William of Rubruck

William of Rubruck

AoSHQ: Morning Report 05.07.26

The Altai band : Jingle Bells (Mongolian version) 🎄

Jingle Bells

AoSHQ: Morning Report 12.22.25

8th October 1480 : The Great Stand on the Ugra River

8th October 1480 : The Great Stand on the Ugra River

AoSHQ: Morning Report 10.08.25

Timur

9 July 1401: Timur destroys Baghdad

AoSHQ: Morning Report 07.09.25

The Altai band : Jingle Bells (Mongolian version)

Jingle Bells

AoSHQ: Morning Report 12.25.24

The HU: Wolf Totem 🐺

The HU

Mongolian folk metal and bikes...what's not to like?

Instapundit: Child attacked by coyote in Huntington Beach, CA

August 14, 1281: Kublai Khan's Fleet Destroyed By Typhoon While He Attempted To Invade Japan

Kublai Kahn's letter to the Japanese Emperor Demanding Surrender

To be fair, Kublai Khan did not have the US Marines. 

The atom bombs helped too. 

Do you think it was a coincidence that Japan's announcement of surrender came just after August 14, 1945?  Especially since Japanese Kamikazi pilots were inspired by the "Divine Wind" Typhoons of 1227 and  1281 that repelled the invading Mongols.    

EBL: Fujiyama Mama, OMD: Enola Gay, and Pixies: Here Comes The Man

Legal Insurrection: Victory over Japan Day

AoSHQ: Morning Report 08.14.19

China's Geography Problem

This is a good video in summing up how geography has influenced China's policy. 

EBL: Tiananmen 30 Years Later, Barbie Hsu 徐熙媛, Mia Sabathy 白彌兒 and Lin Chiling 林志玲

AoSHQ: Morning Report 06.05.19

Mongols vs. Dothraki: Who would be scarier to face?

Leaving the Dragons out of it:  Mongols vs. Dothraki

The history of the Mongols is fascinating and I would strongly recommend the podcast Dan Carlin's Wrath of Khans  Sometimes truth is more impressive than fiction. The podcast was free, but is now $1.99. It is well worth it. Buy Dan a coffee and download the podcast.  

That is a well choreographed scene...

I will give Game of Thrones this, it did a decent job in showing that Dothraki charge and capturing (at least for a few minutes) what a Mongol calvary charge would have been like. The Mongols were expert horse riders (think circus rider experts) who could shoot arrows effectively from the back of a moving horse. The Mongols did not need dragon airpower to win.  

Drogon was very impressive in the Spoils of War

EBL: Which is better?, Game of Thrones as a 1995 TV Show, European Steppes and Wrath of Khans, and Women of Marco Polo Rule 5

Dragon vs. AC 130 Gunship?

Dragon vs. A-10 Warthog?

Watchers on the Wall: Spoils of War Post Mortem and Spoils of War Recap

Laughed abit too much at this #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/RUZboVsF0T

— Zayna🌺 (@zayzay1999) August 7, 2017

I waited 6 seasons for this...#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/l0TGitqah9

— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) August 7, 2017

Atlas Obscura: Moon Cakes and the Mongols

The women of Marco Polo Rule 5

The women of Marco Polo

It got bad reviews and it is definitely not Game of Thrones, but (with acknowledging its flaws) 

I liked Marco Polo.  The writing was a bit flat, but the female actors do shine in this series.

Zhu Zhu as Princess Kokachin

Joan Chen as Empress Chubby

Olivia Cheng as Mei Lin

 Shu An Oon as Jing Fei

Claudia Kim as Khutulun 

Vanessa Vanderstraaten as Sorga

Rule 5 and FMJRA
Instapundit: China Needs More Women!

Eagle Huntress

Great photographs in this slide show…

The Eurasian Steppes and the Wrath of Khans

With Ukraine and Crimea in the news, it is good excuse to look back at history of the region.  

The Eurasian Steppe is like the North American Prairie, only it is around five thousand miles long, stretching from the Hungarian frontier to central China.

Genghis Khan Spring 1206 – August 1227

Wrath of Khans I
Wrath of Khans II
Wrath of Khans III
Wrath of Khans IV
Wrath of Khans V

Update:

Global Warming helped Genghis Kahn?  Funny he used the Russian winter to successfully attack Russia and Poland.  Mongol horses could cross rivers and swamps when frozen.