Preview

War Tactics of the Mongols

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
808 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
War Tactics of the Mongols
Leon Harmon
Period 3
APWH Mongols

A brute, a cannibal, a hooligan, a monster, a rascal, and a barbarian all describe a savage person in a primitive state or a person without culture, refinement or education. Barbarians have always been seen as uncivilized, wild, savage, crude, and uneducated. So is it just to describe the Mongols as such? The answer is no. The Mongols were not barbaric. As the documents discussed in this essay demonstrate, they had highly sophisticated military tactics; they lived by a code of conduct, and actually helped improved life for a conquered people. The Mongols grouped their warriors in armies of 10,000. These in turn were organized into 1,000-man brigades, 100-man companies, and 10-man squads. Their strategy was to attack the enemy head-on and far right & left to surround them. The Mongols could be outnumbered, but they brought women and children on horses so it would appear they had many more soldiers. They positioned themselves to surround the fortress so that no one can enter of leave. They divided their up their forces and take turns fighting so they did not get too tired. John of Plano Carpini, the person who saw them fight, most likely did not see all of the Mongol’s war strategies or he might have not have described it in the exact way. He could have left out a valuable note to winnings of the entire Mongol’s battle. With their warmongering maneuvers, they killed over 6 million people. These are reported deaths from varied sources. That is like slaughtering everyone in Chicago twice. They conquered 4,860,000 square miles of land, more than the United States. They controlled more land in 40 years than any “non-barbarians”. More than Alexander the Great and Tamerlane combined. To achieve such feats the Mongols had to be educated to gain an empire larger than the United States. (Documents 1-4) Barbarians have no code of conduct. They could not care less what happened to there conquered people. The

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    How barbaric were the barbarians? The Mongols were a group of people that lived during the 13th century in central Asia. They expanded their empire throughout most of Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. The Barbarians were indeed barbaric. Because of their human nature, the Mongols stroke feared in the faces of many people.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mongols DBQ

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Mongols, who eventually became known as the Tatars, were one of the most savage conquerors of history. The Mongols had good military tactics, that’s how they conquered many so fast. They were very clever in their battles and planned ahead. They didn’t act until they had plenty of men or when they had…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Mongols were very barbaric, their reputation was not pretty, they slaughtered entire cities and left one person alive so they could tell the terrible story.…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Mongol army went into battle with a brutal well planned tactic with the intent of causing maximum damage, “I’ll trick them and make them come out in the open. I’ll pretend to retreat and when they come out I’ll attack them,” this contributed greatly to the success of the Mongols (Doc: 1). Marco Polo’s biased description the soldiers stuck out from the documents “their arms are bows, iron maces, and in some instances, spears” (Doc: 3). The fact that Polo was sent by the Mongol ruler to administer the realm contributes to this bias. The warriors of the Mongol army were disciplined “their obedience and submissiveness is such that if there be a commander of a hundred thousand between whom and the Khan there is a distance of sunrise and sunset, and if he but commit some fault, the Khan dispatches a single horseman to punish him” (Doc: 4). A document from the perspective of one of the conquered civilizations would be very useful because it would give insight on how events took place.…

    • 522 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They had no mercy for anyone who was in their way and would do anything to win a battle. In document 3, the Mongols brought children and women onto the battlefield to give the appearance that their army was larger than it really was. These harmless children often got caught in the crossfire and were killed. Doc 3 also states that “sometimes they even take the fat of the people they killed and, melting it, throw it onto the houses” (doc 3). To retrieve the fat, they would need to cut upon their already dead victims and savage through their insides. In addition to this, doc 5 shows a picture of Mongolian soldiers shooting an unarmed man with a crossbow and others being buried alive. For the Mongols, being buried alive wasn’t bad enough because these people were buried alive upside down. This is tremendously graphic and shows how the Mongols don’t have any boundaries when it comes to…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Mongols: How Barbaric Were the “Barbarians”?” The Mongols did accomplish a lot as an Empire. But, as they accomplished what they wanted, they were completely barbaric groups of people. In the 13th century, the Mongols warriors swept across the lands of Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. “Nothing like it had ever been seen before. Nothing quite like it was has been done ever since.” ( Quote from Article:“The Mongols: How Barbaric Were the“Barbarians”?”).…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There were many great warriors throughout the Middle Ages, however none so prominent as the Mongols. While the Carolingian “war machine” conquered a sizable expanse of land, it was a miniscule feat when compared to the enormous empire the Mongols ultimately created. Though they prospered for a relatively short period of time, they succeeded in generating a lasting impact. The traditional stereotypes of the 13th century Mongols were influenced by stories from Russia, China, and Persia, which insinuated that the Mongols were barbaric raiders contingent upon destroying everything in their path. This perception is not entirely true, while the Mongols were still a fierce war machine,…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Mongols were a nomadic people until 1206, when they acknowledged Temujin as the supreme leader, Genghis Khan. A huge empire was created under his rule, linking Eastern and Western Eurasia. An analysis of these documents will discuss the topic of how the Mongols expanded their empire so far in such a short time through their power of violence. This analysis will also show the admiration and respect of the Mongols by others in surrounding regions. Ultimately, this analysis will discuss how the fear from other people gave the Mongols their biggest advantage in conquering other regions to expand their enormous empire.…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    At that time, there were Mongol tribes that lived independently from each other. They beliefs, religion, laws and order separated from each other. They did not want to accept anyone’s religion, laws or beliefs and others did not want to do the same thing in return. When Genghis Khan unified all of the tribes, all of them started to have the same points of view, therefore creating a strong empire.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although taking a harsher approach to conquering China, the Mongols’ barbarity does not compare to the impact they have made improving the country. The leader of the Mongols, Genghis Khan, had only one objective to bring the Mongol clans of the region under one leadership. Years later, his grandson, Kubilai Khan, maintained ties with other khanates achieving security across much of Asia. This period is called pax Mongolica or “the Mongolian peace.” Kubilai expanded his holdings in China by defeating the Sung Empire and establishing a new dynasty called the Yuan Dynasty. For the first time in three hundred years China was once again a united country. The Mongols were a very strong empire and through their…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Mongols were originally a group of nomadic people who practiced nomadic pastoralism. Nomadic pastoralism is defined as a form of pastoralism where…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mongol Empire Dbq

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    trail of ghenus khan

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this trial of Mr. Genghis Khan (Johnny) vs. Mr. Genghis Khan not being civilized, I believe that the Mongol Warrior (Adam) helped bring out the fact that Mr. Khan was indeed innocent of this accusation. This Mongol warrior brought forth the fact that they did indeed give the civilizations a chance to surrender to the Mongols. The Mongol warrior also acknowledged the laws that Mr. Khan had made, (This was backed up by the Historian Juvaini (Rachel) and the research that was done by that person). He also brought forth the fact that, many people thought that there warfare, was part of being civilized, but when we asked the prosecuting witnesses, (the ones before the Mongol Warrior was called up), what the definition of being civilized was, many of the prosecuting witnesses did not involve warfare into their definition of being civilized. The Mongol warrior also helped us when the other prosecuting attorneys tried to ask him questions that were related to warfare, instead of being related to the main question, “is Mr. Khan civilized?”, we then brought them to a dead end, with us (the defensive attorney’s) putting objections towards their questions, because their question’s had nothing to do with the main topic of the trial. The prosecuting side then ran out of questions to ask, due to irrelevance of the questions that they were asking.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mongols as Villians

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Mongols were some of the most innovative and intelligent people of their time. They were also some of the most vicious and barbaric villains of the 13th century. With genius war tactics and fearless warriors, they were the most advanced villains of their time period. Using cruel methods of punishment, such as boiling their warriors, showed clear evidence of barbaric activity. While using those cruel methods they also had intelligent ways of biological warfare such as catapulting plague ridden bodies over the walls of Caffa at the Siege of 1346. While many of their actions were truly barbaric, they were very successful in conquering most of China. Although they were most definitely not heroes, they were much more successful in war and conquering seeing that they conquered more land in 25 years than the Romans did in 400 years.…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romans and Barbarians Dbq

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    By reading what historians and politicians have to say it seems to me that their definition of a ‘barbarian’ is an evil, filthy, and lazy creature. According to an unknown historian barbarians are an evil spirit possessed by the devil who do horrible acts of crime, and who also have lust and sin. This writer is also the historian that mentions about their dislike of personal hygiene, and who says, “They grease their blonde hair with butter and care not that it smells rancid.” To another historian who goes by the name of Tacitus, he believes that the barbarian people are nothing but lazy, fat, and greedy young men who leave all of the work and labor “to the women, the old men, and all the weakest members of the family.” From what these historians have written or given opinions about I see no reason to call the nomadic people barbarians, although they did have a personal hygiene problem that was their way of adapting to their environment.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics