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mary_soon_lee's review
4.0
Summer-reading book review #24: "The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe," by James Chambers. Though at times too densely packed with information to be easily digestible (at least by me), this is a good reference work on the Mongols. I found myself highlighting detail after detail, including such tidbits as "Inalchuk was sent to Chingis Khan's headquarters, where molten silver was poured into his eyes and ears until he died" and "there was a whole period in Chinese art when all the statues and paintings were of horses, since the Mongol patrons desired nothing else" and "After the battle the Mongols recorded the number of enemy dead by cutting an ear from every body and collecting them into nine large sacks which they sent to Batu."
exterus's review
4.0
A thorough and relatively detailed description of the Mongols' campaigns in Europe, Chambers' book sheds light on the subject in a rather compact package. Having never really broached the subject before, I found the book quite well-written, with an approachable narrative structure. The text is slightly tedious in that it involves hundreds of names, which, especially toward the end of the book, become quite difficult to follow. Sometimes history is like that, and with a complex subject handled in relatively few pages, it is quite understandable that readability is to some extent sacrificed to give the reader the whole picture instead of cutting corners.
chalicotherex's review
4.0
The Mongols stomped the planet from 1206 to the end of the century, and it effected pretty much everyone. The book follows the campaigns of the Mongols. Everyone knows about their superiority with mounted archers, but they also used Chinese engineers and artillery, which was so advanced that they scared the Europeans to death by advancing under a smoke screen, or firing early rockets at them. They drowned enemies by flooding dykes or by tricking armies into following them onto insufficiently thick ice.
I think the only emotion a medieval person could feel that would be greater than being part of the victorious Mongol army would be the absolute dread of knowing that the horde is bearing down on you. Consider that Kai-Kawus tried to supplicate a khan by giving him socks which bore Kai's face on the bottom, so that the Khan could spend his days trampling on Kai's face. Or the other prince who threatened to wring the Khan's ears, and followed through by giving him gold earrings. Or the fact that the Pope was ordered to visit Karakorum to pay tribute.
It couldn't last forever: like many great empires, it eventually dissolved due to insufficiently strict adherence to the right of primogeniture, while in the long term the growing use of gunpowder eventually rendered the Mongols' tactics obsolete.
A fitting tribute to the strange and beautiful alienness of the Mongols.
I think the only emotion a medieval person could feel that would be greater than being part of the victorious Mongol army would be the absolute dread of knowing that the horde is bearing down on you. Consider that Kai-Kawus tried to supplicate a khan by giving him socks which bore Kai's face on the bottom, so that the Khan could spend his days trampling on Kai's face. Or the other prince who threatened to wring the Khan's ears, and followed through by giving him gold earrings. Or the fact that the Pope was ordered to visit Karakorum to pay tribute.
It couldn't last forever: like many great empires, it eventually dissolved due to insufficiently strict adherence to the right of primogeniture, while in the long term the growing use of gunpowder eventually rendered the Mongols' tactics obsolete.
A fitting tribute to the strange and beautiful alienness of the Mongols.
natiruho's review
3.0
This is a very well written book about the Mongol empire, which nearly took over half of the known world during the 1200's. Chambers' historical writing reads like a work of fiction, and he can capture the events that took place with thrilling imagery and pace.
The book does tend to drag in some areas, and some details are redundant.
It was widely thought by European kingdoms that the Mongols were primitive and mysterious people, when in fact the warriors were sophisticated, logical, and very dangerous. This is what Chambers does so well: he describes the misunderstandings by European and Russian empires before the Mongols invade their territory with ferocious ambition.
This work is a good introduction to Chengis Khan and his empire for anyone interested, and offers as a good source for research.
The book does tend to drag in some areas, and some details are redundant.
It was widely thought by European kingdoms that the Mongols were primitive and mysterious people, when in fact the warriors were sophisticated, logical, and very dangerous. This is what Chambers does so well: he describes the misunderstandings by European and Russian empires before the Mongols invade their territory with ferocious ambition.
This work is a good introduction to Chengis Khan and his empire for anyone interested, and offers as a good source for research.
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