it’s always about picking who gets to be violent, when, isn’t it? I have no doubt, emissaries or not, defiant Khwarizmis were gonna get treated violently by the mongols either way. It’s usually a part of the horde overrunning your nation, the pesky men on horses filling your families with arrows bit - which, yeah, is actually really violent, and the burning down of your house, and the rape of your livestock etc., etc., etc.,
perhaps the Khwarizmi didn’t think they’d win the fight, but they could at least take out the assholes who brought the message.
thermopylae/300 vibes to typing this out… but I don’t recall the ‘kicks emissary into pit’ part being historic…
it’s always about picking who gets to be violent, when, isn’t it? I have no doubt, emissaries or not, defiant Khwarizmis were gonna get treated violently by the mongols either way. It’s usually a part of the horde overrunning your nation, the pesky men on horses filling your families with arrows bit - which, yeah, is actually really violent, and the burning down of your house, and the rape of your livestock etc., etc., etc.,
Despite the reputation of the Mongols for warmongering, Genghis’s two biggest wars outside of Mongolia itself were against China, and against… the Khwarizmi.
Considering that the war with China was still ongoing, it’s doubtful that Genghis was seeking a conflict with the Khwarizmi at the time, especially considering his genuine life-long interest in trade.
perhaps the Khwarizmi didn’t think they’d win the fight, but they could at least take out the assholes who brought the message.
The Mongols were a new and smaller nomadic power to the east engaged in a war with one of the Chinese dynasties. The Khwarizmi were one of the largest and most powerful states on the face of the planet.
… I don’t think it was desperation which led them to execute two sets of diplomats and rob hundreds of Muslim merchants.
thermopylae/300 vibes to typing this out… but I don’t recall the ‘kicks emissary into pit’ part being historic….
Supposedly the Spartans threw him into a well. While also a violation of diplomatic immunity, they at least had the excuse that the Persians were requesting their vassalage.
well, yeah, but also…
it’s always about picking who gets to be violent, when, isn’t it? I have no doubt, emissaries or not, defiant Khwarizmis were gonna get treated violently by the mongols either way. It’s usually a part of the horde overrunning your nation, the pesky men on horses filling your families with arrows bit - which, yeah, is actually really violent, and the burning down of your house, and the rape of your livestock etc., etc., etc.,
perhaps the Khwarizmi didn’t think they’d win the fight, but they could at least take out the assholes who brought the message.
thermopylae/300 vibes to typing this out… but I don’t recall the ‘kicks emissary into pit’ part being historic…
Despite the reputation of the Mongols for warmongering, Genghis’s two biggest wars outside of Mongolia itself were against China, and against… the Khwarizmi.
Considering that the war with China was still ongoing, it’s doubtful that Genghis was seeking a conflict with the Khwarizmi at the time, especially considering his genuine life-long interest in trade.
The Mongols were a new and smaller nomadic power to the east engaged in a war with one of the Chinese dynasties. The Khwarizmi were one of the largest and most powerful states on the face of the planet.
… I don’t think it was desperation which led them to execute two sets of diplomats and rob hundreds of Muslim merchants.
Supposedly the Spartans threw him into a well. While also a violation of diplomatic immunity, they at least had the excuse that the Persians were requesting their vassalage.