Essay ~ Introduction

If one were to look at a map of Asia, they would notice that Mongolia; a small country in the center of Asia, is bordered by two great countries, Russia and China.
One would then wonder how this small country of Mongolia invaded a country of such a great landmass; China.
A significant question that can be asked is; why did the Mongolians invade China, and what weaponry was used in the battle?
In order to answer this question a primary source by Friar John of Plano Carpini, has been used which describes the war in his own account; along with information from many different websites.

Pretty swell stuff!

Yes!
After a knuckle biting hair pulling process; I have finally found a primary source of the Mongolian invasion of China!
I have found a primary source written by Friar John of Plano Carpini !

Genghis Khan divided his Tartars by captains of ten, captains of a hundred, and captains of a thousand, and over ten millenaries, or captains of a thousand, he placed one colonel, and over one whole army he authorized two or three chiefs, but so that all should be under one of the said chiefs. When they join battle against any other nation, unless they do all consent to retreat, every man who deserts is put to death. And if one or two, or more, of ten proceed manfully to the battle, but the residue of those ten draw back and follow not the company, they are in like manner slain. Also, if one among ten or more be taken, their fel–t lows, if they fail to rescue them, are punished with death.

There is more to this source -

Moreover they are required to have these weapons: two long bows or one good one at least, three quivers full of arrows, and one axe, and ropes to draw engines of war. But the richer have single-edged swords, with sharp points, and somewhat crooked. They have also armed horses, with their shoulders and breasts protected; they have helmets and coats of mail. Some of them have jackets for their horses, made of leather artificially doubled or trebled, shaped upon their bodies. The upper part of their helmet is of iron or steel, but that part which circles about the neck and the throat is of leather. Some of them have all their armour of iron made in the following manner: They beat out many thin plates a finger broad, and a hand long, and making in every one of them eight little holes, they lace through three strong and straight leather thongs. So they join the plates one to another, as it were, ascending by de–grees. Then they tie the plates to the thongs, with other small and slender thongs, drawn through the holes, and in the upper part, on each side, they fasten one small doubled thong, that the plates may firmly be knit together. These they make, as well for their horses as for the armour of their men; and they scour them so bright that a man may hold his face in them. Some of them upon the neck of their lance have a hook, with which they attempt to pull men out of their saddles. The heads of their arrows are exceedingly sharp, cutting both ways like a two-edged sword, and they always carry a file in their quivers to sharpen their arrowheads.

this source is excellent as it gives a PRIMARY perspective describing the war!

more to come...including a snippet of my essay

sudden change

I have changed the question to my essay ; as I have realised that my information sways to the side of the Mongolian invasion of China, rather than to how effective the wall was in defending China.
The question is now "Describe the Mongolian invasion of China"

discussion questions

Sunday 15-8-2010

Time start - 2:42 PM

Discussion questions/ essay structure ~

1. What did the Great Wall defend China from and when?

2. A brief history of the nomadic group.

3. Why did this nomadic group intrude China?

4. What building materials were used in building the wall? Why were these materials used?

5. In what ways did the Great Wall defend China? (i.e how? e.g weapons that were used)

6. Was the wall a success? (i.e did it stop intrusions?)

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Discussion answers ~

1 The Great Wall defended China from many nomadic groups who came to try and intrude China for supplies to survive (i.e crops, weapons).
The nomadic group in which this essay focus' is on the Mongolian's (also known as the Mongol's). The Mongolian's highest hit on China occured during the Jin Dynasty which had started from the early 13th century. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Dynasty_(1115%E2%80%931234))The war between the Chinese and the Mongolians started in 1211. The war against China and the Mongolian's lasted for approximatley 23 years, and the Jin Dynasty finally came upon its fall in 1234.(source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_%E2%80%93_Jin_Dynasty_War)

2 Mongolia is located in the center of Asia. It borders China to the east, west and south. It also borders Russia.
The Mongol Empire was ruled by Genghis Khanin 1206.(source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia)

information

"How effective was the Great Wall of China?"
BACKGROUND TO THE WALL- The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered a wall to be built to stop the nomads (group with no permanent home. An example of a nomad group is below (Xiongnu) ) .
The nomads often raided farms to steal crops and food. Over the years, the Chinese built a number of long walls from the north of China to prevent the intrusion of the nomads.

- Qin Shi Huang, made a very good decision. To keep his empire safe. Although the process of building the wall wasn't a very pleasant one. Numbers of ordinary people were forced
to work on the wall and many people died as a result of working under such bad conditions. Today, historians refer to the Great Wall as 'the longest graveyard in the world' .

Source : Imperial China , Reynoldson, Fiona , Heinemann Educational, first published 1991, pages 16-17.
THE BUILDING OF THE WALL- The Wall was built during three dynasties ~ Qin, Han and Ming.
QIN DYNASTY -
[221-206 B.C]
Qin Shi Huang was in power during this dynasty, he (as mentioned above) ordered a long walll to be built, to stop invasion.
HAN DYNASTY-
[206 B.C-220 A.D]
After the fall of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, the wall was extended westwards toward the Gobi Desert.
During this dynasty a technological change occurred; the building materials from the previous wall were very scarce, so Chinese engineers came up with a solution to continue making
bricks for the wall. The bricks were made in the following way:
-A layer of woven willow weeds were layed down.
-A layer of gravel and some water were put on top and trampled down.
-Another layer of willow weeds and gravel were put down ontop. These steps were repeated until the wall was finished.
Watchtowers were also made two stories high, to claim a good lookout for invaders.
MING DYNASTY-
[1368-1644]
(This dynasty is not really relevant, as it is not classified in an ancient time period)

finally, the ACTUAL essay question!

How effective was the Great Wall of China?
This question has alot of interesting research behind it. For instance what it protected China from, what materials it was built with, AND A WHOLE LOT MORE!!
Time to hit the books...

evaluation...

2/8/2010
6:00PM

I have narrowed down my essay question based on The Great Wall of China to what purpose it was built - what did it protect China from ?
- How useful was it?
Maybe assessing the usefulness of the wall.