How do you see Genghis Khan?

[Tee Kay]

I did give it a full read through, and now I need brain bleach.

 

[bombshoo]

When I picture Genghis Khan I imagine John Wayne in yellowface.

 

[Graceheart the Leopard]

Seriously, so bloody what that he united some worthless nomadic tribes in Mongolia?

For one thing, he created an empire where religious tolerance was respected and people were judged based on their achievements and not race?

Then again, he was quite harsh to anyone who opposed him.

 

[Winner]

I'm sure you feel the same way about famous European conquerors too.

Which ones? Just tell me, I don't recall many who ordered complete obliteration of cities and then went on building towers from the severed heads of their victims. But perhaps you'll enlighten me.

Oh god you are good

Yes, I am.

For one thing, he created an empire where religious tolerance was respected and people were judged based on their achievements and not race?

So, if I invade America, conquer it, then order my troops to slaughter every inhabitant of New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Denver, and San Francisco, then sew Obama up in a leather sack and have him crushed under my tanks, then boil most of your political and military leaders alive, mass rape your women, burn down your libraries, and pillage your museums, it will all be OK if I then set up a puppet regime that will respect all religions and recruit collaborators from all races?

(If you're not from America, substitute your country and your cities)

 

[aelf]

I see two sides to the issue.

1. It doesn't make sense to judge people from the past based on our current values.

It does in a way. That's why you don't do what they do again.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Yeah, bad stuff people from the past did may be more forgiveable, but only forgiveable, not right.

As to Genghis - your average mega-conqueror, nothing special .

It's frightening to me that a man responsible for the deaths of probably a larger percentage of the world than Hitler has statues in Mongolia.

Have mercy on poor Mongolia. It's not like this poor country has any other significant personalities

 

[jtb1127]

I typically view him more in line with Stalin than a good person.

 

[Dachs]

When I picture Genghis Khan I imagine John Wayne in yellowface.

I am deeply saddened that it took somebody until the second page of this thread to say this.

 

[Phrossack]

He was an excellent military and political leader with an eye for talent. However, he was excessively brutal in his methods. Nonetheless, the Mongol empire established a period of peace (after the wholesale massacres of those who did not surrender or rebelled), increased trade, the spread of ideas and technologies, and great religious freedom in an era that otherwise leaned towards open persecution. A pretty mixed legacy.

 

[Graceheart the Leopard]

^

THIS. For the love of Perun, THIS.

 

[Traitorfish]

He was a brilliant general and statesman, and a brutal mass-murderer. I don't see those two as being particularly incompatible.

Also, in Europe, they warped and twisted the soul of Russia and left a permanent wound in the Russian soul - as a result, Russia has imitated their expansionism, cruelty, and utter disregard for human life ever since.

Ahistorical crap.

 

[jtb1127]

I am deeply saddened that it took somebody until the second page of this thread to say this.

I wanted to say that but I expected some "racist, blah blah blah, racist" so I just left it out.

 

[MAGBaxter]

I don't see what the fuss is about name me one civilization that hasnt commited the samething of what the Mongols did, The Europeans and the U.S wiped out the majority of all of the Native Americans which the U.S seems to have swept under their history rug, it happened then and it's happening now, he threw bodys over the walls of cities to spread disease, China built the great wall of which killed thousands of their own women men & children through slave labour to keep the Mongols out, didnt work, its admired as one of the greatest engineering achievments of all time no one seems to care about the fact people or slaves died making it, fact is war is always going to be their, so with that said he is a great general as he bought glory to Mongolia.

 

[Louis XXIV]

The scale in the United States isn't remotely comparable and it hasn't been swept under the rug.

 

[GoodGame]

A shrewd, populist leader of a war-like people in a part of the world where shepherding and making war were equally important.

Also a bit of an innovator. And occasional terrorist.

 

[asbestos]

About a good a time as any to bring this up

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/02/mongolia-far-right
(we're all doomed)

 

[TopGearFanatic]

I don't see what the fuss is about name me one civilization that hasnt commited the samething of what the Mongols did, The Europeans and the U.S wiped out the majority of all of the Native Americans which the U.S seems to have swept under their history rug, it happened then and it's happening now, he threw bodys over the walls of cities to spread disease, China built the great wall of which killed thousands of their own women men & children through slave labour to keep the Mongols out, didnt work, its admired as one of the greatest engineering achievments of all time no one seems to care about the fact people or slaves died making it, fact is war is always going to be their, so with that said he is a great general as he bought glory to Mongolia.

According to the Civ V civilopedia, the Great Wall was meant to slow down the Mongols and stop them from getting even more loot.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Cheng Ji Si Han was a great Chinese hero of the Mongolian nationality.

I love this.

I see two sides to the issue.

1. It doesn't make sense to judge people from the past based on our current values.

2. We're so far removed from the death, violence and destruction he inflicted on a huge number of people that it's easy for us to ignore it.

I agree.

Genghis Khan's legacy is mixed, in my opinion. On the one hand, one cannot ignore all the killing and slaughtering he did. While such style of conquest was not too uncommon during his era, he was still pretty bloody even for his time, nonetheless.

On the other hand, as stated previously, he was pretty tolerant. He didn't care what religion, what beliefs, even what political faction you were on - even if you were his former enemy - so long as you proved yourself a worthy soldier or administrator or craftsman or what not. Unusually for his time, he preferred to reward people for their merit, not because of noble birth or some other kind of privilege. In that regard he was open-minded for his time.

He also was brilliant, as all good conquerors all, although personally I don't see him as a megalomaniac, but rather as a very calm and Machiavellian politician and soldier. His organizational and leadership skills had to be admired, and he definitely knew how to survive, judging from the fact that he rose from the nomadic equivalent of a orphan beggar-boy, through sheer intelligence and charisma, to become leader of all the nomadic tribes of Mongolia.

Still, of course, we can't forget that he killed craploads of people and that he's probably one of the most prolific guys who ever lived. The ultimate thing, though, I think, is that he the half-brained barbarian ape the media tends to portray him as. He definitely knew what he was doing, and, in my opinion, he wasn't some crazy raving lunatic - to me, he is one of the epitomes of the calculating, brilliant chessmaster.

 

[Communisto]

Also, in Europe, they warped and twisted the soul of Russia and left a permanent wound in the Russian soul - as a result, Russia has imitated their expansionism, cruelty, and utter disregard for human life ever since.

Nothing in this world deserves to be twisted and wounded more than the "russian soul," whatever that is.

 

[plarq]

So, if I invade America, conquer it, then order my troops to slaughter every inhabitant of New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Denver, and San Francisco, then sew Obama up in a leather sack and have him crushed under my tanks, then boil most of your political and military leaders alive, mass rape your women, burn down your libraries, and pillage your museums, it will all be OK if I then set up a puppet regime that will respect all religions and recruit collaborators from all races?

(If you're not from America, substitute your country and your cities)

As a Southern black slave before the civil war, I will embrace our conqueror as long as he gives me green light to rise up and enslave those whiteys!