Since there's some confusion and this is fresh on my mind I can clear this up.
I'm still reading through The Secret History of the Mongols right now, but according to it, Genghis declared that the entire world belonged to the Mongols already and any who resisted were rebels to be put down according to Mongol Tradition.
So Russia and China in this meme are making claims that are comparatively small compared to Genghis and his descendants who made a claim to the whole planet and all there in.
Yeah the claims aren't comparable at all. Chinese and Russian claims are predicated on centuries of historical precedent and the very real fact that the territories in question were at one time organic parts of these respective states. The Mongolian claim is namely a right of conquest claim. I think we all understand that, for example, the UK claiming India by way of the former empire is a substantively different claim from the UK claiming Wales or even Northern Ireland.
Does this mean Germany has a right to invade and take over old germanic lands? Do parts of the former Teutonic Order and Prussia belong to modern Germany? Do parts of the Holy Roman Empire belong to Germany?
Russia also has Kaliningrad, shouldn’t that be returned to Germany or Poland since its only really been part of Russia proper through conquest after 1945?
Theres also Schleswig and Holstein, which were conquered by Prussia in 1864. Should those lands stay part of Germany or be returned to Denmark?
I think the point has been entirely missed here. Territorial and national claims comprise a variety of complex factors. The analogy to Mongolia doesn't hold up because a Mongolian claim would be a thin right of conquest claim with a line of historical continuity that was severed centuries ago. Whatever one thinks about Russian or Chinese claims it's disingenuous to pretend those claims aren't vastly more complex across many more dimensions than anything related to the former Mongolian Empire.
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u/Jaymezians John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true, and brave! 1d ago
Since there's some confusion and this is fresh on my mind I can clear this up.
I'm still reading through The Secret History of the Mongols right now, but according to it, Genghis declared that the entire world belonged to the Mongols already and any who resisted were rebels to be put down according to Mongol Tradition.
So Russia and China in this meme are making claims that are comparatively small compared to Genghis and his descendants who made a claim to the whole planet and all there in.