A History Of Russia Central Asia And Mongolia Vol 1 Inner Eurasia From Prehistory To The Mongol Empire <HD>

Under Chinggis Khan, the Mongols systematized the "tributary mode of production" that had defined Inner Eurasian strategy for centuries. They took the mobility of the steppe army and combined it with the administrative techniques of the agrarian world. Christian masterfully details how the Mongols bridged the gap between Inner and Outer Eurasia, creating an empire that governed both the steppe and the sedentary cities of China, Central Asia, and Russia. The Mongol Empire serves as the ultimate proof of Christian’s thesis: that Inner Eurasia was not a backward periphery, but a region capable of generating the political and military energy necessary to dominate the entire continent.

In the eastern steppe (modern-day Mongolia), the Xiongnu formed a massive nomadic empire in the late 3rd century BCE. To defend against their devastating raids, the Qin and Han dynasties of China constructed the earliest walls of the Great Wall. The Xiongnu established a structural model for nomadic empires: a loose confederation of tribes united under a supreme ruler (the Chanyu), sustained by extracting tribute and luxury goods from sedentary neighbors. The Silk Roads and the Transformation of Central Asia Under Chinggis Khan, the Mongols systematized the "tributary