BACK WHEN TURKEY WAS SOMEWHAT INTERSTING

A review of Stephen Turnbull’s The Ottoman Empire 1326-1699 (2003)
Part of the Essential Histories Series #62

(Rating 2 of 5)

The Ottoman Empire was the strength of the east for centuries. This was the empire the conquered Constantinople, which as a consequence wiped the last trace to the ancient Roman Empire off the face of the Earth. The Ottoman Empire at its height was one of the most powerful civilizations in the world. However, it went through a long dying period where it was ‘the sick man of Europe’ that finally ended when the empire was dissolved after World War I.

This book by Stephen Turnbull deals with Ottoman Empire from 1326-1699; unfortunately, it is a book that is less a hundred pages long. Try to imagine writing a book about the United States of America from 1776-2010, and you have ninety-four pages to do it.  The chances of you doing the subject justice are slim to none. I realize this book is about military history but still I have a tough time imagining a book that goes from the American Revolutionary War to the ‘War of Terror’ that could cover the subject with any real reason. The Ottoman Empire was one of the world’s most complex and interesting civilizations and this work does hardly scratches the surface.

The book does have some nice maps and imagery but not enough to actually save it.

AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE

A review of Stephen Turnbull’s Genghis Kahn & the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 (2003)
Part of the Essential Histories Series #57

(Rating 3 of 5)

I have always wondered when discussing the Mongol Empire if one should pluralize the word ‘empire.’ The Mongol Empire was the largest land continuous empire the world had ever seen before or since. Genghis Kahn had two things Alexander the Great did not: a longer life, and successors to continue the conquest. I have long believed that had Alexander lived, however, his empire would have stabilized and lasted, instead of dissolving away leaving the world almost sooner then it came. The Mongol Empire fragments into many empires and kingdoms and despite their many organizational enhancements they were not every good at governing what they had conquered. In many ways, those who were the conquered had a stronger effect, culturally, on those who conquered them the Mongols had on those they had conquered.

Stephen Turnbull’s work is a good look brief look into the juggernaut that was the Mongol Empire. He discusses some of the inaccuracies and misconceptions that are associated with the Mongol army. As I have stated in other reviews of this series, these books are very interesting because they are in an almost textbook format with out really having a textbook feel to them. In this book, there are maps, classical paintings of events, and art from various cultures that had to deal with the Mongol armies. One chapter even deals with horror ordinary people who were their victims had to experience.

“Throughout all the accounts of the Mongol conquests we can discern in the background an echo of great human suffering. Ordinary people from Poland to Java, who under any other circumstance might have lived lives that may have been short but were certainly uneventful, suddenly found their world turned upside down by a horde of demons apparently let loose from the depths of Hell.” p.76

The Mongol Empire had fought peoples all the way from Europe into Japan, a great deal of their success was owed to organization and their ability to change and adapt. This book serves as a good little into the Empire and Army of the Golden Horde.

{Video was from he History Channel's Barbarians, which is better then this book}