Explanation:
Since the Neolithic Revolution, the steppes of Eurasia have been home to nomadic pastoralists. Unable to practice agriculture in the steppes, the people who called this region home instead began domesticating animals and relied on them for transportation and sustenance. Nomadic pastoralists of the steppes have a long history of interaction with their settled agricultural neighbors in outer Eurasia, including China, India, and Persia. Sometimes nomadic pastoralists would cooperate peacefully with settled societies, engaging in trade, while other times pastoralists would raid frontier villages for supplies, crops, and other things they could not obtain on their own. These nomadic pastoralists were organized primarily into kinship-based clans, with unification being sporadic (such as during the Xiongnu Confederacy) and rarely resulting in sustained political or economic power. This changed when a man named Temujin unified the various clans of the steppe, becoming Genghis Khan and forming the mighty Mongol Empire. The Mongols were able to establish a massive empire due to their unique military tactics, their brutality, and their discipline.
The Mongols used their unorthodox military tactics to their advantage in conquering neighboring civilizations, helping them to form their large empire. This is best exemplified by their use of the fake retreat, which the Mongols implemented against the Chin Empire in northern China (Doc 1). By withdrawing and making the enemy believe they had left, the Mongols had actually drawn the enemy out from their fortifications, only to return in full force to attack and defeat them. The Mongols utilized the element of surprise with the fake retreat, which enabled them to defeat a more powerful enemy, even though they were outnumbered and typically had less resources at their disposal. Since the story of this conquest comes from Mongol Oral Traditions, it is likely that this document was created as a means of preserving these stories for future generations of Mongols, so that the unique military tactics and approaches that enabled them to conquer empires such as China and establish their empire would not be forgotten.
The Mongols’ brutality earned them a fierce reputation across Eurasia, and this reputation further helped the Mongols in their quest to take over as much land as possible. When the Tartars, another nomadic pastoralist group of the steppes, became incorporated into the Mongol horde, they joined the effort to conquer settled societies, focusing their particular efforts on Russia. At Novgorod, the Tartars entered and destroyed the town, killing many in the process and committing horrible atrocities (Doc 2). By displaying such ferocity, these nomadic invaders furthered their fearsome reputation, lessening the likelihood that others would dare resist them. With less opposition, the path to domination had fewer obstacles as the Mongols conquered territory and established their empire. The authors of this document, monks, likely created this document to show the sheer brutality of the Tartar-Mongolian conquest of Russia, and how this savagery helped these invaders to establish control of nearby societies. Such brutality was witnessed just about everywhere the Mongols invaded. Motivated by revenge,
