Mongols: An Epic Tale

The Mongols were nomads. Being a nomad means

that you don’t have a house to live in; every day you

are somewhere different.

Once upon a time, these Mongols had a boy named

Temujin. He was a smart boy- like Einstein!

He was so smart, his people made him king of their

tribe. He was called Chinggis Khan.

Chinggis Khan wanted to make his Empire really

big. China seemed the perfect place to start.

Chinggis appears many places as a horrible, cruel

person because of his conquests, but he really

wasn’t that mean.

Chinggis was only trying to do what was best for his

people. Sort of like your President.

He made China property of the Mongols. He allowed

the people to keep their culture and religion.

Chinggis even thought that it was so amazing, he

borrowed some of it for his own!

After he took China, he needed to make his empire

even bigger.

The Mongols then took Russia. Russia is a very cold

place, but the Mongols were prepared for every kind

of condition.

The people of Russia were very proud. They wanted

to prove themselves individually, and they were

outnumbered by the vast Mongol horde.

Chinggis Khan and the Mongols soon won Russia.

By this time they were very good at conquering the

world.

They learned that if they pretended to give up halfway

through the battle and come back later with more

soldiers, that the battle could be won faster and more

efficiently.

They often used horses and long, curved swords

during battle.

They wore silk underwear and leather jackets coated

with fish glue, both of which stopped arrows that were

being fired by the enemy.

The Mongols had Russia and China, and they

wanted even more.

Though they couldn’t conquer Europe, there was

still a lot of land in the Middle East that was still

independent of Mongol rule.

They successfully conquered Baghdad, a large city

in the Middle East. It was completely destroyed and

burned to the ground.

Once the Mongols had conquered these areas, they

had one of the largest contiguous land empires in

history.