Was climate change responsible for the Mongol hordes?

Washington Post: Was climate change responsible for the Mongol hordes? First scientists told us that a "distinct drying' during the third century might have encouraged the fall of the Roman Empire, prompting critics to decry the idea as the "latest global warming scare tactic.' Now the journal Science is highlighting similar speculations that wet and warm conditions in the central Asian steppe in the 13th century help explain the exceptionally rapid expansion of the imfamously cruel Mongols under Genghis Khan....

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/was-climate-change-responsible-for-the-mongol-hordes/2012/09/28/33405d1c-0994-11e2-858a-5311df86ab04_blog.html