The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World

"Over the years, as editor of History Today , I’ve commissioned two or three pieces on Chinggis Khan and the Mongols. One always feels we’ve never quite got to the core because they’re so alien in a sense, so distant in time and in geography. You’ve got to take in everything from China, through Central Asia, to Russia, even to Eastern Europe. We’re talking about a grand geographical range, and a grand chronological range as well. Favereau covers about 400 years of history and I felt that this is the book that’s come closest to allowing me—and therefore I think lots of others—to understand this unfamiliar world. It’s painted on a huge canvas. She uses the phrase ‘empire on horseback’. We tend to think of the Mongols—with some justification—as bloodthirsty, genocidal maniacs, going across the plains of Asia. This book suggests something a little more nuanced. “It’s an incredibly compelling read and it changes the way you see the world” Favereau is asking, ‘What is the state?’ We’re used to settled states with geographical limits, where monarchs or assemblies are sovereign. This is a different kind of state. But it is a state and it’s one that offers trading links on an enormous scale. At its best it also offers security for very, very different communities to interchange with one another—principally for the purposes of trade. Along the Silk Road , the geographical range is so vast and that’s reflected in incredible ethnic and cultural diversity. There’s a fantastic use of sources here that shows you that difference. She uses Mongolian sources, which of course are absolutely crucial because you hear the voices of people within the Mongol world: administrators, people who fought and people who led. You also have a lot of Russian sources—the exchange between Russia and this empire is often under-appreciated. You also have a lot of Persian and Turkic sources. Islam is very important in this world as well. So there’s a lot going on, and there is undoubtedly a great deal of conflict. But there’s also a great deal of exchange, of toleration and, certainly, a tremendously dynamic economy. It’s an incredibly ambitious book with a huge range. It presents this world in its full complexity. It’s an incredibly compelling read and it changes the way you see the world. Because you have a new definition of—or a new variety of—‘empire’ and ‘state’ that’s not really like anything you’ve seen before. Until I’d read this book, I didn’t really perceive the Mongols as anything but bringers of chaotic, marauding hordes, a bit like the Vikings . But they offer security and create a kind of state and a kind of empire, albeit one very different to those we are used to talking about in the West. It’s really illuminating in that and you begin to think again about what we might mean by ‘empire’, and what we might mean by ‘the state’."