Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire quickly covered the largest territory the world had ever seen. The Mongols’ main strategy in acquiring land was conquering by force, but they also relied on more peaceful methods and their tightly-knit political and social organization. The Mongols attacked villages until complete destruction using their land-based military techniques (docs 1,2,3,7 and 8). Sometimes, they gave civilizations a chance to submit to terms and avoid destructions (docs 6 and 9). He Mongols’ divisions of duties in their society gave them the structure they needed to conquer other peoples in distant lands (docs 4 and 5). Additional documents could come from conquered subjects who would know first-hand, how the Mongols were able to take down entire cities so quickly and their specific strategies.
The Mongols were known for forcefully invading inhabited territories. A compilation of their oral traditions talks about Genghis Khan’s conquests and how he used trickery to destroy cities and slaughter their soldiers (doc 1). This shows how brutal the Mongol warriors could be in their expansion efforts. This is further explained in a document written by Russian monks, who said when the Mongols came to Ryason, they killed almost everybody and violated the women (doc 2). This ruthlessness is explained by Marco Polo’s accounts, which talked about the barbaric nature of their living conditions, sustaining themselves on almost nothing (doc 3). An eyewitness account, reveals that Genghis Khan wiped out a whole tribe for rebelling and allowed neighboring areas to plunder what was left (doc 7). This shows how seriously the Mongols were keeping conquered areas in line, and how forceful and violent they were even after the initial invasions. Their rage is discussed by the Pope who said they laid whole countries in ruined and killed everybody without discrimination (doc 8). This final document exemplifies the forcefulness of Mongol conquest.
One of the Mongols ‘ more peaceful approaches to conquest was to allow cities to surrender to them. According to a Mongol high official, at every opportunity, Genghis Khan used peaceful methods to make his empire prosper (doc 6). This relates to Mongol conquest since whenever possible, Genghis Khan was said to build his empire with a peaceful approach. This concept is explained by the Great Khan himself, in a letter to the Pope. He wrote that he took the lands with permission from the heavens. He said that if the lands paid homage, he would recognize their submission, and if not, they were considered the enemy (doc 9). This is the change regions were given to be taken over without complete destruction.