The Mongol Empire: Genghis Khan, His Heirs and the Founding of Modern China

431 Pages·2014·5.92 MB·English

by  John Man

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Mongol Empire changed the course of history and transformed the map of
the world. Driven by an inspiring vision for peaceful world rule, Genghis Khan –
mass-murdering barbarian to his victims, genuis and demi-god to his people –
united warring clans and forged an empire that spanned Asia, bringing people,
cultures and religions together and opening intercontinental trade.

Under his grandson, Kublai Khan, the vision evolved into a more complex
ideology, justifying further expansion. Fuelled by the belief that Heaven had
given the whole world to the Mongols, Kublai doubled the empire’s size until, in
the late thirteenth century, he and his family controlled one-sixth of the world’s
land area. Along the way, he conquered China, made Beijing his capital and gave
the nation the borders it has today, establishing the roots of the twenty-first
century superpower.

Charting the rise and eventual fall of Genghis’s ‘Golden Family’, John Man’s
authoritative account brings the empire vividly to life, providing essential
reading for anyone with an interest in history, geopolitics, and today’s complex
and volatile world.
CONTENTS

Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
The Empire: Rulers and Regions
Introduction

Part I Genghis
1 ‘His Destiny Ordained by Heaven’
2 The Founder of His Nation
3 To the South
4 The Gates of Hell
5 The Great Raid
6 Emperor and Sage
7 Death and Secrecy

Part II Transition
8 The Woman Who Saved the Empire
9 Terror on Europe’s Edge
10 The Foundations Secured

Part III Kublai
11 Westwards Again: Conquest and Defeat
12 The Taking of Yunnan
13 In Xanadu
14 Kublai Emerges
15 A New Capital
16 Embracing Tibet, and Buddhism
17 The Conquest of the South
18 Burned by the Rising Sun
19 Challenge from the Heartland
20 What Kublai Did for China
21 Kamikaze
22 A Murder, and a Secret Grave

Part IV Aftermath
23 The Outer Reaches of Empire
24 Grave-hunting on the Sacred Mountain
25 What the Mongols Did for Us
26 How to Survive Death

Afterword: Back to the Future
Picture Section
Bibliography
Picture Acknowledgements
Index
About the Author
Also by John Man
Copyright
THE MONGOL EMPIRE
Genghis Khan, His Heirs and the Founding of
Modern China
JOHN MAN
For TW and DW-M
MAPS

The World of the Mongols, c 1150
The Empire at the Death of Genghis Khan, 1227
The Mongol Empire in 1294
From the Empire, 10 Nations
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With thanks to: Chris Atwood, Professor of Mongolian History, Indiana
University; Charles Bawden, Emeritus Professor, and former Professor of
Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, who started it
all; Dr Dambyn Bazargur and Badraa; Siqin Brown, SOAS; Yuefan Deng,
Stonybrook University, NY; Dalai, historian, Ulaanbaatar; Ruth Dunnell,
Associate Professor of Asian History and Director of International Studies,
Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio; Erdenebaatar, Institute of Animal Husbandry,
Ulaanbaatar; Stephen Haw, for vital guidance on Marco Polo’s China; ‘Helen’,
Renmin University, Beijing, for wonderful interpreting; Professor Tsogt-Ochir
Ishdorj, Head, Department of Historiography, History Institute, Mongolian
Academy of Science; Jorigt and Nasanbayar of the Mongolian Language
Institute, School of Mongolian Studies, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot; Luc
Kwanten and Lilly Chen, Big Apple-Tuttle Mori, Beijing and Shanghai;
Professor Yao Dali, History Department, Fudan University, Shanghai; Lars
Laaman, History Department, SOAS, for his help with Sharaldai (see
Bibliography) and his translator, Geok Hoon Williams; Yuan-chu Ruby Lam,
Department of Chinese, Wellesley College, MA; Du Jian Lu, Xi Xia Institute,
Ningxia University; Richard John Lynn, for his Xanadu verse translations; Tom
Man, of Perioli-Man, Oxford, for putting flesh on the Pleasure Dome; David
Morgan, formerly Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison;
Nachug, Director, Institute for Genghis Khan Studies, Edsen Khoroo (Genghis
Khan Mausoleum); Oyun Sanjaasuren, MP, leader of Citizens’ Will-Republican
Party, Head of Zorig Foundation; Igor de Rachewiltz, School of Pacific and
Asian Studies, Australian National University, for vital and unstinting guidance;
Panoramic Journeys, together with Esee, two Nyamas, Ravi, Refika, Nancy and
Joan; my Mongol guides, Goyotsetseg Reston (Goyo) and Tumen; Randall
Sasaki, Texas A&M University, and Kenzo Hayashida for an introduction to
Kublai’s lost fleet; Sainjirgal, researcher, Genghis Khan Mausoleum; Sharaldai,
theologian, Genghis Khan Mausoleum; Professor Noriyuki Shiraishi, Niigata