alternatehistory.com

After reading a book on Genghis Khan and his Empire, I have developed a sense of hero worship, as well as realized that the Mongolians were much more intelligent than the barbarians they have been made out to be. One of their greatest talents, behind empire conquering, was empire maintaining. They introduced paper money, and created incredible world spanning trade routes that increased the wealth of all the areas under their control. They also respected the cultures in their empires, allowing them to control large populations. Even after the empire broke up into several administrative districts, cultural exchange and trade remained unhindered between them because they knew the importance of keeping the money rolling. The reason for the collapse of their empire is easy; the plague. Their well maintained trade routes made the plague easily traverse the entire planet. Once the plague came, their trade routes collapsed, and they couldn't keep their subjects happy without the money that the trade brought. Furthermore, isolated due to the lack of the trade routes, they became paranoid, rejecting the cultures that they conquered and became very obviously Mongolian, alienating their subjects(at least in China). So, the POD is obvious. No plague. Even if their empire doesn't survive perfectly, it still won't be completely destroyed as it was IOTL.


As you can see below, the Mongolian Empire was the biggest empire ever. Even though it was not a homogeneous political entity, it was a untied cultural and economic entity. If the plague does not come, will it be able to expand any more?

800px-Mongol_Empire_History.jpg
Top