Armies and their economic basis in Iran and the surrounding lands, c. 1000-1500

This chapter investigates two main subjects: the Mongol army as first formed in the Inner Asian steppes, and the Mongol army in the post-Hulegu period. One salient theme in the military, political and social history of the eastern Islamic world of the late Middle Ages and early modern period is the alteration and even tension between nomadic and standing armies. With the advent of the Mongol period in Iran, one may encounter an army of Inner Asian origin, with both similarities and differences between it and the original Turcoman army of the Saljuqs. The Mongols introduced a larger scale of armies and fighting, and this in turn influenced at least some of their enemies who were one of their main adversaries in the Middle East in the period after 1260. The demands of the Mongol administration were quite onerous, and contributed in many places to a decline in the economy, agricultural and urban.