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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