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From his humble beginnings in a small warrior tribe, Genghis Khan became the most influential and feared man in all of
Asia.
Genghis Khan (Mongolian: Чингис Хаан), also spelled Jenghis Khan, Jinghis Khan, Chinghiz Khan, Changaiz Khan, etc., original name Temüjin, also spelled Temuchin, (c. 1155/1162/1167 - August 18, 1227) was a Mongol khan and military leader who unified the Mongol tribes and then founded the Mongol Empire by conquering large portions of Asia, including north China (the Jin Empire), Western Xia, Central Asia, Persia, and Mongolia. His successors would expand Mongol dominions into the largest empire in human history. He was the grandfather of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty in China.
Early life
Genghis was born by the name of Temüjin sometime between 1162 and 1167, the first son of Yesügei, a tribal chief of the Kiyad (singular: Kiyan). Yesügei's clan is called Borjigin (plural: Borjigid). He was named after a defeated rival chief.
Temüjin's early life was a most difficult one. Whilst still a boy, his father was murdered by the neighboring Tartars in 1175, and Temüjin was inducted as the clan's chief. His clan abandoned him and his family, refusing to be led by a mere boy. For the next few years, he and his family lived the way of life of poor nomads, surviving primarily off of rodents. In one instance he slew his half-brother in a temper. In another, Temüjin was captured in a raid by a rival tribe and held captive with a wooden collar around his neck. He later escaped with some assistance from a sympathetic captor.
Around the age of 20, Temüjin visited his future wife Borte, and received a black sable coat from her tribe; this was the foundation for his increased wealth from conquest.
Temüjin later married Börte, according to legend rescuing her after she was kidnapped, with many elements of love stories.
Uniting the tribes
Temüjin began his slow ascent to power by allying himself with his father's friend Toghril, a local chief. He traded his coat for an army and joined the Keriat, a confederacy of Mongols led by Wang Khan. After successful campaigns against the Tatars (1202), Temüjin was adopted as Wang Khan's heir. This led to bitterness on the part of Senggum, Wang's former heir, who planned to assassinate Temüjin. Temüjin learned of Senggum's intentions, however, and a large civil war broke out among the Mongols. Eventually Temüjin defeated Senggum and succeeded to the title of Wang Khan. Temüjin created a written code of laws for the Mongols called Yassa, and it was to be followed very strictly.
Temüjin now attacked the other tribes and increased his power. By combining diplomacy, organization, military ability, and brutality, Temüjin finally managed to unite the tribes into a single nation, a monumental feat for the Mongols, who had a long history of internecine dispute.
The term Mongol
Temüjin, later Genghis Khan assigned a symbolic meaning to calling someone "Mongol". It was not uncommon for Temüjin to refere to a person as "Mongol" after he has proven himself worthy. The term was not based exclusively on ethnicity.
Lack of racial bias was one of the key factors that allowed tribes to join under Genghis' banner. He provided strong leadership, unity, and morale along with building sophisticated social and economic system that was the foundation for the latter Khans.
The foundations of an empire
In 1206 Temüjin had successfully united the formerly fragmented tribes of what is now Mongolia, and at a Khurultai/Khuriltai (a council of Mongol chiefs) he was titled "Genghis Khan" (alternate spellings exist; see above) or "Universal Ruler". He could now continue the long Mongol tradition of attacking China with greater success than usual, as he had built up a powerful military machine with unity as support.
As the great Khan, he used the military system of the Huns based on the decimal system, with armies being split into groups of 10, 100, 1000 and finally a tumen (10,000). The army took their families and horses with them, with each rider having 3 or 4 horses, so they always had fresh means of transport.
China
At the time of the Khuriltai, Genghis was involved in a dispute with Western Xia, the first of his wars of conquest, and despite problems in taking well defended Western Xia cities, and by 1209 when peace with Western Xia was made, he had substantially reduced the Western Xia dominion, and was acknowledged by their emperor as overlord.
A major goal of Genghis was the conquest of Jin, both to avenge earlier defeats and to gain the riches of northern China. He declared war in 1211, and at first the pattern of operations against the Jurchen Jin Dynasty was the same as it had been against Western Xia. The Mongols were victorious in the field, but they were frustrated in their efforts to take major cities. In his typically logical and determined fashion, Genghis and his highly developed staff studied the problems of the assault of fortifications. With the help of Chinese engineers, they gradually developed the techniques that eventually would make them the most accomplished and most successful besiegers in the history of warfare.
As a result of a number of overwhelming victories in the field and a few successes in the capture of fortifications deep within China, Genghis had conquered and had consolidated Jin territory as far south as the Great Wall of China by 1213. He then advanced with three armies into the heart of Jin territory, between the Great Wall and the Huang He. He defeated the Jin forces, devastated northern China, captured numerous cities, and in 1215 besieged, captured, and sacked the Jin capital of Yanjing (later known as Beijing). The Jin emperor, Xuan Zong, however, did not surrender, but removed his capital to Kaifeng. There his successors finally were defeated, but not until 1234.
Central Asia
Meanwhile, Kuchlug, the deposed khan of the Naiman Mongols, had fled west and had usurped the state of Kara-Khitan Khanate, the western allies that had decided to side with Genghis. By this time, the Mongol army was exhausted by ten years of continuous campaigning against Western Xia and Jin. Therefore, Genghis sent only two tumen under a brilliant young general, Jebe, against Kuchlug. An internal revolt was incited by Mongol agents; then Jebe overran the country. Kuchlug's forces were defeated west of Kashgar; he was captured and executed, and Kara-Khitan was annexed. By 1218 the Mongol state extended as far west as Lake Balkhash and adjoined Khwarizm, a Muslim state that reached to the Caspian Sea in the west and to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea in the south.
In 1218 Genghis sent some emissaries to an eastern province of Khwarizm to discuss trading issues with the governor. The governor of the province had them killed, and Genghis retaliated with a force of 200,000 troops. The Mongols quickly took the town and executed the governor by pouring molten silver into his ears.
At this point (1219) Genghis decided to extend Mongol dominions into the Muslim world. The Mongol horde methodically marched through Khwarizm's main cities (Bukhara, Samarkand, and Balkh), and the shah, Muhammad, prepared to battle them. However, he was outmaneuvered by the much swifter Mongols and driven into extended retreat. In the end, the shah killed himself when he was cornered and by 1220 the Khwarizmian Empire was eradicated.
Now the Mongol armies split. Genghis led a division on a raid through Afghanistan and northern India, while another contingent led by his general Subotai marched through the Caucasus and Russia. Neither campaign added territory to the empire, but they pillaged settlements and defeated any armies they met in their wake. In 1225 both divisions returned to Mongolia.
These invasions added Transoxiana and Persia to an already formidable empire and established Genghis Khan's reputation as a bloodthirsty warrior. His armies killed, destroyed, and looted seemingly without mercy. They used civilians as human shields and often systematically butchered any survivors after their raids (except for artisans, writers and language specialists).
The final campaign
The vassal emperor of Western Xia had refused to take part in the war against the Khwarizm, and Genghis had vowed punishment. While he was in Iran, Western Xia and Jin had formed an alliance against the Mongols. After rest and a reorganization of his armies, Genghis prepared for war against his foes.
By this time, advancing years had led Genghis to prepare for the future and to assure an orderly succession among his descendants. He selected his third son Ögedei as his successor and established the method of selection of subsequent khans, specifying that they should come from his direct descendants. Meanwhile, he studied intelligence reports from Western Xia and Jin and readied a force of 180,000 troops for a new campaign.
In AD 1226, Genghis Khan attacked the Tanguts (Western Xia) on the pretext that the Tanguts received the Mongols' enemies. In February, Genghis Khan took Heisui City, Gan-zhou and Su-zhou and in autumn, he took Xiliang-fu. A Western Xia general challenged the Mongols for a battle near Helanshan Mountain. (Helan means "great horse" in northern dialect.) The Western Xia armies were defeated. In November, he laid siege to the Tangut city of Ling-zhou and then crossed the Yellow River and defeated the Tangut relief army. Genghis reportedly saw five stars arranged in a line in the sky, which he took to be an omen.
In AD 1227, Genghis Khan attacked the Tanguts' capital, and in February, he took Lintiao-fu. In March, he took Xining prefecture and Xindu-fu. In April, he took Deshun prefecture. At Deshun, the Western Xia General Ma Jianlong resisted the Mongols for days and personally led charges against them outside of the city gate. Ma Jianlong later died of arrow shots. Genghis, after conquering Deshun, went to Liupanshan Mountain (Qingshui County, Gansu Province) for shelter from the severe summer. On the mountain, he stated that he had said one year ago that when five stars converged into one line, the Mongols should not kill people at random and made this a decree.
On his deathbed in 1227, Genghis Khan outlined to his youngest son, Tolui, the plans that later would be used by his successors to complete the destruction of the Jin empire.
His body was returned to Mongolia, the escort killing anyone and anything that strayed across their path on the return trip, so as not to reveal where he was finally laid to rest. At his funeral, 40 maidens were burned to death as an offering to his spirit. The Genghis Khan Mausoleum is his memorial, but not his burial site.
The new Western Xia emperor, being attacked by the Mongols, surrendered to them. The Tanguts officially surrendered in AD 1227, after being in existence for 190 years, from AD 1038 to AD 1227. The Mongols killed the Tangut emperor and his royal family members.
Legacy
Genghis Khan established the Mongol Empire, and his successors were to expand it even further, into south China, Russia, Iraq, Korea, and Tibet. The Mongols also attacked, with varying degrees of success, Poland, Hungary, Syria, Japan, and Vietnam. The empire reached its height under Genghis's grandson Kublai Khan, but broke apart into separate and less powerful khanates shortly afterward. Nevertheless, Genghis's influence would reverberate with the later conquests of Tamerlane and the Moguls.
Because of the extent of his empire, Genghis Khan deeply affected the cultures of many Asian countries, most notably China and Russia. He destroyed the existing aristocracy of every region he controlled, creating a rough meritocracy. He created a wide postal system and spread the use of a universal alphabet, though he for many years was believed to be illiterate due to the estimated recentness of the language, and his age at its implementation. (Recently, however, findings by Chinese and Mongolian academics have shown that Genghis Khan was a highly literate man. A handwritten note was proven to be his, and the contents of the note indicated that he was able to read Taoist sermons [1] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1289618,00.html).) He outlawed torture in his provinces, exempted teachers and doctors from taxes, and established freedom of religion. The Mongols introduced most of Asia to the abacus and the compass. Asia is certainly quite different today than it would have been without the brief Mongol Empire.
Also, Genghis Khan's waging of war was characterized by wholesale destruction on unprecedented scale and radically changed the demographic situation in Asia. According to the works of Iranian historian Rashid-ad-Din Fadl Allah, Mongols have massacred over 700,000 people in Merv and more than a million in Nishapur. China has suffered drastic decline in population: before Mongol invasion, it numbered about 100 million inhabitants; after the complete conquest, 1279, the census in 1300 has shown it to have 60 million people.
In recent times, Genghis Khan has become a symbol for Mongolia's attempts to regain its identity after many long years of Communism. Genghis Khan's face appears on Mongolian banknotes and vodka labels. He is often associated in the Western world with bloodthirstiness and barbarism. In the East, he is considered one of the greatest military leaders. Later Mongol Khans encouraged the people to even worship Genghis Khan as a religious entity throughout the empire.
Movie
The Conqueror
See also
External links
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