Overview

The Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East were marked by three invasions of Central Asian nomads: the Huns, the Turks, and finally the Mongols. The latter would conquer the largest empire of all and exert an enormous influence on history, paving the way for the Age of Exploration. Other than the Crusades, in fact, no single series of events had as much to do with Europe's reawakening from centuries of confusion following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D. The Mongols' impact is all the more impressive in light of the fact that they had no cities, no written language, and indeed no real history of any kind until they were united under one of...