The globe once witnessed a storm of conquest throughout Eurasia made by the valiant Mongols in the thirteenth century. Thanks to their formidable cavalry charging power and up-to-date siege engines such as the manjan...The globe once witnessed a storm of conquest throughout Eurasia made by the valiant Mongols in the thirteenth century. Thanks to their formidable cavalry charging power and up-to-date siege engines such as the manjaniq (Central Asian trebuchet), they accomplished a land expansion which resulted in the establishment of the largest occupied territory in human history. For researchers who specialize in Mongol history, it appears, unfortunately, too difficult to investigate and elucidate the Mongol Empire because of its spatial expansiveness. However, Sugiyama Masaaki, professor of Oriental History at Kyoto University, has cleared away the layer of mist shrouding this academic field by restoring a macro appearance of the empire through his treatise Kubirai no Chousen: Mongoru ni yoru Sekaishi no Daitenkai (The Challenge to Kublai: The Great Turn of the Mongol Empire and World History). In this book, he portrays the personal image of Kublai Khan against the background of world history; also, he succeeds in illustrating the construction and mode of function of the unmatched gigantic empire.展开更多
文摘The globe once witnessed a storm of conquest throughout Eurasia made by the valiant Mongols in the thirteenth century. Thanks to their formidable cavalry charging power and up-to-date siege engines such as the manjaniq (Central Asian trebuchet), they accomplished a land expansion which resulted in the establishment of the largest occupied territory in human history. For researchers who specialize in Mongol history, it appears, unfortunately, too difficult to investigate and elucidate the Mongol Empire because of its spatial expansiveness. However, Sugiyama Masaaki, professor of Oriental History at Kyoto University, has cleared away the layer of mist shrouding this academic field by restoring a macro appearance of the empire through his treatise Kubirai no Chousen: Mongoru ni yoru Sekaishi no Daitenkai (The Challenge to Kublai: The Great Turn of the Mongol Empire and World History). In this book, he portrays the personal image of Kublai Khan against the background of world history; also, he succeeds in illustrating the construction and mode of function of the unmatched gigantic empire.