Military developments in Inner Asia lay at the basis of the rise of a number of Ancient and Early Modern Empires. This is the first scholarly work to embrace Inner Asian military history across a broad spatial and chronological spectrum, from the Turks and Uighurs to the Pechenegs, and from the Mongol invasion of Syria to the Manchu conquest of China. Based on previously unknown and until now underestimated sources, the contributors to this volume explore the context, development, and characteristic features of Inner Asian warfare, making original contributions to our understanding of Asian and world history.

Nicola Di Cosmo teaches early modern Chinese and world history, with a focus on the history of the relations between China and Central Asia from the ancient to the modern period. He specialises in the history and archaeology of northern China in the pre-imperial period, and in Mongol and Manchu history. Recent interests also include the social and cultural aspects of war in early modern East Asia.