Publisher Description

This second volume of "Crusader Warfare" focuses on those non-Christian cultures which were most directly involved in the Crusades.  Centering on the Islamic world, the Mongol "World Empire", its fragmented successor states and certain other non-Christian cultures David Nicolle presents many fascinating aspects of warfare and the historical, cultural and economic background of the Islamic military during a much neglected period.  
In reality the Crusades, and the parallel but separate clash between the Islamic World and the Mongols, resulted from a remarkable variety of political, economic, cultural and religious factors.  These campaigns involved an extraordinary array of states, ruling dynasties, ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups as well as the fighting forces associated with these disparate participants. Much current interest in the Crusades reflects the perceived threat of a so-called "clash of civilisations" and, while warnings of such a supposed clash in our own times are based upon a misunderstanding of the natures of both "Western" and "Islamic" civilisations, certain commentators have looked to the medieval Crusades as an earlier example of such a clash.  Some have even interpreted the "third force" of the Mongols as somehow prefiguring the role of China, Japan or the Far East as a whole in the today's world.

Notes

Subtitled Muslims, Mongols & The Struggle Against The Crusades.

Author Biography

David Nicolle is Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Medieval Studies, Nottingham University. He is the author of over a dozen books on medieval military history.

Table of Contents

 IllustrationsIntroduction1        The Medieval Islamic World2        The Mongols in the West3        The Military Heritage and Impact of Crusading Warfare on the Islamic and Mongol WorldsTerminologyNotesBibliographyIndex

Promotional

This book focuses on cultures which have not been written about in the same depth or to the same degree as those Western European Crusader and Byzantine cultures which form the bulk of the first volume.

Long Description

This second volume of "Crusader Warfare" focuses on those non-Christian cultures which were most directly involved in the Crusades. Centering on the Islamic world, the Mongol "World Empire", its fragmented successor states and certain other non-Christian cultures David Nicolle presents many fascinating aspects of warfare and the historical, cultural and economic background of the Islamic military during a much neglected period. In reality the Crusades, and the parallel but separate clash between the Islamic World and the Mongols, resulted from a remarkable variety of political, economic, cultural and religious factors. These campaigns involved an extraordinary array of states, ruling dynasties, ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups as well as the fighting forces associated with these disparate participants. Much current interest in the Crusades reflects the perceived threat of a so-called "clash of civilisations" and, while warnings of such a supposed clash in our own times are based upon a misunderstanding of the natures of both "Western" and "Islamic" civilisations, certain commentators have looked to the medieval Crusades as an earlier example of such a clash. Some have even interpreted the "third force" of the Mongols as somehow prefiguring the role of China, Japan or the Far East as a whole in the today's world.

Details