Pros & Cons—Mongols

Pros:
1. Actively promoted international commerce
2. Mongol trading circuit stretched from China to the Near East (linked most of Eurasia)
3. Prompted diplomatic relationships across Eurasia
4. Increased exchange in Eurasia with the forcible transfer of thousands of skilled citizens
5. Facilitated the spread of religion and encouraged the exchange of ideas

Cons:
1. ability to extract wealth, through raiding, trading, or extortion, from agricultural civilizations such as China, Persia, and Byzantium.
2. Mongols were ruthless; they killed about a million during their empire.
3. The people who survived the Mongols were treated brutally. They also violated many women    (wives, nuns).
4. The Mongols empire did not last long. The plague largely contributed to the collapse of the Mongol empire.
5. Through their large trading routes and their constant migration to other countries, the Mongols were responsible for spreading the plague.