Mongol Empire Dbq

During the 1200s, many people were affected by the violence and brutality of the Mongols. Their empire spread from northern China all the way to Russia and Europe, just on the backs of their horses. Every Mongol leader had one motive in mind - to conquer and kill. These ruthless soldiers spent their lives travelling and conquering many towns and major cities, leaving nothing behind but messages of their defeat. The Barbarians were proved to be truly ¨barbaric¨ by the writings of John of Plano Carpini, Mongolian leaders, and outlooks of non- Mongolian people. As shown in documents 2, 3, and 10, John of Plano Carpini shows his looks and understanding of what happened in the Mongol Empire. In document 2, John of Plano Carpini talks about they
are even barbaric towards their own soldiers. If any soldiers from a fleet decide to run away or not to fight, they will be put to death (Doc 2). His writing shows how their policies show no mercy on anyone, not even their own. In Carpiniś other work, he focused more on the battle tactics of the Barbarians. When they were in battle, they would take the fat of the people they killed and, melted it, and threw it onto houses, and wherever the burning fat fell was almost inextinguishable (Doc 3). They would also ask for civilians to come out to them so they could find all the people they wanted to keep alive, whether it be they were artisans or they wanted them as slaves, and kill the rest with an axe (Doc 3). His writing again shows just how ruthless and ¨Barbaric” the Mongols were. Carpini´s other writing on drinking further shows just how the Mongols were. They thought of drinking as honorable and when they would drink too much, they would be sick right there and then and would continue to drink far after that (Doc 10).
In documents 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, and 10, the Mongolian leaders are shown to to also be ruthless and show no mercy.
Document 1 shows that Genghis Khan, a Mongolian leader, conquered 4,860,000 square miles of land. Genghis Khan also made sure that every soldier had someone in charge of them, allowing no room for mistakes. He organized the army in a way that every ten people had a ¨captain of ten¨ and every 10 of these captains had a ¨captain of a hundred¨ and so on (Doc 2). If they did not obey one of their leaders or tried to run away, they would be killed (Doc 2). This shows how the leader did not allow any room for disorder and showed no mercy for even his own army. Document 5 shows the Mongolian leader, Genghis Khan, in action executing a prisoner. He and his soldiers were so Barbaric, they would execute on spot and burn people alive while hanging upside down. Genghis was very strict and forbidded theft and adultery of Mongols. They would not even steal two horses running astray with the owners already moved out of the country because of how strict the laws were on theft (Doc 7). Mongke Khan, also a Mongolian leader, made his profession to of faith to Rubruck and declared that all Mongols believe there is one God (Doc 9). In document 10 about Adultery, it shows again how Genghis Khan was strict on is policies of committing adultery, which says they will be executed if they have had previous convictions or
not.
As shown in documents 4, 6, and 8, the opinions of Non-Mongolian people were used to show the terrifying ways of the Mongols.
Document 4 tells about the Mongol attack on the city of Nishapur. They tried to use everything they had to protect themselves against the Mongols, but they were no match for their vicious ways. By nightfall the city was full of the Mongols, and they were commanded that not even a cat or dog should be left alive. They would sever the heads from bodies and place them all in giant piles according to gender (Doc 4). This shows how ruthless the orders given and soldiers were of the Mongolian army, and how barbaric their thoughts and actions were. The Mongols made sure that after they conquered, no history of them would be just satisfactory (Doc 6). The Mongols also made sure that none of their leaders were short of anything important or any important news. The messengers would ride as much as 250 miles in one day just to make sure the leaders had all the news they needed to know (Doc 8). No messenger would dare to face the wrath of a Mongol who believed he was not aware of everything of importance.
To better understand the vicious and barbaric ways of the Barbarians, the input of a direct victim or survivor of the Mongols would be useful. The story of a direct victim would give the reader an actual look of how their ways affected people and towns, and would allow them to see how it affected the people before, during, and after their attacks. No one knows exactly
just how brutal the Mongols were except the ones directly affected by their ways.