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Were the Mongols mainly destroyers or connectors?

A Muslim historian who lived through the invasions, European and Chinese-born travelers, and art from the Mongol-ruled Ilkhanate let students weigh destruction against exchange.

Timeline of key events →

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✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Mock Trial: The Mongols, Destroyers or Connectors?. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

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1. Hook: a striking quote 3-5 min

this thing involves the description of the greatest catastrophe and the most dire calamity (of the like of which days and nights are innocent) which befell all men generally, and the Muslims in particular
Ibn al-Athir, historian in Mosul, on the Mongol invasions of 1220–1221

Ask: Ibn al-Athir lived through the invasions. A few decades later, Marco Polo praised a city under Mongol rule as the finest in the world. Can both be true?

2. Main activity: Mock Trial: The Mongols, Destroyers or Connectors?

Grouping: Whole class in three teams: Prosecution (6 to 8), Defense (6 to 8), and the Jury (the rest). The teacher or a student serves as judge.

Setup: The charge: “The Mongol Empire did far more to destroy than to connect the world.” The Prosecution argues the charge is true; the Defense argues the Mongols mainly connected peoples and places. The jury decides using only the evidence cards.

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Role cards (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Evidence cards for all 6 sources (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Jury ballot slips
  1. Assign roles 5 min
    Hand out role cards and evidence cards. Read the charge aloud.
  2. Prepare 10 min
    Each team picks its three strongest evidence cards and writes its opening. Jurors preview all six cards.
  3. Openings 6 min
    Two minutes per side. Every claim must name an evidence card.
  4. Witnesses and questions 10 min
    Each side presents testimony for four minutes. The other side may ask two questions.
  5. Closings 6 min
    Two minutes per side.
  6. Verdict and discussion 8 min
    Jury votes by secret ballot. Announce the count. Ask: did the timing matter? Most destruction evidence is from the first conquests; most connection evidence is from decades later.
  7. Exit ticket 5 min
    Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: Were the Mongols mainly destroyers or connectors?

  • Mainly destroyers: Ibn al-Athir called the invasions the greatest catastrophe in history, and a 1243 European account described the Mongols as merciless conquerors.
  • Mainly connectors: Marco Polo described paper money and a magnificent city under Mongol rule, and Rabban Sauma traveled from China to Paris as an envoy for a Mongol ruler.

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: Ibn al-Athir
  • 8 min Pairs compare two cards only: Ibn al-Athir and Marco Polo on Kinsay. How can both be accurate?
  • 4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: Ibn al-Athir
  • 5 min Assign roles and read the charge
  • 10 min Prepare
  • 6 min Openings
  • 10 min Witnesses and questions
  • 6 min Closings
  • 6 min Verdict, vote, and exit ticket
  • 3 min Buffer

4. Exit ticket

  1. Which ONE source would you show someone who knows nothing about the Mongols? Explain why.
  2. Ibn al-Athir and Marco Polo saw Mongol rule at different times and places. How does that help explain their different views?

5. Differentiation

Support

  • This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
  • Give students a timeline: 1206 Genghis Khan; 1220s invasions of Central Asia and Persia; 1240s invasions of Russia and Europe; 1270s–1290s Kublai Khan and Marco Polo.
  • Provide a word bank: khan, conquest, envoy, Ilkhanate, tribute, paper money.
  • Sentence frame: “The strongest evidence is ___ because ___.”

Extension

  • Some historians doubt that Marco Polo reached China. Does that change how much weight his evidence should get?
  • Research how the Black Death traveled along routes connected under Mongol rule. Does that count as “connection” or “destruction”?

Suggested sequence

  1. Ibn al-Athir: On the Tatars (Mongols)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    A Muslim historian's horrified account of the Mongol invasions.
    Ask: How did people experience the Mongol conquests?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  2. Description of the Tartars
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    Translated primary source: Description of the Tartars.
    Ask: How reliable is this source, and how could we check it?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. Marco Polo (1254-1324): On the Tartars
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Translated primary source: Marco Polo (1254-1324): On the Tartars.
    Ask: What questions would you want to ask the author?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. Marco Polo: Description of Kinsay (Hangzhou)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Marco Polo's description of the vast city of Hangzhou.
    Ask: Why did Europeans find Polo's descriptions hard to believe?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  5. Bar Sauma (c. 1278-1313): The Monk of Kublai Khan
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 30+ min
    Translated primary source: Bar Sauma (c. 1278-1313): The Monk of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China; or The History of the Life and Travels of…. Rabban Sawma, Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the Mongol Khans to the Kings of Europe and Markos who as Yahbh-Allaha III Became Patriarch of the Nestorian Church. Translated by E.A. Wallis Bud.
    Ask: What does this source suggest about the relationship between rulers and the ruled?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  6. Eight Point Star Tile with Qur'anic Inscriptions (Iran, Ilkhanid dynasty (1256–1353), Mid-13th century)
    Image · Art Institute of Chicago · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 5 min
    Eight Point Star Tile with Qur'anic Inscriptions, Ilkhanid dynasty (1256–1353), Mid-13th century, from Iran (Lusterware, fritware painted in lustre over an opaque white glaze). Public-domain image from the Art Institute of Chicago collection.
    Ask: What can an object tell us about the beliefs and daily life of the people who made it?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗See-Think-WonderOPTIC

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “Were the Mongols mainly destroyers or connectors?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.