Chapter 6, The Discovery and Conquest of Europe Summary and Analysis

When Genghis died, his son Ogodei took over. Ogodei immediately contravened his father's policy of moderation and threw a lavish party and spent the next several years squandering his father's wealth. He also built the Mongol capital city of Karakorum, which was the only "stationary" city the Mongols had. While they city was large, it came to be filled primarily with goods and administrators for the empire.

Since the Mongols produced no goods and services of note (other than horses, which they would not trade), Ogodei had to import massive amounts of goods, and he paid an absurdly high premium for them in order to induce merchants to come all the way to Karakorum. Clearly his ruling practices were unsustainable, so eventually Ogodei had to find some civilization to...