5). Also, if someone surrendered to the Mongols, they were still killed without any remorse. While battling, Mongols often surrounded their opponents before slaughtering all of them, not giving them any chance to escape (Doc. 3). In the military, if one member of a group fails or does not follow the Mongols rules for their soldiers, the whole group is executed (Doc.
These accounts of murder show how the Mongols laid waste to cities and murdered without care to gender, age, race, or ethnicity. (Doc. 4) Mongol soldiers regularly executed prisoners, whether they are political or military. Within Document 5, you can see the execution of prisoners by a Mongolian soldier. These executions could range from being shot with arrows to being buried alive upside-down.
The war of the Eastern front was also racially motivated. Hitler considered the leaders of the Soviet Union as criminals, and there was a need to kill them to prevent future jeopardy. Both Hitler and Stalin were aggressive, and none was ready to back down, this led to the killing of many civilians. In his troop, Hitler included
This was firstly by very strict military discipline. Strictness and harsh punishments provided a deterrent to deserters and those who gave up and it created a sense of unity of fighting for one cause among the troops. This view is supported by Trotsky’s orders to the Red Army (Source D) in which he says that “Every scoundrel who incites anyone to retreat, to desert, or not to fulfil a military order, will be shot”. These harsh disciplinary techniques were used, in Trotsky’s knowledge, to boost soldiers’ morale and their will of fighting as he knew that if he lost this war, the Revolution would break up and communism would end in Russia for good. Also Trotsky selected the army carefully.
Orvis and Fortin 11-29-11 AP Euro – Moger Presentation Notes The Development of Russia and the Ottoman Empire Was Russia a Western (European) or non-Western (Asian) society? The Mongol Yoke and the Rise of Moscow Nomadic tribes from present-day Mongolia Unified temporarily by Chinggis Khan (1162-1227) Very powerful - “In 5 years his armies subdued all of China“ (A History of Western Society) Mongol Army – Known as the Golden Horde - used terror in order to pin their foes into submission Interesting Fact: “To demonstrate their powerful force, the army would destroy an entire city, slaughtering the whole population before burning the city to the ground“ Ruled the Eastern Slavs for 200 years. This period of time was known as the
Some felt that other countries were progressing at a faster pace and the Tsar should embrace their way of thinking. Dissatisfaction with the autocracy climaxed following the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1905 where workers had their pleas for equality rejected as the Tsars troops shot hundreds of unarmed protesters resulting in huge national turmoil. Father Gapon described the scene “The crowd first knelt and then lay flat down, hiding their heads from the rain of bullets…at last the firing ceased. I stood up with a few others who remained uninjured and looked down at the bodies that lay around me…I saw the scarlet stain of blood upon the snow…horror crept into my heart. The thought flashed through my mind: “This is the work of our Little Father, the Tsar.
Although Ivan calmed down in 1564 in protest, he was urged back to power and began a rule of terror never before seen in Russian history. He divided the country into two clean-cut spheres, the oprichnina was encompassing his personal domain, and the other ,the zemshchina, representing the rest. Ivan broke the power of the Muscovite boyars, exiling thousands of them to Siberia, and created a new militia. These hand-picked oprichniki, as he named them, were devoted to his orders and were encouraged to rape, loot, burn, kill and torture in the Tsar's name. They spread terror throughout Russia, culminating in the atrocious massacre of Novgorod in 1569, when as many as 60,000 citizens were tortured to death for supposedly plotting to side with
While the drive for collectivized agriculture was a wide going trend, kulaks needed to be destroyed. Stalins way of doing this was complete taking away all food and grain that they grew. (Doc.6) However the Kulaks didn’t make it easy; they would kill and poison their animals, kill government officials, and collective farm activists. (Doc.5) They would burn their barns and destroyed machinery. By them doing this the Soviets now had a right to kill them, and that was done until there were no Kulaks left.
Lenin’s skilled use of propaganda and the importance of the cause of ‘mother Russia’ harnessed the support of the peasants and working class in the face of another revolution. Trotsky’s inspirational oratory skills and successful reorganisation of the Red army ensured an effective, unified fighting force that was kept loyal and strong by Trotsky’s firm and ruthless discipline. However another factor responsible for the success of the Bolshevik’s in the Civil War was the ineffective organisation and leadership of the White Army which was the result of various personal and political rivalries between the parties which made unity and coordination impossible to achieve and victory on the side of the Whites incredibly difficult. It is to a critical extent that the leadership of the Bolsheviks was the reason for their victory in the Civil War from 1918-1921 in Russia as Lenin’s introduction of the sever policies under war communism dealt with the disastrous economic and military situation that the Bolsheviks were facing. The onset of Civil War required new and firmer policies for efficient industrial production and
In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia. However, in 1924, Lenin died and Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union. Stalin was a ruthless leader who brought many changes to the Soviet Union. Stalin’s goal was to transform the Soviet Union into a modern superpower and spread communism throughout the world, and he was determined to sabotage anyone who stood in his way. Stalin’s rule brought both harmful and beneficial consequences to the Soviet Union.