Chapter 11: A Russian View of the Mongols

The writer of the Chronicle accounted for what he saw as the disaster of the Mongol invasion by describing the story of the invasion in great detail. While the passage is not necessarily a long one, the Russian writer surely knew which points to touch on in order to show how destructive and harmful the Mongols were towards their people. Basically, the Mongols didn't care about anyone! They raped their women and children and they would kill people by fire or by slaying them with swords. And this is how they conducted their business.
I think that the Mongols were successful for a number of reasons. First of all, they had a very large group of warriors to their advantage. The Russian writer describes them as coming "like locusts." I have never been in a swarm of locusts but I have seen them on TV and in movies and it is extremely frightening and hectic. I can imagine that if the Mongols approached the Russians as locusts do that it was a very overwhelming feeling, to say the least. Especially if the people of Ryazan were significantly outnumbered, which it appears that they were. They called upon Yuri of Volodimir for help but he did not assist them in their battles and so Ryazan went down quite easily. Another possible reason for the Mongol success is that they were "lawless," or so the Russian writer refers to them as. Throughout the document, the Chronicle writer talks about how horrible they were to the Russians. They seem to be fearless as they torch down churches and violated nuns and priests' wives. The fact that they were so demanding and really made it a point to take what they thought should be theirs is a very powerful tool.
I think a major thing that offended the Russians about the Mongols was there inconsideration for their religious beliefs. Time and time again the writer of the Chronicle refers to the Mongols as pagans. By the way that they treat their clergy and their nuns, they burn down their church, and the commit this huge massacre during Easter week. That seemed to be an important aspect of the Mongols that the Russians really did not like, apart from them clearly killing off all of their towns and stuff. But the fact that they disrespected God and their religion was a major offense by the Mongols.
In terms of a clash of cultures regarding the Mongols and the Russians, it could not be more prevalent. As I mentioned before, a major difference that existed was religion and religious beliefs. Influences on things such as language and government were also ways that the two cultures clashed at first and then, as most do in one way or another, sort of assimilated into one another. Russian culture absorbing more of that Mongolian culture, as there are still traces of that culture that are visible in Russia today.