Osprey Osprey Guide to Genghis Khan the Mongol Conquests 1190 1400 By Stephen Turnbull Conv.pdf

(11424 KB) Pobierz
Guide To
Genghis Khan & the Mongol
Conquests
1190-1400
Stephen Turnbull
Contents
Introduction
Chronology
Background to war
The rise of the Mongols
Warring sides
The Mongol army
Outbreak of war
Beyond the steppes
The fighting
Building an empire
Portrait of a soldier
Subadai Ba’adur (c1176–1248)
The world around war
Terror and reality
Portrait of a civilian
The sage Changchun 1148–1227
How the war ended
The jungle frontiers
Conclusion and consequences
The Mongol legacy
Further reading
Introduction
During the 13th century a military phenomenon arose in central Asia
and provided the first instance in history of what was virtually a world
war. From one side of the Euro/Asiatic land mass to the other, the
fury of the Mongols exploded on to unsuspecting societies, most of
which had previously been totally ignorant of the very existence of
their new tormentors.
Among the few contemporary works of art that have survived to
convey an impression of the appearance of these strange invaders
are two objects that proclaim through very different cultural norms
very similar images of the Mongol conquerors. At almost the furthest
point west reached by the Mongols lies Breslau (now Wroclaw in
Poland) where lies buried Henry the Pious, Duke of Silesia, killed in
battle with the Mongols at nearby Leignitz (Legnica) in 1241. Henry’s
tomb is now in the National Museum in Wroclaw, and beneath his
feet lies a small carving of a Mongol warrior wearing the
characteristic headgear.
Thirty years later and half a world away at the most easterly point
of the Mongol conquests, an almost identical representation of
Mongol warriors was being created. This time the image was not
carved in stone but instead appeared on paper in a Japanese
emakimono
(horizontal picture scroll painting). The
Moko Shurai
Ekotoba
(Mongol Invasion Scroll) was created not to remember a
defeat, but to celebrate a victory, and in particular to press the claims
for reward of the hero depicted therein: a leader of samurai called
Takezaki Suenaga.
Neither Henry the Pious nor Takezaki Suenaga had the slightest
idea that the other even existed, let alone that the two of them had
fought a common enemy, but that was the nature of the Mongol
Empire. Within the interval of time and space that lay between
Leignitz and Hakata, the Mongols had fought battles in the deserts of
Syria, skirmishes in the mountain passes of Afghanistan, sieges on

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin