Essential Histories 57: Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 [Paperback]

Stephen Turnbull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 23, 2003

The history of the Mongol conquests is a catalogue of superlatives. No army in the world has ever conquered so much territory, and few armies have provoked such terror as the Mongol hordes. So vast was the extent of the Mongol Empire that the samurai of Japan and the Teutonic Knights of Prussia had each fought the same enemy while being unaware of each other's existence. This book provides a concise yet thorough account of the Mongol conquests, including the rise of Genghis Khan and the unification of the tribes with up to date information on campaign logistics, tactics and horse breeding.

Editorial Reviews

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Essential Histories are remarkably effective in presenting military events in the wider contexts of the new military history.

From the Publisher

This unique series studies every major war in history looking at all the aspects of war, from how it felt to be a soldier to the lasting impact of the conflict on the world around it.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 95 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (July 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841765236
• ISBN-13: 978-1841765235
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.3 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #706,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Turnbull's Best Effort, September 8, 2003

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R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Histories 57: Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 (Paperback)

Although I am a fan of Stephen Turnbull's earlier works on the Japanese Samurai and the Teutonic Knights, there is something basically wrong with his latest volume for Osprey's Essential Histories on the Mongols. First, Genghis Khan himself is only the discussed in about 10% of the volume and Turnbull certainly provides no fresh insights on this famed leader. Indeed, basic questions such as whether or not Genghis Khan should be considered as one of the great captains of history are never raised. Second, Turnbull bounces around chronologically too much; he is continually discussing one campaign, then reverting to discuss an earlier campaign in another area. Third, Turnbull focuses strictly on the military aspects of the Mongol Conquests (virtually ignoring the economic, social and political aspects), then actually tells us very little about the actual military aspects. Fourth, the actual period of Mongol conquests was in 1206-1294, not 1190-1400, and the bulk of the narrative actually focuses on a 60-year period. Finally, Turnbull's entire overly simplistic hypothesis is that the Mongol's success was due to their amazing ability to adapt to new circumstances and learn new military techniques. However, Turnbull concludes that the Mongol conquests ended because of their failures to adapt to the harsh theater of war in Southeast Asia and their gradual conversion from steppe nomads to urban dwellers. Huh? They won because they were adaptable, but they eventually lost because they adapted in the cities but not the jungles. A look at the barren bibliography, with only four non-Turnbull sources, clearly indicates a half-hearted effort on the author's part.

Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 begins with a short introduction and chronology, followed by a brief section on the rise of the Mongols. The three-page section on the Mongols and their adversaries is totally inadequate, although Turnbull strives to make the point that the Mongol armies were not immune to logistical constraints. The outbreak of war section covers the Khwarazm campaign in 1219-1221and the Afghan War, but then this is followed by the fighting in China in 1211-1234, making this narrative difficult to follow chronologically. Turnbull's 44-page narrative on the main Mongols campaigns of 1211-1281 is the best part of the volume, particularly the campaigns in Korea/Japan and the Mideast. Portrait of a soldier showcases the Mongol general Subadai, but also includes more campaign detail. The section on how the war ended focuses on the jungle campaigns in Burma, Vietnam and Java where the Mongol advance finally petered out. There are eight maps supporting the narrative: the Mongol Empire 1190-1400; the conquest of the Khwarazm Empire; Mongol conquests in Korea and China; the Mongol invasion of Europe; the Battle of Mohi 1241; Mongol campaigns in the Mideast; the Mongol invasions of Japan; and the Mongol campaigns in Southeast Asia.

There are a number of interesting episodes in the long Mongol wars that Turnbull highlights, such as the five-year long siege of Xiangyang in China and the odd situation of Crusaders, Mamluks and Mongols facing each other in the Mideast in 1260. Turnbull is particularly adept in demonstrating how the steppe-born Mongols quickly learned siege warfare techniques and naval expeditionary warfare. Yet while Turnbull succeeds in praising Mongol tactical adaptability, he fails on the larger issues, such as explaining the Mongol drive for conquest. How did an obscure steppe people, never great in numbers, conquer the greatest land empire in history? Why were the Mongol enemies so unable to offer effective resistance - why couldn't they learn or adapt? Due to the operational-level focus of Turnbull's summary, this volume will not be useful for readers asking questions on the macro-level of geo-politics. Furthermore, the "adaptability" thesis presented for Mongol successes by Turnbull does not really answer the question of why this whirlwind phenomenon was able to arise out of nowhere and conquer the bulk of Eurasia in a lifetime. While the "adaptability" hypothesis is certainly better than the old "Mongol horde" claptrap, it probably only addresses the Mongol side of the equation (just as suggesting superior armored warfare doctrine explains German success in 1940, but it does not explain French collapse).

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Genghis Khan, huh.... Sure............., February 24, 2004

By 

Ian Kent (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Histories 57: Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 (Paperback)

Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests is a book from a series called "Essential Histories." From what I have seen from this book, this series shows the essentially detailed and not the basics, which is often times much more useful. This book is titled Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests, yet there is barely anything at all of the great Khan's life. This is what the book says about Genghis Khan's childhood: "The nomad world he entered was a fierce and unforgiving one of rivalry and survival skills. Like all Mongol children, Temuchin learned to ride with great skill and to handle a bow and arrows." That's it. Any given internet site would give more information than that! In fact, for his life story, I often had to turn to web sites. The battles and campaigns were described in great detail. However, even with its immense wealth of knowledge about campaigns, I found the book unfulfilling. Half of the campaigns were Kublai Khan's, and whenever Genghis Khan's death was mentioned, it was no more than a paragraph. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU WANT A GENGHIS KHAN REFERENCE!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE, December 18, 2010

By 

Jeremy A. Perron (windham Me) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 (Essential Histories) (Hardcover)

I have always wondered when discussing the Mongol Empire if one should pluralize the word `empire.' The Mongol Empire was the largest land continuous empire the world had ever seen before or since. Genghis Kahn had two things Alexander the Great did not: a longer life, and successors to continue the conquest. I have long believed that had Alexander lived, however, his empire would have stabilized and lasted, instead of dissolving away leaving the world almost sooner then it came. The Mongol Empire fragments into many empires and kingdoms and despite their many organizational enhancements they were not every good at governing what they had conquered. In many ways, those who were the conquered had a stronger effect, culturally, on those who conquered them the Mongols had on those they had conquered.

Stephen Turnbull's work is a good look brief look into the juggernaut that was the Mongol Empire. He discusses some of the inaccuracies and misconceptions that are associated with the Mongol army. As I have stated in other reviews of this series, these books are very interesting because they are in an almost textbook format with out really having a textbook feel to them. In this book, there are maps, classical paintings of events, and art from various cultures that had to deal with the Mongol armies. One chapter even deals with horror ordinary people who were their victims had to experience.

"Throughout all the accounts of the Mongol conquests we can discern in the background an echo of great human suffering. Ordinary people from Poland to Java, who under any other circumstance might have lived lives that may have been short but were certainly uneventful, suddenly found their world turned upside down by a horde of demons apparently let loose from the depths of Hell." p.76

The Mongol Empire had fought peoples all the way from Europe into Japan, a great deal of their success was owed to organization and their ability to change and adapt. This book serves as a good little into the Empire and Army of the Golden Horde.