Welcome to the Season Two Finale! The promise is that this will be an earth changing finale! The sudden rise of the Mongols under the leadership of Chingis Khan (or Genghis, as it is oftentimes spelled), the greatest of the nomad conquerors to come galloping out of the grasslands of Central Asia, has long excited the imagination of historians. When Chingis Khan was born around 1165 (and given the name Temujin), the Mongol region was politically fragmented. The Mongols were one of a half-dozen major tribes of migratory herders who claimed sovereignty over parts of the grasslands north of China. Conflict between the various tribes, none of whom had any particular advantage over the others, was endemic.Temujin's early life, so far as we know, was little different from that of many of his contemporaries. His father, known as Yesugei the Brave, was a minor Mongol leader. When Temujin was about 10 years old, Yesugei was murdered by members of a rival tribe. The death of Yesugei was a disaster for Temujin, his brothers, and their mother, Hogelun Ujin. The family was abandoned by the other members of their clan, the Tayichiguds, and experienced much hardship for the next several years.
Somehow Temujin overcame these obstacles. He had a talent for establishing close ties with other nomads, some of whom were tribal elders. His ability as a military leader was extraordinary. Around 1185, when he was about 20, some of the Mongol elders elected him as their khan (tribal chief). Two decades later, following his leadership in the conquest of much of Central Asia, a Great Assembly (Khuriltai) of the Mongols designated Temujin as Chingis Khan (Universal Ruler). He spent the rest of his life expanding the boundaries of this conquest--westward toward Persia and southward into China.
Much of Chingis Khan's life will always be a mystery. Our best source for his life is a book called The Secret History of the Mongols that was written shortly after the death of the Great Khan. The author of the Secret History is unknown, but the book is clearly the work of someone who was a contemporary of Chingis, perhaps even a member of his household. Written to glorify Chingis and having some of the characteristics of an epic poem, the Secret History must be used carefully. Despite its limitations, however, the Secret History remains the best entry point into the world of Chingis Khan. I would like you to read excerpts from this document by clicking on the following link (The Secret History of the Mongols). When you are finished reading I would like you to think about and discuss the following: How does the Secret History help us to understand the reasons for the rise of Chingis Khan? What did the Mongols mean by "anda"? Why was anda important to the Mongols? What does the importance of anda suggest about the strength of kinship ties, tribal loyalties, and the stability of Mongol systems of governance? How does the Secret History explain the rise of Chingis Khan? What were his strengths? Does the Secret History reveal any of his weaknesses? How would you evaluate Chingis Khan as a manager/administrator? How did he select advisers and generals? What evidence do you find regarding the importance of familial, tribal, or religious loyalties to Chingis Khan? Why were the Mongol armies so successful? What does the Secret History reveal about Mongol beliefs and habits of mind? Does the Secret History help us to understand why the era of Mongol power was so brief? Finally, how does Chingis Khan compare to the Xiongnu leader Modun that you all read about a few weeks ago? REMEMBER, YOU HAVE AN IMPORTANT COURT CASE COMING UP ON MONDAY, AND IT IS NECESSARY THAT YOU READ ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IN ITS ENTIRETY AND COMMENT ON MY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS IN ORDER TO ARGUE YOUR CASE. Now your thoughts...
14 comments:
the one creation story kinda shows how the mongols valued strength, and in turn military courage and talent. that was shows by relating a wolf to it.
one thing about the anna was that it kinda reminded me of the whole thing about ghengis khan being good at that diplomacy thing, u know with alliances and stuff.
I think anda is another word for brother, or maybe family. The same woman cared for them, then they cared for her and eachother, like brothers. This is like one of those four rules we discussed in class today. They had to be loyal to eachother, like family, but if they knew they would better their position in life they would betray, like siblings. Its sad but true.
i think its funny how we can relate to the 4 principles we talked about today. think about it we are so loyal to people until something better comes along. then we just throw the old stuff out like it was never there. i guess history does repeat itslef mr.p
I know this kind of sounds cheesy, but honestly, today's lecture was INTENSE. Wow. Definitely the best so far this year. Ghengis Kahn leading the Mongols as the ultimate clan of strength, cleverness, and brutality. I would certainly emphasise the word brutal when referring the Ghengis Kahn. "Submit and live, resist and die". I mean, come on. Is that not the greatest quote in all of history? I'm sorry, this post is really dragging out, but I was truly enlightened by todays intense discussion. Please tell me I wasn't the only one, this wasn't even the finale. Lets see some other posts to back me up on this one.
Anda is basically the friendship and trust between people. From the story, Chingis Khan seemed to have really treasured it. I think his family ties and anda is his weakness. No one ever used it against him but i think if they ever did he might have crumbled in their fingers. His strengths were definitely his knowledge of war, his organization, and his leadership.
Im guessing that anda is the name of some sort of bonda that two brothers can create among each other, and in turn are loyal and devoted to one another.
In this document, you were able to see just how much the Mongols valued their military. It mentioned how that taking part in it would result in an award and how refusing to take part in it lead to horrible consequences. This definitely assured that they'd have a decent sized army. They even had younger boys joining the army.
One of the Mongols' secret tactics to gain victory consisted of tricking the opposing army into thinking that they've beaten the Mongols when, in reality, the REAL army hadn't even gotten started. They sent out a smaller army that could be easily defeated, so that when the opposing army was at rest, the Mongols could use the element of surprise.
When I read this the first thing I saw was the anda between Temujin and Jamugha. This shows the strong sense of loyalty that the Mongols had. Anda was like a great friendship that should never be broken. In the story it said that one will never desert the other and will always defend him. This loyalty was also shown when the men were trying to convince Temujin to be their ruler. They went to extreme measures to try and convince him, saying that he could take his whole family away and even kill them if they were disloyal. When he talks about preparing for the battle he is very organized. He always had someone in charge just in case of rebellion.
i agreee with greg. the lecture about Genghis Khan and his empire was truly amazing. Today in class you said more than 64 million people are his descendants, and out of that most of them are korean. Is there any way for me to find if im one of the descendants? :] lol
I'd have to back greg up on the lecture. it was the most intense, but seriously i did not know that the mongols were such a vivid people. Their culture as described, made me feel that the mongols did deserve the world. they would've unified all of that landmass. sure they were horsemen from hell(which i do support for my court case), but they were much more than that. They were a sophisticated people who had good reasons for trying to take over the world.
okay when they were telling about the childhood experiences they said mother Hogelun took care of her sons but then it said that the mother Ujin fed them. so did they have more than one person that took care of them?
We always saw and was taught the Mongols were hellish savages, roaming the land killing everything in its path.
I think the Mongolians planned this from the beginning, to set fear straight through the hearts of the enemy and burn it into the minds so they would never forget.
We never saw them as smart but,we were tricked? Hahaha, just comes to show why nomads took TOP.
Underestimating your enemy, worst thing you could possibly do.
Anda was friendship! They two boys pledged to be friends for life- trust and defend each other. This is an important value in later life, but didn't Chingis Khan not trust people? Loyalty and trust are important to the Mongol people- being how they would choose to rule themselves and others with. They also had the "You helped me,I will help you" attitude.
Woah. Khan is a huge honor. They gave their help and all they could do for him, then let him have the glory. And if they did something to displease him, they gave him the power to punish them how he wished. They did all this practically begging him to rule. They must really have trusted him.
He was highly organized in his ruling and military- using shifts and leaders by every 1000, 100, 10,etc. He praises and punishes. All soldiers are equal. This helps keep them in line. No one is above each other. They are all equal under him, serving him. He always has a guard to protect him and sets strict rules. He sounded a little bit paranoid, placing all to him-he gives all punishment, etc. Things are redistributed. He will not let them keep their own weapons. But I thought they were supposed to be trusting.
(sorry for the late post)
The secret history of the Mongols helps explain a ton about how the Mongols were such a succes.
The Mongols when they made friendship with another person they would call themselves brothers or anya. With this they would have a special bond involving trust and loyalty. The brothers would give each other present to show approval.
In the movie Mongols the brothers would each cut there hand a put a drop of their blood in milk. They would both drink it and become blood brother.
The main reason why the Mongols were a succes is because of their organization. Ghengis Khan had leaders for one thousand, one hundred and ten people. With this he could keep himself safe and have a powerful army.
This is all shown in the document.
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