Miranda Hogan AP world Mrs.. Midwicket Compare and Contrast Essay During the time period from the 13th century to 1405 the Mongols dominated a great majority of Asia. The Mongols had a unique way of life and different traditions that China and the Russia didn’t. This caused the Mongols to have certain political, economic, and social ideas that were different from both China and Russia. However, there were many similarities between the Mongols and Russia and China during this time period because they lived so closely together with human interaction and weren’t isolated from everyone else.
The Mongols had significant political and economic impact on both Russia and China during their rule, but China was more widely affected, being ruled directly by Mongols, whereas Russia was largely left to its own devices under independent principalities and felt Mongol influence largely via taxes. The reintroduction of the Silk Road was a major boost for the economy of both China and Russia. For Russia in some cases in helped them gain more money than what they were paying in tribute to the Golden Horde. They made profits, increased prosperity, and it helped boost their economy.
China gained from the Silk Road cause trade increased again. The Mongol Empire acted as a bridge between civilizations. Trade wasn’t the only thing exchanged either. Cultural ideas and religion as well as science, medicine, technology and arts were introduced as well. The way the Mongols ruled the Russians was extremely different from the way the Chinese were ruled. At the time when Russia was conquered there capital city of Kiev was in a gradual decline for a long period of time. As a result they were easy to control and manipulate with the Golden Horde.
However, some people assume that the Golden Horde ran the Russian government, which they didn’t. The Golden Horde just invaded and conquered them. As a result, the Mongols take this as an opportunity to tax them and make the Russians pay tribute as a way of “ thanks” (you just conquered me). Also, as a result of being conquered the capital of Kiev is destroyed and Moscow begins to rise. The Mongol rule effected Russia mostly because of the Christian separation from Western Europe and the Renaissance. This was a major turning point for Russian history. The Chinese were ruled more by Cubical Khan himself than Russia was.
During this time period in China although the imperial structure remained the same, the ender roles in their society began to change. As a result, Chablis, the wife of Cubical Khan was one of his most important advisors of political matters. One policy that Cubical was against was that he refused to bring back civil service examinations because he didn’t want to give power to the scholars. A difference between the way Russia was run and China was run was that China had astute and tolerant rulers. The Mongols were very tolerant towards both the Chinese and the Russians. Before Cubical gained control of China he was fascinated with their culture.
Cubical introduced rituals and music to his own court, put the empire on the Chinese calendar, and offered sacrifices to his ancestors. When Cubical conquered China he helped the peasants by diminishing peasant taxes and attempting to educate them. The people of China were treated kindly and Cubical and Chablis respected Chinese culture. As well as towards China, the Mongols were also tolerant of the Russians. The Mongols accepted the religion of the Russians when Moscow was chosen as a seat for the Orthodox Church. Although having the Orthodox church in Moscow declined the power of the Golden Horde the Mongols tolerated their religious beliefs.
Although both of theses countries were tolerated, the reason China was accepted by Cubical a substantial amount more is because he new more about their culture and he already approved the Chinese culture before he began to rule the country. Although the Mongols controlled a vast amount of land that made up Asia, there were different ways the Mongols governed and improved the economy of Russia and China. This was caused because of the location of each country and what state it was in before it was conquered. Even though some of the results weren’t as beneficial to Russia as they were to China both countries were impacted in many ways.
