The Mongols: From Genghis Khan to Tamerlane

by W.B. Bartlett

In the space of 200 hundred years, the Mongols built the greatest empire that the world had ever known and then lost it again. At its greatest extent, the lands they held dwarfed those under the control of Rome at its prime whilst the conquests of its founder, Genghis Khan, outshone those of even Alexander the Great. There were few parts of the known world that were not touched by the Mongols in one way or another: China, India, the Middle East, Europe, Egypt. This was truly a world empire. This is a tale of fiercely fought battles and political intrigue, of unrivalled ferocity and burning ambition. It is a tale not just of military campaigns, though these are of course a vital part of the building of the empire, but also of the many other ways that it grew. The Mongols truly believed that it was their destiny to conquer the world and they came mightily close to doing it. W.B. Bartlett has a longstanding relationship with Mongolia and has used his knowledge of the country and its history to tell this fascinating tale of how a tribe of little known nomads became the most feared warriors that the world has ever seen.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

W.B. Bartlett has worked across the globe in almost twenty countries and has spent time in over fifty. He is the author of many history books for Amberley Publishing, including titles on the Titanic, Medieval History and Dam Busters. He lives in Bournemouth.

Reviews

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short review of the history of the Mongol Empire, starting with the birth of Genghis Khan and ending with the death of Tamerlane.

Despite some very clunky prose and a hyperbolic style, it's a fast read. The author could also use a thesaurus because the words "terrifying" and "horrifying" get used a lot. There are a few crude maps at the back of the book, none of which lend any appreciation to the vast scale of the empire and the comings and goings of Mongol soldiers.

[Simon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did exactly what it said on the tin. I wanted a broad overview of the Mongol era and that is what I got. An excellent big picture starting point for a more detailed planned assault on Mongol history at a later point. Concisely written with enough points of detail to make for an interesting read, it does justice to the military and political genius of the Mongol leaders whilst not shying away from the sheer brutality of the way they went about things. One does come away with the feeling that perhaps the world might have been better off without the great Mongol conquerors but they certainly gave the history of the world a good shake up.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interested in the Mongols, you will not find a better book anywhere as I think this is the only full history around. It is an excellent read if you can stand the amount of death recorded in these pages. Clearly the Mongols were much more important than much of western civilisation gives them credit for.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mongols did not break up because they lost battles--they lost battles because they broke up. Without clear succession rules, each generation battled it out to see who would lead. Strong leaders kept them together until they overextended themselves. As they became scattered groups, there was no longer the overwhelming force that had allowed them to conquer so much of the world.

[Adam Windsor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging albeit fairly high level account of the Mongol Empire (or Empires) and the wars of Genghis, Kublai and Tamerlane. Good as an overview, at the very least.

The kindle edition seems to be a quick and dirty job; there's no indexing for navigation, and the editing is a mite sloppy at times.

[Zeke Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ogedei Khan sounds like my kind of guy. Convinced of the harms of alcohol, he vows to cut his consumption in half. He then orders the making of larger cups, and drinks the same amount from half the number of cups.

In seriousness, this is a great book. The problem with the Mongols as a subject is that it isn't a single one. When reading a biography of Attila, for example, or of Tamerlane, one can easily cover the entire subject matter in a single tome. But with the Mongols, each successive figure or event rightly could have it's own spot in the library. Each volume could be as follows:

1-2. Genghis Khan; his rise and conquests
3. Ogedei, the conquest of Russia and the invasions of Eastern Europe
4. Guyuk [Kuyuk] and the Batu-Mongke family coup
5. Hulegu and the forging of the Ilkhanate
6-7. Kublai; the civil war, the Song and the fringes of empire in Japan, Java, Burma and Vietnam
8. Eccentricities of the empire, such as Kaidu
(Optional) 9. Tamerlane

Here, Bartlett does a wonderful job of including each of these varied tales in one single volume. To be sure, each section is brief, but still highly informative, and with it's size, very readable. The book is divided into 13 chapters, each delving into a different aspect of Mongol history.

Part of my choice to read this book spawned from my desire to learn more about a few minor areas in Mongol history – namely the Hulegu-Berke War, the Nayan Rebellion, Kaidu's dissidence and Kublai's conflicts with Burma, Java and Vietnam. There are such texts available on these subjects, but are hard to come by (and often expensive; one book, Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State in Central Asia by Michal Biran, costs in the ballpark of $160), so to get an albeit condensed history of these things in this book was exactly what I was looking for.

Salih, the emir of Mosul (modern Iraq), defied the Mongols at every turn. When finally he surrendered, he was stripped naked, sewn into a freshly skinned sheepskin, and as it rotted, so too did he decay. It took him a month to die. Jesus Christ!

2013 is going to be the year of the Mongol for me. This is the seventh non-fiction book I've read this year on the subject (if you count two on Tamerlane), and I have seven or eight more lined up to read after this. As such, I've discovered the divide between those that hype up the Mongol atrocities, and those that downplay them – essentially, pro- or anti-Genghis. While I recognize both the man's beneficence and his tendency towards unimaginable annihilation, I'm of the camp that focuses more on the evil. (Hitler loved dogs, but usually the first fact about him listed is the Holocaust.) Here, Bartlett is of the same outlook as myself (for example, discussing the advancements Kublai made for Chinese society, but also describing the horrific means of execution, such as the one above.) Nayan was rolled up in a carpet and trampled to death by Mongol horses. The governor of Otrar had molten silver poured in his eyes and his ears. The caliph of Baghdad was starved to death. Mongke's funeral procession allegedly killed 20,000 people en route to his secret grave. Batu, after obliterating Russia, threatened and invaded Hungary because the king was granting refuge to “his slaves.” What I appreciate most is an honest and unbiased account, and here Bartlett delivers. (One of my upcoming books is Jack Weatherford's.)

This is one of the better books out there, a complete analysis. I wasn't convinced a complete analysis on this subject (especially including Tamerlane) was possible, but here it is. This is an excellent reference, and an overall excellent book.

[Douglas Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of Genghis Khan and his "successors". If you are interested in Central Asian history, this is a good one to add to your reading list.