Mongol trial

I enjoyed the Mongol trial very much, and I would consider it the most fun and involving activity we have done this year. It was not very difficult in terms of research, we knew most of the information we needed already just from reading the chapter. In terms of the role I played, I think I did my job to the best of my ability and put up a strong argument against Futaba's ruthless cross examination.
After this trial, I actually view the Mongols less as ruthless barbarians and more as skilled empire builders. Although I would hate them if I was the one being conquered, if I were part of them I would see it as survival of the fittest, and that is why I respect them so much. As far as the charges against them go, I would definitely find them guilty of kidnapping and terrorism. They frequently forced people form their lands against their will and used complete destruction as intimidation for future opponents, which I can not really fault them for. If you think about it, if they have a reputation for being unstoppable and ruthless, then it is more likely their next opponents would just surrender. This saves lives and resources for the Mongols while simultaneously allowing them to expand at a faster rate.
The genocide charges I believe are completely false however. They did not systematically single out a religion or culture and look to destroy it. They simply aimed their sights on a territory and took it, whoever was occupying it really made no difference to them. In the future I would like to do more activities like this. It forces everyone in the class to participate while at the same time gaining new perspectives on the people we are learning about. In terms of today's standards the Mongols were savages, they ruthlessly killed for selfish reasons. The best comparison I could give would be the nazis trying to expand (minus the genocide part) and it is obvious how we view them. However, during their time things were radically different. Large scale warfare and empire building was common, and the Mongols should not be looked down upon for being extremely skilled at it.

Genghis Khan: ruthless killer or great military leader?

Genghis khan was a ruthless killer, despite his few examples of mercy. He built an empire based on violence, and the principle was surrender or die. He never made any attempt to negotiate for lands, he simply took what he wanted. Genghis committed his first murder at age 10, showing that from an early age concern for other human life was not one of his. While in command he would often order the barbaric taking of ears or other parts off of the conquered corpses. Although I respect him for creating the largest land empire ever created, I still consider him a barbarian because of the way he acquired these lands. If a ruler today were to conquer large amounts of land through military power we would call them a ruthless tyrant, so why should Genghis khan be treated differently?

Bibliography

Rees, Tom. "The Story of the First Crusade." (1999): n.pag. Web. 12 Jan 2012.

<http://www.brighton73.freeserve.co.uk/firstcrusade/Overview/Overview.htm>.

"First Crusade." . Wikipedia, 2012. Web. 10 Jan 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade>.

Davies, Denys. "The Crusades Through Muslim Eyes." Al-Ahram Weekly Online. 472 (1999): n. page. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/472/bk2_472.htm>.

Sivan, Emmanuel. "Muslim Representations of the Crusades." enec.it. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan 2012. <http://www.enec.it/VersoGerusalemme/11EMMANUELSIVAN.pdf>.

Knox, Ellis. "The Fifth Crusade." The Orb:. N.p., 1999. Web. 8 Jan 2012. <http://www.the-orb.net/textbooks/crusade/fifthcru.html>.

Knox, Ellis. "The Seventh Crusade." The Orb:. N.p., 1999. Web. 8 Jan 2012. <http://www.the-orb.net/textbooks/crusade/seventhcru.html>.

"Crusades." Exequ'ys Blog. WordPress.com, n.d. Web. 11 Jan 2012. <http://exequy.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/crusades/>.

Final Product...The Crusades Project

To display my understanding of Muslim perspectives towards the crusades, I decided to use xtranormal.com. I had never used this site before, but the idea of an animated conversation seemed funny and captivating to me. I initially tried to use Glogster, but it was too much of a hassle to edit text boxes and format things. Judging from other peoples' blogs I was not the only one who encountered this problem. Xtranormal worked very well and came out exactly as I envisioned it. The only negative about it was the voices, which are very robot sounding. The other accents offered were impossible to understand so I had to settle for what was comprehensive to a human not a computer. If I had to do this again, I might purchase a microphone to speak through my characters. This would add another interesting element to my presentation and I am good with accents. Overall this project went extremely well and was not nearly as stressful as it looked on paper. I could have collaborated in a group, but I decided I wanted to do this one my way and I am glad I did.
 >FINISHED PRODUCT

Researching the Crusades:

To try to expand my horizons (and because Mr. Whitten is making us) I have not been using Google for this assignment. I have found Yahoo and Bing are basically the same thing, but for educational purposes sweetsearch has by far been the most useful. The documents it brings up are always trustworthy unlike the things you may sometimes end up with on Wikipedia. I have been having trouble finding Muslim perspectives on the crusades. It seems like much of the work online is either general summaries of the battles or told from a Christian perspective. There is also a lot of modern day search results which is not useful to me right now, but I found it interesting that conflicts 800 years old could evolve and still exist today. A final problem I am having is conflicting information. When I read two different facts, I try to look back to my notes from our class discussions but this only solved one discrepancy. By double checking sources and comparing sites I believe I found the proper information, but I wish it would just be right the first time.

The 3 Crusades of Choice:

The three crusades I will be focusing on are the 1st, 5th, and 7th crusades. I chose these for a number of reasons. The 1st crusade is the one that started it all, and the one the Muslims probably least expected, so I figure their feelings towards the Christians may be slightly different than in the others. The fifth was the attack in Egypt, which I enjoyed learning about in class and wanted to know how it was from the Muslim perspective. The 7th crusade was the most brutal slaughter, so I know the Muslims must have had some very strong feelings regarding this one or else they would have showed more mercy.