Osprey Men-at-Arms 105 : The Mongols

The history of the Mongol armies is a catalogue of superlatives. No armies in history have ever won so many battles or conquered so much territory. No army has ever provoked such justifiable terror and loathing in its victims, or slaughtered so many of its vanquished. No other army has made and later carried out to the letter strategic plans so grand as those conceived at the great kuriltai or Council of War in 1235, with simultaneous attacks on both Poland and Korea. What other army in history has marched on Russia in the winter and survived, let alone won victories? What other army, indeed, could have attacked Russia in winter by choice, because the frozen rivers and snow made communications easier? The stories of these and many other amazing feats of this 'barbarian' people are here brought vividly and absorbingly to life by S.R. Turnbull, from the birth of Genghis Kahn in the wind-swept steppes of Mongolia c.1116, through the conquest of China and beyond. This book is illustrated with museum photographs, tactical diagrams and eight full pages of stunning colour artwork by Angus McBride.

Contents

• The Rise of the Mongols
• The Mongol Warrior
• Mongol Armies
• Mongol Warfare
• Mongol Sieges
• The Mongols in Russia and Europe
• The Plates