Book Review : The Horde by Marie Favereau

As the title suggests this is a book about The Horde.

The Horde was the great nomadic, equestrian regime born from the Mongol expansion of the thirteenth century that ruled almost all of today’s Russia. Indeed, The Horde was the most enduring of those regimes descended from the Mongol conquerors. Far more has been written about the Ilkhanids, the Mongol rulers of the Middle East and the Yuan dynasty of China.

This book helps set this record straight. The Horde began in the thirteenth Century and the key element of their history is the inheritance of Jochi, Chinggis Khan’s eldest son. He was entrusted with the conquest of the steppes of Central Asia. After Jochi slighted his father and was stripped of his prioriry to the throne, Jochi died but his sons and soldiers moved to an area between The Black Sea and the Volga-Ural region and set up their own regime. This regime was wealthy and powerful enough to rule their neighbours and to be autonomous from Mongolia.

The Horde dominated Eurasian trade and so shaped Russia and Central Asia until the sixteenth century. This book not only covers the internal machinations of The Horde but their enduring legacy.