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I simply had to visit Mongolia and did at the earliest I could. I loved it when I was there in the mid 90s. Very challenging place for me to be and it took me o

by mbubb 12y ago

I simply had to visit Mongolia and did at the earliest I could. I loved it when I was there in the mid 90s. Very challenging place for me to be and it took me out of my shell a bit. Nothing was obvious for me at the time... ("is that a restaurant or a private house?, etc) I think about this book all the time. I am honestly nto enough of a historian to judge it overall but the portrait of Ghengis Khan is very striking. Only slightly tongue in cheek - he was as disruptive in his time as Google. Not because of his cruelty (he supposedly forbid his troops from pillaging and raping and sent the accountants in first...) The deliberately did not destroy towns if they could avoid it so that they could keep the productive capacity going. And they learned every step of the way. New techniques, new technologies. They engineered a relatively safe road back to the homeland. To insure they could return and they could send back earning of war. This book answered a nagging question I always had about Mongolia: 1) How did they conquer without leaving a standing army? If they were so brutal then those left behind would revolt, eventually. 2) Did they offer the tradesmen a bagain - give up the yoke of Nobility and Church for a 20% cut and relative safety trading with the other town? This is an amazing book.

pacala 12y ago
> How did they conquer without leaving a standing army? If they were so brutal then those left behind would revolt, eventually. Terror does wonders for obedience. Revolt all you want. We'll be here next summer. You better have the tribute ready, or we'll kill everyone.
restalis 12y ago
"How did they conquer without leaving a standing army? If they were so brutal then those left behind would revolt, eventually." From the "Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia"¹ about cities which opposed resistance: 1. Otrar - "Genghis killed many of the inhabitants, enslaved the rest" 2. Bukhara - "Survivors from the citadel were executed, artisans and craftsmen were sent back to Mongolia, young men who had not fought were drafted into the Mongolian army and the rest of the population was sent into slavery." 3. Samarkand - "After the fortress fell, Genghis reneged on his surrender terms and executed every soldier that had taken arms against him at Samarkand. The people of Samarkand were ordered to evacuate and assemble in a plain outside the city, where they were killed and pyramids of severed heads raised as the symbol of Mongol victory." 4. Urgench - "As usual, the artisans were sent back to Mongolia, young women and children were given to the Mongol soldiers as slaves, and the rest of the population was massacred." 5. Gurjang - "Upon its surrender the Mongols broke the dams and flooded the city, then proceeded to execute the survivors." 6. Merv - "Tolui slaughtered almost every person who surrendered, in a massacre possibly on a greater scale than that at Urgench." 7 Nishapur - "Tolui put to the sword every living thing in city" Then an outlier: "After Nishapur's fall, Herat surrendered without a fight and was spared." Now, let's see... who wants to revolt? ¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Khwarezmia_and_Eastern_Iran http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Khwarezmia_a...
- mbubb 12y ago
  Well - except they did not leave a standing army. Once they get up to Hungary they have thousands of km to get back. Genghis' goal was always to return. Not occupy. They had to make sure they could get back.

by mbubb 12y ago

pacala 12y ago

> How did they conquer without leaving a standing army? If they were so brutal then those left behind would revolt, eventually. Terror does wonders for obedience. Revolt all you want. We'll be here next summer. You better have the tribute ready, or we'll kill everyone.

restalis 12y ago

"How did they conquer without leaving a standing army? If they were so brutal then those left behind would revolt, eventually." From the "Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia"¹ about cities which opposed resistance: 1. Otrar - "Genghis killed many of the inhabitants, enslaved the rest" 2. Bukhara - "Survivors from the citadel were executed, artisans and craftsmen were sent back to Mongolia, young men who had not fought were drafted into the Mongolian army and the rest of the population was sent into slavery." 3. Samarkand - "After the fortress fell, Genghis reneged on his surrender terms and executed every soldier that had taken arms against him at Samarkand. The people of Samarkand were ordered to evacuate and assemble in a plain outside the city, where they were killed and pyramids of severed heads raised as the symbol of Mongol victory." 4. Urgench - "As usual, the artisans were sent back to Mongolia, young women and children were given to the Mongol soldiers as slaves, and the rest of the population was massacred." 5. Gurjang - "Upon its surrender the Mongols broke the dams and flooded the city, then proceeded to execute the survivors." 6. Merv - "Tolui slaughtered almost every person who surrendered, in a massacre possibly on a greater scale than that at Urgench." 7 Nishapur - "Tolui put to the sword every living thing in city" Then an outlier: "After Nishapur's fall, Herat surrendered without a fight and was spared." Now, let's see... who wants to revolt? ¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Khwarezmia_and_Eastern_Iran http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Khwarezmia_a...

mbubb 12y ago
Well - except they did not leave a standing army. Once they get up to Hungary they have thousands of km to get back. Genghis' goal was always to return. Not occupy. They had to make sure they could get back.