Stopping the Mongol Juggernaut 101

Three-lesser known Asian kingdoms who put the brakes on the Mongol world conquest

Samurai depicted with a dead Mongol warrior. Mongols failed to take Japan twice. Image source Wikimedia Commons.

“ Empires are like Ponzi schemes: financial frauds in which previous investors are paid returns out of new investors’ deposits. The costs of holding imperial territory can only be underwritten by loot and tribute extracted by constant new conquests”- Paul Kriwaczek.

The quote by Paul Kriwaczek is from his book Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization. It was about the Assyrian Empire, but this is true for every empire in human history, including the Mongol Empire.

Under Genghis Khan’s leadership, the Mongols built the world’s largest contiguous land empire. After he died in 1227, infighting caused the Mongol Empire to fall apart within three decades. Their opponents had figured them out. The Mongols met their match on the battlefield, shattering their aura of invincibility. 

The defeat of the Mongols by Egypt’s Mamluk Sultanate at Ain Jalut in 1260 marked the beginni…