Mike’s Reviews > Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World > Status Update

Last chapter was good for how the Mongols were co-opted in the 20th century.

Gunpowder empires have their roots in Turko-Mongol history. These people took the place of Arab predecessors and expanded and enforced their rule with guns and cavalry.

The plague brought down the economic links between the different Mongol empires and led to a quicker deterioration of their authority.

A good chapter to potentially have students read.

“The Mongols had the power, at least temporarily, to impose new international systems of technology, agriculture, and knowledge that superseded the predilections or prejudices of any single civilization; and in so doing, they broke the monopoly on thought exercised by local elites.”

Good section on trade during Pax Mongolia. Emphasis on overseas trade and expanding commercial contacts as opposed to conquest.

Just read about the religious debates during Mongke’s reign.

Mongol destruction of Eastern European aristocracy helped accelerate decline of feudalism?

Now the Mongols are getting pretty clever with the slaying of their aristocratic enemies.

Interesting to learn the Mongols weren’t known for their mutilation of their enemies. Lots of evidence given on prior to pages to show contemporaries who were more brutal in the way they killed enemies.