Mongoloids!

Given the length of the work, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, it's almost impossible to come away with your impressions of him unchanged. Weatherford does an excellent job of explaining the changing image of his controversial role in the shaping of history. While praised along with his Mongol companions by contemporary Europeans in the Middle Ages, later his image shifted to that of the cruel asiatic barbarian. Weatherford uses the examples of Chaucer and Robert Bacon, who praised the Great Khan and the Mongols for their implementation of technology and liberal philosophy in the building of a massive land empire. They refer to the Khan's policies of religious toleration, and the practice of incorporating former enemy technology and populace into the protective Mongol fold. His conquests and political centralization made travel routes safer, expanding trade within Asia and linking China with Europe for the first time. This stands in stark contrast with the picture of Genghis Khan the Enlightenment-Era Voltaire gives us, that of the cruel and uncivilized brute jelous of the civilization around him. Perhaps this has much to do with the fact that in the Middle Ages, the cultures of the East were superior to the backwards and backwater kingdoms of Europe. Chinese technology and Muslim medicine far surpassed the superstitions of the West. Eastern armies, such as the highly skilled Mongolian Cavalry, were extremely efficient at building the military and political basis needed for empire. In contrast, the West, still mired in the dark of feudalism and political infighting, marveled at the acomplishments of these asiatic peoples. Fast forward to Voltaire's age, the 18th century, and the situation has completely reversed. The great Ottoman Empire is facing a rapid decline, Imperial China is beginning to falter under Western influence, and the nation-states of Europe have far surpassed the East both militarily and economicaly. Europe was no longer the backwater, but the center of the World and its trade. This is perhaps a reason for the shift in outlook towards the Great Khan, who had subjugated more people in less time than any in history with warriors and vassals that later Europeans would consider barbarians.
Another aspect I found interesting in the work was the fact that Temujin, later Genghis Khan, was able to rise from poverty and slavery to lead an entire band of peoples before he was even twenty years of age. Later before he had even reached middle age he had already subjugated his chief rival Jamuka and united the fledling Mongols into a unified and dangerous power. This is clearly indicative of the harsh life of the steppes, which required rigid discipline and constant vigilance, creating a man out of a boy in no time at all. It's difficult to imagine how fast people were forced to grow up and assume responsibility in the past when most people today at 20 still live under their parents care. From this you can also infer that the steppe tribes placed a high emphasis on outward masculinity and warrior skills, the attributes needed to survive constant warfare and hardship. Their masculine society treated women as a commodity goods, kidnapping and capturing wives much like the herds with which they staked out their life on the plains. Weatherford explains that the life of the steppes revolved around a constant cycle of raiding and recovery, a process the young Khan tried in vain to escape with his love Borte. Using the personal setbacks in his life to give him strength, he was able to unite the peoples of the steppe and break the cycle that had taken so much from him in his youth. Much can be gained from a study of this extraordinary man and the empire he built starting with a felt tent in a Mongolian marshland. If your personal image of the Khan still falls in line with Voltaire's, you still have alot of evidence to back up your stance. Despite this his acomplishments and those of his descendents who ruled China (Yuan), India (Mughal) and Persia for centuries, are worth the awe that inspired Medieval Europe to later take up its place in the World.
For Credit.