Destruction Of Mongols

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The role of the Mongols in reshaping the Middle East was the conquering and destruction of Middle Eastern cities and populations. They exterminated large collections of people many cities, as Ira Lapidus states, the Mongol invasions resulted in “a catastrophic fall in population, income and state revenue” (Lapidus, page 228). However, despite massive physical destruction to Muslim culture, Islam survived and its law and practices slowly but successfully converted the Mongols to Islam. The Mongols led by Genghis Khan in the twelve century conquered parts of Russia, China, Europe and Iran. Then the General Hulagu Khan in 1258 CE Invaded Iraq and crushed the Abbasid Empire. They depopulated cities, and destroyed agriculture systems, in fact the damage the Mongols did was so vast that the Middle East took centuries to recover. James Gelvin discusses this stating “between two hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand people died during the sack of Baghdad” (Gelvin, page 20). The first century of Mongol invasion was damaging, there was a huge fall in the production of…show more content…
These changes began with reign of Ghazan in 1295 CE, who ruled Iran by the distribution of lands to locals, who were then able to divide them amongst their own people. The success of the Mongol occupation demanded the support of notable elite families, the Illkhan regime allied with these people as well as merchants, bureaucrats and the local elites. Unlike the majority of occupations the Mongols did not bring or enforce their own culture and religion on the Middle East. The Mongols in fact converted to Islam and were absorbed into Middle Eastern Culture. The Illkhan lasted until 1336 CE, during these four decades, historical writing embellished and the construction of great monuments like the mausoleum of Oljeytu were

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