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The Mongol Empire
- Narrated by: Professor Craig Benjamin
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
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The Mongol Empire
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Publisher's Summary
The Mongol Empire was the largest empire the world has ever seen, forged by conquests across Eurasia in the 13th and 14th centuries. Yet despite the unparalleled brutality of the Mongols, they played a key role in launching civilization’s evolution into the modern world. In 24 half-hour lectures delivered by award-winning teacher and historian Craig Benjamin of Grand Valley State University, explore the paradox of the Mongols’ extreme barbarity combined with their enlightened religious attitudes and respect for high civilization, in The Mongol Empire.
Professor Benjamin recounts the life of the most notorious Mongol of all, Chinggis Khan (also spelled Genghis Khan). He details the careers of other Great Khans, including Qubilai, Ogedai, Batu, and Hulagu, plus the saga of the last of the celebrated Mongol conquerors, Timur, also known as Tamerlane. You learn about the prehistoric origins of the Mongol nomads, the secret of Mongol military prowess, the Mongols’ remote capital of Karakorum, and the many great cities and empires they sacked in a virtually unbroken string of victories stretching from Hungary to China.
Even today, the Mongol conquerors are almost as shrouded in mystery as they were for the victims of their sudden raids. Yet their empire was crucial to the fate of the religions of Islam and Orthodox Christianity and to the civilization of China. Plus, the long period of stability they brought to Central Asia opened the door to dependable commercial and cultural ties between Europe and East Asia.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What listeners say about The Mongol Empire
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- presterjohn1
- 2023-07-25
Very good introduction to the Mongols
I read a lot of medieval history, but I knew very little about the Mongols, the rise and fall of their empires and their most impressive leaders. with this survey, I understand much more about their imperial structure, their culture, their military and their treatment of others. Highly recommended.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- K. Cullen
- 2020-10-12
Good Info, Terrible Chinese Pronunciation
The lecturer is engaging and knows his material, however his pronunciation of Chinese cities, places, and people is horrible. I would have thought that having studied the Mongols as extensively as he has, he would have learned how to read Pinyin or at least learned the proper way to say these names.
To call the deliberate rape and holding of concubines as political hostages as one man (Chinggis Khan) being very sexually active seems incredibly disingenuous and takes away from the Mongol story and historical impact.
The further I get in this history, the more disappointed I am with the narrator and the information presented. The same points are presented many times over in slightly different words. The impacts of Mongol policy on the folks living under them is almost ignored and seems to take a lot of liberty looking at the motivations and thoughts of the Mongols. The author says very little in many words.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Calvin M.
- 2020-10-01
Well Summarized but lacking human touch
A great summary of Mongolian emperial history, but I was hoping to learn more about the day to day life of Mongolians. How they lived, what they ate, maybe more about the life off the battlefield and away from politics.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dylan Jones
- 2021-03-16
Quick paced but still worthwhile
This is structured worse than McInerney or Brier or many of the other Great Courses lecturers, and Craig Benjamin is fascinated but he still jumps topic to topic and skims over people very quickly. Whole course felt rushed, but if you want to learn about the Mongols, it's 100% still worth listening to. Quality is solid, and I learned a ton of history and empires in what felt like a brief period of time (roughly 1200-1400 for 75% of the class). Topic doesn't have a ton of choices, but this is a worthwhile first stop. Planning on reading Jack Weatherfords Genghis Khan and Making of the Modern World after listening
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Than
- 2022-08-15
Good Followup to Jack Weatherford
I've been interested in the Mongol Empire since listening to the Jack Weatherford 'trilogy'. While those books are obviously still my favorites on the topic this is the best followup I've listened to on here so far (out of like 3 other Mongol Empire books). I think it's better to listen to or read Jack Weatherford's books first not only because they're the best (some of my favorite history books in general) but because they make the names of characters more approachable in a mostly linear telling of the story. You'll get to know the characters more in those books, but in this you'll hear more about a lot of the same individuals. These Great Courses lectures are the perfect followup because they give you more names and add more detail to a lot of events in the Jack Weatherford books, even citing parts of Weatherford's books in some of the lectures.
And also something I liked about these Great Courses lectures was a lot of the Timur the Lame portions near the end which aren't really in the Jack Weatherford books. I had been looking for more books about Timur the Lame but a lot of the books in English are ancient themselves. Definitely listen to this series if you enjoyed the Weatherford books.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-01-07
The Lecture on the Mongols I've been looking for
I've long had a fascination with the Mongols, and while I'm quite the fan of Professor Kenneth Harl's lectures, I found that his "Barbarian Empires of The Steppe" series (also from The Great Courses) just didn't scratch my itch on the matter. These lectures have now satisfied that issues. Professor Benjamin goes into great detail on the Mongols, in both peace and war, and speaks with enthusiasm and experience of their homeland. He gives a level headed perspective of the Mongol legacy, both as brutal conquerors and as tolerant overlords. Asides from two quite out of place non sequiturs (one on the history and significance of Baghdad, the contents of which he had already spoken practically verbatim in a previous lecture, and another on the culture and ethos of Japanese samurai, which was only tangential to the course matter), the narrative was compelling and quite easy to follow. Give these lectures a serious listen, and you'll walk away infinitely more knowledgeable of The Mongols, those destroyers of empires, those unitors of East and West
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Robert
- 2021-09-11
Nothing exciting here.
Mongols attack town; people surrender; Mongols cut their heads off anyway. different Mongol leaders. Results the same.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Will Meza
- 2021-01-13
Well worth the time
This is one of the longer courses I have listened too and I got to say I loved it. Very in-depth and good information I didn’t know. A through summary of the people. I particularly liked how he broke up the empire into each section and gave it a good analysis. Also the follow up at the end was very good. Benjamin is a good lecturer and thus easy to listen too. Would get another course from him.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2020-09-22
Well Done.
An excellent study of the history and the impact of the Mongols. It is a good narrative, and thought provoking. This study also provides different points of views from modern historians, and people who lived at the time. I found the course lively, entertaining, and mind expanding. Well done!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- McKinley Fraser
- 2023-04-13
Foundation of the modern world
If you want to see how Asia and Europe shaped the 21st century. It all started with the Mongles.. enjoy
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- James
- 2023-02-03
Not very good.
The author is pretty annoying to listen to. I listened for about 2 hours and it never got to the part about Mongol history, but was still setting the stage. He also takes a chronological approach rather than topical. This might work, but the professor covers 2000 years of Eurasian and European history, making it a real drag to listen to as we get lost in the alphabet soup of names and places. I think I’ll look for another book.
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