The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World

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The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World
Picture of the desert, The Horde, How the Mongols Changed the World cover.jpeg
Author Marie Favereau
Illustrator Marie Favereau
Cover artistTon Koene
LanguageEnglish, French
GenreHistory
PublisherThe Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Publication date
2021
Publication place United States
Pages377
ISBN 978-0-674-24421-4

The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World is a 2021 non-fiction book by Marie Favereau, a professor at the Paris Nanterre University. [1] It describes the foundation, administration, and eventual fate of the Golden Horde, one of the successor states of the Mongol Empire. The Horde received positive reviews for its accessibility and comprehensive detail.

Contents

Contents

The Horde is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter, The Resilience of the Felt-Walled Tents, provides a background on the rise to power of Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire in 1206. It considers the administration and society of the new empire, and details the campaigns it fought, especially against the Khwarazmian Empire between 1219 and 1221. Particular attention is given to the events of the life of Jochi, who Genghis Khan considered his eldest son but whose paternity was suspect. [2] The second chapter details how Genghis adapted traditional Mongol inheritance laws to apportion the territories of the Mongol Empire between his sons. It focuses on the lands in Central Asia and Russia which would later become the heartland of the Golden Horde, ruled by the Jochids (descendants of Jochi). It also covers how these lands were conquered and held after the Mongol invasion of Europe in the late 1230s. [3]

The next chapters detail the administration and political organisation of the Horde. [4] Favereau describes the succession controversy which followed the death of Jochi, which led to the Horde being split into two halves, the Blue Horde and the White Horde, led by Jochi's sons Orda and Batu respectively, but how overall rule fell to Batu. This chapter considers how the Golden Horde as a whole prospered during the thirteenth century, having built an administratively and economically complex empire. [5] Chapter four explores the first wars between descendants of Genghis Khan, fought between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate to the south: it details the complex web of trade, diplomatic alliances, colonisation, and military activities which led to a political loss but an economic victory for the Golden Horde. [6] The next two chapters consider the effects of this economic supremacy, in the Horde-led Chinggisid exchange, where the state exerted influence over long distances and closer to home in a process of "steppe urbanisation". It also had negative consequences, most notably in the civil wars of Nogai Khan's life. [7]

The final chapters examine the decline and end of the Golden Horde. Chapter seven, Withdrawal, describes the anarchy which followed the extinction of the Jochid line, caused by the Black Death, the faltering of the Yuan dynasty in China, and the consequent opening of power to formerly-subservient lesser rulers such as Mamai. [8]

The final chapter, Younger Brothers, tells about Tokhtamysh and Temür the Lame, also known as Tamerlane, and how their alliance brought the Golden Horde from it’s dark era. It also provides the story after Tokhtamysh and Tamerlane, in the 1430s and 1460s, explaining the hordes that came after Tokhtamysh and Tamerlane, like the Nogay Horde and the Kazan Horde. [9]

The Epilogue starts with the story of the war between Ahmad Khan of the Volga Horde and Grand Prince Ivan IV of Moscow. The epilogue explains the argument about when the Horde fell, some say it was 1502 and others say the 1560s. The rest of the epilogue talks about the Horde’s influence over Russia, a concept that is explained throughout the book. [10] The next 50 pages are the notes, acknowledgments, and the index. [11]

Reception

Stephen Pow, a historian of the Mongol Empire, felt that Favereau had achieved her aim of "conveying the cosmopolitan character of the Horde and its historical legacy". He praised her accessible language, aimed at the general reader, the references to non-literary sources, and the predominant use of Mongolian language terminology. However, he felt that some details were misrepresented: for example, he drew attention to an incorrectly labelled ceramic bowl and an account of the Mongol invasion of Europe which "neglects recent scholarship and is a curious amalgamation of contradicting theories". Pow concluded that there were strong similarities of structure and purpose with Jack Weatherford's 2004 book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World . [12]

Francis P. Sempa praised Favereau's "nuanced and comprehensive history" which, unusually, presented the Mongol Empire as "administratively complex". [13] Another reviewer, the journalist Maria Lipman, highlighted the rich "ethnographic detail and descriptions of succession battles, military campaigns, and internecine warfare"; like Sempa, she remarked on Favereau's presentation of the Golden Horde as administratively beneficial for the divided Russian states, a portrayal she termed "strangely colonial". [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Horde</span> 1242–1502 Turkicized Mongol khanate

The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of the Mongol Empire after 1259, it became a functionally separate khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or the Ulus of Jochi, and replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batu Khan</span> Founder and first Khan of the Golden Horde (r. 1227–1255)

Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire established after Genghis Khan's demise. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus ruled over the Kievan Rus', Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, and the Caucasus for around 250 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mongol Empire</span> 13th- and 14th-century empire originating in Mongolia

The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, extending northward into parts of the Arctic; eastward and southward into parts of the Indian subcontinent, mounted invasions of Southeast Asia, and conquered the Iranian Plateau; and reached westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mamai</span> Mongol general and kingmaker

Mamai was a powerful Mongol military commander of the Golden Horde. Contrary to popular misconception, he was not a khan (king), but was a kingmaker for several khans, and dominated parts or all of the Golden Horde for almost two decades in the 1360s and 1370s. Although he was unable to stabilize central authority during the 14th-century Golden Horde war of succession known as the Great Troubles, Mamai remained a remarkable and persistent leader for decades, while others came and went in rapid succession. His defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo marked the beginning of the decline of the Horde, as well as his own rapid downfall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jochi</span> Mongol prince and general (c. 1182 – c. 1225)

Jochi, also known as Jüchi, was a prince of the early Mongol Empire. His life was marked by controversy over the circumstances of his birth and culminated in his estrangement from his family. He was nevertheless a prominent military commander and the progenitor of the family who ruled over the khanate of the Golden Horde.

The Blue Horde was a crucial component of the Mongol Empire established after Genghis Khan's demise in 1227. Functioning as the eastern part of the split Golden Horde, it contrasted with the White Horde's western segment, adhering to the Mongolian and Turkic tradition of cardinal direction colors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berke</span> Khan of the Golden Horde from 1257 to 1266

Berke Khan was a grandson of Genghis Khan from his son Jochi and a Mongol military commander and ruler of the Golden Horde, a division of the Mongol Empire, who effectively consolidated the power of the Blue Horde and White Horde from 1257 to 1266. He succeeded his brother Batu Khan of the Blue Horde (West), and was responsible for the first official establishment of Islam in a khanate of the Mongol Empire. Following the Sack of Baghdad by Hulagu Khan, his cousin and head of the Mongol Ilkhanate based in Persia, he allied with the Egyptian Mamluks against Hulagu. Berke also supported Ariq Böke against Kublai in the Toluid Civil War, but did not intervene militarily in the war because he was occupied in his own war against Hulagu and the Ilkhanate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Horde</span> Mongol horde of the 13th-15th century, controlling the eastern territory of the Golden Horde

The White Horde, or more appropriately, the Left wing of the Jochid Ulus was one of the uluses within the Mongol Empire formed around 1225, after the death of Jochi when his son, Orda-Ichen, inherited his father's appanage by the Jaxartes. It was the eastern constituent part of the Golden Horde alongside the Blue Horde to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orda Khan</span> Mongol Khan and military strategist (c. 1206 – 1251)

Orda Ichen was a Mongol Khan and military strategist who ruled the eastern part of the Golden Horde during the 13th century.

Ulaghchi Khan was the third khan of the Blue Horde and Golden Horde, ruling for less than a year in 1257.

Urus Khan was the eighth Khan of the White Horde and a disputed Khan of the Blue Horde; he was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. Urus himself was the direct ancestor of the khans of the Kazakh Khanate.

Temür Qutlugh or Tīmūr Qutluq (Kypchak: تمور قوتلو; Turki and Persian: تیمور قتلغ; was Khan of the Golden Horde from 1397 to 1399.

Boroldai, also known as Burundai, was a notable Mongol general of the mid 13th century. He participated in the Mongol invasion of Russia and Europe from 1236 to 1242 and other Mongol raids of Europe until 1263.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nawruz Beg</span> Khan of the Golden Horde in 1360

Nawruz Beg was Khan of the Golden Horde, a division of the Mongol Empire, in 1360.

Mongol campaigns in Central Asia occurred after the unification of the Mongol and Turkic tribes on the Mongolian plateau in 1206. Smaller military operations of the Mongol Empire in Central Asia included the destruction of surviving Merkit and Naimans and the conquest of Qara Khitai. These were followed by a major campaign against Khwarazm. Expansion into Central Asia began in 1209 as Genghis Khan sent an expedition to pursue rivals who had fled to the region and threatened his new empire. The Uyghur kingdom Qocho and leaders of the Karluks submitted voluntarily to the Mongol Empire and married into the imperial family. By 1218 the Mongols controlled all of Xinjiang and by 1221 all the territories of the former Khwarazmian Empire. In 1236, the Mongols defeated the eastern portions of Cumania and swept into Eastern Europe.

The Wings of the Golden Horde were subdivisions of the Golden Horde in the 13th to 15th centuries CE. Jochi, the eldest son of the Mongol Empire founder Genghis Khan, had several sons who inherited Jochi's dominions as fiefs under the rule of two of the brothers, Batu Khan and the elder Orda Khan who agreed that Batu enjoyed primacy as the supreme khan of the Golden Horde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timurid conquests and invasions</span> Wars and campaigns of the Timurids

The Timurid conquests and invasions started in the seventh decade of the 14th century with Timur's control over Chagatai Khanate and ended at the start of the 15th century with the death of Timur. Due to the sheer scale of Timur's wars, and the fact that he was generally undefeated in battle, he has been regarded as one of the most successful military commanders of all time. These wars resulted in the supremacy of Timur over Central Asia, Persia, the Caucasus, the Levant, and parts of South Asia and Eastern Europe, and also the formation of the short-lived Timurid Empire.

Tuqa-Temür was the thirteenth and perhaps youngest son of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan. He was a younger brother of Batu Khan and Berke Khan, the rulers of what came to be known as the Golden Horde.

The Mongol Invasion is a trilogy of historical novels by Soviet writer Vasily Yan that explores the Mongol conquests, including the Mongol conquest of Central Asia and their Western campaign, as well as the resistance of the peoples living in Central Asia and Eastern Europe during the early 13th century. This trilogy is considered the author's most renowned work and comprises the novels "Genghis Khan" (1939), "Batu" (1942), and "To the "Last Sea" (1955).

References

  1. ↑ Favereau 2021, About the Author.
  2. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 26–62.
  3. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 63–94.
  4. ↑ Favereau 2021, p. 17.
  5. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 95–137.
  6. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 138–163.
  7. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 164–246.
  8. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 247–273.
  9. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 274–299.
  10. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 299–312.
  11. ↑ Favereau 2021, pp. 312–377.
  12. ↑ Pow, Stephen (2023). "The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World". The Journal of Asian Studies . 82 (4): 776–778. doi:10.1215/00219118-10773751.
  13. ↑ Sempa, Francis P. (20 April 2021). "The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World". new york journal of books. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  14. ↑ Lipman, Maria (14 December 2021). "The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World". Foreign Affairs . Retrieved 16 December 2024.

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