Thursday, January 16, 2014

The 2 different views of the Mongol Empire

 I have started my trip to go into the Mongol Empire. The stories I have heard about them are very terrifying. While passing through a town a man told me how they had conquered Baghdad. After Baghdad refusing to let the Mongols in, the Mongols dug huge ditches around the city, and placed siege engines and catapults in them to hurls stones and some device that is said to explode that I have never even heard of. The man told me that the Mongols quickly took over most of the city, forcing it to eventually surrender. Even thought the city surrendered the Mongols gave no mercy. While the people living in the city fled the Mongols intercepted them and killed every single one, men and women, children and adults. The city was completely destroyed the rivers were said to be black from ink from books, and blood of the people. To make it even worse the leader of the city was forced to watch his people die and all of his building be burnt to the ground until he was trampled to death. Now almost all places have immediately surrendered to the vicious Mongolian Empire when they first arrive. I will soon be arriving to the empire and am terrified of what may lie ahead.


My view on the Mongol Empire has changed greatly after recently visiting it. The empire has many things that I have never seen before. The currency is something I have never seen before, back in Europe we use coins and other valuable items to trade. They use a paper like material as money, which can be worth as much as precious materials. The architecture is also amazing; Khubilai Khan’s palace in Cambaluc is surrounded by walls, which towers on them. The towers have enough equipment to fight off large numbers, and to escape by horseback. The city Cambaluc is also greatly protected, there are huge walls surrounding the entire city with only 12 gates to get in. The culture and trade also was very different that other places. They allow any culture in the empire and also allow foreign traders and missionaries to travel through without being harmed. While in the city I saw a blend of multiple cultures from all the places the Mongols have taken over. The empire is very diverse, free, and advanced, making it ahead of every other civilization.


History has given us 2 completely different views on the Mongolian Empire. One was a vicious, merciless conquering empire, while the other side gives its citizens freedom, and allows any culture. The reason is the writers who documented the history of the Empire. While taking over other empires the Mongols gave 2 options, to have them surrender and join the empire, or to fight back and if they lose all the citizens were killed and the town was destroyed. If the writer were in the empire that didn’t surrender he would have to survive the destruction and murder that the Mongols committed, making him see the Mongols as harsh people. If the writer were in a empire that surrendered, he was let into the vast Mongol Empire. There he could see the freedom and different culture that was inside, which made him document as one of the best empires in history.




Works Cited:
Rossabi, Morris. N.p.. Web. 16 Jan 2014. <http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/figures/figu_polo.htm>.

Lister, R. P. Genghis Khan. New York: Stein and Day, 1969. Print.

"The Mongol Empire." The Mongol Empire. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

"The Mongols in World History | Asia Topics in World History." The Mongols in World History | Asia Topics in World History. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.


"Genghis Khan and the Great Mongol Empire." Genghis Khan and the Great Mongol Empire. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.

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