Friday, January 17, 2014

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


"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.

"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
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