The Miracle of Freedom

by Ted Stewart

And these are just a few examples of how capitalism, science, democracy, and education would have been thwarted.

  Perhaps most important, Western Europe would have been robbed of its greatest assets: the minds of the intellectuals, skilled craftsmen, teachers, and leaders upon which all great civilizations must be built. After the Mongols destroyed a city, the most skilled and educated men among the captives were sent back to the steppes. This tactic had an extremely negative impact upon the conquered nation, for it robbed them of their very best people. Once they were gone, all of their expertise was taken with them.

  Surely the same fate would have befallen the learned and skilled men of Western Europe.25 Had that been the case, how long would it have taken for Western culture to be rebuilt?

  What would have happened to the Christian church if the Mongol invasion had reached Rome?

  During the invasion of Europe, the pope had sent envoys in an attempt to appease the Mongols. The reply he received was sobering. He was informed that the Mongols were vested “with a divine power to subdue or extirpate the nations; and that the pope would be involved in the universal destruction unless he visited in person, and as a suppliant, the royal horde.”26

  Clearly the Mongol leaders had no intention of respecting the church. Like every other conquered leader, the pope would have been forced to bow down to the khan.

  In Russia, the Mongols understood that the Christian church could help maintain stability in the region. Because of this, its property and laity were protected. But this protection came at a heavy price. In return for being allowed their continued existence, the church advised its people to submit to the Mongolian overlords. Because of this, “a spirit of submissiveness was developed in the people, and opened a road to centuries of despotism.”27

  Some argue that the Russian peoples have never recovered from this attitude of submission. It is, at least in part, an explanation for why the Russians tolerated the absolute reign of the czars while the rest of Europe evolved toward representative government and the love of individual rights and freedom. It also helps explain why the Russian people were so submissive to a communist dictatorship for so long.

  Would centuries of Mongol domination and church collaboration in Western Europe have affected the European mind-set any differently? Is there any reason to believe the Europeans would have had a better outcome than their Russian or Muslim counterparts? Indeed, those two empires that were conquered by the Mongols provide ample evidence of what might have been the fate of Western Europe.

  Before the Mongols appeared on their borders, both the Russian and Muslim empires had reached a zenith of wealth, prosperity, and enlightenment. Neither of them recovered after the Mongols had invaded and occupied their lands.

  Descendants of Genghis Khan ruled large nations such as Russia, Turkey, India, China, and Persia for very long periods of time, in some cases for more than seven centuries. In India, they ruled as the Moghuls until 1857. The last descendant of Genghis Khan ruled in Uzbekistan until 1920.28

  None of these nations developed into democratic or free governments under their Mongol rulers.

  Considering all of these facts, it is impossible to believe that Europe, had it been ravaged and depleted by the Mongols, and the miserable survivors shackled with an obligation to pay tribute forever, would have found a way to enter the golden era known as the Renaissance.

  It seems impossible to believe that Europe would have continued on the path toward the rejuvenation of art, science, and religion.

  Most vital, it is impossible to believe that the political philosophy of the West, which is the very foundation of freedom, would have survived.

  Gurganj (Capital City of the Kingdom of Khwarizm) Central Asia AD 1221

  Every other inhabitant of the once great city had been either killed or taken. Out of the entire city, he was the only one who had been allowed to live but not enslaved.

  After the killing had ended, an unknown number of his fellows had been led away in ropes or chains. And though Al-Marwazi didn’t know it, a few thousand of his fellow citizens had fled to the west, slipping away through a breach in the wall and disappearing into the night. They would end up in various locations throughout the Middle East, absorbed into the local culture, never to be identified as Khwarizmi again.

  Having looted everything of any value within the city, the Mongols had burned or torn down every building, leaving no riches, no structures, no people or animals.

  Which left Al-Marwazi where he was. Alone. The last of his kingdom. Last of his family. Last of his neighbors. Last of his friends.

  He stood outside the ruined city walls and wondered why the khan had let him live. He didn’t know. But he wasn’t grateful. Looking at the devastation all around him, he realized that sometimes living was worse than death.

  With nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, Al-Marwazi lifted a thin stick from off the ground, used it to stabilize himself, then turned and started hobbling toward the nearest village, hoping it had not already been destroyed.

  Walking toward the mountains, he took with him all of the culture of his people.

  Four days later, it was over.

  Both he and his culture were dead.

  Notes

  ^1.. See Simons, Barbarian Europe, 168. This is the source for all our information regarding the decline and then resurrection of cities.

  ^2.. “Feudalism was the economic subjection and military allegiance of a man to a superior in return for economic organization and military protection” (Durant, Age of Faith, 553).

  ^3.. Durant, Age of Faith, 571. For a description of the era of the Middle Ages relevant to this episode, see Durant, Age of Faith, 552–79; Hay, Early Middle Ages, 157–98; Simons, Barbarian Europe, 147–72.

  ^4.. For a discussion of the Crusades, see Durant, Age of Faith, 585–613; Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1047–1107; Newark, Medieval Warfare, 67–87.

  ^5.. The Crusades “appear to me to have checked rather than forwarded the maturity of Europe. The lives and labors of millions which were buried in the East would have been more profitably employed in the improvement of their native country: the accumulated stock of industry and wealth would have overflowed in navigation and trade; and the Latins would have been enriched and enlightened by a pure and friendly correspondence with the climates of the East” (Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1107).

  ^6.. Tuchman, Distant Mirror, 7.

  ^7.. Durant, Age of Faith, 649. For a full description of the rise of Europe as an economic power and the birthplace of capitalism, see ibid., 614–49; Stark, Victory of Reason; Tuchman, Distant Mirror, 1–22.

  ^8.. The Mongols were related to both the Turks and the Tartars, and they were often called Tartars or some variation of that name.

  ^9.. Weatherford, Genghis Khan, xviii.

  ^10.. Ibid., 45.

  ^11.. Kahn, Secret History, 146. The Secret History of the Mongols was written shortly after the death of Genghis Khan, apparently as a history for his family. Its full translation has been made available only in the last few decades.

  ^12.. Weatherford, Genghis Khan, 91.

  ^13.. Ibid., 85–86.

  ^14.. The first scientific study of Kunya Urgench (Gurganj) was undertaken by an expedition from the State Academy for the History of Material Culture in 1928 and 1929. In 1938, V. I. Pilyavsky surveyed the site and measured its monuments. After World War II, Sergei Tolstov’s Khorezm Archaeological-Ethnographical Expedition began the first archaeological studies on the site. Between 1958 and 1960, Alexandr Vinogradov, A. Asanov, and I. I. Notkin drew up plans of the monuments and recorded their physical status. Archaeological work partly resumed by the Uzbek Institute of Conservation between 1979 and 1985. The results of these collective efforts can be found at http://karakalpak.com/ancgurganj .html.

  ^15..
Cowley, What If? 98.

  ^16.. See Sugar, Hanák, Tibor, History of Hungary, 27.

  ^17.. Weatherford, Genghis Khan, 111.

  ^18.. See Durant, Age of Faith, 655–56.

  ^19.. Quoted in Weatherford, Genghis Khan, 154.

  ^20.. Weatherford, Genghis Khan, 155.

  ^21.. For information about Genghis Khan and his rise and exploits, as well as the Mongol invasion of Europe under Ogodei, see Cowley, What If? 93–106; Durant, Age of Faith, 655–58; Kahn, Secret History; Weatherford, Genghis Khan, 3–159.

  ^22.. For the history of the Mongol conquests after 1241, see Durant, Age of Faith, 338–41; Weatherford, Genghis Khan, 160–209.

  ^23.. Durant, Age of Faith, 658.

  ^24.. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1142.

  ^25.. For thoughts on the impact of a Mongol conquest of Western Europe, see Crowley, What If? 102–5.

  ^26.. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1142.

  ^27.. Durant, Age of Faith, 656.

  ^28.. See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, xx.

  Chapter 6

  How the New World Saved the Old

  Parvis e glandibus quercus.

  Latin phrase meaning “Tall oaks from little acorns grow”

  Human progress—especially in regard to the march of freedom—has proven to come in painful cycles, with plenty of stops and spurts along the way. Though there were occasional steps forward, there were also stumbles, sometimes fantastic failures. For those of us who can look upon these failures with the advantage of hindsight, as well as through the prism of our cultural advancement, some of the stumblings may be difficult to understand.

  This is particularly true of nations or religious institutions, both of which may fall under exceptionally critical scrutiny. There are a couple of explanations for why this is true: First, though they may seek to represent the ideal, no nation or institution is ever perfect. All cultures and religious institutions are occupied by mere mortals, making them subject to all the frailties of men. And the simple fact that they do seek the ideal, ironically, opens them up to charges of hypocrisy and scorn. Second, often these are not only multigenerational but multimillennial institutions. Their stories may stretch over thousands of years. During the passing of so many centuries, every nation or institution will have its ups and downs, experiencing high points of moral leadership, but low points of decadence as well.

  This being the case, wouldn’t it be unfair—and historically inaccurate—to judge a nation or institution on only one episode in its history or during one particular span of time?

  In our story, we also have to recognize the difference between the leaders or members of the Christian faith and Christian doctrine. The shortcomings of one may not accurately reflect the value of the other. Indeed, history shows that there have been times when the teachings of Christianity remained an ally to the development of freedom even when the Christian church did not.

  All of these propositions can be shown in one example: European culture and advancement.

  As stated in the previous chapter, after the darkest of the Dark Ages, much of Europe began to emerge into the light. But that did not mean that its progress was linear or sure. In fact, it is clear that there came a point when the European people and culture were utterly exhausted, seemingly on the verge of ruin.

  Such was the situation just before the discovery of the Americas. Some of the leaders of the Christian church had become corrupt. Western culture, as embodied in European civilization, was not heading toward enlightenment, but leaning toward collapse.

  The New World literally saved the Old.

  Had it not been for the opportunities and advancements created by the discovery of the New World, all of Christianity and Western culture may have crumbled upon itself.

  Along the Black Sea’s Western Shore December 1493

  They came from different worlds, from different cultures with different attitudes. And their people were heading in opposite directions now, one on the rise, one on the fall.

  That was the unseen truth.

  But only one of them understood it.

  The older man was a Christian from the West, raised in the cold mountains of northern Italy: lily-white with blue eyes underneath heavy brows, a single man who never had any interest in marrying and certainly no interest in having children, a man who could neither read nor write (though he could add an impressive string of numbers in his head), who viewed women as the gate of the devil and had never once in his life held a book or touched scripture, though he was comfortable with a knife or sword. Having lived on a continent of thieves, fools, and beggars, he had been forced to kill a few men along the way, although he hoped most of that was behind him now, with his advancing age.

  The other was a young Arab from the East, raised on the hills of Syria: dark-skinned, black eyes, elegant fingers that wrote in beautiful Arabic script. He had been taught to read and write at age five and was familiar with most of the great literary works of the world. In fact, he had helped to translate some of the original Greek manuscripts of medicine and science from the libraries at Alexandria for the benefit of the backward European leaders. With a fine wife (blessing of the good God) and a large brood of dark-eyed children, he loved being home, though he wasn’t there very often, for he spent most of his days on the roads that stretched from India to central Europe. He knew as well as anyone the trade routes, security points, mountain passes, desert waterholes, customs, and cultural arrangements along the routes, a fact that had made him rich. Most important, he was a citizen of the Ottoman Empire, which gave him safety in the most dangerous places.

  But though the two men came from very different worlds, they had one thing in common, an obsession that drove them with more power than any other thing in the world. Love of gold. Love of the deal.

  They sat atop a rounded sand hill only a few hundred feet from the Black Sea. The air smelled of brine and dead fish and cattails. In front of them, the sun was going down. Behind them, at the bottom of the hill, their servants were setting up two camps, separated by a small stream that dribbled into the great sea. Heavily armed mercenaries stood guard at both ends of the camp. Between them, more than four dozen men worked to stake the tents, pasture the horses, light the fires, and set up the feast—everything that was necessary to make their masters comfortable.

  The men sat in silence a long moment, the man from Damascus chewing on a wad of the brown leaf that he always seemed to have with him. The European worked a small knife to trim a piece of dying skin from a wounded finger. He had cut it on a sharp knife three days before (another indication that his reflexes were getting slower) and it had grown red and oozing. His cook had taken a dozen large black ants, used their pincers to force the skin together, then pinched off their heads. The old man knew the wound would heal now, but for the time it had left him feverish and cold.

  Pulling at a piece of infected skin, he glanced over at his quiet friend. They had been doing business for almost seven years now, but they didn’t trust each other enough to really let their guard down. Business and gold never left any room for trust. And there was something in the air tonight. The Arab seemed very tense.

  The Italian watched him chew, then motioned to the packs that the Arab horses had carried for more than a thousand miles. One hundred and forty bags of spice. Enough to keep him well for a year—assuming he wasn’t killed or robbed transporting the treasure back to the markets of southern Europe.

  The Arab seemed to stare into the distance, his face clouded in thought.

  “We have a deal, then?” the old man pressed, fearful the Arab was rethinking the price. Had that been the case, it would have caused a mini-war between the two camps, a battle he was fairly certain he could win, but one never knew. (Were he certain, he would have simply stolen the spice already. Better to take the deal than ris
k it all on a fight, he had concluded.)

  “I am vexed,” the Arab finally said.

  The old man shrugged. He didn’t know what the word meant.

  The Arab waited, then tried again. “I am troubled.”

  The European shrugged once more.

  The Arab sniffed the cool evening air. “Things are going to change.”

  The European simply listened.

  “I have talked to many people. Most of them are blind to it, but I am certain it will happen. And it troubles me severely.”

  The old man gestured in confusion toward the load of well-packed spice. They had inspected each and every bundle. The Arab had counted, tested, and weighed the small nuggets of gold that he would take in payment. Both of them were richer now. With the work being done, all of their men, exhausted from the long march, were happy to drink fresh water from the stream, catch some fish, kill some game, drink some ale, and sleep in their tents instead of under the stars. No one was trying to kill them—at least, not at this moment. Hard winter was being held back on the other side of the mountains and the Black Sea. The sky was clear. Dinner was almost ready.

  What was there to be troubled about?

  But the Italian had learned a lesson very early in life: Never underestimate the possibility of doom or failure. Seeing the tension on the Arab’s face, he felt his gut instinctively grow tight.

  Exhausted by War

  Christian Europe muddled through the Middle Ages, that era generally defined as the years between Constantine and Columbus.1 Though it endured incessant warfare, feudalism, and grinding poverty, it kept stumbling along. During this period, Europe managed to avoid two potentially devastating invasions—the Muslims in AD 732 and the Mongols in 1241—either one of which would have forever altered its culture and political values, those exceedingly rare and fragile principles that distinctively made Christian Europe the West.

  It had also survived several lesser but successful invasions. But instead of being destroyed by these invaders, the Europeans had been able to assimilate the aggressors into Christianity, even taking the best from them to enrich their own culture.