The Chinese Cultural Revolution The history of China is a vast and extremely enriching topic. Stretching for thousands of years, Chinese culture has been able to grow and expand thanks to the help from others. Between the 13th and the 20th centuries especially, China has a multicultural and ethnical revolution. There is not just one thing that sets off this expansion, but multiple factors that will be discussed in detail through out this essay thanks to the Cambridge Illustrated Edition of China and The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian. The Mongol invasion, Marco Polo, and the Qing Dynasty are all factors that lead to this cultural revolution. Chinggis (aka Ghengis) Khan is the most predominant name that comes to mind when Mongols are talked about, but it is his son (Ogodei) and his grandson (Khubilai) who are the reason the Chinese experience the multicultural and ethnical diversity during this time. Upon his death, Chinggis’s conquerings are divided into four territories with Ogodei, gaining control of Mongolia. He gains control of Northern China when “in 1234 he crushed the Jin” (Ebrey 170). This is a big step for the Mongols and by “1236 he had taken all but four of the 58 districts in Sichuan, previously held by the Song” (Ebrey 170). For any other nation with a big army this is not an impressive feat, but the Mongols are not like the other big armies of the time, since the Mongols themselves are no more than two million people. In fact they can base their
When Mongol warriors first attacked and conquered no one had known where they had developed from. Because of this fact, the Mongols had the upper hand in attacking and conquering greater lands. Genghis Khan was one of the great rulers of the Mongols. His strategy in the army was to unite soldiers more but in a forcing manner. A soldier could be killed if they or people from their quad had run away from battle, or if some soldiers are brave and go straight
In their role of empirical dominance throughout 13th century Eurasia, the Mongol’s were nomadic tribes of herders and raiders north of China, under the leadership of Genghis Khan. Born under the name Temujin, Genghis traits of charisma and reputation as a tactician won over his people’s support. Thus through the act of uniting groups of the steppe (region), he was crowned Khan of Khan in 1206. As quoted from Hugh Kennedy’s book Mongols, Huns and Viking's nomads at war” “the Mongols were triumphant in every major engagement fought up to ‘Ayan Jalut in 1260’ “. A crucial factor unique to this success was the nature of Mongol soldiers in which their life-styles demanded skills such as archery and horseback riding, which was also essential in
The Mongols used well planned military tactics that undoubtedly lead them to victory time and time again. The soldiers were very obedient and listened to the appointed chiefs well. One tactic they used to beat there enemy and expand their empire was this; the prince appoints an officer to every ten men, one to every hundred, one to every thousand, and one to every ten thousand, as stated in the book, and document 1 and 4. Another tactic used by the Mongols was as follows; the Mongol army would pretend to retreat, therefore making the rival believe they had won, when in reality that was just the start. The Mongols would then turn and fire arrows at there opponents, killing them and conquering there land that strengthened as well as add growth to their empire.
The Mongols came about when Genghis Khan united all of the Mongol tribes and clans, creating an army of up to 125,000 whose main goal was to conquer. One of his more effective tactics was enemies were treated fairly unless they resisted. Ones who resisted were killed. Kublai Khan was successful in reuniting the empire prior to a power struggle but was able to conquer all of China by 1276. However, he was not successful in conquering Japan by sea because of harsh storms and shipwrecks. Other countries Mongols had taken over included, Tibet, Persia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and eastern Germany. People taken over by the Mongols had no choice to cooperate because failure to would result in them being slaughtered. Genghis Khan granted religious
In the dictionary the definition of the Mongols is “a native or inhabitant of Mongolia” (Webster). Mongols are much more than just inhabitants of Mongolia. They were great conquerors but brutally barbaric. The Mongol empire ruled from the 13th century to the mid 14th century (McDougal Littel). Genghis Khan and his descendants accomplished a lot, but the civilians faced many hardships. It seems as if they came and left in a matter of only a couple of years. The legacy of the Mongols should be evaluated based on positive and negative contributions to society. Positively, the conquerors were quite successful as they acquired land all throughout Eurasia. Negatively, they ferociously harmed people and valuables in the process.
The Mongolians at one one point had under control the most square miles ever.They had more than double of the next closest empire[(Alexander the Great’s Empire)(Document 1)].The Mongols at one point controlled 4,860,000 million square miles(Document 1).There were 4 different areas(khanates) to their empire “the Russian khanate called the Golden Horde, the Persian khanate of the Ilkhans, the central Asian khanate, and a fourth khanate which included Mongolia and China”(Introduction). The Pax Mongolica was said to be the height of their empire because they were able to achieve a measure of security across much of Asia.
The Mongols had a very skilled and strong arming and never lost battles outnumbered. They would travel by horse and split into small groups to surround the enemy to trap them. They were also falsely retreat the attack. To have a skilled and strong army they must have a great which was Genghis Khan. [From The Mongols Movie Worksheet and Document 2]
China has changed in certain ways and remained the same in others from the early Golden Ages to the late 1900s. China has experienced a series of cultural and political transformations, shaping the lives of many Chinese citizens. Culturally, the country’s art and literature hardly changed for almost eight hundred years. Along with their culture, China remained politically the same from the beginning of the Golden Ages all the way until the 1800s. On the other hand, China’s government and society were restructured after new leaders took over. From a monarch to total communism, China’s society had a multitude of new ideas and policies they had to adapt to.
Genghis returned in 1225, only to find a Chinese army of 300,000 men, while he only had 180,000. Despite the lesser army, the Mongols completely destroyed the Chinese(“Genghis Khan” ABC-CLIO). Genghis Khan was a very organized man, and this helped him greatly in battle. He organized his army into units of tens, 100s, and 1000s, and each unit had a commander. This organization and structure allowed for good productivity and people were less likely to rebel or be successful in doing so (Beck 332).
Even though some sources very likely exaggerate the number of soldiers, it is still clear that Mongol armies were huge. However, it is not the most important factor when it comes to that army’s capability. Above all the army had extraordinarily skilful archers. As George Lane puts it, they “were famous for their ability to fire their arrows in any direction while mounted and galloping at full speed.” They were also quick to learn new strategies and to adapt new weapons. They got explosives from China and learnt to use them effectively. More importantly, they learnt to besiege cities, which was something they did not initially know how to do effectively. This skill became very important later when they were attacking Khwarezmian Empire.
2. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “China‘s First Empire”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 1152 (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New
The Mongols were constantly conquering new lands of insanely large sizes. They acquired land masses as big as 4,860,000 square miles all around. (document one) They were like terrorists to another persons home and another mans land with their crude actions and constant killing. Genghis Kahn alone conquered the largest amount of land, in fact being 4,860,000 square miles. Thats bigger than the body of the United States alone, and there’s no way that this man acquired all this land just by marching in and asking if he could take over. He just took over with the complex army he’d formed. Their army was just as hardcore and serious as they were. The faults of one man could result in the death of ten. The act of ten men could result in the death of 100
The Cultural Revolution had a massive impact on China from 1965 to 1968. The Cultural Revolution is the name given to Mao’s attempt to reassert his beliefs in China. Mao had not been a very self-motivated leader from the late 1950’s on, and feared others in the party might be taking on a leading role that weakened his power within the party and the country. Basically, the Cultural Revolution was a failed attempt by Mao to re-impose his authority on the party and therefore, the country as well. Not only did the Cultural Revolution have a massive impact on China, but many other countries as well. Having a huge tragedy like the CR in history, we have to face and learn from it to avoid an event like this from repeating itself in the future.
China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.
When I was on middle school, I spent my holiday vacation with my family to go to China. I went to some part of China such as Beijing, Luoyang, Shanghai and the others, but I only remembered the one in the Beijing mostly. I was really surprised that China got many cultures that I had not known before. These cultures include food, history and some local tradition. In this essay, I will tell my experience in China and some China’s culture that I have gotten in my trip.