DeletedUser
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Empires and the Cost of a better life
Following on from another thread... This thread is about the comparison between past Empires, and what they did to achieve their domination.
I am under the belief that many of the past empires brought plenty of good things to the countries they conquered, but at what price? Was the price worth it for future prosperity? Should the conquered countries given in to avoid bloodshed?
I'll take the Mongol empire as an example. They conquered many lands through barbaric acts to begin with, and using their hordes managed to amass a huge empire. As their empire grew they would often offer surrender to areas they were to conquer before they went in and wiped the place, sometimes if they particularly disliked a place they would simply raze the whole place to the ground, kill all the inhabitants and move on. Although to the lands that they didn't do this too, they brought a new system of equality and prosperity. They were one of the first peoples in the world to see women as equal to men, and women were allowed to sit on a panel of elders in their townships. The Mongols were extremely tolerant of religion and promoted religious freedom. They allowed relative peace throughout their land for traders. Genghis Khan even set up a set of codes for everyone to live by called the Yassa. The cost was bloodshed in the lands to which the mongols hated and genocide was not uncommon.
Was the deaths worth the benefits for the living and those who would grow up in the mongolian empire. But most importantly, should other countries have laid down their swords and allowed themselves to go under the rule of an empire that could benefit them enormously?
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