Bolg #4

I know that some people critcize the way that Strayer portrays the historical events. This is the first real in depth experince I have had with some of the history we are learning and I am actually enjoying the way that he writes and the analogies he uses to describe the people and the events.
It was really interesting to learn about the mongols while doing this weeks readings. I have never learned about them in this way before, nor have I heard much about them in general. They were a very intriguing culture. They were sorta revolutionary I would say in building an empire even though they were a nomadic society. At that time it was not very common for a nomadic community to be so organized and have such resources as the mongols did. They re-invented the wheel a little when in came to agriculture. Some may calling it stealing but others would call it innovation and efficiency. One of the ways that they sustained themselves as they were travelling from oe place to another was to take from other communities that were settled. They also were known for their amazing horse back riding skills, they had many horses and really changed the idea of what it meant to ride horseback and really took it to the next level for their time. They were able to heard other animals since they had horses which allowed them even more food supply along with the agriculture they grew themselves as well as took from others. They allowed women to ride horses as well, which enables them to be an even stronger army due to having mmore resources. They were able to mobile since they had built their community that way and were able to move from place to place while still sustaining themselves and their peoples. They had lots of skilled craftsmen, educated people and missionaries which made them a very diverse community.

They helped to bring the two ends of Eurasia together more than everr before. They helped make it safe for travellers ad tradesmen to travel on the roads, probably since they were the ones stealing or bargaining from people, and making sure others were not. But none the less, they did help make it safe, in whatever the definition of safe was in that day. They were considered a Eurasian network to trade, travel and many other things.They had relay stations which better enables commuication amoung communities.

There was a dark side to the mongols however, while they were revolutionizing the silk roads and building a one of a kind nomadic empire they were also stealing and pillaging and killing, ans waging war for mor ad more power and resources. With power and more "stuff" also comes greed and the need more more power and more "stuff". This has not changed even today in the world, wars are still wage over land power and titles and even poeple. Even though the mongols were not the first to fight for what they wanted they sure helped to set the stage and build on the foundation for many years and societies to come since they had such an impact on the Eurasian world at the time.