Many of these invasions repeated the earlier large-scale slaughters of local populations. [53], Using his rival Nilga Senggum's temporary refuge in Western Xia as a pretext, Temujin launched a raid against the state in 1205 in the Edsin region. He was also ruthless, demonstrated by his tactic of measuring against the linchpin, used against the tribes led by Jamukha. "[51][52], During the 1206 political rise of Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire created by Genghis Khan and his allies shared its western borders with the of the Tangut Western Xia dynasty. Need a story investigated? The Mongols learned from captives of the abundant green pastures beyond the Bulgar territory, allowing for the planning for conquest of Hungary and Europe. He seemed to be a quick student, adopting new technologies and ideas that he encountered, such as siege warfare from the Chinese. [31], For the next several years, the family lived in poverty, surviving mostly on wild fruits, ox carcasses, marmots, and other small game killed by Temjin and his brothers. In November, Genghis laid siege to the Tangut city Lingzhou and crossed the Yellow River, defeating the Tangut relief army. Not only had the Rus put up strong resistance, but also Jebe with whom Subutai had campaigned for years had been killed just prior to the Battle of Kalka River. Genghis Khan was also portrayed beneficently by early Renaissance sources out of respect for the great spread of culture, technology and ideas along the Silk Road under the Mongol Empire. This page was last edited on 9 July 2022, at 08:01. He is credited with introducing the Mongolian script and creating the first written Mongolian code of law, in the form of the Yassa. [32], Later, in a raid around 1177, Temjin was captured by his father's former allies, the Tayichi'ud, enslaved and, reportedly, humiliated by being shacked in a cangue (a form of portable stocks). So excellent a lord in all things. Under the suggestion of Subutai, the Mongol army was split into two forces. The famous cavalry expedition led by Subutai and Jebe, in which they encircled the entire Caspian Sea defeating all armies in their path, remains unparalleled to this day, and word of the Mongol triumphs began to trickle to other nations, particularly in Europe. His son Jochi led the first division into the northeast of Khwarazmia. [34] The escape earned Temjin a reputation. Therefore, Genghis sent only two tumen (20,000 soldiers) against Kuchlug, under his younger general, Jebe, known as "The Arrow". In 1225 both divisions returned to Mongolia. The assault on Urgench proved to be the most difficult battle of the Mongol invasion and the city fell only after the defenders put up a stout defense, fighting block for block. [88] In 1962, the erection of a monument at his birthplace and a conference held in commemoration of his 800th birthday led to criticism from the Soviet Union and the dismissal of secretary Tmr-Ochir of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee. Mongolian casualties were higher than normal, due to the unaccustomed difficulty of adapting Mongolian tactics to city fighting. [118], The only individuals to have recorded Genghis Khan's physical appearance during his lifetime were the Persian chronicler Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani and Chinese diplomat Zhao Hong. After several battles, Jamukha was turned over to Genghis Khan by his own men in 1205. [77] The Mongol Empire was one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse empires in history, as befitted its size. She also supposedly ordered that every dog, cat and any other animals in the city by slaughtered, "so that no living thing would survive the murder of her husband". There were tax exemptions for religious figures and, to some extent, teachers and doctors. [125] 14th century Arabic historian Shihab al-Umari also disputed Rashid al-Din's translation and claimed Alan Gua falsified the origin of her clan. Genghis Khan[note 3] (born Temjin;[note 1] c.1162 August 25, 1227)[2] was the founder and first Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He launched campaigns against the Qara Khitai, Khwarezmia, the Western Xia and Jin dynasty during his life, and his generals raided into medieval Georgia, Circassia, the Kievan Rus', and Volga Bulgaria. [23] Accepting a birth in 1155, for instance, would render Genghis Khan a father at the age of 30 and would imply that he personally commanded the expedition against the Tanguts at the age of 72. Next, Genghis Khan besieged the city of Bukhara. "[14], With the capture of Bukhara, the way was clear for the Mongols to advance on the capital of Samarkand, which possessed significantly better fortifications and a larger garrison compared to Bukhara. Accounts of Genghis Khan's life are marked by claims of a series of betrayals and conspiracies.
[36] These women were often queens or princesses that were taken captive from the territories he conquered or gifted to him by allies, vassals or other tribal acquaintances. [106] A number of present-day Iranian historians, including Zabih Allah Safa, have likewise viewed the period initiated by Genghis Khan as a uniquely catastrophic era. Threatened by this rise, Jamukha attacked Temujin in 1187 with an army of 30,000 troops. [42][43] However, Jamukha horrified and alienated potential followers by boiling 70 young male captives alive in cauldrons. This forced the Jin ruler, Emperor Xuanzong, to move his capital south to Kaifeng, abandoning the northern half of his empire to the Mongols. [33] Over time, Temjin's older half-brother Behter began to exercise power as the eldest male in the family,[32] creating tension in the family that boiled over during one hunting excursion by the men of the family and resulted in the death of Behter at the hands of Temjin and his brother Qasar. Genghis Khan decided to conquer the Qara Khitai and defeat Kuchlug, possibly to take him out of power. Now the Mongols want a new trial and say their former president, David Santillan, was a confidential informant for the ATF. By invading Western Xia, Temujin would gain a tribute-paying vassal, and also would take control of caravan routes along the Silk Road and provide the Mongols with valuable revenue. After conquering his way steadily through the Alchi Tatars, Keraites, and Uhaz Merkits and acquiring at least one wife each time, Temjin turned to the next threat on the steppe, the Turkic Naimans under the leadership of Tayang Khan with whom Jamukha and his followers took refuge. With such a small force, the invading Mongols were forced to change strategies and resort to inciting internal revolt among Kuchlug's supporters, leaving the Qara Khitai more vulnerable to Mongol conquest.
Kuchlug, the deposed Khan of the Naiman confederation that Temjin defeated and folded into his Mongol Empire, fled west and usurped the khanate of Qara Khitai (also known as the Western Liao, as it was originally established as remnants of the Liao dynasty). He consulted Buddhist monks (including the Zen monk Haiyun), Muslims, Christian missionaries, and the Taoist monk Qiu Chuji. [23] The 1162 date has meanwhile been attested by various sources, including a 1992 study of the Mongol calendar commissioned by UNESCO that suggested the specific date of 1 May 1162. It resulted in peace between previously warring tribes, and a single political and military force. [9] Genghis Khan and his story of conquest have a fearsome reputation in local histories. However according to Richard von Glahn, a historian of Chinese economics, China's population only fell by 15% to a third from 1340 to 1370 and there is "a conspicuous lack of evidence for pandemic disease on the scale of the Black Death in China at this time. Another standard tactic of the Mongol military was the commonly practiced feigned retreat to break enemy formations and to lure small enemy groups away from the larger group and defended position for ambush and counterattack. Genghis Khan became a symbol of national identity for many younger Mongolians, who maintain that the historical records written by non-Mongolians are unfairly biased against Genghis Khan and that his butchery is exaggerated, while his positive role is underrated. [101] Equally, while Genghis never conquered all of China, his grandson Kublai Khan, by completing that conquest and establishing the Yuan dynasty, is often credited with re-uniting China, and there is a great deal of Chinese artwork and literature praising Genghis as a military leader and political genius. At a Khuruldai, a council of Mongol chiefs, Genghis Khan was acknowledged as Khan of the consolidated tribes and took the new title "Genghis Khan". He left a commander and number of troops in China, designated his successors to be his family members and likely appointed gedei to be his immediate successor and then went out to Khwarazmia. [23] The Secret History of the Mongols relates that Temlin was an infant during the attack by the Merkits, when a birth date of 1155 would have made him 18 years old. Chu'Tsai responded that his father served the Jin dynasty honestly and so did he; also he did not consider his own father his enemy, so the question of revenge did not apply. [29][30] While heading home, his father ran into the neighboring Tatars, who had long been Mongol enemies, and they offered his father food under the guise of hospitality, but which instead poisoned him. Jamukha refused the offer, saying that there can only be one sun in the sky, and he asked for a noble death. Kuchlug fled again, but was soon hunted down by Jebe's army and executed.
Some historians have estimated that Iran's population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century. [90] The population of north China decreased from 50million in the 1195 census to 8.5million in the Mongol census of 123536; however, many were victims of plague. [102], The conquests and leadership of Genghis Khan included widespread devastation and mass murder. The Shah's army was split by diverse internecine feuds and by the Shah's decision to divide his army into small groups concentrated in various cities. Genghis Khan and his family and commanders invested in the caravan gold, silver, silk, various kinds of textiles and fabrics and pelts to trade with the Muslim traders in the Khwarazmian lands. According to the Persian historian Ata-Malik Juvayni, the people of Samarkand were then ordered to evacuate and assemble in a plain outside the city, where they were killed and pyramids of severed heads raised as a symbol of victory. Genghis Khan recalled Subutai back to Mongolia soon afterwards. The Mongols defeated the kingdom of Georgia, sacked the Genoese trade-fortress of Caffa in Crimea and overwintered near the Black Sea. By tradition, the youngest son inherits his father's property. [53] Following the death of the Keraites leader Ong Khan to Temujin's emerging Mongol Empire in 1203, Keriat leader Nilqa Senggum led a small band of followers into Western Xia before later being expelled from Western Xia territory. Klg Khan later expanded Genghis Khan's title to Emperor Fatian Qiyun Shengwu (Chinese: ). In the early 12th century, the Central Asian plateau north of China was divided into several prominent tribal confederations, including Naimans, Merkits, Tatars, Khamag Mongols, and Keraites, that were often unfriendly towards each other, as evidenced by random raids, revenge attacks, and plundering. Ma Jianlong later died from wounds received from arrows in battle. Soon, Jelme and Bo'orchu joined forces with him, and they and the guard's son Chilaun eventually became generals of Genghis Khan.[35]. [53], Though militarily inferior to the neighboring Jin, the Western Xia still exerted a significant influence upon the adjacent northern steppes. Genghis Khan left behind an army of more than 129,000 men; 28,000 were given to his various brothers and his sons. Tolui, his youngest son, inherited more than 100,000 men. "[106] Ibn al-Athir, Ata-Malik Juvaini, Seraj al-Din Jozjani, and Rashid al-Din Fazl-Allah Hamedani, Iranian historians from the time of Mongol occupation, describe the Mongol invasions as a catastrophe never before seen. According to the Secret History of the Mongols, the chieftains of the conquered tribes pledged to Genghis Khan by proclaiming: "We will make you Khan; you shall ride at our head, against our foes. Genghis Khan dedicated special attention to this in order to speed up the gathering of military intelligence and official communications. The name Temjin is also equated with the Turco-Mongol temri(n), "blacksmith", and there existed a tradition that viewed Genghis Khan as a smith, according to Paul Pelliot, which, though unfounded, was well established by the middle of the 13th century.[17]. Bukhara was not heavily fortified, with just a moat and a single wall, and the citadel typical of Khwarazmian cities. Demography: Analysis and Synthesis, Four Volume Set: A Treatise in Population, "Trauma Hypothesis: The enduring legacy of the Mongol Catastrophe on the Political, Social and Scientific History of Iran", "Portraits of Emperors T'ai-tsu (Chinggis Khan), Shih-tsu (Khubilai Khan), and Wen-tsung (Tegtemur)", "Portraits of Emperors Taizu (Genghis Khan), Shizu (Kublai Khan), and Wenzong (Tegtemur)", "Molecular Genealogy of a Mongol Queen's Family and Her Possible Kinship with Genghis Khan", "The Circulation of Military Technology in the Mongolian Empire", "Business | Genghis Khan may get protection", "Mongolia to celebrate the birthday of Great Chinggis Khaan", "In Ufa held the premiere of 'White Cloud of Genghis Khan' Chingiz Aitmatov", "Mongolian Folk-Rockers The Hu Release Video For 'The Great Chinggis Khaan,' Ready Album, U.S. Tour", "Validation by Holiness or Sovereignty: Religious Toleration as Political Theology in the Mongol World Empire of the Thirteenth Century", "Chapter 4: The Economic Role of Mongol Women: Continuity and Transformation from Mongolia to Iran", "Distribution of the male lineages of Genghis Khan's descendants in northern Eurasian populations", "The Mongol Khans and Chinese Buddhism and Taoism", UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, "Heirs to Discord: The Supratribal Aspirations of Jamukha, Toghrul, and Temjin", List of conflicts in Europe during Turco-Mongol rule, List of conflicts in Eastern Europe during Turco-Mongol rule, Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genghis_Khan&oldid=1097196616, Articles containing Mongolian-language text, Articles containing Middle Mongolian-language text, Articles containing traditional Chinese-language text, Articles containing simplified Chinese-language text, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2021, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2021, Articles containing Middle English (1100-1500)-language text, Articles with disputed statements from January 2022, Articles lacking reliable references from January 2022, Articles with failed verification from January 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2020, Articles with failed verification from August 2021, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Pages using Sister project links with default search, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. After the fortress fell, Genghis executed every soldier that had taken arms against him. [116] According to sinologist Herbert Allen Giles, a Mongol painter known as Ho-li-hosun (also known as Khorisun or Qooriqosun) was commissioned by Kublai Khan in 1278 to paint the National Palace Museum portrait. [16], According to the Secret History, Genghis Khan's birth name Temjin (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Timzhn) came from the Tatar chief Temjin-ge whom his father had just captured. Temjin was to live there serving the head of the household Dai Setsen until the marriageable age of 12. At the Battle of Kalka River in 1223, Subutai's forces defeated the larger Kievan force. [89], There are conflicting views of Genghis Khan in China, which suffered a drastic decline in population. It was certainly very successful ethnocide. For other uses, see, Genghis Khan as portrayed in a 14th-century, Uniting the Mongol confederations, 11841206, Georgia, Crimea, Kievan Rus and Volga Bulgaria, Historians of the Mongol empire generally prefer the spelling. The Mongols Motorcycle Club was convicted in late 2018 of racketeering and conspiracy. Religious tolerance was thus a well established concept on the Asian steppe. [citation needed]. "[109], Although the famous Mughal emperors were proud descendants of Genghis Khan and particularly Timur, they clearly distanced themselves from the Mongol atrocities committed against the Khwarizim Shahs, Turks, Persians, the citizens of Baghdad and Damascus, Nishapur, Bukhara and historical figures such as Attar of Nishapur and many other notable Muslims. The Mongol army under Genghis Khan, generals and his sons crossed the Tien Shan mountains by entering the area controlled by the Khwarazmian Empire. A guilty verdict in a federal racketeering case may lead to the Mongols motorcycle club in Orange County losing trademarks rights to its logo. The third division under Genghis Khan and Tolui marched to the northwest and attacked Khwarazmia from that direction. With the help of a sympathetic guard, he escaped from the ger (yurt) at night by hiding in a river crevice. [23], Temjin grew up with three brothers, Qasar, Hachiun, and Temge, one sister, Temlen, and two half-brothers, Behter and Belgutei. The custom was to die without spilling blood, specifically by having one's back broken. To overcome the city, the Mongols engaged in intensive psychological warfare, including the use of captured Khwarazmian prisoners as body shields. The second division under Jebe marched secretly to the southeast part of Khwarazmia to form, with the first division, a pincer attack on Samarkand. [91][dubious discuss][bettersourceneeded] Northern China was also struck by floods and famine long after the war in northern China was over in 1234 and not killed by Mongols. [63], Juvayni's account of mass killings at these sites is not corroborated by modern archaeology. Temjin began his ascent to power by offering himself as an ally (or, according to other sources, a vassal) to his father's anda (sworn brother or blood brother) Toghrul, who was Khan of the Keraites. [41] Following his earlier defeat of the Merkits, and a proclamation by the shaman Kokochu that the Eternal Blue Sky had set aside the world for Temjin, Temjin began rising to power. [53] The next year, in 1206, Temujin was formally proclaimed Genghis Khan, ruler of all the Mongols, marking the official start of the Mongol Empire, and the same year Emperor Huanzong of the Western Xia was deposed by Li Anquan in a coup d'tat. These two campaigns are generally regarded as reconnaissance campaigns that tried to get the feel of the political and cultural elements of the regions. Who in his time was of so great renown, [100] Ethnic Han and Khitan soldiers defected en masse to Genghis Khan against the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. The part of the Merkit clan that sided with the Naimans were defeated by Subutai, who was by then a member of Genghis Khan's personal guard and later became one of Genghis Khan's most successful commanders. Genghis Khan, after conquering Deshun, went to Liupanshan (Qingshui County, Gansu Province) to escape the severe summer. There is no historical record except a short account by the Arab historian Ibn al-Athir, writing in Mosul some 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) away from the event. [71] Later Mongol chronicles connect Genghis's death with a Western Xia princess taken as war booty. In Hebei province alone, 9 out of 10 were killed by the Black Death when Toghon Temr was enthroned in 1333. By 1351, two out of three people in China had died of the plague, helping to spur armed rebellion,[93][failed verification] most notably in the form of the Red Turban Rebellions. Genghis told Chu'Tsai, who was a lineal descendant of Khitan rulers, that he had avenged Chu'Tsai's forefathers. [126] Some Historians such as Denise Aigle claimed that Rashid al-Din mythicized the origin of Genghis Khan ancestors (the Borjigin clan) through his own interpretations of The Secret History of the Mongols. [37] Genghis Khan's principal or most famous wives and concubines included: Brte, Yesugen, Yesui, Khulan khatun, Mge Khatun, Juerbiesu and Ibaqa Beki.
