Essay On The Mongols Barbarians

In the 13th century BC, the Mongols rose to power and conquered an empire whose size still has yet to matched. The Mongols conquered lands such as China, leaving such a lasting influence on them that their legacy still lives on. However, despite the Mongols success, their actions have left a constantly ongoing debate on whether they were barbarians, seen and portrayed by different societies of their time as people with no morale or modern civilities, or civilized people who were just feared by other societies. Although the Mongols are generally now seen as Barbarians because of their violent and barbaric war tactics they used to instill fear in people, they are actually civilized because they had a strategically organized army, and because they were accepting of the customs of other peoples. These two elements would eventually lead them to their success.
The Mongols could be considered barbarians because of the violent and barbaric war tactics they used to instill fear in people. They often took advantage of their organized army to carry out many of these military tactics. When the Mongols attacked places such as fortresses, they would first surround it, breaking up their army into groups and periodically switched them so that they could attack day and night while the fortresses inhabitants tired themselves out trying to protect themselves (Doc 3). When they were not able to capture the fortress like this, they would take the fat of enemies they killed, and, after melting it, they would catapult it onto houses and set fire to it; these fires were nearly impossible to put out (Doc 3). The Mongols would also often take over entire cities, slaying all its inhabitants and burning it to the ground after taking any valuables. ...

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... promoting loyalty and increased trust between the two peoples. The Chinese would be more willing to follow the new policies under Mongol rule, even though they were not at the top of the social class anymore. The Mongols were civilized because they were accepting of the customs of different peoples and used this to their benefit.
Although the Mongols could be seen as barbarians because of the way they used war tactics to both instill fear in people and attain the land that made up their large empire, their acceptance of other customs caused conquered people to have more loyalty for them and their organized army also helped them to quickly gain control of large amounts of land. These are the reasons why the Mongols were successful and civilized. Allyson Persaud