Mongolian Effects on Russia and China

In the years between 1100 and 1400 the Mongol empire stretched the farthest of any empire throughout history. Within the massive land under Mongol rule laid the lands of China and Russia. The Mongols knew how to maintain their empire but had different ways of doing it in each part. This lead to the separate, divergent ways of governing the two lands. In China and Russia, the Mongol era brought an immense change in political and economical power. In China, political impact from the Mongols came off much stricter than it did in Russia.
The leader of the Mongolians, Kublai Khan guided the Mongols to conquer the Southern Song dynasty. Even though the Mongols had ruled territories, which included modern day northern China for many years, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially accepted a traditional Chinese style. When Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty, he practically conquered all of China. The Chinese weren’t as politically free as the Russians. For example Chinese were not allowed to inter-marry. He also banned Chinese scholars from learning Mongolian script and kept the two militaries separate.
Mongol political control in Russia was different than China. One could argue that Mongolia was slightly “looser” with the Russian government. The Russians were aloud a grand prince to lead under Mongolian power but they were forced to pay tribute. Not only did the Mongol rule have a huge effect on the politics of China and Russia but the economy was affected as well. During the Mongolian rule, the China became a heart of trade for the Eastern world. This gave the Mongols complete control of the Silk Road. China had things that so many other places in the world wanted such as silk and porcelain.

With a high demand for these Chinese goods the jobs were created, trade flourished, and the Mongolians highly benefited from the booming economy in China. The Mongols had a very different effect on the Russian economy than the Chinese economy. The Mongols caused the Russian economy to crash, which made Russia restart all of its agricultural affairs. This forced Russia to rely generally on peasant labor. Paper money was also being made which caused major inflation. Instead of becoming a hot spot for trade, Russia became weaker do to the economic Mongol torture.