The Mongol Empire [Hardcover]Angus Stewart
This is a fresh and engaging perspective of the Mongol achievement - and brutality. When Genghis Khan had conquered Bukhara in 1220, he gathered the wealthy from among the survivors in a mosque. Amid a scene of desecration, he berated them: 'O people, know that you have committed great sins...If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is because I am the punishment of God'. Whether, like the Persian scholar and civil servant, one saw the Mongols as the wrath of God, or, like the Mongols themselves, saw them as the chosen people to whom God had given the world, their impact was apocalyptic: for many, it really did represent the end of the world. While the Mongol steppe - empire was not unprecedented, Genghis Khan transcended his predecessors in terms of conquest, and in terms of massacre. Certainly, while the unified Mongol Empire was short lived, none of the world that it touched would ever be the same again. Angus Stewart provides a gripping account of the history of the Mongol empire, drawing on his personal research and offering a fresh, engaging perspective.
About the Author
Dr Angus Stewart lectures in the School of History at the University of St Andrews. His main research interests lie in the diplomatic, cultural and military interaction in the Mediterranean world in the age of the Crusades focusing on the Fatimids, Seljuks and Mamluks; the Armenian kingdom; and the Mongols in the West.
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