Review "History is littered with great leaders leading great armies and conquering large swathes of the world - Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire... but none perhaps as staggering as that of Genghis Khan. I have never heard of Sube'etei, I'm ashamed to say, until now, in this excellent book bu Carl Fredrik Sverdrup. Asian history has never particularly appealed to me, but this is big history, and the author's style makes it compelling and readable." (Books Monthly)“This is a very valuable addition to the literature on the Mongol conquests, giving us a much clearer idea of the detailed course of their campaigns, the world in which they took place, and the methods used to win them.” (History of War)"The Mongol Conquests: The Military Operations of Genghis Khan and Sube'etei is a scholarly, detailed history of how the Mongols created the greatest landlocked empire in history, eventually spanning from Korea in the east to Hungary and Poland in the west. Focusing especially on the military operations of these two great generals, The Mongol Conquest draws upon Mongolian, Chinese, Near Eastern, and European sources to reconstruct these ancient campaigns that made world history. The Mongol Conquests also presents evidence to contradict popular beliefs about the Mongols, such as that they used terror as a deliberate strategy or possessed skill at siege warfare. The Mongol Conquests is highly recommended for both public and college library world history or military history shelves." (Midwest Book Review)“The book goes into all of the great Mongol victories, but also presents their defeats. Again, contrary to many earlier books the Mongols did not just spread like the plague across Asia. The were unstoppable under good generals and beatable under others… This book is a treasure. The closest book I can compare it to would be Chandler's 'The Campaigns of Napoleon', and should be on every history lover's bookshelf.” (A Wargamers Needful Things)General readers may find in The Mongol Conquests a convenient introduction to the Mongol Empire. Specialists will value the clarity of its charts and maps (Michigan War Studies Review)“This is a very valuable addition to the literature on the Mongol conquests, giving us a much clearer idea of the detailed course of their campaigns, the world in which they took place, and the methods used to win them.” (Historyofwar.org)“ … An essential reference to help navigate the complicated chronology and countless personalities… An essential contribution to the fields of Mongol, Inner Asian and military history.” (Journal of Military History)“ … immensely insightful and worthy of the time spent understanding its thorough contents … the book is organized in a thoughtful and excellent fashion … This book is particularly worthwhile in the way that it frames the discussion of the Mongol army and its operations in a variety of contexts.” (De Re Militari) Read more About the Author Carl Fredrik Sverdrup is a Scandinavian living in Switzerland. He studied engineering and business, and has a career in international business management. He has a long-standing interest in military strategy and history. He has published articles on the M Read more
J**N
Fills a Major Gap in Military History
This book fills a major gap in military history and does it well. An interesting trivia question is: what is the largest land locked empire ever created? The Mongol empire initiated by Genghis Khan in the late 12th century. Sube etei was his best general and the best general of the Mongol empire. In fact, as the author argues well, one of the best generals of all of history, rating well with Caesar, Hannibal, Gustavus, Frederick the Great and Napoleon.This book covers all the campaigns from the start of Genghis Khan's conquests until 1242AD, when Sube etei was recalled back to the Mongol capital after the death of Ogedei. Many of these campaigns are not well known and there are many inaccuracies and confusions on some of the ones that are known somewhat. For example, more often than not, the Mongols outnumbered their opponents in battle. This may seem surprising because the population of China was so much greater than Mongol, but the Mongols were able to concentrate their forces right before a battle taking advantage of their speed, since most of their forces were on horseback. When the Mongols fought the Hungarian army at Mohi, the common misconception is that the Hungarians outnumbered the Mongols and that there a lot of troops on the field. The author effectively debunks that, claiming that the Hungarian army numbered 10,000 and the Mongols 15,000. These are approximate numbers but much lower that other sources.Other than the items above, that is, being more fact based and realistic than other sources, there are other reasons that make this a good book. For example, the maps are excellent. They provide an excellent source to follow the Mongol campaigns.On the negative side and the reason that I can't provide a five star rating for the book, there are numerous typos and somewhat confusing passages.That is probably why the book was delayed in delivery - proof reading, but the job wasn't completed if it was.However, in spite of the criticism above, I highly recommend this book. It fills a major gap in military history.
T**Y
This book will pose challenges
This book is more or less a play by play of Genghis Khan's and Sube'etei's consolidation of military power in Mongolia, followed by their conquests of lands stretching from China to the Danube. What will constantly challenge the reader will be the endless and bewildering names of everyone involved, in every battle, with names that will not come naturally to most in the western world. If you are in the military, especially if you are an officer, you might endure. If you're interested in finding out how the Mongols lived culturally day to day, what they ate, where they lived, how women integrated within this military society, this is not the book for you. If that is, indeed, your interest, I would recommend The Travels of Marco Polo in which Master Marco will inform you of every intricacy of Mongol life, as well as give you a guided tour through most of the territory the Mongols had conquered between 1188 through 1270. If you read both books, you will find them to be complimentary repositories of information you may be seeking.
M**N
Great read
When we talk about some of the greatest military commanders of history, we talk about the likes of Alexander, Napoleon and Genghis Kahn. This book is a good read on part of the reason why the Mongols were so successful. Subutai was a brilliant commander and the Kahns knew this.
M**N
good! appraochable and heavily footnoted.
Great in-depth exploration of a fascinating period. I picked this up for a class i was taking and referred to it often in papers and ended up with an A.
G**Y
Necessary reading
Great reading
C**T
Five Stars
Yes it did
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