Veteran author Thomas J. Craughwell reveals the fascinating tales of how the barbarian rampages across Europe, North Africa, and Asia—killing, plundering, and destroying whole kingdoms and empires—actually created the modern nations of England, France, Russia, and China. Moscow, Dublin, and Delhi are international centers of government, commerce, and culture because of the barbarians. The book’s 19 chapters are filled with more than 100 archival illustrations gathered from around the world—maps, old world paintings, and engravings—and each chapter provides readers with timelines of important events.

How did the devastating invasions of these merciless rapists, killers, looters, destroyers of great cities, and ravagers of the countryside set off a string of events that resulted in the world we know today? Craughwell explores the reasons behind the attacks and the motivations of the barbarian kings and chieftains. He explains how coarse, violent men could bring down the Roman Empire, but also safeguard the Silk Road, create an Asian superpower we know as China, and in the process, change the world forever.