Mongol Empire Dbq Essay

With Mongols owning the largest continuous land mass in history, they are going to interact with our countries. This interconnectedness let other cultures interact with each other; many people from different areas in which they took over (spreading far as modern day Korea to Poland) even moved to other regions which they liked causing mixing and assimilation. Despite the brutality of the empire, they had “… a system of pure theism and perfect toleration” (document c). Everyone who was invaded and conquered was free to practice their own religion on culture (document b); therefore, this caused the spread of mostly Islam and Buddhism. The Turkic groups that allied with the Mongols were Muslim and had specialized skills and literacy, which not many of the Mongolians possessed, so, they hired them and moved them around the empire. Many travelers converted to Islam, and Persia, an already Muslim country, their culture was

widely spread throughout the Mongol Empire.

Persian even became an official language of the empire; and even traveled as far as China. Buddhism was spread throughout China mostly through the support from the Great Khans, starting with Khubilai. He gave the lamas political power, made donations to the Buddhist temples, gave tax exemptions to the monks, and supported them in their arguments with Daoists.

The Mongols had an original idea for how their empire was set up. Obedience and supporting their own kind was most important to them. The Mongol warriors always listened to their superiors and the “leaders are to personally examine the troops… and to punish those lacking any necessary equipment” (document b). The discipline was not soft either “whoever gives food or clothing without permission of his captor is to be put to

death” (document b). Genghis Khan, the first Great Khan, was responsible for most of these reforms down to the army size and their responsibilities. Mutual loyalty was greatly encouraged, and everyone treated each other like family- this made the Mongols protect and fight more valiantly for each other rather than just themselves. Under this undying obedience, the armies persecuted and invaded regions with upmost brutality (though peace was an option, it meant complete submission to the Mongol forces). In the Siege of Baghdad, absolute chaos broke loose, tens of thousands people died in the takeover. It was considered one of the most devastating events to occur in Islamic history. Genghis did have a purpose for this savagery. It prevented longer battles; the Mongols could not afford this because they needed to let their horses graze which they fought with. Furthermore, the destruction of the land and its infrastructure was to prevent another uprising against the people since they would literally have to build from nothing. This ruthlessness was also a fear tactic. A pope wrote to the Mongols asking them to not attack Christian nation in return for peace (document d). Europe heard many of these takeovers in the east and was terrified of them, and many surrendered as soon as they got there to save themselves from slaughter.
The Mongols, despite the chaos they ensued in Eurasia, created something beautiful that would change the course of history. The silk roads have been mostly abandoned and unused, but the Mongol people “rebuilt” these routes and this caused connections between distance regions. “Pax mongolica” was the peace between these nations, which helped the silk roads expand and got many countries to participate. The empire also protected caravans to trade in these long distance routes, and all cultures were welcomed- everyone could participate which also spread culture around the routes. Unimaginable distances, at the time, could be travel across to trade even “China silk could be brought in Italy by 1257” (document e). Many goods and tools were also spread to Europe like gunpowder, paper, and compasses. This aided Europe to become an eventual power in the world rather than just feudal states.