Genghis
Khan
Born in 1162, Genghis
Khan was a Mongolian ruler and warrior who created the world’s largest empire,
the Mongol Empire after destroying tribes that lived individually in Northeast
Asia. He married his first wife at the age of 16 and would later marry many other
wives in his lifetime. When he was 20, Genghis started organizing a huge army
of soldiers with the intention of creating a large empire. Even after dying in
1227, his empire continued to last and thrive.
Early
life
Genghis was initially
named ‘Temujin’, a name derived from a Tatar captured by Yesukhei, his father.
The young warrior was of Birijigin tribe. He was the descendant of Khabul Khan,
the man who had succeeded in uniting Mongols albeit briefly against the Chin
Dynasty of China in early 1100s. A contemporary account detailing the history
of Mongol titled Secret History of
Mongols notes that Genghis had been born with his hand having a blood clot.
According to Mongols traditions and folklore, this signified that his destiny
was to become a great leader.
Hoelun, his mother
taught the young Genghis the reality of life in the turbulent Mongol tribe and
why forming alliances was important. At age 9, Genghis was taken by his father
to live with his future bride’s family in Norte. When he was returning home, he
encountered some members of Tatar tribe who were rivals with his tribe and
invited him for a conciliatory meal. They poisoned him in revenge for
transgressions of the past against Tatars. When news about the death of his
father reached him, Genghis returned home to claim the position of clan chief
that his father held previously.
But when Genghis
reached home, the clan didn’t recognize the leadership ability of the young boy
and the family of his brothers was ostracized to almost refugee status. The
family had great pressure and as Genghis disputed with his half brother over
hunting expeditions, he killed him instantly and confirmed his position as the
head of his family. When he was 16, he married Borte and cemented the alliance
that existed between his tribe and Konkirat tribe. Soon after they married, the
Merkit tribe kidnapped his wife and was married off of a chieftain.
Soon after, Genghis
rescued her and she bore him Jochi his first son afterwards. However, the
captivity of Borte by the rival tribe created doubt on the birth of Jochi but
Genghis willingly accepted the son as his child. He had three more sons with
Borte and just as it was the custom of Mongolian, he married other wives and
had more children. But as traditions would have it, on the male children he had
with Borte, his first wife were eligible for succession.
Genghis’
military tactics
By the age of 20,
Genghis was captured by former allies of his family in a raid and was enslaved
temporarily. A sympathetic captor helped him escape and joined hands with other
clansmen and his brothers to form a strong fighting unit. This marked the start
of his ascent to power, albeit slowly and build an army of over 20000 men. His
aim was to bring the different tribes of Mongol under his kingship. To achieve
his goals, he used a combination of merciless brutality and outstanding
military tactics. He decimated Tatar army to avenge the death of his father and
ordered that every male of Tatar tribe with a height exceeding 3 feet to be
killed. He then employed a series of extreme and massive cavalry attacks to
defeat Taichi’ut including boiling Taichi’ut chiefs alive.
In a nutshell, Genghis
was a brilliant and fierce military commander who enjoyed unprecedented success
in battle and set up a great empire that stretched across Asia and Europe. His
fierce Mongol army left behind a trail of destruction, fear and death. However,
he also succeeded in creating a vibrant Mongolian empire with a booming trade,
common language, religion tolerance and some basic laws and customs.
Unification
of Mongolia
Genghis completed his
unification efforts of Mongolia in 1214 after he triumphed and defeated the
seemingly powerful Naiman clan after which he was confirmed as Chingis Khan. Within
a period of five years, Mongols had succeeded in annexing much of modern day
Chinese Xinjiang and Siberia. The Jurched Dynasty that ruled northern China
from modern day Beijing noticed the threat that Mongol Khan posed on them and
demanded that he personally kowtow to the Golden Khan they had. In response to
this, Genghis spat on ground and declared war on them.
In the same year, he
fought and defeated the Tangut, their tributaries and also conquered Jurchens
including their 50 million people. The number of Mongol army at the time was
just 100, 000. He then concentrated his conquest over to the Middle East, the
Caucasus and Central Asia. Many tribes all the way to Kyrgyzstand and
Kazakhstan heard of the tales of Great Genghis and overthrew the Buddhist
rulers who reigned in the area in preparation to joining the now growing
empire. Genghis, by 1219, ruled from Siberia to Tibet border and Northern China
to Afghan border.
Genghis also sought
trade alliances with the Khwarizm Empire which was by then very powerful as
they controlled the entire Central Asia including Black Sea and Afghanistan.
Mohammed II, the sultan of Khwarizm Empire agreed to his request but would
later murder the first trade convoy of Mongol that comprised 450 merchants
after they were found stealing his goods. In retaliation, the now furious
Genghis brought war to the sultan and captured all his cities and added lands
to his realm ranging from Turkey to Russia.
The
‘Oceanic Ruler of Universe’
In 1206, Genghis was
declared the ‘Oceanic Ruler of Universe’ by a council of the loyal Moghul
tribesmen. He received immense backing from three of the strongest tribes in
the region which helped him to unify the different Mongol tribes and formed one
of the most impressive, historical war machines that had ever been assembled.
This kind of unity and loyalty wasn’t common during the era and this enabled
Genghis to be one of the strongest and most powerful warriors to have ever
lived. He had a great ambition of conquering and plundering root and his first
point of focus was the rather powerful Chinese empire.
Genghis succeeded in
capturing the empire’s city and gained the obeisance of Chinese people. With
this success, Genghis was able to focus his attention to the west where he led
his powerful Mongol army deep into Europe and spread destruction and fear all
over. Actually, Genghis wasn’t just determined to kill people but he was
equally interested in accumulating wealth and conquering the land. When a
defeated enemy surrendered, he would accept and employed his consummate skills
for avoiding conflict by just sending emissaries to spread tales of the force
that his war machine would exert if they tried to resist.
People who were loyal
to Genghis had a lot to be thankful about as he also showed great loyalty
towards them as well. Equally, he would fiercely turn on those who resisted his
rule and were disloyal to him. For instance, he undertook a brutal campaign in
Khwarazm for three years and revenged on the civilians living in the area.
Also, Genghis encouraged commerce and trade within his realm and he advised his
army not to attack any merchant especially along the major trading routes that
he controlled. As a result, culture and trade flourished greatly as people were
able to trade and travel safely within Monghul Empire that stretched all the
way from East China to Black Sea. He was also very tolerant to priests and
religious personalities whom he excluded from tax payments.
Death
and Legacy
Ironically, Genghis
died in 1226 after he fell from his horse. Estimates show that nearly 8 percent
of Asians today can have their blood DNA traced to Genghis. Kublai Khan, his
grandson continued and completed the quest that his grandfather had started in
China. However, upon his death, Monghul Empire soon started breaking up among
different factions.
Within Mongolia, he
reformed the traditional law and revolutionalized social structure. He created
an egalitarian society where even the humblest slave had a chance of rising to
power provided he showed Genghis bravery and skill. He divided war booty evenly
among all the warriors in his troop regardless of their social status.
Ironically, unlike most rulers and kings during the era, Genghis had more trust
on his loyal followers than his family members. This was one of the reasons
that stirred up a difficult succession in his old age. Genghis was also known
to forbid his troop from kidnapping women, partly because it made different
Mongol groups to start fighting and partly due to his personal experience when
his wife was kidnapped.
Genghis also granted
freedom of religion and protected rights of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and
Christians. Even though he worshipped the sky himself, he was against the
killing of holy people like mullahs, nuns, priests and monks. He also protected
ambassadors and envoys regardless of the message they brought to his land.
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