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

The book’s journey ends with the eve of the Mongol Empire. Christian’s framework makes it clear that the Mongols under Genghis Khan were not a bizarre, freakish explosion of violence. They were the of 3,000 years of Inner Eurasian political and military evolution.

The book’s most useful insight is that the history of Inner Eurasia is not a footnote to the great civilizations of Outer Eurasia. It is a separate historical system with its own internal logic—a logic dictated by "grazing, herding, and mobility." The book’s journey ends with the eve of the Mongol Empire

. Unlike the pure nomads of the east, the Rus' combined Slavic agricultural roots with Viking maritime expertise. Their conversion to Orthodox Christianity and their control over the "Way from the Varangians to the Greeks" established a distinct cultural identity that would eventually evolve into the Russian state, forever caught between European aspirations and Asian realities. The Mongol Catalyst The book’s most useful insight is that the