Mongol Crash Course

3. Overall, what were the positive aspects of the Mongol conquests? What were the negative aspects?

During the Middle Ages, Europe and Asia were on completely different levels when it came to success and advancement. Europe was an unproductive, uneducated continent that made little advancement, while Asia was booming with productivity and triumph. One very prosperous time in Post-Classical Asia was the Mongol Empire under the rule of Genghis Khan. Emperor Genghis Khan was able to unite various scattered Mongolian clans and turn them into a strong empire with an amazing military. Khan created the largest empire in history, stretching from the Caspian Sea all the way to Beijing.

Throughout the 13th century world, the Mongols constantly showed displays of continuous violence, drinking, brutality and unfair treatment. They were considered to be savages, and people who lived far beyond what we would know as a “civilized world.” They single handedly became one of, if not the most powerful empires to have existed, building their empire through violent and barbaric manors. The Mongols were very barbaric people, for they portrayed many inhumane and mannerless actions while their empire lasted, causing death destruction and the downfall of all of the land they took over.

One of the many decisions that has to made in life is what, if any, religion they will practice. Christianity, the belief in God, and Jesus as his son, or Judaism, to follow the direction of the Torah are some of the major religions that a person may choose. This decision may be one of the biggest decisions of a person’s life, and each religion has similarities and differences, and pro’s and cons. Two of the major religions, Judaism and Christianity, are alike in their inspiration of sacred texts, but are different in their identity of Jesus, and practice of worship.

The Mongol empire was the world’s largest empire. The Mongol’s practices and beliefs had both positive and negative effects. The large Mongolian empire promoted communication and diversity; however, despite this positive effect, the Mongolian empire housed the deaths of many innocent people. In addition to this, the Mongol empire fostered various religions, but enforced the same practices on everyone, no matter what religion they may follow; this brought order amongst the Mongolian empire.

The major legacies of the Mongol rule in the Islamic world are that they supported trade, built roads, increased religious tolerance, further advanced in medicine and astronomy and built paper money. They reopened four major trade routes which were closed – Silk Road, sea route from China to Persian Gulf, Siberian Route and an alternate route from lower Volga. The four major legacies of Genghis Khan, the founder of Mongol empire were tolerance, written language, legal code and trade and crafts.

In this trial we witnessed how the Mongol empire affected the lives of people in Eurasia. As a jury member of the trail of Genghis Khan, I have decided that the mongols were civilized due to the religious tolerance, advancements and stimulation of trade.

Through their conquests and strong-handed rule, Genghis Khan and his sons and grandsons who followed him created stability and peace in the Mongol Empire in the 1200s and 1300s. Historians now refer to this period of order as the Pax Mongolica, or “Mongol Peace.” You may recall that the years between 27 BC and 180 AD of the Roman Empire are known as the Pax Romana, or the “Roman Peace” because of the prosperity in the Roman Empire that resulted from a strong centralized government and few wars. The same was true for the Pax Mongolica.

Mongolian Empire pos. or neg. Was the mongol empire a positive or negative impact on the history of Asia? I would say that the mongol empire was positive, because they did a lot of good for asia like safety for those that are peaceful and war with those that are not. My first quote is from document #6

Do you think the good connection between West and East of the world was because of Mongols? The Mongol Empire existed during the 13th and 14th century. It was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Some say Mongols were completely destructive barbarians. They were seen as threat to civilizations and people throughout Europe and Asia. They are wrong because Mongols were encouragers of cultural growth and diffusion.

For instance, Document 8 shows a map of how the Bubonic Plague, a deadly disease that killed almost 33% of Europe’s population, was in fact spread from China to foreign regions via Mongol trade routes. Additionally, document 7 makes the connection that the eventual loss of this global exchange made the Europeans greatly desire the goods that they used to receive. The author continues to say that the result of this was the Age of Exploration in which Europeans intruded into Asia, which would also spread deadly disease. Therefore, despite the seemingly positive effect the Mongols had on Eurasia, it actually had very harmful consequences, and the many lives lost simply outweigh the

Throughout history, empires have controlled vast expanses of the world. Yet no empire has ever impacted the world's like the Mongols. Spanning from present day Russia to Korea, the Mongol Empire ruled the Eurasian continent. By modern conventions, legacy is the gift or impact someone leaves when they die. Noah Feldman once said, “Empires inevitably fall, and when they do, history judges them for the legacies they leave behind.”

In the 13th Century, a group of nomadic people known as the Mongols would rise to power. The Mongols invaded and took over many parts of Asia and Europe. They were well-known for their brutal but brilliant tactics. The Mongols gained the reputation of being classified as “barbarians,” but were they really? According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word “barbarian” is defined as, “a person from an alien land, culture, or group believed to be inferior, uncivilized, or violent.”

The Pax Mongolica, also known as the Mongol Peace and Pax Tatarica, was brought up at the end of the time of Mongols’ conquests. Western Scholars designated the fourteenth century as the Pax Mongolica. The Pax Mongolica contributed to the development of a new global culture because the Mongol Khans pursued peaceful trade and diplomacy (220). The bubonic plague epidemic of the 1300s led to the destruction of the Mongol Empire because of the deaths it caused; also, the plague had demoralized the living and deprived the Mongol Golden Family of its primary source of support by cutting off trade and tribute (247).

The start of the Mongol Empire began as a system of nomadic pastoralists who were extremely well experienced horsemen and traveled with their flocks of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses over the vast steppes of the prairielands of Central Asia. At the start of the Mongols rise to supremacy was the formation of tribal coalition known as “All the Mongols” (Saunders 1971) While the early tribal coalition was successful at establishing itself as a power in Manchuria and North China, it wasn’t until the rise of a well-known figure did the Mongols ascend to a force to fear and respect. That