Journal Entry #1:

I am about to embark on a long journey. I need to do some research about the people that I will be around on my journey, which are the mongols. So far the research I have done has not made them look like very nice people. They are described as killers, murderers, cruel, and just an awful group of people. As I was researching the things that I saw about them shocked me. It says that the Mongols have piles of heads in their city, that they built people into pyramids, and that innocent animals such as cats and dogs were killed in the streets. When a Russian disobeyed the Mongols they would force the Russian to lay on the ground and the Mongols would throw a heavy gate on top of them to painfully kill them. After this cruel killing, there would be a victory party. Also they killed the Russian princess by suffocating her under a heavy platform. They killed people by rolling them in a carpet and letting a horse kick them to death. They were shown a lot of respect by doing these things, and were feared by many. After reading all of these awful things about the Mongols, i'm not going to lie, i am a bit frightened.  I know now that i am going to have to be very careful on my journey.

Journal Entry #2:

Since my last journal entry i have gather some more comforting information about the Mongols. Ogedei (one of the empire's leaders) worked to expand the Mongolian Empire to be one of the largest in world history. In 1241, the Mongolian Empire was on the verge of conquering central Europe after many victories against other empires including the Teutons, the Poles, and the Holy Roman Empire. Under the leadership of Kublai Kahn, the Empire began to trade with unconquered lands which expanded their trade. The Mongols paid for advances in medicine all throughout their domains. Also they promoted development in science and engineering. The Mongol empire linked Europe and Asia which was one of the most important things they have ever done. The Mongols have always favored trade. Them coming from, and living a nomadic way o life made them see the importance of trade. They have also always had a great attitude toward merchants and commerce. Hearing some good things about these Mongolian people gave me a little bit of comfort heading into my journey. I am still a bit worried on how it will all turn out, but i'm hoping for the best.

Journal Entry #3:

From my point of view as a 21st century historian, the Mongolian empire had many different things said about them. Some were good, and some were bad. My opinion on why there is so many different ways of viewing the Mongols is because some people liked them, and some didn't. I believe that that is why you get two totally different descriptions of them. I would compare the Mongols to Sparta because they have very many similarities. Both of these empires are blood thirsty people, and believe in a lot of fighting and killing. In Sparta they are training for war most of their life, and they start from a very young age. Sparta is very committed to being feared by others, which they are. The Mongols are very similar in the way that they are greatly feared by other empires as well as greatly respected.



Bibliography:

Gentzel, Micah. "The Mongol Empire." The Mongol Empire. Penn State University, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.< http://www.personal.psu.edu/mcg5015/mongol.html>.

Rosabbi, Morris. "The Mongols in World History | Asia Topics in World History." The Mongols in World History | Asia Topics in World History. Columbia University, 2004. Web. 16 Jan. 2014. <http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/history/history7.htm>.

Humphrey. "Quodlibeta: How Bad Were the Mongols ?" Quodlibeta: How Bad Were the Mongols ? N.p., Dec. 2011. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. <http://bedejournal.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-bad-were-mongols.html>.

Taylor, Robert. Life in Genghis Khan's Mongolia. San Diego: Lucent, 2001. Print.