Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The startling true history of how one extraordinary man from a remote corner of the world created an empire that led the world into the modern age—by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan.
The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege.
From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.
The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege.
From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.
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Community Reviews
Excellent book about Genghis Khan and the effet he has had on the world. Weatherfod gives the reader the good and the bad about Genghis Khan. And there is much good that has come from Gehghis Khan. Recommened for history buffs.
My first Historical nonfiction book and I loved it. The author did a great job of making all the information relevant to my own modern life so it was easy to stay engaged. I'm blown away at how this military leader had such a heavy hand in shaping the world and leading it into modernity.
Weatherford writes to explain and rehabilitate Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire to Western readers. Specifically, he seeks to replace a notion of barbarism with one of pragmatism, of simple raiders with pancultural trade, openness and learning, and of brutality with enviable codes of law, honor and equality.
Weatherford locates this rehabilitation by briefly retelling how Temujin rose to become Genghis Khan - a combination of epic and morality tale that feels similar to how Xenophon depicted Cyrus the Great and his establishment of Persia.
Genghis Khan established a government that was tribal rather than agrarian, egalitarian rather than hierarchical, and adaptable rather than dogmatic. Weatherford argues these characteristics allowed the Mongols trade at unprecedented levels and to learn and share knowledge across disparate cultures. Effectively, because the Mongols had no claim to rarefied, elite knowledge, they shut up and listen to everyone they conquered and used that information effectively - adopting everything from Persian trebuchets to Chinese paper and gunpowder.
He also explains how a small tribal group of horsemen conquered most of Eurasia. They organized a military that was could use the combination of mounted archers and siege weaponry (built at site of siege) to (a) move with almost unlimited supply lines (advanced scouts ensured grazing); (b) overwhelm any customary infantry-based military with faster, untraditional horse archers; (c) quickly end sieges through a combination of technical mastery and engineering; and (d) a tendency to attack from all directions and use surprise rather than predictable forward attacks. Only when this army reached terrain that prohibited its tactics (e.g., the marshes of India, the forests of Germany) did it stop.
But the author's main point is that the Mongol's military superiority should not detract from their unique contributions as governors, merchants, and
Here the author slows down and allows us to travel along a Mongolian trading route, see the inns along the way, note the early use of paper money backed by fiat, understand the cultural exchange - the presence of small outposts of citizens from throughout the empire in the various trading hubs and the free movement of technical experts across the Mongolian domain. We note the coexistence of various religions in open and simultaneous practice and the somewhat purposeful leveling of society through the mass execution of local elites. Wherever they went the Mongolians also brought the other places they had been.
Finally the book devolves into a set of family squabbles that cause the empire to divide in four and then ultimately either revert to local rule or merge with local customs such that the ruling Mongolians appear to be a part of their Chinese, Persian, or Indian surroundings.
Finally he explains how a combination of xenophobia and artistic license transformed the tribal army that conquered and ruled huge swaths of the world into a murderous band of raiders.
It's an engaging and well written story that I wasn't familiar with. I am not well read on the subject, but I felt it was a serviceable introduction to the political, military, and cultural history of the Mongolians from Genghis in 1200 thru the end of their empire.
Weatherford locates this rehabilitation by briefly retelling how Temujin rose to become Genghis Khan - a combination of epic and morality tale that feels similar to how Xenophon depicted Cyrus the Great and his establishment of Persia.
Genghis Khan established a government that was tribal rather than agrarian, egalitarian rather than hierarchical, and adaptable rather than dogmatic. Weatherford argues these characteristics allowed the Mongols trade at unprecedented levels and to learn and share knowledge across disparate cultures. Effectively, because the Mongols had no claim to rarefied, elite knowledge, they shut up and listen to everyone they conquered and used that information effectively - adopting everything from Persian trebuchets to Chinese paper and gunpowder.
He also explains how a small tribal group of horsemen conquered most of Eurasia. They organized a military that was could use the combination of mounted archers and siege weaponry (built at site of siege) to (a) move with almost unlimited supply lines (advanced scouts ensured grazing); (b) overwhelm any customary infantry-based military with faster, untraditional horse archers; (c) quickly end sieges through a combination of technical mastery and engineering; and (d) a tendency to attack from all directions and use surprise rather than predictable forward attacks. Only when this army reached terrain that prohibited its tactics (e.g., the marshes of India, the forests of Germany) did it stop.
But the author's main point is that the Mongol's military superiority should not detract from their unique contributions as governors, merchants, and
Here the author slows down and allows us to travel along a Mongolian trading route, see the inns along the way, note the early use of paper money backed by fiat, understand the cultural exchange - the presence of small outposts of citizens from throughout the empire in the various trading hubs and the free movement of technical experts across the Mongolian domain. We note the coexistence of various religions in open and simultaneous practice and the somewhat purposeful leveling of society through the mass execution of local elites. Wherever they went the Mongolians also brought the other places they had been.
Finally the book devolves into a set of family squabbles that cause the empire to divide in four and then ultimately either revert to local rule or merge with local customs such that the ruling Mongolians appear to be a part of their Chinese, Persian, or Indian surroundings.
Finally he explains how a combination of xenophobia and artistic license transformed the tribal army that conquered and ruled huge swaths of the world into a murderous band of raiders.
It's an engaging and well written story that I wasn't familiar with. I am not well read on the subject, but I felt it was a serviceable introduction to the political, military, and cultural history of the Mongolians from Genghis in 1200 thru the end of their empire.
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