Mongols: A History

by Jeremiah Curtin

The Mongols erupted out of Central Asia in 1206 and soon controlled an empire stretching from Poland to Korea; although remembered as a destructive force, they united a great part of the world under one rule, and their combined arms and mobile tactics have had considerable influence on subsequent military thinkers.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, World History

426 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1907

Reviews

[TXGAL1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a recommended read. A book in need of serious editing.

[Eugene Kernes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overview:
This book is a detailed account of the political affairs of the Mongol Empire and its immense impact on geopolitics and the shape of global power. Primarily covering the Mongol Empire wars with the empires of Persia, Islam, China, and its internal struggles and feuds. The reason and results of the slaughters that took place. The strategies that were used. The betrayals and acts of revenge. The tools used for war. Regions conquered by the Mongols had their trade stabilized as the Mongols provided protection and law. The empire had a semi-democratic republic, but not always recognized by blood kin of former Khans whom were their leaders. Originally nomadic tribes, whose identity is bound to tribal politics, but united they became a powerful force whose opponents underestimated them at their own peril.

Problems?
Terribly written without many learning outcomes. Although containing many details it is hard to put everything together. Neither Mongol society or the functioning of empire is part of this book. The focus is on the military and political aspects, but they were not written well either.

[Al Lock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you wanted to know about the Mongol Empire and more. Not only is this book a source of a massive amount of information about the Mongols from the rise of Jinghis and his uniting of the tribes to the splintering of the empire doe to internal conflict on who would be Khan, it is also a detailed history of events of the Arab world and China and Korea during the era. Learning that a "divine wind" saved Japan from being conquered and about the Mongol Princess who never married because no man could out wrestle her are just two of many tidbits woven together in this book. It's not a short read, so plan on some time to read it.

[Diego Palomino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads more like a chronology of Mongol battles for succession than a history.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of history and chose to read The Mongols: A History, influenced by Theodore Roosevelt's complementary foreword to the book.

The Mongols covers the period of Genghis Khan's immediate predecessors until the fall of the Mongol Empire and the ruse of China's Sung dynasty. Admittedly, I have very little knowledge of this part of the world or this segment of history, but I find that I am not much more informed after wading this this lengthy volume. Possibly the problem has to do with the names that change as individuals being profiled rise in the world; this is not exactly Princess Elizabeth becoming Queen Elizabeth II. And I could be confused by the hundreds of unfamiliar names. Possibly it has to do with place names almost never being identified, even initially with modern names, even if those modern names are 100 years old. More probably it has to do with the way the author has organized his material; it seems to me that he seems to follow the actions one one or two individuals, then rabbits off to another, then to another, and maybe a third before returning to his original subject. It almost seems that it is a book of lists: there are pages that are not much more than "X did this then died, Y did this then was killed, Z did this and was married."

I seldom had a sense of the sweep of history or the terror of the Mongol hordes, and I never saw the impact or the importance of the people and the events that changed the face of civilization in Asia and Europe.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exceedingly thorough history of the Mongols' rise from nomadic horsemen to continent-spanning empire to dissolution through factionalism. Full of people, motivations and descriptions, but written in a very outmoded style (published originally in 1908) that makes parsing certain military actions (especially in the later chapters involving the invasion of China) rather difficult. Still, an excellent look at the people who conquered much of Eurasia, as well as the peoples they conquered.

[Jonny Andres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something so good.

[Paul Dunn]

boring

[Noreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book about Genghis Khan.

The forward by Theodore Roosevelt is fascinating. I am not a history student, but the time appears to follow the 30 years war between Protestants and Catholics. Settled by the Peace of Westphalia where parties agreed to disagree. Instead of the 30 years war between Protestants and Catholics we seem to have an 800 year war between Shiites and Sunni's.

The first third covers history of Temujin. Half of the remaining book covers conquest of middle east, Persia, now Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, all the ....stans, the history of Islam, the society of the Assassins (Ismalis), Saladin, Nestorian Christians, Crusades. Fascinating. The book could really use some maps. Things haven't changed much in the Middle East.

The second half discusses the conquest of China, and the establishment and fate of the Yuan Dynasty under Kublia Khan.

Interesting to compare the Mongolian horse warriors with American Comanche Indians. Both used small Mongolian horses, children learned to ride at age 4 and 5.