Mongol Invasions of Japan

Kubilai Khan, Mongol ruler and founder of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) in China, twice attempted to invade Japan, in 1274 and 1281, with huge armadas launched from Korea and China. He failed both times mainly because of weather.

Japan thus never suffered under Mongol rule. The Japanese attributed their deliverance to the divine wind, kamikazi in Japanese. In 1260 Kubilai Khan seized leadership of the Mongol empire on the death of his elder brother, Mongke Khan, in a disputed succession.

Kubilai Khan established his capital in North China, at the site of the former Jin (Chin) dynasty capital, which he called Dadu (T’atu), meaning great capital in Chinese (present-day Beijing). He continued his brother’s unfinished work of destroying the Southern Song (Sung) dynasty and embarked on a new adventure even before that task was completed in 1279.


In 1268 he sent his first embassy to Japan demanding tribute. The Japanese emperor, by then a figurehead residing in Kyoto, was willing to acquiesce. But real power belonged to the shogun or military commander and his court at Kamakura, which rebuffed the repeated Mongol demands.

Thus Kubilai Khan decided to invade Japan to force compliance. His Korean subjects were ordered to build 400 large and 500 small ships, which set sail from Pusan in Korea in November 1274.

The invasion force had 15,000 Chinese and Mongol soldiers, 6,000–8,000 Korean troops, and 7,000 Korean sailors. The defending Japanese warriors (samurai) were far less numerous and suffered serious losses in the battle fought at Hataka on Kyushu Island. However they were saved by a fierce storm that blew in.

The defending Japanese warriors (samurai) were far less numerous

The Korean sailors persuaded the Mongol troops to board their ships and sail for safety in the open seas. The storm, however, damaged and sank many of the ships and 13,000 lives were lost; the survivors eventually limped home.

Kubilai Khan finished the destruction of the Southern Song in 1279. Then he focused on subjugating Japan. In 1281 he dispatched a huge force, reputedly of 140,000 men, in two armadas that sailed from China and Korea for Hataka.

Anticipating the Mongols’ return the Japanese had mobilized and built a wall to the interior of Hataka Bay. After about two months of desultory fighting, another fierce storm or typhoon blew in and destroyed most of the Mongol fleet.


Some survivors fled back to Korea; the rest were slaughtered or enslaved by the Japanese. Kubilai prepared for a third invasion, but the effort was abandoned after he died in 1294. However the shogunate continued a state of military alert until 1312. The cost of the defenses fell mainly to the people of Kyushu Island.

The discontent generated eroded the power of the Hojo clan of the Kamakura Shogunate. Japanese credited the kamikazi for their deliverance and tried to resurrect this idea during the last days of World War II for salvation from defeat by the Allies.

Moscow: Third Rome

The civilization and culture of the Byzantine Empire with its capital of “New Rome” (Constantinople) greatly influenced the development of Russia. Christian missionaries were sent from the Christian empire to Russia in the ninth century.

Their work bore fruit when, in 988, Prince Vladimir I (Vladimir the Great) of Kiev looked to “New Rome” for spiritual direction and was baptized into Christianity. Vladimir converted Russia to the Christian world. The patriarch of Constantinople appointed a bishop for Kiev and continued to appoint the highest-ranking pre late in the land until the 15th century.

In 1054 the religious division of “Old Rome” and “New Rome” became permanent as Catholic and Orthodox Christianity parted company. Russian Christianity was firmly rooted in the Orthodox sphere in theology, ecclesiology, literature, and liturgy.


In the 13th century Western crusaders conquered Constantinople and much of the Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade and sought to impose Catholic Christianity on the Orthodox empire, while Orthodoxy in Russia suffered a blow as the Mongols destroyed Kiev and established their hegemony that lasted into the late 15th century.

With the destruction of Kiev and the Mongol dominance of the Slavic southern region, the northern city of Moscow began to rise in prominence in the 14th century. In the first quarter of the 14th century the metropolitan of Russia (the highest ranking Orthodox bishop, formerly at Kiev) chose to settle in the city of Moscow.

With the support of the church, Dimitri Donkoi, grand duke of Moscow, defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. Though their hegemony lasted another century, the Mongol hold on northern Russia was weakened and the prestige of Moscow greatly enhanced.

Moscow viewed itself as upholding the mantle of Orthodoxy against the hostile forces of Catholic Christianity, which had been attacking Orthodox Russia via Teutonic, Knights, Swedes, Poles, and Lithuanians in the 13th and 14th centuries as well as non-Christian forces, such as the Mongols.

battle of kulikovo

Up to this time, the metropolitan of Russia was selected by the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople. This changed however after the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438–39, when the Byzantine Empire, faced with the overwhelming threat of the Muslim Ottoman Turks, submitted the Orthodox Church to the papacy.

Moscow and Russian Orthodoxy rejected this church council and its submission as antithetical to true Christianity. Henceforth, the Russian church was independent from Constantinopolitan control.

In 1453 Constantinople or “New Rome” fell to the Ottoman Turks. Russian czar Ivan III “the Great” (reigned 1462–1505) married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor and inherited the mantle of the Christian empire that had been established by Constantine I (d. 337), the founder of “New Rome.”


The Russians understood that God had allowed “Old Rome” to be sacked by Germans in the fifth century and shifted the imperial and religious center of Christendom to Constantinople. Now God had decreed that Second Rome should fall.

With the other Eastern Patriarchates (Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem) also in Muslim hands, it appeared to the Russian church that it clearly stood as the champion of Orthodoxy and the heir apparent to Orthodox Christian leadership: It was the Third Rome.

Russian monk Philotheus of Pskov articulated this most clearly in his letter to Czar Basil III in 1510: “Two Romes have fallen, but the third stands and a fourth there shall not be.” The czar of Moscow became the new protector of Orthodoxy and in the later 16th century the metropolitan of Moscow was promoted to the rank of patriarch.

The Prophet Muhammad

The Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad was born in Mecca to the Hashim branch of the major Qureish tribe. He was raised in a poor household by his grandfather and as a young man married Khadija, a wealthy widow who was also a successful businesswoman. Working with Khadija, Muhammad earned a reputation for honesty.

The couple had one daughter, Fatima, who married Ali ibn Abu Talib. While Khadija lived, Muhammad remained monogamous, although polygamy was the usual practice throughout Arabia. After Khadija’s death, Muhammad married a number of times.

In keeping with customs throughout the world, these marriages were often made to cement tribal, religious, and political alliances or to give widows protection and support. However, Muhammad’s marriage to A’isha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, an early Muslim convert, was by all accounts an alliance of love.


As Muhammad became increasingly religious he began to meditate; in 610, he received the first revelations from Allah (God) transmitted through the angel Gabriel on Mount Hira.

In one vision or dream he even traveled on a winged beast, Buruq, to Jerusalem, which was to become the third holy city in Islam after Mecca and Medina. The revelations would ultimately be set down in the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book. The new religion was known as Islam or submission to God.

Within a year, Muhammad began to preach the word of Allah and converted Khadija, Ali, his freed slave servant Zaid, and his best friend Abu Bakr. The new converts were known as Muslims, or those who surrender or submit to the will of God. They followed the Five Pillars of Islam as the articles of faith.

As the fledgling Muslim community grew, the wealthy merchant families in Mecca, especially the Umayyads, grew alarmed that the new religion might threaten the lucrative pilgrimage trade from those visiting the holy Ka’aba, a rock in Mecca that Arabian tribal peoples had venerated for centuries.

Subsequently they began to persecute Muslim believers and even jailed Muhammad for a time. Some of the new believers fled to the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia), where as other monotheists they were warmly received.

Fearing increased persecution or even death, Muhammad accepted an invitation from the people of Yathrib, later known as Medina, to settle in that city. In 622 the Muslim community migrated or made a hijrah to Medina. The Muslim lunar calendar begins with that date.

The Meccans swore revenge but were badly defeated by the Muslims at the Battle of Badr in 624. Although the Muslims lost a following confrontation, ably led by the prophet Muhammad, they ultimately triumphed and returned to Mecca with Muhammad as the acknowledged new leader of most of Arabia.

Muhammad died in 632. He had no sons who lived to adulthood and left no instructions as to who should lead the Muslim community after his death. Following the Prophet’s death, the community gathered and in a remarkably open and democratic fashion chose, by consensus, Abu Bakr to be their new caliph or representative.

Sultan Muhammad of Ghur

Sultan Muhammad of Ghur

The victory of Muhammad of Ghur over the Rajput king, Prithviraj Chauhan III (r. 1178–92), was a turning point in the history of South Asia. Islam began to pervade the northern portion of the Indian subcontinent, in present-day India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

It was Muhammad of Ghur who prepared the groundwork of the establishment of political power. Muizuddin Muhammad of Ghur, also known as Shahbuddin, came from the Ghur region located in modern Afghanistan. In the rivalry between the house of the Ghaznavids and Ghurids, the latter under the leadership of Alauddin Husain (r. 1149–61), emerged victorious.

Muhammad’s early career began with the conquest of Ghazni in 1173. He was ambitious and bent upon a career of territorial aggrandizement. Muhammad could not expand toward the west because of the presence of the powerful Khwarizm dynasty of Persia.


He found the Indian subcontinent ruled by regional kingdoms, with no unity among themselves to check external aggression. Prevailing social tensions, apathetic attitude of the common people, and advanced military technology facilitated his conquest.

In 1175 Multan fell into the hands of Muhammad, and afterward he occupied Uch and the lower Sind. Three years afterward he faced defeat at the hands of the Chalukyas of Gujrat. Bhimdev II defeated Muhammad near Mount Abu. Muhammad planned an attack through the Punjab region, where Ghanazvid king Tajuddaula Khursav Malik (r. 1160–86) ruled. By 1179 he was master of Peshawar, Lahore, and Silakot. Most of the areas in present-day Pakistan were under his sway. His territorial border was contiguous with Prithviraj III, the Chauhan ruler of Delhi and Ajmer. At the first Battle of Tarai in 1191, he defeated Muhammad.

The latter was captured and brought before Prithviraj, who released the vanquished as an act of magnanimity. Prithviraj was not friendly with the Gaharwar ruler of Kannauj, Jaychandra (r. 1170–93), and Muhammad exploited it. Jaychandra sided with the Ghur ruler, as he was bitter over Prithviraj’s forced marriage with Princess Sanjukta.

The Rajput control over North India was over after Muhammad defeated Prithviraj in the second Battle of Tarai of 1192. The defeated Rajput ruler was taken as a captive to Ghur and ultimately he was blinded and killed.

The rule from the northwest began, which culminated in establishing the political kingdom of the Delhi Sultanate. Muhammad controlled much of northern India and parts of Gujarat and Gwalior.

Qutubuddin Aibak (r. 1206–10), the general of Muhammad, was put in charge of Delhi and Ajmer. He made Delhi capital and conquered Ranthambhor, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, and Meerut. Muhammad returned to the Indian subcontinent in 1194. He defeated his erstwhile ally Jaychandra in a decisive battle fought on the banks of the Jamuna River near Chandawar.

Within a year Muhammad was master of northern India after occupying Bayana, Varanasi, and Gwalior. He returned to Ghur leaving his generals, who consolidated and further expanded the territory of Muhammad. Even outlying provinces like Bengal, Bihar, and Gujarat felt the onslaught of a new rule.

While Muhammad’s lieutenants were busy on the Indian subcontinent, he returned to settle the affairs of his parent kingdom. His elder brother Ghiyasuddin had died in 1202 and Muhammad became the ruler of Ghur. After three years Alauddin Muhammad (r. 1199–1220), the Khwarizm Saha ruler, defeated him in the Battle of Andhkhud.

Muhammad came to India again in 1205 to suppress the rebellion of the Ghakkar tribe in the Punjab. On his way back home during the next year, Muhammad made a stop at Dhamyak on the banks of the river Jhelum.

He was stabbed and killed while offering evening prayers in the Ghokkar territory. Some authorities believe that the Isma’ili sect were responsible for his death. Qutb ud-Din Aibak took control of Muhammad’s territory in India, declaring independence from the Ghurids.

The Ghurids continued to rule the Ghurid kingdom until 1211, when Alauddin annexed their kingdom. The territorial extent of the Khwarazm dynasty extended from Turkistan in the east to the borders of Iraq in the west. The Mongols conquered part of Ghurid territory in Afghanistan.

Earlier victories of Muhammad bin Qasim (712) and the raids of Mahmud of Ghazni (1000–25) had not resulted in establishment of political power. Major areas of present-day India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan came under the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, who ruled after Muhammad.

Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu was a noblewoman of the dominant Fujiwara clan in Japan. Fujiwara women had a monopoly of being wives and concubines of the emperors, while the men ruled in the sovereigns’ names. She was lady in waiting to the empress and author of a novel titled Tale of Genji, which is acclaimed as a great and pioneering literary work.

The Japanese language belongs to the Altaic family group; it is polysyllabic and is related to Korean. Since there was no native written script, the leaders of Japan adopted the Chinese writing system in the sixth century. For several centuries afterward upper-class Japanese men put great focus on learning Chinese and copying Chinese works and Buddhist manuscripts.

Japanese government documents, historical and legal works, and literary and poetic works were all written in Chinese characters and indistinguishable from works on similar subjects in Chinese. When writing Japanese names they had to employ Chinese characters not for their meaning, but as phonetic signs.


In the ninth century a phonetic style of writing that used abbreviated Chinese characters selected for their sound was created. These syllables were called kana and they were convenient for writing down spoken Japanese.

Although Chinese culture remained very prestigious in Japan, the Japanese court decided to end sending embassies to China in 894, reflecting disorders in China as the Tang (T’ang) dynasty neared its end, and also the growing maturity of Japanese institutions.

one of the tale of genji ilustration

In 710 a first permanent capital was established in Nara, modeled on China’s capital Chang’an (Ch’ang-an). Nara was abandoned in favor of a new capital called Heian (later Kyoto) in 794.

Heian became an opulent city where wealth and culture flourished. While men continued to write in Chinese, noble ladies in Heian, who were not burdened with learning literary Chinese, began to write rambling novels, memoirs, and poetry using the kana script.

The most famous writer was Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote Genji Monogatari or Tale of Genji, between 1008 and 1020. It is a romance of the life and loves of an imaginary Prince Genji and portrays the frivolous and decadent court life of the time. It is a sophisticated depiction of Heian society and has great literary merit and psychological insight.


It is the first novel in Japanese literature written in kana. Another work by a court lady, Sei Shonagon, is called Pillow Book, which consists of observations and comments on manners and mores of the Japanese court. Both ladies and their works have been influential in inspiring later works of the same genre.

Muslim Spain

Inside Alhambra, Granada, Spain

In 711 the Muslims had conquered the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula. By 714 following the decline of the Visigoths, the Muslims had gained a strong grip on virtually the entire Iberian Peninsula. The parts in southern Spain that were under Muslim rule were called al-Andalus.

The vast region was divided into five administrative provinces—Andalusia (including the capital Córdoba and Seville), Central Spain, Galicia and Lusitania, and the Ebro region. The administrative system was subject to change as the Christians regained more power over parts of Muslim Spain in the following centuries.

However Muslim Spain was not restricted to the region named al-Andalus. The Muslims also controlled parts of Aragon-Catalonia and Navarre. Parts of southern France fell briefly under Muslim rule but a strong French military force under Charles Martel managed to drive them away in 756.


Although Córdoba was not the capital city of previous rulers such as the Byzantines and the Romans, it lay at the crossroads of important trade routes. Moreover the city possessed rich agricultural resources. From there the caliphs ruled parts of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

The Muslims had, in fact, amassed a vast empire stretching from Spain to India and ruled diverse groups of people, who contributed to the later development of a sophisticated culture in a cosmopolitan setting found in Muslim capitals such as Córdoba. By 757 al-Andalus had been clearly established as a Muslim polity with a mainly Arab and Berber population, but also with many converts.

Within Muslim Spain, the Umayyad dynasty ruled over Arabs from various locations as well as Berbers, Jews, Christians. The lingua franca used by diverse groups of people within al-Andalus was Arabic.

Umayyad Dynasty

inside Cordoba (former) Mosque

In 750 after a series of rival wars between various Muslim factions, the Umayyad Abd al-Rahman Mu’awiya, also known as Abd al-Rahman I, refused to acknowledge the Abbasid Sunni Caliphate based in Baghdad.

By this time the Abbasid dynasty was considered corrupt and weak. This led Abd al-Rahman to set up his own dynasty of emirs of Córdoba, first by ousting the previous ruler, Yusuf al-Fihri.

Abd al-Rahman proclaimed himself the first emir of Córdoba in the mosque of Córdoba on May 14, 756. The powerful Fatimid dynasty, based in Egypt, opposed the installation of the Umayyad Caliphate on Córdoba. The Fatimid dynasty had a strong hold over North Africa.


Abd al-Rahman thus enlisted the help of the Zanata Berber tribe enemies of the Sinhaja tribe, allies of the Fatimids. Pro-Umayyad rebellions against the Fatimids were quashed and Abd al-Rahman was unable to advance into North Africa, as he was preoccupied with skirmishes with the Christians.

He ruled independently of the Abbasid Caliphate for 33 years, consolidating sufficient support for Umayyad authority to ensure the longevity of his dynasty. Abd al-Rahman succeeded in fending off Yusuf al-Fihri’s allies as well as the supporters of the Abbasid Caliphate within al-Andalus.

Later on the emirate became known as the Umayyad Caliphate, which was in fact modeled upon the older Abbasid Caliphate. The Umayyads, who were members of the prophet Muhammad’s tribe Qureish, claimed to be descendants from the prophet Muhammad.

Prior to conquering parts of the Iberian Peninsula the Umayyads had already ruled a huge part of the Muslim world including the important city of Samarkand at the eastern edge of their kingdom. Their conquests stretched to al-Andalus in the west with its capital in Córdoba.

By the time of Abd al-Rahman I’s death in 852, al-Andalus was already a major diplomatic power in the Mediterranean with emirates established over North Africa. Links had also been established with the Byzantine emperor, another major player in Mediterranean politics.

Visigoth Resistance

Visigoth Resistance

Initially the Muslim power that was responsible for the great wave of Muslim expansion was based in their distant capital city of Damascus. In Muslim Spain, however, Córdoba was made the capital, where the Muslim invaders settled down as property owners soon after their victory over the Visigoths.

One way land was acquired in Córdoba was through marriage with important members of the Visigothic aristocracy. This had the added advantage of staving off potential opposition from the Visigoths, who had been the ruling class in Córdoba before their defeat at the hands of the Muslims.

Despite the Visigoths’ apparent truce with the Muslims within Spain, members of the Visigothic aristocracy who had fled up north of the Iberian Peninsula continued to resist Muslim rule in the south.

This was an impetus for the Muslims to invade the northern mountainous region of the peninsula, as well as France. The Muslim invaders were especially looking to gain resources in France rather than the inaccessible regions in northern Spain. This expansion came to an end when the three major military expeditions to France during the eighth century ended in disastrous defeats.

Umayyad caliphs in al-Andalus had a policy of tolerance toward the non-Muslims under their rule. Non-Muslim residents had to pay a poll tax (jizya) and a land tax. Thus the greatest source of tax revenue, was the non-Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus. This contributed to the policy of tolerance of the Christian and Jewish population. Conversion to Islam escalated under the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate.

During the ninth century mass conversions took place. The benefits of conversion included employment opportunities in government. Not only did Muslims pay significantly less tax than non-Muslims, they could also gain better positions in the bureaucracy.
In fact the unifying bonds between the various groups of people were culture and literature, rather than religion, which created a harmonious setting. There was a large Christian group within Muslim Spain known as the Mozarabs, who settled mostly in Seville.

They adopted a Muslim lifestyle, in terms of fashion, architecture, and literature, without converting to Islam. These Mozarabs suffered religious persecution in 1139 by fellow Christians after the raids of King Afonso I (Henriques) of Portugal on Seville, as they were not considered true Christians.

Umayyad Dynasty of Cordoba

Umayyad Dynasty of Cordoba

The caliph of Córdoba, formerly known as the emir of Córdoba, ruled Spain for slightly more than a century, from the year 929 to 1031, beginning with the reign of the most powerful Muslim ruler, Abd ar-Rahman III, who claimed the caliphate in 929.

The caliph was especially skilled at projecting his image as a powerful Arab leader. Abd ar-Rahman III made sure he was visible to his people in the many ceremonies and processions organized for him. The caliph presented himself as an effective leader of his own military troops. In his image campaign, newsletters and poems were glowingly written of his military prowess and piety.

During this period, in addition to having a reputation as an illustrious commercial center, al-Andalus also became an eminent center of knowledge and learning. Al-Andalus was a great civilization, compared with the rest of Europe at that time. Many Islamic works of art were produced during this era of Muslim rule.

Umayyad caliph Abd Al-Rahman III had a keen interest in the arts, as well as the religious and secular sciences. He amassed many books from other intellectual centers such as Baghdad, which were then stored in the library. Scholars were also hired to supplement further the amount of written knowledge imported.

Drawn to the bastion of knowledge and culture, many philosophers and scientists began to migrate to al-Andalus, making it a renowned center of learning. Intellectual life in Córdoba peaked during the reign of Al-Hakam II, who was in power from 961 to 967.

He was responsible for establishing a massive library filled with hundreds of thousands of volumes, a useful repository of knowledge in the Mediterranean world. During this period several intellectuals achieved prominence in Muslim Spain.

Spanish Muslim intellectuals excelled in the fields of mathematics, medicine, and astronomy. The most famous example is Ibn Rushd, otherwise called Averroës, who was a philosopher, theologian, physician, and sometime royal consultant, born and educated in Córdoba.

Christian Reconquest

Simultaneously the territories owned by the caliph of Córdoba decreased just as aspects of commerce and culture thrived. Internal dissension among different Arab factions weakened the Umayyad power base in Córdoba as they disintegrated into warring divisions.

The lack of Muslim unity proved crucial to Christian success. During the reign of Hisham II, the Umayyad Caliphate disintegrated into party-kingdoms in 1009. He was executed in 1013, only to be succeeded by another weak ruler, Hisham III, the last caliph of Córdoba.

Hisham III was exiled to Lerida. Nominal rule continued under the short-lived Hasanid dynasty until 1054. The further remaining territories dwindled into mere Muslim principalities, better known as independent taifas, ruled by mainly Berber rulers, though there were also non-Berber rulers.

With their defenses weakened because of lack of unity, these taifas often had to hire mercenaries from North Africa or Christian mercenaries to protect their principalities, which were constantly at war with each other. This chaotic situation in the Muslim states was conducive to Christian reconquest.

Christians in the northern parts of the Iberian Peninsula had already begun to consolidate their military and political power as early as the eighth century, and into the latter half of the ninth century.

Under the reign of Alfonso II (791–842), the Christians in the northern region had stabilized themselves. He was able to install Visigothic institutions in his kingdom with his capital in Oviedo.

The Christians viewed the reconquest of southern Spain (al-Andalus) as justified, since they were reclaiming what rightfully belonged to the Visigoths. Further impetus was provided by the discovery of the tomb of St. James the apostle, a patron saint around whom the Christians could rally.

From the eighth to the 10th century the Christian north had possessed an inferior economic system and cultural milieu compared to al-Andalus in the south. However they were already clearly formed political entities with military forces that were able to stave off attacks from their enemies from the south. This enabled them to reconquer Muslim Spain upon its disintegration during the 10th and 11th centuries.

In 1056 the Almoravid Empire took over as the rulers of Muslim Spain. They were replaced by the dynasty of Almohads in 1130. The decline of the Almohads in 1269 enabled the Christians to conquer parts of Muslim Spain with more ease.

The important cities of Córdoba and Seville had already fallen into Christian hands in 1236 and 1248, respectively, leaving only Granada as the last Muslim stronghold. In 1469 through the union of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, much of Spain was united. By 1492 a stronger Christian Spain finally took over Granada.