The Mongols

The Beginning of my Journey

I’ve been waiting to go on an expedition for awhile now, but I’m worried about all the stories I have heard about the Mongolians. The people call the Mongolians “bloodthirsty”. I’ve been told that they had a policy. There policy was to spare cities that surrendered, but to show no mercy to those that fought.  I don’t think I should believe them, even though they told me a about Duke Henry when he was trying to escape, but the Mongolians caught him and killed him and put his head on a spear, trophy-like, and they walked around Liegnitz celebrating and having a parade with his head on the spear! It sounds like the story was made up though, because it’s so jerastic and gory. The people also told me that they had a custom to count the all the people they killed. By counting, they would cut off each dead European’s ear and place it in a bag and let the blood drip from the bottom of the bag. They filled nine sacks with ears when they defeated Henry. The Mongols could conquer whoever they wanted to. I heard they conquered Central Asia; all of China; Korea; Persia, Iraq, and Afghanistan; and even Ukraine and Hungary in Eastern Europe. The Mongols defeated Yuri’s sons in battle and burnt Moscow to the ground to show how powerful they were and what they were capable of. I’ve been more convinced that they are stronger and won’t let anyone stop in their way. But I have no choice I’ll have to see it to believe it.

Wish me luck for my journey,

Marco Polo

The return

I’m back from my journey and the Mongols weren’t that bad, they actually improved the trade and the cultural exchanges. They aren’t dangerous if you don’t mess with them, but if you mess with them your ear would be in a bag. Their nomadic way of life caused them to recognize the importance of trade from the very earliest times. The Mongols also had respect and attitude toward the merchants and commerce which was very surprising. They built roads to promote trade and built paper money that was equivalent to the cost of metal. The roads allowed more societies to trade and have different cultures to interact with each other. All I know is that the Mongols actually were good people and were just look down upon. The Mongols made more merchants to trade, because they gave the merchants the benefit of not being faced with confiscatory taxation, which gave the merchants more freedom. I believe that was very interesting and smart of them to do. So the merchants started to give back which I thought was an even deal. The Merchants provided him with information about neighboring cultures, served as diplomats and official traders for the Mongols, and were essential for many needed goods, since the Mongols produced little of their own. I was glad that the stories weren’t the only thing that they were known for or I would not be here telling my story about the generous yet dangerous Mongols.

Sincerely,

Marco Polo

My perspective

Today there are so many perspectives of the Mongols because they are so inconsistent. They do something good like improve the trade and on the other hand they are cutting peoples ears and putting them in bags. I believe that Alexander the Great had similar ideas because they both overcame there enemies with new inventions. Alexander the Great was a man of war and has been known for his new ideas and conquering many lands. Alexander the Great invented new weapons like using “the crossbow” which allowed them to attack their enemies from a distance. The Mongols are also known for the new ways they would fight like using horses in battle to be higher than their opponents.  They also took over many lands and were known for conquering the most land. They both used new ways of fighting to overcome and defeat their opponent and conquer more land to gain power. The Roman Republic was much more different then the Mongolians, because the Roman Republic based your life in what type of class you were born in. While the Mongolians based your life on if you were in the army. So mostly the rich weren’t rich anymore and the poor were very rich. This favored the poor, but it was good and bad at the same time for the whole Mongolian society.

MLA bibliography

"The Mongol Empire (Overview)." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/1185656?cid=41&terms=mongolia

"The Mongol Empire, 1206-1368." History Study Centre. ProQuest LLC. 2010. Web. 15 Jan. 2014http://www.historystudycenter.com/search/displayMultiResultStudyunitItem.do?Multi=yes&ResultsID=142FCD6BB56&fromPage=search&ItemNumber=1&QueryName=studyunit

"Genghis Khan." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.http://www.history.com/topics/genghis-khan

"Mongol Invasions: Battle of Liegnitz." History Net Where History Comes Alive World US History Online Mongol Invasions Battle of Liegnitz Comments. Weider History Group, 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.

http://www.historynet.com/mongol-invasions-battle-of-liegnitz.htm

"The Mongols in World History | Asia Topics in World History." The Mongols in World History | Asia Topics in World History. Asia for Educators, 2004. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/history/history4.htm

Marco Polo

             People tell me I need to get more excited for my expedition with the mongols, but now I want to aboard the whole thing. I know I have been before, but that was so long ago. What if it’s changed so much that it isn’t safe anymore? I started listening to what people have been saying. I’m not sure if I should believe them, but frankly I don’t think it matters. What the people have to say is horrendous. People say that the horsemen will slit their house’s throat for nutrition and this would allow them to ride 10 days without solid food or a fire. I will not, and I will repeat, will not drink blood. I am not a savage, but at least they aren’t doing anything to harm people right? Wrong,  Genghis Khan himself said that, "The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him. To ride their horses and take away their possessions. To see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears, and to clasp their wives and daughters in his arms". Basically it says the greatest thing someone can do is kill his enemy. That is their success,killing people. No only will they ravage a town and kill everyone in it, they will rape the women and girls as a final gesture of power. What kind of people rape and kill to assert their dominance? Not anyone I want to be around and thats the mongols. I’ve even heard that if you break a law that they will punish you AND your family! Plus, there are so many laws that we never use here in Venice, like I have to feed every visitor or at least offer food. If that is a law, that means that there are other laws that I don’t know about and my dad will suffer because of my ignorance.
Wish me Luck,
  Marco Polo
          Saying I was wrong about the Mongols would be the biggest understatement of the year. They are the very accepting as long as you don’t challenge them. They allow freedom of religion, recognized new ideas, and the women had so many more rights than anywhere I’ve ever been before! Some are even saying that the women here have the more rights than any other country right now! If that is not impressive enough they are amazingly loyal and wanted to be honorable more than anything else. While I was traveling with my acquaintance, Temuchin, and he was wounded by an arrow, and a man approached us saying he was the one that shot the arrow. He came so close that Temuchin could kill if the man pleased or the man could become a loyal follower to Temuchin. Temuchin saw that the men was very courageous and had a lot of integrity, so he was glad when the man accepted the offer and the man became now the man is one of the greatest generals for Genghis Khan. They did not care that the man was from a different group they accepted him and even put him in a leadership position. I also did not expect there to be many people of different backgrounds here! Many what I witness is common? All I know is there will definitely be another trip back.

               With more knowledge,
        Marco Polo
           The Mongols were both “blood- thirsty” and they were promoters of trade. People had different opinions of them because of the perspective they had and the location of the people. In Europe, the locals knew them as ruthless because they were ruthless when they invaded cities. When the people of Thebes revolted against the Macedonians and destroyed their city, the Macedonian army killed 6,000 people and sold the survivors into slavery. Everyone else in in the Greek city-states quickly stopped any revolutionaries in fear of the Macedonians and their cruelty. This is the method the Mongols used. The mongols tried to scare their enemies into surrendering. During the expansion of the Macedonian Empire, people always had the option to join them instead of fighting and most village people agreed to comply and live peacefully. This is also what the Mongols believed, because they placed high value on honor and loyalty. Mongols built such an expansive empire with a very fast “postal system” of sorts. It was a way to communicate throughout the empire fairly fast and the massive amount of people that found their way into the empire either directly or indirectly the culture of the Mongols. All the cultures blended together. Many people traveled through the empire selling their goods because there was so many people to trade with. In conclusion, an empire cannot be all good or all bad because it depends on location and what side of the invasion you are on.


                                                      MLA Bibilography
Buchstein, Fred. "The History of the Mongol Conquests." The Journal of Military History 65.4 (Oct 2001): 1081-1082. History Study Center. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

Dutch, S.. N.p.. Web. 16 Jan 2014. <https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/WestTech/xmongol.htm>.

"Mongol Empire: Expansion." Helicon Encyclopedia of World History. 2010. History Study Center. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

"Marco Polo in China (1271-1295)."  Colombia University, 2002. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/pop/menu/class_marco.htm>.

Donn, Mr. "Customs, Well-wishing, Stories - Mongols, the Felt Tent People, For Kids."Customs, Well-wishing, Stories. N.p., 2008. Web. 16 Jan. 2014. <http://mongols.mrdonn.org/customs.html>.