The Silk Roads - a new history of the world. Quick Review

Like many of us I absorb history books. Not just military history books but almost any.  Context really improves my appreciation of a game - this book is rich in context.

The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan does just that.  It's range stretches from pre Alexandrian times, through to 9/11 and the current political an economic turmoil.

For me the last few chapters post WW1 were very detailed but the least helpful. Maybe it's an area that I already have some context on, even a period that I have lived through.

The earlier Chapters fascinated me.  The fluctuating relations between Rome, Persia and China.  The shifting sands of religious affiliation and the way in which cultures absorbed and overwhelmed each other.  The issues of trade, against the growth in demand for luxury all help explain why conflicts happened, indeed why peace took hold.

The arrival of Islam and it's spread at a time of economic contraction during the 7th century wars between Persian and the declining Roman Empire.  The construction and wealth of Baghdad. The overlapping of Islam, Christianity, Judaiam and Zoroastrianism spreading deep into a darkened central and Norther Europe.

The spread of the Viking Rus into the area we now call Russian, with their trade in furs slaves (Slavs) and the returning gold, silver, jewels and silks.

The extraordinary reach of the Mongols and the Black Death, the growth of European technical prowess and the new empires of the 1500's.

This is a sweepingly useful book, it helps us understand alliances and wars against the religious, intellectual and economic changes that brought them on.