Genghis Khan. The Great Khan of the Mongol Empire.
Historical Summary
1155 — August 18, 1227
Genghis Khan (Temudgin) was a legendary leader of Mongolian armed forces, one of the most famous conquerors in the history of mankind and a man who managed to unite divided Mongolian tribes and create a colossal empire that can only be compared in terms of size with that of Alexander the Great. Different sources give varied dates for Genghis Khan’s birth, ranging from 1155 to 1167. It is known, however, that he was born in the region of the Baikal Lake, which belonged to Mongolia during this period. According to legend, the boy appeared on the earth with a clot of dried blood in his hand, something that was considered to be a good omen among the Mongols. Genghis Khan himself said that he was the son of the Sky, as his forebear was a gray wolf that had descended to the Earth from the Heavens.
The childhood of the future warrior was spent in the conditions of a continual struggle for power between minor local khans. His father was poisoned by Tartars when Temudgin was just nine years of age. For a long time his family lived in poverty, struggling to provide food for itself in the Mongolian steppe. One day, according to the legend, little Temudgin was kidnapped by Targutai. Instead of killing him, Targutai took him to his nomad camp, chaining him up in wooden stocks. At night, Temudgin noticed that the stocks had been poorly fixed in place and he managed to escape the nomad camp. Targutai hunted the fugitive for several days, but in vain. The only thing that he managed to discover was that all who met Temudgin as he fled were shocked by the fire that burnt in his eyes, so they didn’t block his passage, instead assisting him.
Temudgin managed to subdue several tribal forces which he then used to overcome the Mongolian Merkit people. It was on the Merkits that he first used a tactical approach that would help him to further victories in the future — never leave enemy forces in your rear. He destroyed everyone on the way to his goal. When Temudgin’s forces became so strong that he could take on the seemingly invincible Tartars, the military leader first beat them on the battlefield and then slaughtered any of them taller than the axels on the wheels of his campaign carts.
In 1206, a gathering of the Tartar-Mongols took place on the shore of the Onon River, at which Temudgin was elected supreme ruler of all the united tribes. It was at this meeting that he was named Genghis Khan (literally “Lord of the Universe”). This gathering was a turning point in the history of the Mongols — now they were ready to embark on military campaigns of conquest. A nation had appeared with its solidarity based on a unified leadership, territory and, most importantly, sovereignty. It should be remembered, however, that all of this was the work of Genghis Khan.
One of Genghis Khan’s greatest conquests was the capture of China. Over the course of three years a progressive advance was carried out, and only in 1214 did Genghis Khan temporarily retreat, giving his forces some short respite. In 1215, Beijing was captured. Genghis Khan gave the task of entirely capturing the country to his military commanders, as he headed off further a field — to capture the entire world. The next item on his agenda was Khorezm, the center of oriental culture during this era. The formal grounds for this war were the destruction of a caravan that belonged to Genghis Khan. The campaign against Khorezm was completed in 1223.
Genghis Khan died on August 18, 1227.
Having been born into a small Mongolian tribe, the son of a low level chieftain, he managed to victoriously lead his army from the borders of China to the shores of the Dnepr River. Although the empire that he created would eventually collapse, both as a result of the incompetent administration of the Mongolian leaders that followed him and as a result of objective historical factors, it left a wealth of evidence of its victories over other nations.