Mongol Trials Reflection

I thought the Mongol Trials were surprisingly fun.  They also turned out to be much more challenging than I had expected.  I was the cross examiner for the Mongol defense.  I thought I did pretty well as I got my point across and seemed to make the other side question some of their points.  I think I should have questioned more prosecuting witnesses to reinforce what I was saying.  I also wish I had made objections when I thought necessary.  I don't think I did because of how much it bugged me that the other side was confidently repeating their points over and over again.  The points weren't all strong but sounded intimidating because of the confidence.  My team as a whole needed to work on confidence, force in their speech, and not passively agreeing with the other side (specifically Futaba).  About the verdict? I think the prosecution should have won kidnapping and terrorism, yet terrorism was close.  Genocide seemed to be helping the defense and going along with what we said.  As for the real Mongols?  I think they were talented fighters and executed conquest better than anyone in history.  I think they were a little bit crazy and killed a few too many people, but overall overcame a great feat of conquering pretty much everyone they could reach.

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan had power over almost anyone he wanted.  I think he was a skilled ruler gone crazy.  He had a rough childhood and lost his wife.  He became a killer and terrorist because of it.  He was crazy and did go overboard, but his intentions were good.  He wanted to find his wife and get her back.  He became overwhelmed and continued killing and capturing people to gain his reputation he has now.  I think he was a good intentioned ruler who just lost control of himself.

Crusades Project: #7; Fifth Crusade

Yet again, the Christians try a crusade. Yet again, they fail a crusade.  As the Muslims see them coming, they were thinking, "Ughh... Not again."  They still don't feel a threat, just annoyance. As they see them in their armor, sweating and overheating, they think "wow, do these people ever think? Maybe they should for a change.  Maybe then they would have even a little chance against us."  Once the crusaders have either died or fled, the Muslims realize yet another crusade has just been a waste of their time.  "Ha. Ha. Ha. We are kind of even disappointed about how pathetic the Christians are. We could take them any day. What were they thinking with their heavy, metal armor. :/ "

Crusades Project: #10; Eighth Crusade

As the crusaders set out for last attempt, the Muslims are feeling bored with these crusades.  "When are they gonna just give up? They know we are just gonna destroy them and all of their states."  The Muslims have pretty much stopped caring because they don't see a threat from the Christians.  As the crusaders run from defeat, the Muslims think to themselves, "Wow, scaredy-cats. That was way easier than it should have been. Let's PARTY!" They then went on living their lives.

Crusades Project: #4; Third Crusade

This was an easy win for the Saladin.  The Muslims must have thought it was almost even a joke.  They must have thought to themselves, "hmmm... Well if there is only one invader instead of the original three, this wont be so bad."  The crusaders had also never been greatly successful in the past. Muslims - "They were never a threat before, so they probably aren't now.  I bet Saladin is really giving us the better end of this diplomacy  deal thing."

Crusades Project: Bibliography

"The Crusades: A History of Conflict." BBC News. BBC News, Monday, 24 April, 2006. Web. 12 Jan 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4938202.stm>.

"Islamic History in Arabia and Middle East." IslamiCity. IslamiCity, n.d. Web. 12 Jan 2012. <http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/sec10.htm>.

"Crusades - Theopedia, an encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity." Theopedia, an encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity. Theopedia, Inc., September 2005. Web. 12 Jan 2012. <http://www.theopedia.com/Crusades>.

Crusades Project: Almost Done

The project is going well. I have done all of my research.  Now I just need to make my bibliography and post the Final Rage Comics.  For my research, I tried out sweetsearch.com.  It proved to be more specific than Google and matched my requests better.  Also, I have gotten feedback on my blog from other students.  People seem to be looking forward to the Rage Comics.  They think it is a good and original idea.  So far, the project is going as planned.

Crusades Project Part II

We have made a lot of progress on the rage comics.  I like that we chose that because it will be original and new to almost everyone.  Though rage comics have become popular, they have probably rarely, if ever, been used for learning history, or anything for that matter.  I hope the comedy in the comics will make reading them more enjoyable but not take away from the point.

Crusades Project

Today I chose my group to work with. It is Derek, Steven, Adam, Joe, Keval, and me. We decided so far that we will make a series of rage comic for the 3rd, 5th, and 8th crusades.