Disappointingly inferior to Lonesome Dove. Still a fair read of a historically accurate fictional account of a journey into the American west by a boaDisappointingly inferior to Lonesome Dove. Still a fair read of a historically accurate fictional account of a journey into the American west by a boatload of greenhorns in the mid 19th century. Do read Lonesome Dove....more
A rather short book about an early rancher in western New Mexico as settlers begin to invade the prairie. Includes little violence and a little love sA rather short book about an early rancher in western New Mexico as settlers begin to invade the prairie. Includes little violence and a little love story.
Conrad Richter was one of our finest writers of the 20th century. Don't miss his trilogy, The Awakening Land, about the American trek westward from Pennsylvania into Ohio in the late 18th century: The Trees, The Fields and The Town. The Town won a Pulitzer prize, but read it anyway....more
My first reading about the Mongol conquests. What an incredible story! Entirely too improbable to pass as fiction. Any reader interested in the historMy first reading about the Mongol conquests. What an incredible story! Entirely too improbable to pass as fiction. Any reader interested in the history of the wider world can enjoy this. The writing is good but not of the highest caliber.
My guess is that Genghis Khan (born about 1162) had no intention of conquering the Asian steppes, most of China, and far western Europe, when he set about uniting the nomadic Mongolian tribes and began conquering their immediate neighbors. The Mongols had fought among themselves for ages, and they learned about warfare from one another. They were nomads and so had mastered talents valuable for warfare: particularly horsemanship and archery, which facilitated their blitzkrieg military strategy. They will also have learned that an idle army is local trouble. As their army increased due to tribute from the conquered, which included levies of soldiers, an army whom Genghis kept always exceedingly busy, there was nothing but to expand west toward Europe and south to China, forming the largest contiguous empire in history. Unlike most conquests, these were not about territory but rather about people and tribute.
The Mongol rule of war was: submit or die; they preferred submission but slew tens of millions as the best strategy to encourage submission from others once word got around. Those who submitted came out rather well, usually paying tribute to the Mongols rather than to whomever they were paying before. Many must have benefitted eventually from improved economic conditions fostered by increased trade.
The lasting influences of the Mongol empire were great and many, but they are hard to discern today unless you read about them. Genghis was a genius of the highest order in warfare and political and economic administration.
The mongol religion was primarily shamanistic, but strangely enough there were Christians (mostly Nestorians), Buddhists, and other religions among his early warriors. Genghis and his descendants were generally fully tolerant of all religions, in fact protective of them until they failed to acknowledge the supremacy of the Kahn, whereupon heads were removed. They seemed eager to learn from all religions and must have been amused by the narrow, shortsighted and arbitrary dogmas and crude attempts at evangelism of the western church. There was no converting the a Mongol: their beliefs resulted in the largest empire on earth, so their gods were surely the best. But as they conquered and later settled in Islamic lands, they did eventually and voluntarily adopt that religion in general.
The Mongols reopened the Silk Road, and with that and the opening of many other trading routes, greatly expanded trade within and without their empire. Valuable goods, such as gold-threaded brocade and superior porcelain, soon made their way to the European aristocracy and thus alerted an introverted Europe to the brilliant and wealthy east. Among the many things they brought west were movable type and gunpowder from China (and the plague, likely from Mongolia, which put the stake in the greater Mongol empire, except for the Mughal empire of India, with whom the British East India Company traded and then contended). Gunpowder, however was not militarily significant, until about 300 years later with its use in cannons.
Genghis's grandson Kublai Khan (Yuan dynasty) conquered China (Song dynasty) and fostered such wealth that after his death the succeeding Ming dynasty sent out ships on a series of treasure voyages, about 3,000 ships each, from 1405 to 1433, south and west as far as the Persian Gulf and east Africa. They served to demonstrate Chinese power and wealth to the rest of the known world and to spread their sphere of influence and secure tribute from the control of a maritime economic and political network. The voyages were commanded by eunuchs and were highly successful. While the network collapsed after opposed factions in China gained the upper hand and discontinued the voyages, it is quite likely that Columbus and others were encouraged by the Chinese treasure voyages to seek a western route to the wealth of China.
Based on study of Mongols tactics, Russia in the 1930's began planning for a blitzkrieg type of warfare capability using the speed of tanks, until Stalin caused chaos by decimating his officer class, and the program faltered in the chaos. Douglas MacArthur suggested the same tank program for the US about the same time but was ignored. Then there was Hitler.
Genghis's empire upon his death fractured into four Khanates, each ruled by a son, and they kept control always within the family despite further fractures with later generations and inter-family rivalries. The last Khanate, in Crimea, ended when Catherine the Great forcibly annexed the peninsula about 1783. The family of the last Crimean Kahn survives, with the head of the house now living in London. The former prestige of the Mongolian empire has gone repeatedly in and out of favor in Russia and independently in China with shifting political winds....more
