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Empire’s Twilight: Northeast Asia under the Mongols
The rise of the Mongol empire transformed world history. Its collapse in the mid-fourteenth century had equally profound consequences. Four themes dominate this study of the late Mongol empire in Northeast Asia during this chaotic the need for a regional perspective encompassing all states and ethnic groups in the area; the process and consequences of pan-Asian integration under the Mongols; the tendency for individual and family interests to trump those of dynasty, country, or linguistic affiliation; and finally, the need to see Koryo Korea as part of the wider Mongol empire.
Northeast Asia was an important part of the Mongol empire, and developments there are fundamental to understanding both the nature of the Mongol empire and the new post-empire world emerging in the 1350s and 1360s. In Northeast Asia, Jurchen, Mongol, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese interests intersected, and the collapse of the Great Yuan reshaped Northeast Asia dramatically. To understand this transition, or series of transitions, the author argues, one cannot examine states in isolation. The period witnessed intensified interactions among neighboring polities and new regional levels of economic, political, military, and social integration that explain the importance of personal and family interests and of Korea in the Mongol state.
Northeast Asia was an important part of the Mongol empire, and developments there are fundamental to understanding both the nature of the Mongol empire and the new post-empire world emerging in the 1350s and 1360s. In Northeast Asia, Jurchen, Mongol, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese interests intersected, and the collapse of the Great Yuan reshaped Northeast Asia dramatically. To understand this transition, or series of transitions, the author argues, one cannot examine states in isolation. The period witnessed intensified interactions among neighboring polities and new regional levels of economic, political, military, and social integration that explain the importance of personal and family interests and of Korea in the Mongol state.
- GenresHistory
450 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 1, 2021
4 and a half stars
An astute study of North East Asia during the last years of the Yuan dynasty. Honourable mention to those cheeky Red Turbans; turning up all over NE Asia to burn down cities and eat the locals.
“... the nature of the Great Yuan ulus guaranteed that the pursuit of political interest was not rigidly bound by such categories as nation, dynasty, or ethnicity. A century of Mongol empire has broadened perspectives throughout Eurasia. Even as twilight set upon the Great Yuan ulus, these wider vistas guided the expectations and behaviour of men and women who saw opportunity in decline”
“... I do not underestimate the suffering of the mid-fourteenth century. In fact, we often pass too lightly over how bad these decades were. Conditions varied from region to region, but millions suffered deeply from crop failure, famine, warfare, land flight, and the collapse of effective local governance.
Cannibalism, perhaps the ultimate avatar of social collapse, appears frequently in mid-fourteenth century writings.
An astute study of North East Asia during the last years of the Yuan dynasty. Honourable mention to those cheeky Red Turbans; turning up all over NE Asia to burn down cities and eat the locals.
“... the nature of the Great Yuan ulus guaranteed that the pursuit of political interest was not rigidly bound by such categories as nation, dynasty, or ethnicity. A century of Mongol empire has broadened perspectives throughout Eurasia. Even as twilight set upon the Great Yuan ulus, these wider vistas guided the expectations and behaviour of men and women who saw opportunity in decline”
“... I do not underestimate the suffering of the mid-fourteenth century. In fact, we often pass too lightly over how bad these decades were. Conditions varied from region to region, but millions suffered deeply from crop failure, famine, warfare, land flight, and the collapse of effective local governance.
Cannibalism, perhaps the ultimate avatar of social collapse, appears frequently in mid-fourteenth century writings.
Displaying 1 of 1 review