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Barbaric Mongols DBQ

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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

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