SS WH U05 Mongol Conquest DBQ Essay
Part 1 Directions: Carefully read all six of the primary source documents included here and complete the analysis questions below each document.
● Answer the questions about each document in your own words.
● Organize the documents into two or three groups based on how the Mongols conquered and changed each area.
Prompt
“Describe the impact of the Mongols on Russia, Arabia, and China.”
Historical Background
The Mongol Empire and the territories it controlled played a major role in world history from the 12th -14th centuries. This empire was the largest land empire the world has ever seen. Genghis Khan and his successors conquered nearly all of Asia and European Russia and sent armies as far as central Europe and Southeast Asia. Mongol states and territories included the conquest of China, which became the Yuan Dynasty; as well as Persia, Iraq, Anatolia (which put the Mongols well within reach of Constantinople), Russia, Hungary and Poland. The Mongols under Kublai Khan even tried to conquer Japan by sea. However, the Mongols were not seafarers and certainly could not combat the massive typhoons that totally destroyed their invading fleet. To this day, the Japanese refer to the typhoons that saved them from Mongol conquest as Kamikaze, or the Divine Wind. It was Kublai Khan who entertained Marco Polo of Italy at his fabulous court in China most commonly known as Xanadu.
Document 1
“The Secret History of the Mongols,” 13th Century, compiled from Mongol Oral TraditionsAfter this in the Year of the Sheep Chingis Khan set out to fight the people of Cathay (the Chin Empire in north China). First he took the city of Fu-chou then marching through the Wild Fox Pass he took Hsuan-te-fu. From here he sent out an army under Jebe's command to take the fortress at Chu-yung Kuan. When Jebe arrived he saw the Chu-yung Kuan was well defended, so he said:
"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."
So Jebe retreated and the Cathayan army cried: "Let's go after them!"
They poured out of their fortifications until the valleys and mountainsides were full of their soldiers. Jebe retreated to Sondi-i-wu Ridge and there he turned his army around to attack as the enemy rushed towards him in waves. The Cathayan army was beaten and close behind Jebe's forces Chingis Khan commanding the great Middle Army attacked as well, forcing the Cathayan army to retreat, killing the finest and most courageous soldiers of Cathay, the Jurchin and Khara Khitan fighters, slaughtering them along the side of Chu-yung Kuan so that their bodies lay piled up like rotten logs.
This text is part of the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval history.
1. According to “The Secret History of the Mongols,” how did Chinggis Khan trick the Chinese into coming out into the open so that they could be attacked?
2. Describe in your own words the battlefield after the battle was over.
Document 2
The Mongol Ilkhanate was founded in the 1200s by Chinngis Khan’s grandson Hulagu
in what was once Persia (now mainly Iran and Iraq) and nearby parts of Central Asia. Described in this passage is the result of the destruction of a Muslim group known as the Assassins who were attacking trade routes.
Source: 1295, Persian chronicler Ata Malik Juvaini, who worked for the Mongols.
1. What was the end result of the Mongolian conflict with the Muslim group of raiders?
2. How does this passage explain one of the effects of the Pax Mongolica?
Document 3
In 1271, Chinngis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan formerly claimed the Mandate of Heaven, creating the Yuan Dynasty. The Pope issued gifts and letters for the Great Khan, and sent them by way of the Polo family. Marco Polo arrived in 1275, and wrote about his observations of the Mongols in China.
XXVI. Paper Money - Immense Wealth of the Great Khan
With regard to the money of Kambalu, the great khan may be called a perfect alchymist,for he makes it himself. He orders people to collect the bark of a certain tree, whose leaves are eaten by the worms that spin silk.... All cards are stamped with his seal, and so many are fabricated, that they would buy all the treasuries in the world. He makes all his payments in them, and circulates them through the kingdoms and provinces over which he holds dominion; and none dares to refuse them under pain of death.
1. What innovation that eventually made its way to Europe is the reading above describing?
2. How would the innovation discussed in the reading above affect trade?
Document 4:
In a letter to the Mongols on March 13, 1245, Pope Innocent IV appeals to the Mongols to stop from attacking Christians and other nations, and asks what the Mongols' future intentions might be. Innocent also expresses a desire for peace (possibly unaware that in the Mongol vocabulary, "peace" is a synonym for "subjection"). The letter below is the reply from the Great Khan.
Letter from the Great Khan to Pope Innocent IV, 1245.Those of whom you speak showed themselves highly presumptuous and slew our envoys. Therefore, in accordance with the commands of the Eternal Heaven the inhabitants of the aforesaid countries have been slain and annihilated. If not by the command of Heaven, how can anyone slay or conquer out of his own strength?
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?
This text is part of the Internet Medieval SourceBook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval history.
1. Summarize in your own words the Great Khan’s reply to Pope Innocent IV. Write your answer in at least 2 complete sentences.
2. How does the document represent the Mongols attitude towards conquest? Write your answer in at least 2 complete sentences.
Document 5:
The Russians describe the Mongols as “Tartars” in the Novgorod Chronicles. The Chronicles provide many vivid descriptions of the Mongols and how they treated the Russians. The excerpt below describes their conquest of Volodimir, Russia in 1238.
“…The pagan and godless Tartars [Mongols]….fenced it all round with a fence as they had taken other towns, and here the accursed ones fought with battering rams for two weeks. And the people in the town were exhausted and from Novgorod there was no help for them; but already every man began to be in perplexity and terror. And so the pagans took the town, and slew all from the male sex even to the female, all the priests and the monks, and all stripped and reviled gave up their souls to the Lord in a bitter and wretched death on March 5…Wednesday in Easter week.”Source: Robert Mitchell and Nevill Forbes, trans. The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016-1471 (New York: AMS Press, 1914, London), 81-83,88
1. How did the Russians view the Mongols? Give 2 pieces of evidence from the document to support your position.
2. What happened to the people in Novgorod after the Mongols attacked? Give 2 pieces of evidence from the document to support your position.
Document 6:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/MongolEmpire.jpg
1. What statement can be made from this map about the Mongol Empire?
2. What political, cultural, or economic changes could be brought about because of the size
of the Mongol Empire? Give 2 pieces of evidence from the map to support your position.
Part 2 Directions: Write a thesis statement which answers the prompt and then use the documents to pre-plan your essay (see outline on page 8). Your essay should contain a well-written thesis statement and five paragraphs in which you use the documents to answer the prompt. See rubric below.
● Write a thesis statement which answers the prompt.
● In the thesis statement paragraph, explain the three groups you are using for the documents.
● Write a five paragraph essay that answers the prompt. Each paragraph should discuss a different group of Mongol rule. Each paragraph must contain a topic sentence. See outline for pre-planning purposes. Do not just copy or summarize the documents, but use them to explain how the Mongols conquered and changed each area.
Prompt: “Describe the impact of the Mongols on Russia, Arabia, and China.”
Essay Outline
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