The Horde

January 25, 2021
The Mongols were sophisticated state builders who left a lasting mark on Eurasia, according to this eye-opening revisionist study. Favereau (The Golden Horde and the Mamluk Sultanate), a Paris Nanterre University historian, sketches the rise of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan in the 13th century, but focuses on the subordinate territory of the “Golden Horde” under the Batuid dynasty of khans, who ruled over the steppe stretching from Central Asia into Russia and as far as Hungary. She pegs Horde society as a novel form of “nomadic empire” that migrated with its herds but promoted trade, commerce, and economic production among the sedentary peoples it controlled and taxed, using diplomacy as often as violence. Among the world-historical upheavals the Golden Horde facilitated, according to Favereau, were the Black Death and the rise of the modern Russian state dominated by Moscow. The author’s accessible, wide-ranging narrative entwines political and military history with deep dives into everything from the Mongols' monetary reforms to their national beverage of fermented mare’s milk, which, she contends, “strengthens the immune system and treats and prevents typhoid.” Favereau downplays the bloodier aspects of Mongol power, but her detailed exploration of its more constructive side makes this a meaningful corrective to popular misconceptions about Mongols’ role in world history.