Why did the mongols convert to islam? It sounds very illogical

>>1417116
because politics is not a contest of who btfos who
you have to compromise to win over supporters
the difference between golden horde and ilkhanate was due to population factors if i remember correctly

Because it was the will of allah, no matter what happened islam would still prevail in the end

>>1417116
>you BTFOd.

>who are the mamluks

>>1417116
They Turkified first before coming Muslims. The Mongols that stayed in Mongolia and China became Tibetan Buddhists

File: Hulagu and his wife Dokuz Kathun, Jami al-Tawarikh.jpg (2MB, 2818x1814px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2818x1814px

>>1417116
>It sounds very illogical to convert to a religion of people you BTFOd
They were actual people, not autistic children roleplaying as crusaders on 4chan. Islam was the major world religion in the 13th and 14th centuries, especially dominant in Central Asia. Converting to Islam legitimized their rule and allowed them to more easily partake in the civilization they were ruling, rather than just being seen by all as a barbarian horde. Orthodoxy was less attractive since the Golden Horde never tried to integrate into Russian civilization, which was just a backwater on the world stage full of petty principalities and could be ruled more indirectly from the Pontic steppe. It made far more sense to convert to the religion of the more economically and culturally influential Mamluks, Turks and Persians.

>>1417116
>Also why didnt they also convert to orthodoxy when they conquered Rus?

Practically all Russian noble families had at least some Mongol ancestry. Actually, pretty lot of Mongols converted to Orthodoxy and settled in Russia. At least one historian (Gumilev) considered Muscowy as the sixth Khanate.

>>1417681
Right, you mean Rurik being a finn

>>1417116
>BTFOd
They weren't an invincible war machine, every conquest had costs and they relied in part on getting cities and low level rulers to surrender promptly. Since everyone in Persia was indoctrinated from infancy into Islam and were willing to sacrifice earthly gain for their religion they were more inclined to hold out than surrender to a pagan hoarde. Converting to Islam and opening up diplomacy was in their interest.

>>1417590
I concur

File: Demotte_Shahname_001.jpg (1MB, 1113x1295px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1113x1295px

>>1417913
The Mongols had already completely conquered Persia, Iraq and Transoxiana, destroyed Baghdad and wiped out the Assassins decades before they converted to Islam. They weren't invincible, true, but they didn't need to convert in order to conquer or even in order to stabilize their rule (which actually destabilized after their conversion). I don't think diplomacy is a huge factor in the case of the IlKhans either, though it was important to the Golden Horde.

It had more to do with the need and desire to integrate into the civilization in which they now lived and ruled. If you rule a civilization like Persia, you're probably going to want to live in palace in a big city, patronize art and literature, build monuments to yourself, and so on. That kind of lifestyle requires integrating into the elite culture of the host society, which inevitably involves the adoption of the leading ideology, in this case Islam. Aside from winning the respect of the populace, it's also just generally a more attractive way to live than sleeping in a tent and herding horses all day. The same thing usually happens wherever steppe people settle in an urban society. The only way to avoid it is to actually keep your power base in the steppe itself, which the Golden Horde did but not the Il-Khans.

Well they got fucked by us crusaders in the end so who fucking cares.

DEUS VAULT