Name: How did the Mongols conquer the largest land empire in ancient history? Introduction: In the 13th century CE a nomadic group of people from the Central Asian steppes entered the pages of history as they cut a bloody path across the Asian continent. By the end of the century, these people controlled a land empire which spanned almost 13 million square miles and stretched from China to Ukraine. This was the largest contiguous land empire in world history, and the second largest empire ever created. Their wars of conquest killed an estimated 17% of the world population. How was it that a group that the Chinese considered to be primitive and backwards was able to topple the most advanced civilizations of the world? How did the Mongols conquer the largest land empire in ancient history?
In the 12th century CE, the Mongolian Plateau was occupied by five major groups; the Mongols, the Kereit, the Naiman, the Mergid, and the Tatar. The Jin rulers of China to the south pursued a policy of divide and rule in which they constantly encouraged conflicts between the five steppe tribes. The Mongols and the Tatars especially hated each other and frequently assassinated the leaders of the other tribe. The Jin Dynasty in China assumed that this constant fighting would keep the people of Mongolia weak and easily controlled. Some time in the 1160s, a child named Temujin was born into one of the Mongol tribes. After a difficult childhood as the son of a minor chieftain he eventually gained control from his father. However, as a chieftain he became the target of enemy tribes and his wife was kidnapped. Temujin managed to unite some of the tribes together and defeated the Naimans and the Tatars to gain his wife back. Temujin s uncles thought he had become too powerful and a civil war ensued. In the end, Temujin s army was victorious and he was given the title of Genghis Khan, which meant universal leader. Genghis Khan rewarded those who had been loyal to him by giving them positions of power. He also reorganized the now united tribes Background Information into a powerful army. During this time, Genghis Khan also passed a variety of laws which included harsh punishments (usually death) for things such as selling women, stealing, hunting out of season, and fighting between Mongol tribes. The Mongols under Genghis Khan were not the barbarians that most people think they were. Genghis Khan encouraged literacy and even helped to create a new written language for his people. He encouraged religious toleration and allowed freedom of religion for Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians. Furthermore, he decreed that those in poverty should not have to pay taxes and tried to increase domestic and international trade to raise the wealth of his people. Eventually, though, the Mongols came into conflict with their southern neighbors, the Chinese. It was this war that would eventually lead to a series of wars in which the Mongolian people would attack and conquer all of China, Korea, Tibet, eastern Abbasid Persia, and Kievan Rus (the Russians). By the time Genghis Khan died in 1227, at age 65, the Mongolian Empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea. This empire was twice the size of the Roman Empire. In this Document Based Question, you will explore how the Mongols managed to conquer this massive land empire.
Document A Source: Gabriele De Mussi, an Italian trader from Genoa, describing the Mongolian siege at Caffa in 1346 CE. But they ordered corpses to be placed in catapults and lobbed into the city in the hope that the intolerable stench would kill everyone inside. What seemed like mountains of dead were thrown into the city, and the Christians could not hide or flee or escape from them, although they dumped as many of the bodies as they could into the sea. And soon the rotting corpses tainted the air and poisoned the water supply, and the stench was so overwhelming that hardly one in several thousand was in a position to flee the remains of the [Mongol] army. Moreover one infected man could carry the poison to others, and infect people and places with the disease by look alone. No one knew, or could discover, a means of defense. Document B Source: Friar John of Plano Carpini, History of the Mongols, 1240 CE. They hunt and practice archery, for they are all, big and little, excellent archers, and their children begin as soon as they are two or three years old to ride and manage horses and to gallop on them, and they are given bows to suite their stature and taught to shoot them. When they are in battle, if one or two or three or even more out of a group of ten run away, all are put to death; if a whole group of ten flees, the rest of the group of a hundred are all put to death, if they do not flee too. In a word, unless they retreat in a body, all who take flight are put to death. Document C Source: Andrews, Evan. Ten Things You May Not Know About Genghis Khan from History.com, 2014. Genghis Khan often gave other kingdoms a chance to peacefully submit to Mongol rule, but he didn t hesitate to bring down the sword on any society that resisted. One of his most famous campaigns of revenge came in 1219, after the Shah of the Khwarezmid Empire broke a treaty with the Mongols. Genghis had offered the Shah a valuable trade agreement to exchange goods along the Silk Road, but when his first emissaries were murdered, the enraged Khan responded by unleashing the full force of his Mongol hordes on the Khwarezmid territories in Persia. The subsequent war left millions dead and the Shah s empire in utter ruin, but the Khan didn t stop there. He followed up on his victory by returning east and waging war on the Tanguts of Xi Xia, a group of Mongol subjects who had refused his order to provide troops for his invasion of Khwarizm. After routing the Tangut forces and sacking their capital, the Great Khan ordered the execution of the entire Tangut royal family as punishment for their defiance. Document D Source: Ibn Al-Athir, Arab historian writing about the Mongols, 13th century CE. In the countries that have not yet been overrun by them, everyone spends the night afraid that they may appear there too.
Document E Source: Muhammad ibn Mahmudshah al-khayyam. Mongolian on Horse. Ink on gold paper. 15th century. Document F Source: Letter from Kuyuk Khan, leader of the Mongols, to Pope Innocent IV. 1245 CE. Thanks to the power of the Eternal Heaven, all lands have been given to us from sunrise to sunset. How could anyone act other than in accordance with the commands of Heaven? Now your own upright heart must tell you: We will become subject to you, and will place our powers at your disposal. You in person, at the head of the monarchs, all of you, without exception, must come to tender us service and pay us homage; then only will we recognize your submission. But if you do not obey the commands of Heaven, and run counter to our orders, we shall know that you are our foe. That is what we have to tell you. If you fail to act in accordance therewith, how can we foresee what will happen to you? Heaven alone knows. Document G Source: http://www.mongolia-attractions.com/mongol-war-tactics.html, Dr. Timothy May, 2007. He (Genghis Khan) added the essential element that separated the Mongols from their peers: discipline. This enabled him to overcome the assortment of tribal confederations and alliances, which he faced before becoming the ruler of all Mongolia. While other armies would disintegrate in order to loot the dead and baggage of an enemy in flight, Genghis Khan ordered his armies to wait until victory was complete. Those who disobeyed this command would be struck down. This disciplined soldier was then given a high rate of mobility. Each trooper had a string of three to five horses. This allowed him to exchange mounts when one tired. If one was slain, the Mongol trooper had replacements. In sedentary armies, this simply was not possible. Horses were simply too expensive to maintain to allow each cavalryman to have more than one, especially the large horses necessary to carry an armored warrior.
Mongols DBQ Name: DBQ Prompt: In your own words, describe your task for this DBQ: Hook exercise : Write at least 5 facts from the Crash Course World History video. Background Information: Read the background information and write two sentences, one about time and place, and one about the story (summary) of the information. Time and Place Story (Summary)
Buckets: As you read the DBQ documents, use this space to categorize the information. These buckets will later become possible paragraph topics. Document letter Source (where did the document come from?) Date of document: Author of document: Primary or secondary source? Possible author bias/ point of view: What important facts can I learn from this document? Overall, what was the main idea of this document? How does this document help answer the question? Analytical category (bucket):
Document letter Source (where did the document come from?) Date of document: Author of document: Primary or secondary source? Possible author bias/ point of view: What important facts can I learn from this document? Overall, what was the main idea of this document? How does this document help answer the question? Analytical category (bucket): Document letter Source (where did the document come from?) Date of document: Author of document: Primary or secondary source? Possible author bias/ point of view: What important facts can I learn from this document? Overall, what was the main idea of this document? How does this document help answer the question? Analytical category (bucket):
Document letter Source (where did the document come from?) Date of document: Author of document: Primary or secondary source? Possible author bias/ point of view: What important facts can I learn from this document? Overall, what was the main idea of this document? How does this document help answer the question? Analytical category (bucket): Document letter Source (where did the document come from?) Date of document: Author of document: Primary or secondary source? Possible author bias/ point of view: What important facts can I learn from this document? Overall, what was the main idea of this document? How does this document help answer the question? Analytical category (bucket):
Document letter Source (where did the document come from?) Date of document: Author of document: Primary or secondary source? Possible author bias/ point of view: What important facts can I learn from this document? Overall, what was the main idea of this document? How does this document help answer the question? Analytical category (bucket): Document letter Source (where did the document come from?) Date of document: Author of document: Primary or secondary source? Possible author bias/ point of view: What important facts can I learn from this document? Overall, what was the main idea of this document? How does this document help answer the question? Analytical category (bucket):
Rough Draft Introduction paragraph: Attention grabber (use Time and Place & Summary info) - Question (write the essay prompt) - Thesis (what are your three reasons?) - Body Paragraph #1: Topic sentence (reason 1) - Cite evidence (paraphrase or embed a quote from a document) - Explain (at least 1-2 sentences) - Body Paragraph #2: Topic sentence (reason 2) -
Cite evidence (paraphrase or embed a quote from a document) - Explain (at least 1-2 sentences) - Body Paragraph #3: Topic sentence (reason 3) - Cite evidence (paraphrase or embed a quote from a document) - Explain (at least 1-2 sentences) - Conclusion: Restate thesis with new insight or idea (perhaps you explain which reason you think is the strongest) - Why should we study this? Why are the Mongols important/unique? -
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Scoring Guide Thesis is explicit and lists three different reasons for Mongol success in conquest Discusses three specific reasons for Mongol success Each reasons is supported by at least 2 documents Documents are not simply cited/summarized, but explained in the context of the reason Organization is clear and coherent Thesis is explicit and lists three different reasons for Mongol success in conquest Discusses three specific reasons for Mongol success Each reasons is supported by at least 1 document Documents are not simply cited/summarized, but explained in the context of the reason Organization is clear and coherent Thesis is explicit and lists three different reasons for Mongol success in conquest Discusses three specific reasons for Mongol success Each reasons is supported by at least 1 document Documents are cited but may not be fully explained Organization is clear and coherent Thesis may be generalized Discusses three specific reasons for Mongol success Each reasons is supported by at least 1 document Documents are cited but may not be fully explained Organization is clear and coherent Thesis may be generalized Discusses two specific reasons for Mongol success Each reasons is supported by at least 1 document Documents are cited but may not be fully explained Organization is clear and coherent Thesis may be generalized Discusses two specific reasons for Mongol success Each reasons is supported by at least 1 document Documents are cited but may not be fully explained Organization may be unclear or confused Thesis may be generalized Discusses only one specific reason for Mongol success The reason is supported by at least 1 document Documents are cited but may not be fully explained Organization may be unclear or confused A thesis exists and pertains to the topic of the Mongols Discusses only one reason for Mongol success The reason is supported by at least 1 document Documents are cited but may not be fully explained Organization may be unclear or confused
Final Draft