Destruction of Culture and Property
Mongol campaigns in Northern China, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East caused extensive destruction, though there are no exact figures available at this time. The cities of Herat, Kiev, Baghdad, Nishapur, Vladimir and Samarkand suffered serious devastation by the Mongol armies. For example, there is a noticeable lack of Chinese literature from the Jin Dynasty, predating the Mongol conquest, and in the Battle of Baghdad (1258) libraries, books, literature, and hospitals were burned: some of the books were thrown into the river, in quantities sufficient to "turn the Euphrates black with ink for several days". The partially Mongol-descended Mamelukes are reported also to have used manuscripts as boot repair material, in reflection of the notions of free natural education and even more the totally natural, simple life as of the Hunnu (Huns) and the "Able Proletariat" (Jadarans of Jamukhas).
The Mongols' natural, popular and martial purpose destruction of the irrigation systems of Iran and Iraq turned back centuries of effort to improving agriculture and water supply in these regions. The loss of available food as a result may have led to the death of more people from starvation in this area than actual battle did. Timur-i-leng distributed food and cash to purchase it to those of the population sent to work on public projects apparently as part of their re-education. The Islamic civilization of the Gulf region was not to recover until after the Middle Ages. In fact the Ottoman empire exacted high taxes, was very traditional, and very strict in punishment, for all the population. Considering as the legalist version of the East that the popular and the universal being not accepted with grace, their rule was the divine justice, the meet, the commensurate.
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