The Mongols: How Barbaric Were the Barbarians? Essay

The Mongols are an empire who should be remembered by their abilities, contributions and conquests. They should be remembered because of their abilities and knowledge at the time. For example, they were knowledgeable in the army since they made dummies ride on horses in order to increase their appearance which can be a good ability in wars and conquests. Another example of their knowledge and abilities in war and conquests was another of their military tactics which was to fake the appearance of them running away, and then to overwhelm the troops that followed them and fell into their trap. The Mongols were not only knowledgeable in war, but they were also knowledgeable in surviving as a nomadic tribe since they knew that dried sheep dung

The Mongols were not and possibly have never been barbaric. Cruel, yes but never savages. They were a community who was disciplined, who had laws, and who had control of a great army.

Powerful both militarily and culturally, the Mongols were a fearless and influential group who dominated Asia and Eastern Europe during the thirteenth century. Their success in acquiring land was no doubt the result of their domination on the battlefield. The Mongols often fought on horseback and surrounded their enemies, an incredibly efficient battle tactic. In his text, Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvaini states that the Mongols invaded the land and destroyed villages and that they would not let a single living creature live, even if it were the purest of cat or dog (Doc 4). Their battle techniques, as well as their severe punishments, and ability to conquer vast amounts of land gave the

The Mongols were a nomadic group that originated in China which was able to spread and conquer numerous empires. They have previously been characterized as barbarians, meaning they were uncivilized, crude, and primitive people. However, although their leader, Genghis Khan, was a very ruthless and violent man, this does not equate the Mongols to being barbaric. The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, were a civilized and serious society, militarily sophisticated, and positively affected trade in Europe.

Throughout the years, historians have found evidence to show that many ethnic groups were barbaric, like the Germanic tribes: Ostrogoths and Visigoths, or the nomadic tribes: Huns and Mongols. Though the evidence is strong to show the primitive nature of the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Huns, the evidence is ambiguous for the Mongols. From what historians have collected — who they conquered and people they were close to conquering — they believe that Mongols were barbaric; however disagreements can be made, because of the lack of evidence and prejudices we have been raised along-side with. This can be shown in their military, their commerce, their laws, and how they rule their conquered lands.

What shaped our picture of the Medieval Mongols is that for most of us they were only one of the nomad tribes, which inhabited the Asian Steppes. By that time nomads were not barbarians; they were born into a harsh climate forcing them to be cruel by our standing in order to survive. Being constantly occupied with survival, they had no time to learn a more sophisticated way of life, as the sedentary peoples of China and Iran had. Nomads were not mentally inferior, but specialists in survival against severe odds. However, the Mongolians remained like that until unification under Genghis Khan, did they become the Mongol nation. They had their own culture and their own tribal laws. It was frequently necessary to engage in internecine wars, which were usually not unprovoked. The strongest chief got the best grasslands, and it was often necessary to obtain and keep them by force. Following their customs more often than not resulted in conflict with other tribes.

In the 13th century BC, the Mongols rose to power and conquered an empire whose size still has yet to matched. The Mongols conquered lands such as China, leaving such a lasting influence on them that their legacy still lives on. However, despite the Mongols success, their actions have left a constantly ongoing debate on whether they were barbarians, seen and portrayed by different societies of their time as people with no morale or modern civilities, or civilized people who were just feared by other societies. Although the Mongols are generally now seen as Barbarians because of their violent and barbaric war tactics they used to instill fear in people, they are actually civilized because they had a strategically organized army, and

Although the Mongols were simply trying to expand their empire, the amount of brutality after practicing their forceful tactics suggests that they were unaffected by the violence as long as conquests were successful. As the Mongols pushed into Russia and China, they killed people of all ages and gender. This resulted in invasions that were over quickly and did not draw out over long periods of time. Their military was trained so strictly that they could execute well thought out plans of attack.

How did they do it? How did the Mongols conquer other places? They used fear and terror, no mercy. If that didn’t work they would attack, rob, and burn other places.

The Mongols were called barbaric are they really they may have destroyed cities and villages but they were human to the fought with smarts and brawn they are strong they did everything civilized they ate they had the life of normal citizens yes they may have killed like barbarians but they fought like humans nothing was going to stand in their way they are humans they try their best they seem barbaric they have the heart of

For centuries Mongols have been known for being destructive and malicious people who did nothing but take the land from those they murdered. The name Genghis Khan will always be remembered the leader of the world’s largest and notorious empires in history. While it’s true Mongols had a brute way to how they attained their empire, they did contribute to bettering society. Not only did they respect the many different religions of their people, shared many things with the rest of Asia and Europe through trade.

They believed so fiercely in the laws against stealing and they show much respect to each other, even when food is running low. They respected women too and never took advantage of them. When they finally gained control over a lot of Eurasia, they respected the people's culture and gradually adopted it. The Great Khan believed in one God, but recognized that not everyone felt that way. He didn’t force his religions onto others. He also built thousands of “yams”, or resting places for messengers with comfortable lodgings and hundreds of horses. These weren’t cheap and he taxed heavily for them. The Mongols also increased trade throughout all of Eurasia and protected anyone traveling on trade routes. This helped bring goods, ideas, and diseases to other countries much faster.(Document 6, 7, 8, 9, and

The Mongol empire is known as one of the most powerful and comprehensive land empires in history. Emerging from Genghis Khan’s unification of Mongolia’s nomadic tribes, the transcontinental empire quickly expanded along with its reputation through both violent and peaceful conquest. Ruling with a strong sense of justice and an immense religious tolerance, Mongol leaders welcomed and sometimes forced nations into their dominion with anticipation of creating a universal global culture. It is a common stereotype of the thirteenth-century Mongols to be barbaric warlords, but the empire could not have sustained itself for as long as it did simply through brute force. Whether it is due to their advanced mobility, political competence, military prowess,

Although harsh conquers, the Mongols were peaceful rulers. The areas they invaded were often too greatly destroyed, and no longer suitable for resettlement because of the destruction their armies created. However the Mongols were extremely tolerant rulers, and hardly ever imposed their own beliefs and customs on those they conquered. Their simple, nomadic lifestyles meant they probably had fewer customs that didn’t even fit the lives of the settled people they ruled. Often times, Mongol rulers would even adopt aspects of the cultures of the people they ruled, for example the Ilkhan and Golden Horde converted to Muslim. Still, this led to increasing cultural differences that caused the empire to

Through my Ministry in Context class, I have learned the importance of contextualizing in culture and learning what makes up a people group. We can not just come with our understanding and facts and say that is it. Facts are facts, and we can not dismiss them, but we can not dismiss the fact that this is only one side of the Mongols story. Because as much as we fail to realize, sometimes the Mongols were also peaceful people who cared deeply about their people. Like I wrote in a previous paper “Through reading a bit of their history, it makes sense (doesn't mean that it's right) why they were so cruel to the cities they invaded. Like the texts say “if they were denied commerce, they were vulnerable and might attack to obtain the products they required or coveted.” These were a group of people who were used to living on the margins basically and got a glimpse of what it meant to live in luxury and liked it, so they had to find a way to sustain