The Mongolian Empire Strikes Back

The bummer about history is that when something really terrific happens, other stuff happens afterward that's maybe not as terrific. And recency trumps greatness and young people don't learn/retell/give a shite about the important moments of yore. And that's sad for old people and veterans and former presidents because they accomplished something noteworthy and how could we all forget so fast?

Not in Mongolia. Any Mongolian of any age will swell with pride as they recount the great battles that won them a stronghold in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They will point you to maps where the Mongolia blob (usually Blue, that's their color) covers most of the continent and surrounding islands. They'll talk about the empire like this was last Christmas that they held it when, in actuality, it was the 13th century.

Our tour guide (more on her later) spun us a tale of when the Mongolians were about to conquer Japan but the Japanese monks prayed for a hurricane to stop them. It worked and the Mongolian warriors couldn't get across the sea to beat their asses. The tone of this story was like how you or I would talk about someone getting totally robbed on “American Idol” or like maybe how you once wrestled outside of your weight class in high school. But this story she's telling, which in the worst case is completely untrue and in the best case is pretty irrelevant, is a huge deal to her. And everyone else. And it happened 900 years ago.

There isn't a new story for Mongolia just yet and so the burden of pride still falls on Genghis. On the time when the bow and arrow were the bleeding edge of modern weaponry and Mongolia was a force to be reckoned with. And while its easy to be caught up in the retelling, ultimately its like hearing your Grandfather sing “Bless 'em All” and tell war stories; its just a little bit sad.

You can see the Mongolia Blue Blob in this monument to the former glory of the empire: