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Loading... The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How Genghis Khan's Mongols Almost Conquered the World (2010)by Thomas J. Craughwell
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Mr. Craughwell is a superb storyteller most noted for his previous work URBAN LEGENDS. He turns his attention to a much more complex historical account of the Mongols & their remarkable but bloody road to empire & its rapid collapse soon afterwards. The author focuses on Genghis' early life & struggles which he believes prepared Khan to unite a long splintered group into a united deadly force using unique strategies to create an enormous empire against China & the Middle East. Now the author doesn't quite grasp the reasons for its spectacular collapse though he hints to it with the inability of Khan's successors to hold off ambitious contenders, its scale of brutal oppression, its bloody path, & its own cultural traditions undermining the structural integrity of the empire. One plus with this work is that he includes Kublai Khan's success in China which his grandfather had laid the groundwork for his success. The only real drawback to this work is that he leaves out Tamerlane who nearly repeated his grandfather's steps with his path of destruction from the Middle East to India. In spite of some omissions, the author gives a good account of this period albeit brief. ( ) no reviews | add a review
How Genghis Khan and the Mongols conquered nearly one-sixth of the planet. Emerging out of the vast steppes of Central Asia in the early 1200s, the Mongols, under their ferocious leader, Genghis Khan, quickly carved out an empire that by the late thirteenth century covered almost one-sixth of the Earth's landmass-from Eastern Europe to the eastern shore of Asia-and encompassed 110 million people. Far larger than the much more famous domains of Alexander the Great and ancient Rome, it has since been surpassed in overall size and reach only by the British Empire. The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in the World recounts the spectacularly rapid expansion and dramatic decline of the Mongol realm, while examining its real, widespread, and enduring influence on countless communities from the Danube River to the Pacific Ocean. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)950.22History & geography History of Asia History of Asia Period of Mongol and Tatar empires 1162-1480LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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