The Chinese Cultural Revolution : China

During the early thirteenth century Chinggis Khan and his following successors helped forge various tribes in to a powerful alliance that built the largest empire the world has ever seen. The Mongolian empire reached great in size in such a short period of time. This was basically because of the sturdy Mongol army and many efficient policies the Khan family established. The Mongols were very knowledgeable in military tactics. There empire had a strong sense of unity, helping the empire get so great so rapidly. There allies also contributed to the Mongolian empire. By the time of Chinggis Khan's death in 1227, he had laid the foundation of a vast and mighty empire, which continued to grow with his tactics set in stone.

He completely changed the way in which the Mongols traditionally fought. Mongols traditionally fought in tribal units, but Genghis created a non-clan, highly mobile army with very talented horsemen. He caused the empire to rapidly expand; this was first shown by the Mongol conquest of China. The Mongols first conquered the Tangut kingdom of Xi Xia, and then the Jin Dynasty in a war that lasted until 1234 CE. He left China, and while he was away, the Xi Xia and Jin Dynasty united against his army.

In the dictionary the definition of the Mongols is “a native or inhabitant of Mongolia” (Webster). Mongols are much more than just inhabitants of Mongolia. They were great conquerors but brutally barbaric. The Mongol empire ruled from the 13th century to the mid 14th century (McDougal Littel). Genghis Khan and his descendants accomplished a lot, but the civilians faced many hardships. It seems as if they came and left in a matter of only a couple of years. The legacy of the Mongols should be evaluated based on positive and negative contributions to society. Positively, the conquerors were quite successful as they acquired land all throughout Eurasia. Negatively, they ferociously harmed people and valuables in the process.

The Mongols were constantly conquering new lands of insanely large sizes. They acquired land masses as big as 4,860,000 square miles all around. (document one) They were like terrorists to another persons home and another mans land with their crude actions and constant killing. Genghis Kahn alone conquered the largest amount of land, in fact being 4,860,000 square miles. Thats bigger than the body of the United States alone, and there’s no way that this man acquired all this land just by marching in and asking if he could take over. He just took over with the complex army he’d formed. Their army was just as hardcore and serious as they were. The faults of one man could result in the death of ten. The act of ten men could result in the death of 100

China has changed in certain ways and remained the same in others from the early Golden Ages to the late 1900s. China has experienced a series of cultural and political transformations, shaping the lives of many Chinese citizens. Culturally, the country’s art and literature hardly changed for almost eight hundred years. Along with their culture, China remained politically the same from the beginning of the Golden Ages all the way until the 1800s. On the other hand, China’s government and society were restructured after new leaders took over. From a monarch to total communism, China’s society had a multitude of new ideas and policies they had to adapt to.

The Mongols had a very skilled and strong arming and never lost battles outnumbered. They would travel by horse and split into small groups to surround the enemy to trap them. They were also falsely retreat the attack. To have a skilled and strong army they must have a great which was Genghis Khan. [From The Mongols Movie Worksheet and Document 2]

Understanding the Mongol’s culture is the key to comprehending their strength in numbers. Their leader was Chinggis Khan, a man who was obsessed with combining empires into one world ruled with his power. In order to do it, he needed a loyal army that would follow his commands into battle. Eventually he found men who believed in him and his mission. The dedication of his soldiers became exactly the right kind of army he needed to conquer other empires. “If we disobey your command during battle, take away our possessions, our children, and wives” (489). He treated his soldiers with respect. Happy soldiers meant a dedicated army to follow command and succeed in battle. He understood the importance of his soldiers and said, “I consider the people my children, and take an interest in talented men as if they

The Mongols came about when Genghis Khan united all of the Mongol tribes and clans, creating an army of up to 125,000 whose main goal was to conquer. One of his more effective tactics was enemies were treated fairly unless they resisted. Ones who resisted were killed. Kublai Khan was successful in reuniting the empire prior to a power struggle but was able to conquer all of China by 1276. However, he was not successful in conquering Japan by sea because of harsh storms and shipwrecks. Other countries Mongols had taken over included, Tibet, Persia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and eastern Germany. People taken over by the Mongols had no choice to cooperate because failure to would result in them being slaughtered. Genghis Khan granted religious

2. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “China‘s First Empire”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 1152 (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New

Even though some sources very likely exaggerate the number of soldiers, it is still clear that Mongol armies were huge. However, it is not the most important factor when it comes to that army’s capability. Above all the army had extraordinarily skilful archers. As George Lane puts it, they “were famous for their ability to fire their arrows in any direction while mounted and galloping at full speed.” They were also quick to learn new strategies and to adapt new weapons. They got explosives from China and learnt to use them effectively. More importantly, they learnt to besiege cities, which was something they did not initially know how to do effectively. This skill became very important later when they were attacking Khwarezmian Empire.

The rise of the Mongol Empire can be attributed to a famous emperor, Genghis Khan. He led his armies through the Great Wall of China and crushed the Jin Dynasty. “In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Mongols were far from more barbarous than their neighboring tribes. For this reason Genghis Khan, as the cultivated Chinese put it, was nothing more nor less than a barbarian. However, this barbarian possessed a number of qualities that enabled him to become one of the greatest conquerors in the history of the word” (Hartog p.139). Unfortunately, he has a sudden death in 1227 while in the war against the Xia Dynasty. Before his passing Genghis ordered his second son, Ogedei Khan, as his inheritor to split his empire into four khanates between his children and grandchildren to complete his invasion. Many years pass after Genghis Khan died, and several Mongol leaders attempted to continue the mission of the Great Khan. It isn’t until his grandson Kublai Khan, succeeded in creating a more powerful domain during his establishment of the Yuan Dynasty

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

The Cultural Revolution had a massive impact on China from 1965 to 1968. The Cultural Revolution is the name given to Mao’s attempt to reassert his beliefs in China. Mao had not been a very self-motivated leader from the late 1950’s on, and feared others in the party might be taking on a leading role that weakened his power within the party and the country. Basically, the Cultural Revolution was a failed attempt by Mao to re-impose his authority on the party and therefore, the country as well. Not only did the Cultural Revolution have a massive impact on China, but many other countries as well. Having a huge tragedy like the CR in history, we have to face and learn from it to avoid an event like this from repeating itself in the future.

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.

Cultural Revolution, refers to a political movement that leads by Mao Zedong during May 1966 to October 1976. The original intention for Cultural Revolution is to prevent the restoration of capitalism. Mao want to clean the force who block the development. However, because of the failure leadership, this movement goes to a wrong way and become out of control. This ten years revolution seriously impact Chinese economic and development, it gives Communist Party and its people a big damage: school closed, factories shut down; students recruit for the “Red Guard”, they took to the streets to against democracy; millions of people involved into this revolution. It is a painful memories to Chinese. Today, some people prefer to call this revolution “Civil War”. Its influence until now. It is a war between Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. Their struggle for power makes Chinese culture remains stagnant and fell far behind the world, and even go backwards.