The Mongols and the West
26 Apr 05

In the thirteenth century the Mongols erupted on the European world as, at first, a purely destructive force. However, they were not wholly destructive and, once they had subjugated their territories, they showed a remarkable ability to absorb and nurture local cultures. Under Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan and Tamburlaine, they created a vast empire stretching from central Europe to Korea.

Despite unpromising beginnings, with the devastation of Hungary and Poland in 1241-2, and ongoing hostilities in Eastern Europe, the advent of the Mongols soon appeared to offer the West new opportunities. These included fighting the common enemy in Iran and the opening-up of Asia to European merchants and missionaries, with western traders engaged in commercial operations as far a field as China.

Peter Jackson's new book, the first comprehensive English book-length study of the interaction between the Mongols and the Catholic West, introduces us to the last great pulse of nomads from the inner Asian steppe to encounter the utterly different world of sedentary, urbanized European peoples.

Examining contacts, both friendly - with the Mongols of Iran - and hostile - with the Golden Horde Mongols in southern Russia - this book provides a comprehensive survey of contacts between the Catholic West and the Mongol world-empire from Chinggis Khan (1221) to the battle of Tannenberg (1410).

It considers the Mongols as allies as well as conquerors and argues that attempts at Mongol-Western military cooperation against the Islamic world, or the conversion of the Mongols to Catholic Christianity, were alike doomed to failure.

	The Mongols and the West
	Author	Peter Jackson
	Pub Date	20 March 2005
	Price	£16.99
	Publisher	Longman
	ISBN	0582 36896 0
		Buy online from www.pearson-books.com before 28th May 2005 to save 10% on the RRP of £16.99. Click here for further information or to purchase The Mongols and the West.

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