The Barbaric Mongols Powerful both militarily and culturally, the Mongols were a fearless and influential group who dominated Asia and Eastern Europe during the thirteenth century. Their success in acquiring land was no doubt the result of their domination on the battlefield. The Mongols often fought on horseback and surrounded their enemies, an incredibly efficient battle tactic. In his text, Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvaini states that the Mongols invaded the land and destroyed villages and that they would not let a single living creature live, even if it were the purest of cat or dog (Doc 4). Their battle techniques, as well as their severe punishments, and ability to conquer vast amounts of land gave the …show more content…
For example, if one Mongol soldier ran away during battle, all ten soldiers in his group would be killed. This no doubt brought down the number of escapes quite successfully. John of Plano Carpini’s book, History of the Mongols, states that during war, if one man becomes cowardly and runs away all of the men in his group of ten will be put to death (Doc 2). This policy enforced complete participation in Mongol wars, and it caused the soldiers to put their peers into the wars as well lest they be put to death.In Mongol cities there was absolutely no theft. This was due to the extremely harsh theft punishments. Paul Ratchnevsky, in his book Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy... states that “[t]hese could be left unattended because of the severity of (Mongol) laws against theft" (Doc 7). The Mongol people were so fearful of these punishments that there was essentially no theft at all in their cities. Another example from Paul Ratchnevsky’s book Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy: He says horses that were taken from travelers were also returned 20 days later (Doc 7). These punishments helped project a barbaric image on the Mongols as well, since, anyone tried to avoid the punishments, regardless of who they were, were punished harshly. Lastly, the Mongols enacted very harsh punishments on prisoners. In the Persian manuscript, The Shah Namah, one can seean illustration of a prisoner being executed, as well as several other men being buried alive, upside down (Doc 5). The Shah Namahagain shows the severity of Mongol punishments and how barbaric these punishments
The Mongols used brutal tactics and strategies to gain their territory. Throughout the reign of terror they prompted, the Mongols were anything but judicious when invading cities. While conquering Persia, an account from Juvaini, a Persian chronicler wrote, “The Mongols now descended from the walls and began to slay and plunder… not even cats and dogs should be left alive” (Document 4). In the written entry, he speaks to the panic that was inflicted during this dire event. Another piece of this entry states that the Mongols “severed the heads of the slain from their bodies and heaped them up in piles” (Document 4). The fact that they severed heads from the corpses is despicable. Another account on the Mongols brutal war tactics was by John of Plano Carpini,
The Mongols used well planned military tactics that undoubtedly lead them to victory time and time again. The soldiers were very obedient and listened to the appointed chiefs well. One tactic they used to beat there enemy and expand their empire was this; the prince appoints an officer to every ten men, one to every hundred, one to every thousand, and one to every ten thousand, as stated in the book, and document 1 and 4. Another tactic used by the Mongols was as follows; the Mongol army would pretend to retreat, therefore making the rival believe they had won, when in reality that was just the start. The Mongols would then turn and fire arrows at there opponents, killing them and conquering there land that strengthened as well as add growth to their empire.
Throughout the 13th century world, the Mongols constantly showed displays of continuous violence, drinking, brutality and unfair treatment. They were considered to be savages, and people who lived far beyond what we would know as a “civilized world.” They single handedly became one of, if not the most powerful empires to have existed, building their empire through violent and barbaric manors. The Mongols were very barbaric people, for they portrayed many inhumane and mannerless actions while their empire lasted, causing death destruction and the downfall of all of the land they took over.
The Mongols had a very skilled and strong arming and never lost battles outnumbered. They would travel by horse and split into small groups to surround the enemy to trap them. They were also falsely retreat the attack. To have a skilled and strong army they must have a great which was Genghis Khan. [From The Mongols Movie Worksheet and Document 2]
Understanding the Mongol’s culture is the key to comprehending their strength in numbers. Their leader was Chinggis Khan, a man who was obsessed with combining empires into one world ruled with his power. In order to do it, he needed a loyal army that would follow his commands into battle. Eventually he found men who believed in him and his mission. The dedication of his soldiers became exactly the right kind of army he needed to conquer other empires. “If we disobey your command during battle, take away our possessions, our children, and wives” (489). He treated his soldiers with respect. Happy soldiers meant a dedicated army to follow command and succeed in battle. He understood the importance of his soldiers and said, “I consider the people my children, and take an interest in talented men as if they
And lastly, another reason why the Mongols were not barbaric, even though they did commit acts of violence and conquered many people they still were able to live civilized and contribute to the community. In document eight Marco polo records that the Mongols created a “pony express” which horses were used to deliver messages throughout the kingdom. Marco polo states “ One of the great concert messengers sets out along of any of these roads he has only to go 25 miles and there he finds a posting station… at each of these post the messengers fine three or four hundred horses in readiness awaiting their command, and power little lodgings.” He also states that the neighboring cities kept boats ready for Messenger is passing over rivers and lakes and when a messenger has to ride for a long time like 200 miles he signals the nearby post so they can prepare a horse for him to switch on to immediately so no time is wasted. This shows that the Mongols were not barbaric at all and had intelligence to set up a system to relay messages in a more effective and fast manner in
One of the ways that the Mongols were able to conquer so much land was through extreme brutality when invading. For instance, document 2 clearly demonstrates their cruelty: “these Tatars [Mongols] spared none, slaying women and men and children, ripping open pregnant women and killing unborn babies.” In addition, document 4 reports the incomprehensible number of deaths from several
The Mongols came about when Genghis Khan united all of the Mongol tribes and clans, creating an army of up to 125,000 whose main goal was to conquer. One of his more effective tactics was enemies were treated fairly unless they resisted. Ones who resisted were killed. Kublai Khan was successful in reuniting the empire prior to a power struggle but was able to conquer all of China by 1276. However, he was not successful in conquering Japan by sea because of harsh storms and shipwrecks. Other countries Mongols had taken over included, Tibet, Persia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and eastern Germany. People taken over by the Mongols had no choice to cooperate because failure to would result in them being slaughtered. Genghis Khan granted religious
Their laws were very strict, creating a very orderly society where people were well behaved and people respected and followed the law. An example of this is on document n which is the actual mongol laws that they had set in place. These laws were always upheld by the mongol people, and reason being was that they had some very harsh punishments for crimes, which ultimately made them very effective. This made for a very great system that allowed the mongols to have a very orderly society, which is what Gangis khan wanted. Another example of this is in document k, which is a translation from a private author of Genghis Khan's life. It says, “war, strife, bodily harm or murder do not exist, robbers and thieves on a grand scale are not found among them.” These laws were designed to make these people be orderly and follow khan's rule. These laws were way more advanced than others for example, looking back at the han and qin dynasty, those people overthrew their leaders, and they had these strict laws. But Genghis khan's laws were specifically designed so where followed by the citizens sand that they liked and would stay, and also be strict and promote the highest amount of
The Mongols were barbaric because of how they lived. This tribe lived in a manner as if they were outside the reach of civilization which is a definition of the word “barbarian”. For example, in the backround essay, it writes, “They knew little about mining and cared nothing about farming. They were nomadic people who lived off the meat, milk and hide of horses, and the meat and wool of sheep,” (119). This evidence shows that the Mongols did not focus on the building of civilization or long term living but on surviving now and hunting animals for what they need.
“In the 13th century CE the Mongols created the largest connected landmass empire in the history of the world”. Mongols are the people of Mongolia who are referred to as barbaric. Barbarians are people who are evil or savage. The Mongols were far from barbaric.
In their role of empirical dominance throughout 13th century Eurasia, the Mongol’s were nomadic tribes of herders and raiders north of China, under the leadership of Genghis Khan. Born under the name Temujin, Genghis traits of charisma and reputation as a tactician won over his people’s support. Thus through the act of uniting groups of the steppe (region), he was crowned Khan of Khan in 1206. As quoted from Hugh Kennedy’s book Mongols, Huns and Viking's nomads at war” “the Mongols were triumphant in every major engagement fought up to ‘Ayan Jalut in 1260’ “. A crucial factor unique to this success was the nature of Mongol soldiers in which their life-styles demanded skills such as archery and horseback riding, which was also essential in
The mongols in the 13 hundred concerned much of the world on horseback. The mongols are also very barbaric in such a way many other tribes had dreamed to do what the mongols did. The mongols are smart in battle tactics but they don't have much. The mongongo head a leader named temujin as a child timagin had only one friend jamaica and they became sworn druthers. they lived in straw huts called tents. temujin became genghis cong the leader of the mongols tribe. genghis cong had a dead that was killed by a tribe of indians.
Barbarians, ruthless killers, rapists, conquers, are few words that are generally associated with topics discussing Mongolians. The descriptors are restated or reinforced when discussing Mongol leader Genghis Khan (1162-1227), a ruthless ruler and ferocious conqueror, that concurred the most land of any other empire in history of mankind. Genghis Khan’s success was to his exceptional leadership and intellect, which led him to rise from a young and poor nomad abandoned by his tribe to one of the greatest military leaders in history.
Because for most of the history we’ve been discussing, they just hung out in the foothills bordering the Siberian forest, mixing herding and hunting, quietly getting really good at archery and riding horses. Also, the Mongols were much smaller than other pastoral groups like the Tatars or the Uyghurs. And not to get like all Great Man History on you or anything, but the reason the Mongols came to dominate the world really started with one guy, Genghis Khan. Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.