Barbarians at the wall : the first nomadic empire and the making of China John Man

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : a new broom sweeps the Chinese skies -- pt. 1. Rise -- Mastering the Steppes -- Into Ordos -- The growing threat of a unified China -- Meng Tian and the straight road -- pt. 2. Peak -- The first empire of the Steppes -- The grand historian's hidden agenda -- A phoney peace, a phoney war -- The war, the wall and the way west -- pt. 3. Collapse -- Decline and fall -- Princesses for peace -- The shock of surrender -- A crisis, a revival and the end of the Xiongnu -- From Xiongnu to hun, possibly -- Epilogue : a lasting legacy.

The people of the first nomadic empire left no written records, but from 200 BC they dominated the heart of Asia for 400 years. They changed the world. The Mongols, today's descendants of Genghis Khan, see them as ancestors. Their rise cemented Chinese unity and inspired the first Great Wall. Their heirs under Attila the Hun helped destroy the Roman Empire. We don't know what language they spoke, but they became known as Xiongnu, or Hunnu, a term passed down the centuries and across Eurasia, enduring today in shortened form as 'Hun'. Outside Asia precious little is known of their rich history, but new evidence reframes our understanding of the indelible mark they left on a vast region stretching from Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia deep into China. Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, Emperors and Barbarians traces their epic story, and shows how the nomadic cultures of the steppes gave birth to a 'barbarian empire' with the wealth and power to threaten the civilised order of the ancient world.