Mongol Imperialism Summary

Thomas T. Allsen is the author of Mongol Imperialism: the policies of the Great Qan Mongke in China, Russia, and the Islamic World which covers the time periods of 1251-1259, published by Berkeley in 1987. Thomas T. Allsen graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1979 going on to becoming a professor at the College of New Jersey where he holds a position in the Department of History. Along with being a professor of history, Allsen has published several books on Mongol civilization, including but not limited to Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire, Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia, and the one being discussed in this paper, Mongol Imperialism: the policies of the Great Qan Mongke in China, Russia, and the Islamic World 1251-1259.

The question asked was how the Mongolian empire at the time had such a powerfully ran military, the dominance established with each conquest, and how the Mongolian Empire was able to expand and organize and distribute his empire throughout the world. Allen’s main argument throughout his book, Mongol Imperialism: the policies of the Great Qan Mongke in China, Russia, and the Islamic World, was how the Mongol’s were able to transport and liquidize resources that had been placed under the Mongol’s control after conquest. The reason Thomas Allsen focused mainly on this point was because, according to Allsen, the reforms put in place by Qan Mongke during this time was the reason the Mongols were able to achieve such drastic conquest. Allsen believed that the Mongols were more than just uneducated, forceful people, and demonstrated his theories through his book and the support he provides when it comes to Qan Mongke and the way he handled his

The second part of the book provided information on how Mongolian transportation and mobilization of goods and resources helped in the assimilation of Mongolian culture throughout the East and West. Allen’s work helped put to rest that Mongols were only brutal conquerors, not successful rulers. Allsen supports his argument that Qan Mongke’s reforms helped to expand Mongolian civilization and empire with the support of how Mongke was able to do so. Mongke created an efficient government by imposing taxes, recruiting personal for the oh so strong military forces that the Mongolian Empire had at the time, and taking part in collaborative discussions. Allsen states at one point that Mongke “combined internal reform with external expansion.” Throughout the book, Allsen praises Mongke’s reforms, giving them a great deal of credit when it comes to saying that “there is no doubt that in general he succeeded in curbing the more flagrant abuses perpetrated by princes and