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Empires throughout History: Mongol Empire

Reference

Perspectives

The History of the Mongol Conquests

The Mongol conquests, culminating with the invasion of Europe in the middle of the thirteenth century, were of a scope and range never equaled. These nomadic peoples from central Asia briefly held sway over an empire that stretched across Asia to the frontiers of Germany and the shores of the Adriatic. Surprisingly little has been written on this vast and immensely influential empire, known chiefly through the charismatic leaders, Chingis Khan and Kublai Khan. J. J. Saunders's landmark book, first published in 1972, is a carefully documented introductory history of the rise and fall of the great Mongol empire. Saunders sets the historical stage with a discussion of nomad groups and cultures at the dawn of the second millennium, and then traces the rise of the Mongol conquests through the earlier Turkish expansion into Asia between the eighth and twelfth centuries. Beginning in the early 1200s, the Mongols led by Chingis Khan began their insatiable assault on all the kingdoms and peoples around them, erasing whole cities, killing entire populations, forcing mass migrations, and permanently changing the distribution of the world's major religions. The Mongols were finally checked along the edges of Europe and forced out of the Middle East by rejuvenated Muslim factions. As Saunders concludes, one of the major legacies of the Mongol conquests was the transfer of intellectual and scientific primacy of the Old World from Islamic societies to Western Europe, paving the way for the Renaissance.

Daily Life in the Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire comes to life in this vivid account of the lives of ordinary people who lived under the rule of Ghengis Khan. The book allows the reader to enjoy traditional Mongol folktales and experience life in a yurt, the tent in which the nomadic Mongols lived. It explains why the Mongols had a reputation for being savage barbarians by describing their fur-lined clothes and their heavy, meat- and alcohol-based diet. It supplies first-hand accounts of fighting in Ghengis Khan's decimalized army, and explores the various tasks that were left up to the women, such as loading and unloading the wagons when traveling. High school students and undergraduates can compare and contrast religious beliefs and various laws of the Mongols with those of other cultures they are studying. From traditional medicinal treatments to the Great Yasa law system, readers young and old can enjoy this comprehensive, in-depth study of everyday living during the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire comes to life in this vivid account of the lives of ordinary people who lived under the rule of Ghengis Khan. The book allows the reader to enjoy traditional Mongol folktales and experience life in a yurt, the tent in which the nomadic Mongols lived. 

The Mongols and the West

The Mongols had a huge impact on medieval Europe and the Islamic world. This major new study from the leading historian in the field reassesses relations between the Catholic West and the Mongols from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Huge popular interest due to the success and violence of the Mongol empire and the resonance of the like of Genghis Khan The first major study of the Mongols in two decades: will become the definitive book Major appeal to academics and readers interested in relations between medieval Christian Europe and non-Christian world, the history of the crusades, and in medieval European history in general Assesses the impact of Mongol-Western contact on the West's knowledge of the world down to the voyages of  Columbus and Cabot Unlike previous literature on these contacts, it provides a close study of relations with the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe down to the early 15th century Investigates Western dealings with Temur (Tamerlane), the last 'Mongol' or 'Tartar' conqueror to figure as a potential ally against the Muslims Surveys Western European Commercial operations in the Mongol world

The Mongols

The revised second edition of this highly praised introduction to the Mongol Empire takes account of recent scholarship in the field. Provides an overview of the government, religion, and politics of the Mongolian Empire Considers the effects of Mongol military campaigns on other countries and peoples in China, Russia, Persia and Europe Assesses the astonishing military career of Chingiz (Genghis) Khan Now includes a new epilogue assessing the contribution of recent scholarship to our understanding of the Mongols' history Well-illustrated by maps and photographs throughout

The Troubled Empire

The Mongol takeover in the 1270s changed the course of Chinese history. The Confucian empire--a millennium and a half in the making--was suddenly thrust under foreign occupation. What China had been before its reunification as the Yuan dynasty in 1279 was no longer what it would be in the future. Four centuries later, another wave of steppe invaders would replace the Ming dynasty with yet another foreign occupation. The Troubled Empire explores what happened to China between these two dramatic invasions.If anything defined the complex dynamics of this period, it was changes in the weather. Asia, like Europe, experienced a Little Ice Age, and as temperatures fell in the thirteenth century, Kublai Khan moved south into China. His Yuan dynasty collapsed in less than a century, but Mongol values lived on in Ming institutions. A second blast of cold in the 1630s, combined with drought, was more than the dynasty could stand, and the Ming fell to Manchu invaders.Against this background--the first coherent ecological history of China in this period--Timothy Brook explores the growth of autocracy, social complexity, and commercialization, paying special attention to China's incorporation into the larger South China Sea economy. These changes not only shaped what China would become but contributed to the formation of the early modern world.

The Mongols

Western Mongol Expansion

Mongol Invasion of the Islamic World

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