But the real massacres, including the destruction of Baghdad and the irrigation systems that fed the Middle East, was done by the Mongol invasions that happened about the same time.
GetReligion reviews some letters between the Pope and the Mongols, and wonders if lack of missionaries to Mongolia in those days was a lost opportunity, especially since some of the Mongol generals were married to Eastern Christian women, and most were not Muslim at the time.
But things were actually more complicated than that.
StrategyPage discusses the Battle of Ain Jalut, which saved both Muslim and Christian civilization from the Mongol hoards.
The French saw the invasion as an opportunity to destroy the Muslim empire, and contemplated an alliance. (see wikipedia article) So why didn't the Christian crusader states in the Levant help the Mongols against the Egyptian Muslims who were, after all their enemies? Because the pope, after reading reports of their atrocities, told them not to help the Mongols.
from StrategyPage:
Hulegu Khan fell back to Iran on the news of the death of the Great Khan Monge, leaving a portion of the army under the command of a Christian general, Kitbuqa, who claimed descent from one of the Three Wise Men who visited the infant Jesus, while he contested for Mongol leadership. Emboldened Qutuz advanced, making overtures to the Crusader leaders who were being courted into an alliance by the Mongols against the "hated Muslims". As they wavered a papal decree, based largely on the opinions of a clerical spy, arrived in the Holy Land settling the issue.so what was the ultimate result of this battle?
The clash of Mongol and Mamluk at Ain Jalut was one of the most significant battles in world history, yet it is a rare Western history class that even hears mention of it, even though it was as important for Western civilization as those fought at Marathon, Salamis, Lepanto, Chalons and Tours.
Had the Mongols succeeded in conquering Egypt, they would have been able to storm across North Africa to the Straits of Gilbraltar. Europe would have been clamped in an iron ring all the way from Poland to the Mediterranean. The Mongols would have been able to invade from so many points that it is unlikely that any European army could have been positioned to hold them back. Instead, the Mamluks stopped the westward Mongol advance and smashed the myth of Mongol invincibility.the history of Central Asia is largely untaught in the west.
A good place to start would be to read Frankopan's the Silk Roads.
part two
part three
part four.
and no, I haven't gotten around to listening to it yet.
shorter version:
another version here: the video lecture starts by describing the terrible destruction of Baghdad.
the Chinese were also taken over by the Mongols but eventually defeated them.
So what does this tell us about modern history?
that the bipolar world of "free vs communist" states has now been replaced by the clash of ancient empires.
For example, there is a long history of the Mongols and the Golden Hoard versus Russia: which is why Russia remembers history and today is protecting the Slavs and Christians (taking the part of the Serbs against Muslim Bosnia, taking the part of Assad against the Sunni ISIS types).
and although the Mongols took over China, the Han Chinese eventually defeated them.
but this (and several Islamic uprisings against the government) might explain why China is "reeducating" their Muslim population.
and today, China is making a "new silk road" that involved central Asian states that were once part of the USSR and before then, rich trading states of Central Asia. (who by the way have a lot of natural gas resources).
Can you say "Afghanistan" people?
what is past is prologue.
But something to remember when you read simplistic stuff about the west, about China, about Islam, about Iran, and about the Afghanistan war.
the modern wars are often just a rehash of ancient wars of empires that predate the "war for oil" or even Islam.
so how exactly did those Roman soldiers end up in China? LINK
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