Destruction. The Mongol invasions of the Muslim world began in 1219 and lasted until the Mongols eventually embraced Islam as their religion, in 1295 in the Ilkhanid empire of Persia and in 1313 in the Khanate of the Golden Horde in Russia. Even after this time, Muslim Mongol rulers such as Timur (1369-1405) repeated the pattern and some of the destructiveness of the earlier pagan Mongol invasions. Based on the testimony of all the sources and even allowing for exaggeration, it is clear that the Mongol invasions were quantitatively the most destructive episode Muslim Asia ever experienced, and they had deep and widespread repercussions. Cities were totally destroyed and their inhabitants massacred, sometimes almost to the last person. For the purpose of controlling conquered lands, the Mongols deliberately wrecked agricultural systems and irrigation channels and tunnels, reducing the size of the population that the...