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Summary: Genghis Khan and the modern world
Review: Jack Weatherford's book is written as if he himself was a Mongol, but he was not.He takes a close look at the impact of Genghis Khan without the distortion of the western or middle eastern eyes and views. Every other book on the Mongols view them as a destructive force with no influence to the history of mankind. However, the author proves this wrong. If you can be objective about history and do your due deligence and accept another's viewpoint, this is a must read. He presents Genghis Khan's legacy as it should be presented. Influences of Genghis Khan: (military: only force to defeat the Russians in winter, something Napoloean and the German could not do; fought the German Knights, the Assasins in the Middle East and the Japanese. All of the 3 did not even know that the other countries existed. Succeeded where the Crusaders could not. Developed the lightning attack at multiple fronts, used psychological warfare, and implemented new military technologies and was quick to adapt to different terrains of the countries he fought in. He promoted officers for their deeds and not for their heritage. (not just military) - he was tolerent of all religions, his sons began a system of free education, he abhorred tortue, recognized international immunity, separated the church from the state, established paper currency, promoted free trade by exchanging ideas and goods across his empire, pushed for the creation of cartograpghy, developed a postal system, and his son's encouraged trade across his empire via sea routes. Some words used today - Hooray and Satin are of Mongol origin. Yes, some of Genghis Khan's impact was cruel but he lived in times of harsh cruelty, even Princes, Kings, Sultan's, Caliph's of his time exhibited even more harsh judgements. For all readers - Mongols to really identify with your heritage and not to forget, and those who are not mongol but who are interested in this lost treasure of history that the author rediscovered in an unabiased and simple explanations, this book is highly worth reading.
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Summary: Excellent Read
Review: This book attempted to dispel the myths about Gengkhis Khan. So little was known about him and yet, so many tall tales of brutality was dedicated to him and his hordes. It was amazing to read about Gengkhis' humble beginning, having to grow up under turbulent times only to end up being one of the most well-known conqueror the world has ever known. Gengkhis' story ended roughly one third of the book and it would continue to explore the reigns of his children and his grandchildren. It also talked about his other loyal followers namely Subodei who attacked as far as Europe. I didn't know that Gengkhis' rules would subsequently be divided into China (Yuan Dynasty), Persia & Iraq (Ilkhanate), India (Moghul Empire), and Russia (Golden Horde) and his families would only step down as late as early 20th century! I also didn't know that whilst the men were doing the fighting in the fields, the women would reign the kingdoms! It also talked more elaborately about the failed campaigns to Japan, Egypt, and Java which subsequently defined its borders. However, that's not the main points of the book but rather the legacy that it left behind: its tolerant principles which allowed people of all nations to practice their religions, trade, to exchange their skills; the usage of paper enmasse to share knowledges about its kingdoms; the creation of paper money, the inherent understanding of not printing too much to the extent that it caused inflation; implementation and monitoring of its international law, usage of a consensus to make decisions, which are really the foundations of a modern society, et cetera. You would be quite intrigued to know the origins of words such as Hurray, muslin, algorithm, blitzkrieg; the Mongolian faces staring back at you from the frescoes done by Giotto next time when you visit St Francis Chapel at Assisi, Italy; the emergence of the Renaissance era. The yellow peril or Eastern bashing only started in the 19th century but what those people who inititated the resentment, for example, Voltaire didn't realise is that without the creation of a network to connect the West to the East, Europe would still be a primitive continent these days. Who would have known that the Mongolian Empire would have imploded one day and that the plague would have such a distastrous impact upon the world? The book concluded appropriately as the Empire of Illusion as in the end, it would revert back to its humble self. Still, it's essential to understand the world that it was and it is, and lest we forget. A compelling and satisfying read. Highly recommended.
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Summary: It All Started With the Mongols
Review: This is a dual biography, of Genghis Khan the man and of the empire he created. Born Temujin in an obscure branch of an obscure group of nomads in Central Asia, Genghis Khan first gained supreme power over the Mongols, whom he unified and turned into a superb fighting machine, then proceeded to conquer much of Eurasia. Weatherford occasionally has to refute some romantic legends that have grown up around Genghis Khan and his family, but the truth is dynamic enough. Of especial interest is Weatherford's coverage of the after effects of Genghis Khan's empire. The Mongol Empire lasted for only about a century, but its influence lingers on. Cross regional trade tied Europe, Asia, and the Middle East motightly together than ever before. An efficient communications system enabled information to spread at an unprecedented pace. So much of what we regard as essential accoutrements of our modern world can be traced back to the Mongols. Yes, the stories of Mongol cruelty and ruthlessness are accurate and Weatherford fully covers them, but this book makes clear that without the Mongol influence, our world today might be much poorer.
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Summary: A Singular Man, Shaping History
Review: This is a revisionist history (isn't it all?) of a truly remarkable figure, who created an empire greater even than the Romans, and he did it from scratch in just a few decades. He was a law-giver who essentially outlawed the culture he came from--transforming it from a Scots-like clan of cattle rustlers and raiders, to a monolithic, highly disciplined cavalry of conquerers. He devised entirely new military tactics that were as successful against the cities of the Chinese as against the armored knights of the West. And they started out as a people, he claims, who did not even know how to weave cloth! Weatherford here takes up the challenge of accenting the positive impact of his brutal conquests. Among other things he makes the case for his setting the West up for the Renaissance, the introduction of paper money, the postal system, Religious tolerance, and new vegetables. He bases much of this on new scholarship, rather than the hysterical propaganda of the aristocrats whom he threatened. Partly based on the mysterious "Secret History of the Mongols," the author's own travels in Mongolia, and contacts with Mongolian revivalists, he makes this bit of history accessible even to the most prejudiced reader. Strangely omitted, though, is the fascinating tale that the geneticists have discovered about his Y chromosome, which appears to show that he might just have been the most prolific lover in the last couple of millennia! Too recent, maybe. One of the remarkable features of his style was that he hated the elite and the aristocrats, and slaughtered as many as he could. He loved the professional men, the teachers and doctors, and especially the craftsmen and engineers, and did not even tax them. My kinda guy! Weatherford's style of writing is lively and easy to read. The maps are just detailed enough to be informative without overburdening the reader in detail. This is not an exhaustive account of every battle, every city destroyed, which would be mind-numbing history as usually written, but rather a wide survey of events and their impact on the world to come. And I especially enjoyed his description of the military tactics employed by the cavalry, and his use of siege engines and gunpowder, which would be new to most readers. Perhaps one of his greatest inventions, though, is that of diplomatic immunity. Any city, and there were several, who murdered or mutilated his envoys as a method of rejecting his terms of surrender, would be ruthlessly razed and the inhabitants slaughtered. Even in those days, the word got around... This is quite a tale, well told.
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Summary: excellent book
Review: This is the best book I have read on the subject of Genghis Khan. Its written with enough detail that you can tell the author has a strong familiarity with the culture and detailed history of the Mongols. It dispels a lot of myths about Mongol barbarity and in some cases sets the record straight about Mongol contributions to humanity and the history of mankind.
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Summary: Great Revisionist History + Great Writing
Review: Weatherford's book is a great introduction to the Mongol Empire and astutely addresses many modern misconceptions and biases. Genghis Khan (born Temujin) proves to be a figure of epic proportions, rising from humble origins (including a stint as a slave) among an obscure and insignificant woodland tribe known as the Mongols. Motivated initially simply by the need to survive against predation by hostile and more powerful neighboring tribes, he rose to power through a series of astute political allegiances and actions and battlefield triumphs that eventually broke the ancient cycle of intertribal violence and united the warring tribes of the steppes into a single nation. Most importantly, he destroyed the aristocratic elite that had persecuted him in his youth and, in its place, appointed administrators based on merit rather than birth. The revolutionary energy unleashed by these political acts laid the foundation for the Mongol empire, which would be the largest land empire in history. Moreover, the empire revived the global market that had waned in the dark ages, spreading goods, knowledge and wealth around the world before it prematurely collapsed.
Genghis Khan's empire incorporated progressive notions of free trade and commerce supported by physical infrastructure (such as roads, a postal system, etc.) and a fiscal infrastructure (a rationally governed fiat (i.e., paper) money system, a national census, etc.), religious and ethnic plurality, and pragmatism in governance. Interestingly, the economic motivation of the Mongols and the steppe nomads that they absorbed for creating this empire was based on their long-standing desire for manufactured goods which they themselves -- as a nomadic culture -- had no ability to produce and which, by tradition, they had acquired by raiding other wealthier tribes that traded with civilized nations. This motivation continued to be the organizing principal behind the economic system of the empire maintained this system of "benign" exploitation for the Mongol people (much like shepherds herding their goats, the Mongols herded (and milked and fleeced) their conquered subjects).
Weatherford's writing style readable yet avoids sensationalism. Several times I was struck by how adept the author was in presenting his subject in an engaging manner, reflecting a flair towards storytelling and a keen eye towards accentuating the relevant. The book was completely enjoyable and utterly fascinating to someone new to the topic. Highly highly recommended!
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Summary: Simply the best book on Genghis Khan and his Empire
Review: When Genghis Khan and his armies exploded out of the steppe in the early thirteenth century, no one on the Eurasian continent was prepared for his innovative style of warfare. Through years of what was essentially civil war, the Mongols of that period, as well as the surrounding tribes, had already refined various elements of shock warfare. But Temujin - Genghis Khan's birth name - added much to the Mongols' arsenal that was previously missing. He integrated surrounding tribes into his Mongol army; he ensured looting was strictly controlled and that shares of it were divided on a pre-assigned basis; he killed off the aristocracies of the tribes, cities, and empires he defeated, thereby ensuring they would not rally their people to turn on him at a later time; he organized his armies, and even his society, through a decimal system that smoothed the functioning of his eventual empire; he instituted laws that even he, a great khan, must obey.
What resulted from these innovations was unprecedented: an army with the same benefits of speed and maneuver that had always been a part of the traditional tactics of the tribes of the steppe melded together with an effective bureaucratic leadership that was very different from the typical kin-based and ad hoc tribal relationships. This was Temujin's creation, and he perfected it in numerous battles to unify Mongolia under his leadership. In 1206, two years after the final battle to assume control of all Mongolia, he took the name Genghis Khan, and prepared to take his army out into the world.
Jack Weatherford's remarkable narrative of these events captures the creativity of Genghis Khan and the Mongols in a way that no book I've read before ever has. Whereas most histories of the Mongols have long emphasized their unprecedented success in war, Weatherford builds a solid case that shows the social and economic achievements of the Mongols may have been even more remarkable than their adaptations to warfare. The author makes the argument that the Mongols were fairly civilized by the standards of the thirteenth century, almost never engaging in torture, mutilation, or maiming. While they were quick to kill, and left an unprecedented path of destruction in their path, especially to those who resisted their rule, conquest and loot were their goals, not gratuitous death and injury.
After making himself the undisputed ruler of the steppes, an area about the size of Western Europe, Genghis Khan began moving south and west, conquering the Jurched (Manchurian) tribes ruling Northern China and the kingdom of Khwarizm, an empire under the rule of a Turkic sultan that stretched from what is modern Afghanistan to the Black Sea. Khwarizm was an important catch, as the Muslims there were noted for their steel- and glass-making, as well as numerous exotic commodities. As each conquest was assimilated, Genghis Khan took what was special and distinctive about the place and employed it productively. Craftsmen, miners, artisans, interpreters, and specialists in warfare were all absorbed into the Mongol Empire and tasked according to their specialty. The Mongols were nomads, but the genius of Genghis Khan was to recognize the value of even the smallest and most foreign of civilized talents and to use it to his empire's advantage.
Genghis Khan died in 1227 - a mere sixteen years after he began his world conquest. With the exception of India and China, he had conquered everything he set his mind to. It would now be up to his sons and their children to finish what in the shortness of time he could not. (Genghis Khan dies about halfway through Weatherford's book, leaving plenty of space to write about the continued expansion of the empire.) Interestingly, the empire seems to have expanded more by the momentum of its founder's achievements, even after his death, than by the skill of his heirs. Genghis Khan had always been careful not to give his children too much power, as he sought to break away from the traditional kin-based ties of the steppe in order to more smoothly run his empire. In mediating disputes involving his sons, he sometimes took the side of non-kin against them. Until late in his life, he neglected their training as leaders. The consequences of this became immediately apparent in the actions of his son and first heir to the empire, Ogodei.
But, even with sub par and occasionally strife-ridden leadership, the empire continued to expand. Some of the Mongol leaders to follow Genghis Khan were exceptional leaders, while others were not, but the combination of unbeatable virtues in the empire was fixed in a way that it hardly mattered in the first few decades after his death. Nothing outside of the empire could stop it, only enduring struggles from within. As Weatherford details, even as the empire began to split into four quadrants, trade and other imperial activities continued. Two Mongol rulers from separate quadrants could be at war with each other and still allow trade and investments between the sides to continue unmolested. Eventually this relationship would break down, and when it did, it would spell the end of the empire. The Mongols did not create anything. They conquered and looted. And the trade routes needed to move their loot from one part of the empire to another were necessary to keep the empire strong. When those trade routes began to close down, and the economy contracted, the Mongol rulers in each area needed to depend on their local political skills to survive. Some did, but others never made the transition.
Weatherford's book is a marvel - the best of more than half-a-dozen histories I have read on the subject. Writing about the Mongols has always been a complex task for two seemingly contradictory reasons. On the one hand, their widespread empire requires a scholar to dig through a variety of source material written by those conquered by the Mongols, which many find daunting; on the other hand, the Mongols themselves were illiterate and secretive, and so their own literature was almost nonexistent and, when found, difficult to understand. Given these odd circumstances, histories on the Mongols are usually hit-and-miss affairs. Scholars tend to be great at explaining some part of the Mongols, but fail to maintain that quality in other areas. Weatherford's extensive experience in Mongolia, researching Genghis Khan and his empire, makes up for what he loses by not going to the source material outside of English; his accomplishment is a narrative of the highest order.
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Summary: If all history books were this fun I wouldn't have flunk...
Review: Wow! This was a great read! It covers so much history and best of all gives context and brings life to characters, administration systems, battles and feuds like few other books (which focus on silly dates and show no meaning or the reasoning behind events). Plus, you'll be surprised how little you (probably) knew about a most visionary empire: innovations, postal systems, no taxes for doctors and teachers!, psychological warfare, international trade policies, blitzkrieg! (and you thought the Germans were smart)... I loved this book. When is the movie coming out???
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