I really enjoyed this activity overall. I thought that it was kind of hard, but I think that just comes along with the role that I had in the trial. As the cross examiner, there was only so much I could do to prepare beforehand, while some people knew everything that they were going to say. I think I did pretty well as a cross examiner. I think that I elicited a few confessions, though it was easy to tell who prepared for this and who didn't, as the ones who didn't prepare would confess to anything. I know there were things that I could have done better, but when I consider that it was all very in the moment, I think I did pretty well.
I think that the Mongols were not monsters. I actually view them as a very ambitious, mostly fair people. I actually consider their successes astounding. In the context of the time, it was amazing that a band of horsemen could could conquer most of the known world. It really shows that they were a tactical people in warfare, and benevolent leaders in government. While I would consider them guilty of terrorism and kidnapping, I would not consider them guilty of genocide. The mongols used tactics in order to create fear in their enemies in order to win, even against overwhelming odds, and I won't fault them for that. I would not consider them guilty of genocide because for the most part, they spared those who surrendered and very rarely, if ever, just killed people without reason. This goes against the very basis of genocide in my opinion, because in order to focus on killing a specific group of people, it would be without purpose. It was said in one of the videos that we watched that Genghis showed great foresight, and I think that his descendants inherited some of that foresight from him.
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