Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

World History Ap
Period 5

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Jack Weatherford

Genghis Khan was a very extraordinary man.   When the average person hears his name they often think he was a warlord or a shameless killer but the main thesis is to show the modern contribution he made to today’s society and warfare. He introduced many war tactics that are still used today in modern wars. Instead of a battle line, he used covert ways to get his men into city walls, so no one was alarmed until it was to late. He also collect many different weapons from other regions and created many early forms of weapons that are use today. Although he was swift, cunning and ruthless, he set a state of unity among the areas and cities that he took over.
      The book is a bit bias as a whole; It only speaks of all the great features of Genghis Khans reign and left out some of the really bad aspects. So I feel the author was bias in favor of Genghis Khan and his accomplishments. I think now that Genghis Khan was more justifiable than power thirsty. The events that happen can be seen as a need for greed, however the way the story was written I began to see it as a way to bring Harmony and trade among the Empire.
The main time period in the book is from 1200’s to the mid 1220’s, which is when the Mongols ruled. There is other sub time periods from the 1160’s to the 1190’s, which was his childhood and life until his reign. There are other dates after his death leading up to modern day. Many of the events that happened then have a drastic impact on modern life. The biggest is when the Mongols had a vast empire; though they do not still have the land, they expanded their little region into the country we know today as Mongolia.
Yes I feel that the book discusses the topic a lot in the story but not as much as I would have hoped. Every event is written with such detail that I cannot help but to agree with the topic at hand. That Genghis Khan and...