The Mongols are not East Asian. They are Central Asian.
Tom Send a noteboard - 07/02/2010 03:06:19 PM
Central Asia has always been the province of nomadic peoples who from time to time would attack or raid the settled populations of both East Asia and Eastern Europe. The Huns, the Pechenegs, the Polovtsy, the Kazakhs, the Kirghiz, the Tatars, the Mongols, the Keraits, the Merkits, the Jungars and a whole host of others have left their mark on history.
Additionally, the simple fact is that the Mongols left no books behind with their wisdom in campaigning. There is the Secret History of the Mongols, ostensibly written by Genghis Khan, but it is almost certainly of a much later date, compiling oral traditions from a number of sources.
It's clear that Genghis Khan had never read Sun Zi (nor would he even consider the shame associated with such an act). He had his own ideas and his own methods, and they worked superbly well. The Mongols annihilated entire cities and empires and killed a lot of people. Hulagu Khan was responsible for one of the biggest atrocities against civilisation prior to the modern era - the Sack of Baghdad. So many books were destroyed that the river ran black with ink for weeks. A million lives were ended if we believe the mediaeval writers. Along with the burning of the Library at Alexandria and the Sack of Constantinople by the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, it probably destroyed more learning than any other act.
The Mongols certainly had an impact on the world, but it wasn't through books or ideas.
Additionally, the simple fact is that the Mongols left no books behind with their wisdom in campaigning. There is the Secret History of the Mongols, ostensibly written by Genghis Khan, but it is almost certainly of a much later date, compiling oral traditions from a number of sources.
It's clear that Genghis Khan had never read Sun Zi (nor would he even consider the shame associated with such an act). He had his own ideas and his own methods, and they worked superbly well. The Mongols annihilated entire cities and empires and killed a lot of people. Hulagu Khan was responsible for one of the biggest atrocities against civilisation prior to the modern era - the Sack of Baghdad. So many books were destroyed that the river ran black with ink for weeks. A million lives were ended if we believe the mediaeval writers. Along with the burning of the Library at Alexandria and the Sack of Constantinople by the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, it probably destroyed more learning than any other act.
The Mongols certainly had an impact on the world, but it wasn't through books or ideas.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
Censorship, promotion of books and dissemination of ideas.
05/02/2010 05:15:17 PM
- 1429 Views
Tough Subject, censorship
05/02/2010 07:24:39 PM
- 937 Views
I think I would be worried if a school had more than one copy of Mein Kampf
06/02/2010 06:30:08 PM
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I was mostly just using it as an example, since it was what the article talked about
06/02/2010 10:20:08 PM
- 899 Views
I actually ran into this in high school.
05/02/2010 08:33:10 PM
- 1082 Views
I found that we covered a lot about American Indian issues in US History.
06/02/2010 06:23:16 PM
- 860 Views
Anyone interested in German history in particular and European history in general should read it.
05/02/2010 08:47:14 PM
- 1042 Views
I think jane austen and the brontes would be good to leave in
06/02/2010 03:44:10 AM
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I read a great number of books I don't necesarily agree with, so I'm on your side.
06/02/2010 06:19:21 PM
- 878 Views
Hmm.
05/02/2010 09:11:13 PM
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It's interesting that many of the most influential books are hardly ever read.
06/02/2010 06:15:19 PM
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Love the survey.
05/02/2010 09:42:29 PM
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Interesting. Do you really think that Nineteen Eighty-Four is plausible?
06/02/2010 10:13:56 AM
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Re: Censorship, promotion of books and dissemination of ideas.
05/02/2010 11:09:41 PM
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Re: Censorship, promotion of books and dissemination of ideas.
05/02/2010 11:47:08 PM
- 993 Views
I agree with most of that. But to quote our eminent Camilla...
06/02/2010 10:30:15 AM
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Re: I agree with most of that. But to quote our eminent Camilla...
06/02/2010 12:25:37 PM
- 895 Views
I agree on the Shakespeare (and mentioned that below).
06/02/2010 05:54:50 PM
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Re: I agree on the Shakespeare (and mentioned that below).
06/02/2010 06:05:48 PM
- 980 Views
I don't think high school students need to discuss possibilities for staging.
07/02/2010 01:36:03 AM
- 821 Views
nice post
06/02/2010 01:27:23 AM
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Re: nice post
06/02/2010 01:29:34 AM
- 856 Views
A lot of people think von Clausewitz is important.
06/02/2010 05:51:44 PM
- 780 Views
More than Sun Tzu? *NM*
06/02/2010 08:31:44 PM
- 321 Views
Sun Zi was relatively unknown in the West until recently.
07/02/2010 01:30:06 AM
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Sure, but he could still have influenced world history by influencing Asia... *NM*
07/02/2010 01:35:17 AM
- 354 Views
Doubtful.
07/02/2010 01:41:01 AM
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Tom, you did not just write that
07/02/2010 10:12:40 AM
- 896 Views

The Mongols are not East Asian. They are Central Asian.
07/02/2010 03:06:19 PM
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In many ways, books are like automobiles or power tools...
06/02/2010 11:08:01 AM
- 1013 Views
The interesting thing, to my mind, is that the BBC article talks about "Lebensraum".
06/02/2010 04:46:34 PM
- 848 Views
And nary a thing about Alois Hitler, no?
06/02/2010 05:52:50 PM
- 1049 Views

I have yet to see a literature teacher in schools teach history through literature.
07/02/2010 01:33:57 AM
- 866 Views
But yet I know several history teachers who have done this
07/02/2010 10:38:49 AM
- 959 Views
Viewing history through a literary prism is usually an injustice to the study of history.
07/02/2010 03:16:30 PM
- 933 Views
No, the opposite: viewing literature through historical lens is what I'm interested in
07/02/2010 03:31:04 PM
- 907 Views
Hmm.
06/02/2010 11:33:02 PM
- 878 Views
I will answer yiour survey but may I ask a question first? What did you think of Steinbeck?
07/02/2010 06:20:52 AM
- 815 Views
The Grapes of Wrath was required in Sophomore English in HS. And I loved it.
07/02/2010 03:25:55 PM
- 912 Views