Genghis Khan

Do you know who the greatest conqueror on Earth is? Is it Julius Caesar? Or maybe it was Napoleon? Maybe it was Remises the Great? The answer is Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan was born approximately in 1167A.D. He was born on the bank of the Onon River in a felt tent. The Onon River is in the Gobi Desert in northern Mongolia. His name was Temujin. He was named after the chieftain of the Tartars who was slain by his Yesugei Temujin’s father. Temujin was said to be holding a blood clot in his hand at birth, which meant great leadership. His father was chieftain of a small Mongolian tribe.

When Temujin turned nine, his father took him to Far East Mongolia to his mother’s tribe, the Konkirat, to find a bride. He chose the ten-year-old chieftain’s daughter Borte. They got engaged, and then his dad left him there so that he could get to know Borte. They didn’t know it, but that would be the last time they would ever see each other again.

On his way back, Yesugei ran into a group of Tartars. The Tartars seemed nice and invited him to their feast. After they started eating, they recognized their old enemy and poisoned his food. Yesugei lived only long enough to get back to his tribe’s camp and tell someone to fetch Temujin home. At that time Temujin was about thirteen years old.

When Temujin got back from Konkirat, the tribe deserted Temujin and his family because the tribe did not want such a young leader. Taichi’ut ended up taking Yesugei’s place as chieftain. The widow tried to get them to come back, but none did. They lived off of roots, berries, fish, and the small game Temujin and his brothers could shoot with bows and arrows. One night his mother told him, “Your only companion is your shadow.”

When Temujin was a young man, Taich’ut attacked the small encampment. Temujin managed to escape to the forest and hide for several days before getting captured. Taich’ut spared his life but kept him in a wooden collar.

One night when his captors were feasting, he escaped and hid in a river. Taich’ut’s tribe formed a search party when they found out. One of the searchers found Temujin, but he befriended him and convinced Taich’ut to put off the search until morning. Meanwhile Temujin ran away.

Shortly after his escape Temujin went back to Konkirat to claim his bride. Borte was given a black sable coat as a wedding gift. Temujin decided to give the coat to the chieftain of a Christian tribe named Toghril. Toghril was also his father’s blood brother. In return Toghril gave Temujin and Borte his protection.

The Merkit, today known as the Buryat Mongolian Autonumous Soviat Socialist Republic, raided the camp and carried off Borte. Temujin asked Toghril and Jamuka, chieftain of a small Mongolian tribe, for their help. Together the three of them were able to defeat the Merkit and rescue Borte. After that Temujin was renamed Genghis Khan, which means “universal ruler”.

In 1196, Toghril was dethroned and put into exile. Thanks to Genghis Khan, Toghril was restored to the throne two years later. In the same year the two rulers united as allies of the Chin against the Tartars. Toghril was rewarded with the Cines title Ong-Khan, Ong means prince.

In 1199, the two leaders undertook a joint expedition against the Naimen, a powerful western Mongolian rival tribe. The battle came to nothing because of Ong-Khan’s treacherous withdrawal. The two rulers still remained allies. At the time Genghis Khan’s former friend, Jamuka was defeating several smaller tribes.

In 1202 Genghis Khan declared a final battle against the Tartars and executed all of that tribe. At that time his relationship with Ong-Khan was slowly decreasing. They engaged in a battle against each other, and Ong-Khan fled west and was captured and slain by his old enemies, the Naimens. Genghis Khan won northeastern Mongolia in result of the battle against Ong-Khan.

Genghis Khan’s empire now stretched from eastern Mongolia to central Mongolia. Jamuka and some of the Merkits joined him against the Naimen. They defeated the Naimen in 1204. Kuchlug, the son of their ruler, fled westward with the Merkit named Tokto’a. Genghis Khan overtook them at the Irytish River in what is now eastern Kazakhstan. Tokto’a continued westward to seek refuge with the Kara-Khitai, descendents of the members of the Liao Dynasty. Jamuka betrayed Genghis Khan too. Genghis Khan caught up with Jamuka and ordered his execution.

In 1206 at an assembly of the Mongol princes, he was proclaimed the supreme Khan. The powerful emperor continued to organize his military force.

In 1211, he attacked northern China. By the end of the year he had overrun all the area north of the Great Wall. By the beginning of 1214 all of China north of the Yellow River was his. They were closing in on China’s capital, Peking. Peking was besieged and defeated in the summer of 1215.

Kuchlug had taken control of the Kara-Khitai. When Genghis Khan found out, he attacked. They chased Kuchlug across the Parmirs into Afghanistan, caught him, and executed him.

Genghis Khan has attacked by Sultan Muhammad, the ruler of Khorezm and Khiva. When Genghis Khan’s ambassadors were murdered at Otrar on the SyrDarya River, the war really broke out. Genghis Khan set out from Mongolia in the spring of 1219 to arrive in Otrar in autumn. He left a small force there to capture the town, and continued westward to battle Bukhara. Bukhara surrendered in the February of 1220.

The Mongols then advanced on Samarkand. Samarkand surrendered easily, too. From Samarkand, Genghis Khan dispatched two of his best generals, Jube and Gubetei, after Sultan Muhammad who had fled to the West. Sultan Muhammad sought refuge on the island in the Caspian, where he died of a broken heart. The generals defeated the Caucasus and an army of Russians and Kipchak Turks before turning back.

In the autumn of 1220 Genghis Khan captured Termez on the Oxus. At the beginning of 1221 he captured the ancient city of Balkh. Soon after that autumn he dispatched his elder sons northward into Khorezm to besiege Muhammad’s capital. Then he sent his youngest son to destroy the heavy populated cities, Merv and Nishapur.

Genghis Khan’s sons rejoined him in the autumn of 1221. They were pursuing the son of Sultan Muhammad, Sultan Jalal-ad-Din. Genghis Khan caught up with Sultan Jala-ad-Din on the bank of the Indus River. Sultan Jalal-ad-Din jumped into the river and escaped.

After he caught up with Sultan Jalal-ad-Din and slain him, Genghis Khan made his way back to Mongolia. He got there in the spring of 1225. In the autumn of 1226 he got into a war with the Tangut. He did not live to see the successful outcome though because he died on August 18, 1227, in his summerhouse, which is in Ch’ing-shui on the Hsi River. When he died, his empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to the border of Korea and from southern Tibet to northern Siberia.

Genghis Khan had a lot of wives and concubines, but it was his first wife, Borte, gave birth to his four most famous sons, Jochi, Jagatai, Ogadia, and Tolui. Jochi’s son, Batu, founded the Golden Horde. Jagatai founded a dynasty in central Asia. Ogadai was Genghis Khan’s designated successor. Tolui’s son was ruler of the Mongol Empire from 1215 to 1259. Kublai, his grandson, founded the Yaun Dynasty in China. Hulago, his other grandson, was the first of the Khans of Persia.

Genghis Khan was truly a great conqueror and a military genius.