“I am the punishment of God…If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” – Genghis Khan. The Mongols are a group of nomadic people that lusted for battle during Genghis Khan and his successor’s reign. Their empire was short lived, only 126 years, due to no cohesive elements like religion or culture, but they expanded to a size only rivaled by the British Empire at its peak. The Ottomans, on the other hand, survived for a whopping 624 years! They replaced the Byzantines, or the eastern Roman Empire, as the prominent power within the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Both the Mongols and the Ottomans are considered two of the strongest empires to exist. Of course, they couldn’t compete with the Romans
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For starters, they both controlled important trade routes, Bosphorus strait for the Ottomans and the Silk Road was controlled by the Mongols. The Bosphorus strait is extremely important because it is the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Similarly, the Silk Road has been an extraordinarily profitable trade route between the east and west. Another similarity between these two is their control of vast swaths of territory. At the peak of the Mongol Empire it controlled land from the Yellow Sea, including all of China, to the border of Eastern Europe. The Ottomans also controlled parts of Eastern Europe, mainly the Balkans and Hungary, but most of their holdings were located in the Middle East and North Africa. As you can see, both of them controlled huge portions of the world compared to their neighbors. Furthermore, Both the Mongols and the Ottomans were hereditary governments. The Mongol Khans would decide which of their leader’s children should rule. Ottoman heirs were decided by survival of the fittest, so they had to fight it out politically until one of them stood above the rest as the most influential. In the end, both of these empires were huge and by consequence controlled important trade
For starters, they both controlled important trade routes, Bosphorus strait for the Ottomans and the Silk Road was controlled by the Mongols. The Bosphorus strait is extremely important because it is the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Similarly, the Silk Road has been an extraordinarily profitable trade route between the east and west. Another similarity between these two is their control of vast swaths of territory. At the peak of the Mongol Empire it controlled land from the Yellow Sea, including all of China, to the border of Eastern Europe. The Ottomans also controlled parts of Eastern Europe, mainly the Balkans and Hungary, but most of their holdings were located in the Middle East and North Africa. As you can see, both of them controlled huge portions of the world compared to their neighbors. Furthermore, Both the Mongols and the Ottomans were hereditary governments. The Mongol Khans would decide which of their leader’s children should rule. Ottoman heirs were decided by survival of the fittest, so they had to fight it out politically until one of them stood above the rest as the most influential. In the end, both of these empires were huge and by consequence controlled important trade