Evan Gross
December 17, 2014
A-Block History
Mongol Research Project
Entry 1
I, Marco Polo, will be embarking upon my trip to the many cities that are under the control of the Mongol Empire. I am unsure of how culturally enriching my experiences within the empire will be, as many rumors give me preconceptions of how barbaric these people really are.
The first piece of knowledge that causes me to be hesitant about the culture of the Mongol Empire is the military tactics that enable these people to be so successful at conquering enemy lands. I hear that, installed by the former ruler of the empire, Genghis Khan, the soldiers are taught to feel completely indifferent about each other and to fight in any circumstance until death. This method where one life is completely expendable for the greater cause of the empire is very comparable to a machine with parts that can be exchanged with less than a second thought. I hope that, as arrive at my destination, I will not find that all Mongols see themselves as nothing more than gears of war that have a sole purpose to expand their territory, but that they will be a people that is accepting of art and literature and tolerant of preexisting cultures to different regions.
Despite how the Mongol warriors treated each other, how they punished those who opposed them worries me even more. So many terrifying stories come from the conquest that began with the capturing of Samarkand that led all the way into eastern Europe, led by Genghis Khan in 1221. As Genghis Kahn invaded Samarkand, he killed 50,000 defending troops, taking another 100,000 civilians as slaves. As for an execution for the rulers of this region, the Mongols poured molten silver into their ears and mouths. Such brutality only continued as the Mongols fled into Georgia, a Christian nation that was under the rule of the Muslim Empire. Killing the entire opposing army of 70,000 men, the Mongols took and swallowed the cities, farms, and countrysides of the surrounding areas in flames, only to relentlessly press on to the city of Kiev. Here, yet another army stood in the Mongol’s way. However, once again, the Mongols crushed through this army, at this point appearing to be completely unstoppable. As the Mongols had very superstitious beliefs of spilling royal blood upon enemy soil, they found demented ways around this form of executing enemy leaders. They continued their repulsive forms of torture as a celebration of their victories, such as the suffocation of royalty, the trampling of political leaders who were tied into blankets by horses, and the ripping off of the limbs of the captured troops by one man pulling at each limb. Possibly one of the most deconstructive actions of the Mongol people was their capturing of Baghdad, one of the pinnacle cities of the Muslim Empire’s sciences and literature. After nearly two weeks of starving out the city by siege, the Mongol’s destroyed the city. With this destruction came the annihilation of the Grand Library of Baghdad, a housing of thousands of collections of books that ranged from medicine to astronomy. This insensitive action wasted hundreds of years of documented knowledge. As for those killed, estimates suggest that nearly 200,000 people died, including both troops and the women and children, by the end of the Mongol’s entire week of massacres throughout the city. This is said to be the largest slaughtering of a population in history for its time.
While these grueling actions of the Mongol’s will be hard to ignore, I hope that the side of the Mongol Empire that I see will deeply contrast the history and stories that I have gathered about this empire. I hope to learn of cultures and customs that have thrived under Mongol rule, rather than the horrid actions that these Mongol armies have become unique for.
---17 years later---
Entry 2
It has been quite a journey and I can honestly say that it was an enriching one at that. I have been blessed to experience far more than just the terrifying rumors about this empire, as it is a territory of many cultures that the Mongol’s are very tolerant and charitable towards. I credit such a lavish and culturally diverse Mongol Empire to Kublai Khan.
Kublai Khan has so far been able to successfully govern this massive empire, encouraging the native arts and religions of the regions that he ruled. This separation of religions and arts from the Mongol Empire allowed for many of the native peoples of conquered lands to retain their beliefs and customs, allowing them to be much more open to letting the Mongols rule over them. Had the Mongols forced all of the peoples of captured areas to renounce their religions, uprisings and resistances would have been much more common against the Mongol leaders. One example of how he upheld the native cultures of China is how Kublai Khan restored the rituals of music and dance to satisfy Confucian ideology. Also, he constructed many temples which were an important part of the Chinese religions, as the key aspect of praising and thanking ancestors was common in all of the practices. Also, Kublai has managed to retain all of the Chinese people’s original styles of governing. He created a group known as the Six Ministries, which were charged with the task of recreating the Chinese provincial structure of organizing China into provinces, which were divided into districts. By creating this form of government for China, the Chinese people were able to continue using a style of government that they were comfortable with and used to. Along with creating a more diverse and unique body of religions under the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan was also able to bolster the economy of his empire with various techniques. One tool that greatly advanced the economy of the empire was the installment of a paper currency.
This stimulated the growth of commerce throughout the empire, making trade much easier. The economy of the Mongol Empire is centralized around agriculture, which bolstered the populations of Mongol and Chinese territories. Another tool that the Mongol’s used very well was the supporting of peasants to act as the backbone of the Chinese economy. The Mongols organized peasants into groups of fifty households that were headed by a village leader. This technique was used throughout China, and also helped drastically increase the production of agricultural goods that well benefited the growing populations under the Mongol rule. These organizations also furthered their labors past just simple architecture, constructing many public works that supported both Mongol and Chinese religions and beliefs.
Entry 3
There are obviously two very distinct and opposing sides to the Mongol Empire. The cause for these contrasting appearances for this empire is due to its very different leaders and their styles of attempting to govern the empire. As previously mentioned, Genghis Kahn was one who focused all of his efforts and manpower towards further expanding the empire. His attempt to unite his empire was through the building of a great army that surpassed all others in size, skill, brutality, and military tactics. Rather than focus on the encouragement of growth within the empire with a more self-relying economy and cultural diversity, Genghis Khan saw that the way to strengthen his empire was to spread his empire. He did so with ruthlessness and no plan of stopping his campaign throughout most of Asia and a great deal of eastern Europe. However, Kublai Khan, Genghis’s grandson, advanced the empire with the tolerance of many religions and ways of governing. Under his reign, Kublai Khan was able to establish an economy that further led to the explosion of a massive population in China. With the adoption of religions like Buddhism and the support of Confucian ideology, Kublai Khan was able to better unite and govern the massive territory that his grandfather is credited with creating. I highly doubt that Genghis would have been capable of creating a form of governing his conquered lands as well as Kublai did. Two civilizations within History that are very comparable to this two-faced Mongol Empire are the Spartans and Athenians. The Spartans had an extreme dedications towards building a very skilled army with superior military strategies. For this this ultimate goal, they sacrificed almost all forms of artwork and literature to create a war-focused state. Spartan men at six years of age were sent to barracks to learn military strategies, along with an education that was very narrowed to only focus on advancing the Spartan army. This militaristic style is very matching of Genghis Khan’s efforts of expanding his empire. Also, the Athenian styles of advancing an empire were very inline with the views of Kublai Khan. While having a strong navy, the Athenians focused much more heavily on bolstering their culture and economy through arts and trade. Due to their prime location near the Aegean Sea, the Athenians reaped all of the benefits of Mediterranean trade. With the trade of precious metals such as gold, copper, and silver, to the encouragement of literature, sciences, and performing arts, Athen’s was a territory that was dedicated towards augmenting the cultures that it supported.
Works Cited
De Hartog, Leo. Genghis Khan: Conquerer of the World. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1989. Print.
Asia of Educators. The Mongols in World History. Columbia University, 2004. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
Department of World History. The Mongol and Islamic Empires. University of Calgary, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
George Tait Edwards. A Brief Guide to Early Chinese History: The Mongol Conquest of China and Its Consequences. London Progressive Journal, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Stephen Turnbull. Genghis Khan and the Mongol Conquest 1190 - 1400. Essential Histories, 2003. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
Michael C. Brose. Uyghur Technologists of Writing and Literacy in Mongol China. University of Wyoming, 2005. Web. 11 Jan. 2014.
Robin McArthur and Naim al Khoury. History of Jihad Against the Mongols (1050-1258). Mohammed PBUH, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Jan 2014.
New World Encyclopedia. Genghis Khan. MediaWiki, 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Jan 2014.
