Part 1: The Mongol Awakening: Empire, Bloodshed, and History’s Brutal Echo

Before they conquered half the known world, the Mongols were just ruthless survivors scraping through the brutal chaos of the Central Asian steppe. In Part 1 of our series, we dive deep into the raw, violent birth of the Mongol Empire — and draw some uncomfortable parallels to America’s genocide of Native peoples and the theft of their land. Different players, same bloody game.
History doesn’t repeat — it mutates, and it sure as hell leaves scars.

Sources and Credits:

Primary Sources:

• The Secret History of the Mongols (anonymous; translated by Igor de Rachewiltz)

• Rashid al-Din's Compendium of Chronicles

• Ibn Battuta’s Travels (Full text here)

• William of Rubruck’s The Journey of William of Rubruck

• Marco Polo’s The Travels

• Juvayni’s The History of the World Conqueror

Scholarly Books:

• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World — Jack Weatherford

• The Mongol Art of War — Timothy May

• The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion — Peter Jackson

• The Mongols — David Morgan

• The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia — René Grousset

• The History of the Mongol Conquests — J.J. Saunders

• Nomads and the Outside World — Anatoly Khazanov

• Daily Life in the Mongol Empire — George Lane

• The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction — Morris Rossabi

• Chinggis Khan: World Conqueror — Jean-Paul Roux

• The Mongol Empire — Michael Prawdin

Academic Papers & Essays:

• Mongol Siege Warfare: The Development of a Siege Tradition — John Masson Smith Jr.

• The Impact of the Mongol Invasions on the Islamic World — Devin DeWeese

• Genghis Khan's Legacy: The Rise of the Pax Mongolica — Morris Rossabi

• The Environmental Impact of the Mongol Conquests — Nicola Di Cosmo

• The Mongols and the Silk Road — Thomas Allsen

• The Mongol Transformation of Eurasia — Reuven Amitai

Documentaries, Series, Lectures:

• Mongol (2007 film)

• Genghis Khan — BBC Documentary (narrated by Kenneth Branagh)

• The Mongol Empire — The Great Courses (Prof. Kenneth W. Harl)

• Crash Course World History: "Wait For It... The Mongols!"

• Hardcore History: "Wrath of the Khans" — Dan Carlin

• YaleCourses: "The Early Modern World" — Lectures available free on YouTube

Bonus Deep Cuts for Unhinged Rants:

• The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe — James Chambers

• In the Empire of Genghis Khan: A Journey Among Nomads — Stanley Stewart

• The World Until Yesterday — Jared Diamond

• Collapse — Jared Diamond

Maps & Atlases:

• Historical Atlas of Central Asia — Yuri Bregel

• The Penguin Atlas of World History, Volume 1 — Hermann Kinder and Werner Hilgemann

Audio and Visual Credits:

• Mongolia stock footage from Vecteezy