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Nomadic Empires
Juwaini, a latethirteenth -century Persian chronicler of the Mongol rulers of Iran, carried an account of the capture of Bukhara in 1220. After the conquest of the city, Juwaini reported, Genghis Khan went to the festival ground where the rich residents of the city were and addressed them: ‘O’ people know that you have committed great sins, and that the great ones among you have committed these sins.
If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is because I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you’...... Now one man had escaped from Bukhara after its capture and had come of Khurasan.
He was questioned about the fate of the city and replied: ‘They came, they [mined the walls], they burnt, they slew, they plundered and they departed.’
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Who was Juwaini?
Why was trade so significant to the Mongols ?
Why did Genghis Khan feel the need to fragment the Mongol tribes into new social and military groupings ?
What do you know about the "Great wall of China".
How do later Mongol reflections on the yasa bring out the uneasy relationship they had with the memory of Genghis Khan?
Describe the military system of Genghis Khan.
'If history relies upon written records produced by city- based literati, nomadic societies will always receive a hostile representation.' Would you agree with this statement?
Does it explain the reason why Persian chronicles produced such inflated figures of casualties resulting from Mongol campaigns ?
Keeping the nomadic element of the Mongol and Bedouin societies in mind, how, in your opinion, did their respective historical experiences differ?
What explanations would you suggest account for these difference ?
What do you know about the military achievements of Genghis Khan?
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