cities were the Mongols unable to take in the campaigns of 1205-7, 1209?

Answer 18

Ningsia, Lingchow

Question 19

When was the Battle of Ain Jalut?

Answer 19

1260

Question 20

Whose death in 1259 led to the withdrawal of large numbers of Mongol forces from Palestine?

Answer 20

Mongke Khan

Question 21

What did the Mamluks use to defeat the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260?

Answer 21

feigned retreat, hilly terrain, wealth of Egyptian holdings

Question 22

When were the two Mongol attempts to invade Japan?

Answer 22

1274, 1281

Question 23

What did Kublai Khan order in 1280?

Answer 23

the construction of an invasion fleet within a year

Question 24

Which practices served to promote ethnic and linguistic diversity within Mongolian tribes?

Answer 24

Wife abduction, tribal intermarriage, polygamy

Question 25

Which four religions were tolerated under the Mongols?

Answer 25

Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity

Question 26

What benefits did Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity receive under the Mongols?

Answer 26

freedom of worship, clergy exempt from taxation

Question 27

In which war were the Mongols welcomed as liberators?

Answer 27

Qara Khitan War (1218)

Question 28

Which Qara Khitan usurper attempted to forcibly convert his Muslim population to Buddhism?

Answer 28

Kuchluq

Question 29

During which war did the Mongols gain the support of Onggut Turks in border areas?

Answer 29

Invasion of the Jin (1211-1234)

Question 30

From whom did the Mongols take their alphabet?

Answer 30

Uighurs (submitted in 1209)

Question 31

What was the Mongolian Yam system based on?

Answer 31

Uighur and Khitan advisors familiar with the Chinese Yi system

Question 32

At which siege battle did the Mongols use trebuchets and arcuballistae created by Muslim artillerists?

Answer 32

Siege of Yangluo Fortress (1275)

Question 33

At which battle did Guo Baoyu's forces use gunpowder against river fortifications?

Answer 33

Battle of the Amu Darya (1220)

Question 34

Which Chinese general led Mongol forces in the Battle of the Amu Darya (1220)?

Answer 34

Guo Baoyu

Question 35

In which western campaigns did the Mongols use Chinese siege equipment?

Answer 35

North Caucasus (1239-40), Iran (1250s)

Question 36

From which region did the Mongols derive much of their armour?

Answer 36

South West Asia

Question 37

Franciscan missionaries recorded the Mongol appreciation of breastplates made by which people?

Answer 37

Alan

Question 38

Which Persian word means chainmail?

Answer 38

Bagtar

Question 39

Which Mongol word means breastplate?

Answer 39

Begder

Question 40

Who wrote about the Mongols 'conquering, destroying, slaughtering and plundering'?

Answer 40

Ibn al-Athir

Question 41

What did Ibn al-Athir describe the Mongols doing?

Answer 41

'conquering, destroying, slaughtering and plundering'

Question 42

Who wrote a dubious account of Chingghis branding captured children on the forehead?

Answer 42

Matthew of Paris (Chronica Majora)

Question 43

At which siege did Bayan use incendiary munitions and beheads all defenders?

Answer 43

Siege of Shayang (1274)

Question 44

Which cities surrendered shortly following the brutal destruction of Shayang?

Answer 44

Xincheng, Fuzhou

Question 45

What happened to the Jin court during the war against the Mongols?

Answer 45

Large numbers of defections to the Mongols

Question 46

Which peoples were nominally vassals of the Qara Khitai (but were actually more autonomous) from the late 11th century?

Answer 46

Khwarazm

Question 47

What happened to the Khwarazm in the 1190s?

Answer 47

Rapidly absorbed territory from the collapsing Seljuk Empire

Question 48

What was the effect of the Khwarazm expansion in the 1190s?

Answer 48

Destablisation of the Qara-Khitai, their nominal overlords

Question 49

Which shah of the Khwarazm dispersed all his army and then fled to Khorosan upon the Mongol invasion?

Answer 49

Khwarazmshah Muhammed II