The Mongols: A History

“Of tremendous importance in world history … imperatively necessary to all who would understand the development of Asia and of Eastern Europe" – Theodore Roosevelt


The Mongols were the superpower of their day, erupting out of Central Asia in 1206 to conquer an empire stretching from Poland to Korea.

Their arrival in the Middle East upset the very tenuous balance between Christendom and Islam, sparking a long-simmering rivalry that has lasted to this day.

This thorough history of the Mongols charts their rise from nomadic horsemen to continent-spanning empire to eventual dissolution.

At the time Curtin was writing, very little was known about the Mongols, even among well-educated men, and so this captivating book still serves as an excellent general introduction to the Mongolian world.

Curtin describes their homeland and early society as herdsman and raiders and, through folklore, introduces the first leaders, or Khans, including the rise of Temudjin, the great Genghis Khan, and his conquest of Central Asia.

This detailed narrative history continues after Temudjin's death, when the Mongol Empire was divided among his sons, who continued wars of conquest against the Chinese, Hungarians, Poles, and Japanese, and through to the dissolution of the empire following the death of Kublai Khan, the last man to possess centralized power among the Mongols.

Students and historians will find this an extensive and informative read about an often overlooked society that nevertheless greatly influenced the development of the modern world.

This edition includes an introduction by Theodore Roosevelt who praises Curtin for his superior scholarship.

‘an epic of such wonderful interest’ –


Read more