Customer Reviews

History of the Mongol Conquests

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How could I have lived for so long without the knowledge that's in this book? It's essential for understanding our (and "their") history. I had no idea of the permanent impact the Mongol infiltration of western Asia & eastern Europe had on the development of societies not only there but in Europe (and probably China, but most of the book is spent in Asia). They were only in control for about 100 years, but they weren't just mean tourists or hit-and-run snipers. And I had no idea that Turks (who, as a people, did a dry run of the Mongol invasion 5 or 600 years earlier) were originally from north of the Gobi desert. I had no idea of the degree of commercial and intellectual communication between China and the west that far back. And if you want to understand the rise of Islam, you must read this book. If you want to understand the nature of Russia, you must read this book. There's so much more. The book seems well researched, and the author seems to let us know when he's hypothesizing. This is a book to buy & keep.

This is not for the lighthearted reader, but it is a fairly thorough review of the subject, and the author seems to have done rigorous analysis before asserting anything that may not be true. In that sense, you can accept this book with confidence. One annoyance is that the amount of notes is considerable, and they are all at the end of the book instead of the bottom of pages. So you find yourself flipping to the notes to get background information that probably could and should have been included in the text to allow for more fluid reading. It reads a little more slowly than your typical nonfiction book.

This book written by J.J. Saunders was originally published in 1971 and its continued production speaks volumes for the interest in the subject matter that he is writing about. The Mongol conquests were a fascinating period of history, although for the people of the times looking out from their villages as the Mongol warriors charged in on their steppe ponies, terror was probably more apt. Saunders covers a significant amount of time and territory across his pages in a roughly chronological approach. He starts with a very thorough coverage of Chingis Khan (Ghengis Khan as it is often spelt) from his birth, through the ostracism of his family, then on to his bloody climb to power in not just Mongolia but across a lot of the Eurasian land mass. This coverage is excellent with much detail. There are family trees at the start of the book to assist the reader in understanding the linkages. Saunders analyses the military side of the Mongols and also discusses the religious aspect, especially as they change from their paganism to Islam.

His discussion about the Mongols being confused with the legend of the Kingdom of Prester John is an interesting aside. The Crusade era of the West coincided with the time of the Mongol conquests. Travellers brought back confusing tails of what religion the Mongols were and some Christians in the West believed that the Mongols were the lost Christian Kingdom under Prester John. They hoped that the Christian West and the Mongols could squeeze the Muslims that were between their two spheres of influence. While they were encouraged by the Mongolian attacks of the Muslim lands they were disabused of their theory of co-coreligionists when the Mongols proved equally happy to sack Christian lands.

Saunders has brought a complex subject into an enjoyable book but it seemed that the further that he moved from Chingis the less information there was about the Mongols. This despite the observations of Marco Polo in the court of Kubilai Khan. Timur or Tamerlane also gets scant treatment. Saunders in a way does obliquely justify this by asking how Mongol was Timur when he was more Turkic then Mongol on the surface. In addition, by that time Timur was just one of the Mongol leaders in the area of the formally united Mongol Empire. Significantly, while other leaders used Khan, Timur did not.

That said this is a worthwhile volume to have in your library if you are interested in the Mongols. I believe that it will appeal to both those with a knowledge already of the Mongols and those with a passing interest.

The eruption of nomadic warriors across Asia into Europe and the Middle East in the 1200s was only the greatest of many previous waves. Under Genghis Khan (Chingis, Jengiz, etc) and his immediate successors, the Mongols reached Germany and Croatia, Korea, Japan, Java, Burma, and Egypt. They built the greatest contiguous empire the world has ever known. It all collapsed within a century. The Mongols had some military geniuses as leaders in the beginning and were known for religious tolerance once things settled down, but for administration, they had to rely on others---Chinese, Persians, Turks, and even Europeans. The problems of succession did them in, as they have done so many other empires in history.
In this very informative work, Saunders acknowledges that he is trying the impossible. How to summarize and explain the vast panorama of events occuring over half the globe during 150 years or more ? He starts with Turkish precursors to the Mongols, then takes readers through the standard history of the Great Khans, Genghis, Ogedei, Mongke, and Kubilai. The Mongol Empire having broken up into four sections, we then get a history of each of the four, as far as is known---the separate khanates of Persia, Central Asia, Russia, and China. The older, more sophisticated societies of Persia and China soon shook off the Mongol yoke, absorbing their conquerors, while in Central Asia, the regime gave rise to Tamerlane, another bloody conqueror who left towers of heads in his wake. His death brought his sudden empire to a speedy end. Only in Russia, where disunity and confusion reigned, did the Mongol rule last 250 years.
While memorizing the various rulers, viziers, generals, and rebellious relatives (not to mention names of now-vanished cities) may prove a tough nut for any reader, Saunders' discussion of the ups and downs of three major religions---Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam in the context of the conquests---is extremely interesting and informative. Christianity had a major role in the Mongol realms, but without easy access to a source of finance or priests, and because Nestorian fought with Roman Catholic, Islam won over the rulers and people in time. The earliest Mongol defeats came from Islamic armies as well. Buddhism remained strong in China and of course, in the Mongolian heartland itself.
Not being an expert on Mongolian history, I can't say if this book is now outdated; if new information or analytic trends have replaced it. It seems to me, though, that it offers a solid introduction to the history of that people who burst out of inner Asia and changed the course of history. You certainly cannot understand the history of Russia and Europe, never mind Iran and the Middle East, without its subject matter.

I must suggest this book to anyone interested in history, especially that of Asia. The tales of the Mongols are wonderfully told in this book. It could perhaps be the definitive book over the history of the Mongols. I would recommend this book to everyone, whether history buff or casual reader. Just be careful because you may become addicted to learning of these people and their world...

The History of the Mongol Conquests is a respectable book  solid scholarship, persuasive analysis, and interesting read. I actually have learned enormous amount not just about the Mongols, but also about the Chinese from this book. I have only couple critical remarks. The author seems confused about origins of the ethos, which become associated (at least in the Russian mind) forever with the Mongols. This question is simple - who are the Tatars, where they came from? Saunders writes on page 158 new race of Tartars emerged out of a fusion of Mongols, Turks, Slavs, and Finns. OK, I agree with that. But he goes further distinguishing Tatars from Tartars, speaking about Tatars as one Mongol-speaking tribe. Actually on the map on page 30 Tatars are placed in the Northern China. This doesnt make any sense for me. Tartars and Tatars are the same, except Tartars is Western European and Tatars is Russian name. And yet he confuses the things further by sometimes using the word Tatars as interchangeable with Turks.

Another passage I have a suspicious feeling about is on page 170. He goes -Defeat of Christianity in the area where its prospects seemed favorable is perhaps attributable toinferiority of the Russians to the Persians and Chinese in the scale of civilization. I disagree with this approach. First of all, what is this scale? I think while the Persians had to accept Islam - the religion of nomadic Arab tribes invading Persia in 7th century from the Arabian peninsular, Russia had avoided Shamanism - religion of the invading Mongols. Later Moscovy held up as a Christian state and avoided Islam  a semi-official religion of the The Golden Horde. To my view Russian civilization was not inferior, but purhaps less glamorous than Persian/Iranic. This turned out to be ultimately a blessing in disguise for the Russians. The Mongols didnt want to go deeper to these forests and swamps; they preferred much more the open steppe. And while Kiev was destroyed, this inferior civilization did survived 265 years of Mongol domination. The Russian civilization was preserved in monasteries among those marshes and forests of the North, hidden away from the Mongols and other foreigners. Anyway, despite several slippery passages, I would recommend this one to anyone interested in the subject  the book is well written and fascinating (it least it was for me).

Another edition with a better editor and decent maps to illustrate the text would make this a much more interesting and useful book. Lay people will have difficulty following the paragraph-long lists of ancient cities and tribes.

On balance it is a solid and readable compilation of primary and secondary sources on the subject. I liked the book and the author did a good deal of work to produce it. Unfortunately, there is a gross error right in the second paragraph of the book. Though, it is peripheral to the core material. Details of such a remote period of history are scarce, understandably so, and author stretches the book with dynamics of Islam, Christianity etc in Asia during the period. In itself a fasinating topic but NOT related to Mongol Conquests.