The Mongol Invasion (trilogy)

The Mongol Invasion is a trilogy of historical novels by Soviet writer Vasily Yan that explores the Mongol conquests, including the Mongol conquest of Central Asia and their Western campaign, as well as the resistance of the peoples living in Central Asia and Eastern Europe during the early 13th century. This trilogy is considered the author's most renowned work and comprises the novels "Genghis Khan" (1939), "Batu" (1942), and "To the "Last Sea" (1955). Vasily Yan developed an interest in Genghis Khan's conquests while serving in the Transcaspian region in the early 20th century. He had been inspired to write about the subject after having a dream in which Genghis Khan tried to defeat him. In 1934, Maxim Gorky recommended Yan to the publishing house Young Guard, which then commissioned him to write a story about Genghis Khan. Yan had already been fascinated by the theme for some time, and the commission gave him the opportunity to write about it. Although the project was undertaken in 1934, it was not until 1939 that the story was finally published, due to various delays. By February 1940, the manuscript for "Batu", the eagerly awaited sequel, had reached the austere halls of Goslitizdat. Two months later, Yan presented "Invasion of Batu", a children's adaptation, to Detgiz. In 1941, the storm clouds of the Great Patriotic War gathered, and Yan's chronicles of conquest and resistance became relevant. On July 21, 1941, Vasily Yan was formally inducted into the Union of Soviet Writers. Alexander Fadeev championed Yan, and he was awarded the prestigious Stalin Prize of the first degree that same year. During the Great Patriotic War, Yan continued working on his project while he was evacuated to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. After his return to Moscow, Literaturnaya Gazeta announced the impending arrival of his third book, "The Golden Horde and Alexander the Restless", on April 22, 1945. Excerpts had been published in leading publications, stoking anticipation for the work. However, the path to publication was not smooth. Although Yan had delivered the manuscript to Goslitizdat by the close of 1948, it encountered resistance from scholars, namely Artemiy Artsikhovsky and Alexei Yugov, prompting significant revisions. The novel was eventually split in two and published posthumously in 1955. The books comprising the trilogy have garnered numerous positive reviews from scholars specializing in the history of Russia, medievalists, and Orientalists, as well as critics and literary critics. As a result, they have gained significant popularity and are consistently reprinted.