Looking Back: The Mongol Trail

Well, today we came close to the conclusion of the trail convicting the descendants of Ghengis Khan for crimes against humanity, specifically genocide, terrorism and kidnapping. Looking back on the trail, for which I was the cross examination attorney for the defense, I thought it was a very enjoyable experience. Although overall I think I did a good job with the cross examination. I definitely had a few blunders, especially in questioning the Abbasid caliph. Although it was a much smaller blunder, I also said that it was the grandson of Kublai Khan, this was a false statement, it had been his second son. Although the point behind the fact still stands valid, the fact itself was incorrect. I think I could have been able to ask more direct questions, and not have tripped over my words so often. But, given the job I was to do I think that I did OK.

As for my beliefs, I think that the Mongols were perhaps overzealous in their conquests, they were not as bad as they have been made out to be. They are responsible for opening trade routes and for spreading culutre throughout Eurasia, two very important aspects of the Mongol story often left out. It is also overlooked often I believe that the mongols were warriors and nomads, and that their culture was significantly different than the cultures of those whom they were invading. That being said, they were not innocent people. They killed hundreds of thousands people and did horrible things to almost every society that they encountered. Although they deserve to be admired for the incredible empire that they built, I really can't help but see them as anything but overambitious conquers who went about regardless of the harm and suffering that they caused.

If I had watched the trail today, I most likely have said that the mongols were guilty. The prosecution hit hard right were it counts. Of course, it is hard to be objective since I was the cross examiner I really am unaware of what my impact on the trail was, since I was not observing. As I went through my research, I did realize that the mongols are hard to defend. Not impossible, but very difficult. Like I said earlier, there seems to be a very strong bias and I think that really impacts the information that is openly available for research. I would find the Mongols guilt of kidnapping and terrorism, but I think that the case against genocide was too weak to sway my opinion from not guilty to guilty.