Genghis Khan (1260s 12th century AD – 1227) was a Mongol leader and ruler, known for his conquests and ferocity. Born into a noble family and after assuming power in his clan, he managed to unify all the peoples of the Asian steppe and later attacked and defeated consolidated empires: those of the Xia and of the Jin in China and that Chorasmium in Central Asia. Genghis’ strength lay in his command skills. He created an army equipped with great mobility and discipline and chose his subordinates based on capacity and not to lineage. Genghis, moreover, was expert into instill terror to his enemies to obtain their submission. At his death the Mongols dominated a vast territory, which the successive emperors further expanded, until it became the largest land empire in history. The Mongol Empire, however, it didn’t last long and a few decades after his death Genghis was divided into several political entities.
The Origins and Rise to Power of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan’s real name was Temujin. He was born near the river Ononin the territory of present-day Mongolia, in the 1260s (the exact date is unknown, perhaps 1167). At that time the area was inhabited by ethnic groups and nomadic tribesoften at war with each other. Temujin was the son of a chief of the Borjigin tribe and in 1186 he was elected khan (i.e. sovereign) of the Mongolsone of the Asian ethnic groups. In the following years he led numerous battles against the other ethnic groups, defeating them one after the other, and unified under his dominion all the peoples of Mongolia. In 1206 the assembly of the leaders, the Kiriltaiawarded him the title of Genghis Khanwhich probably means “oceanic emperor”.
The Mongol Expansion to the East
Genghis immediately began to expand its domainsheading towards the territory of present-day Chinawhich at the time was divided into three main states: to the southeast of the Mongol territory was the empire of the Xia; further east there was the Jin Empire and to the south of the latter the territory of the Song Dynasty.
Genghis attacked the Xia already in 1207 and defeated them within three years. He later decided to attack the Jin Empire, but to win he had to face greater difficulties. Until then the Mongols had defeated steppe peoples or poorly fortified states, while the Jin possessed fortresses and walled citiesagainst which the nomadic warriors had no experience. Genghis’ army, however, used prisoners and deserters from the enemy to learn how to use catapults and other siege engines and in 1215 was able to occupy the central capital of the empire, Kaifenglocated where Beijing stands today. All of northern China was in the hands of Genghis and there was no escape for his enemies: the extermination of peoples conquered and the complete destruction of their cities were the norm.
Western Expansion and the Death of Genghis
After China, Genghis turned his attention toAsia centralpartly occupied by a Muslim religious state, theKhwarezmian Empirewhich extended across the territory of several present-day countries: Iran, Afghanistan and others.
The Khan tried to tighten business relations with the empire, but its ambassadors were put to death. War was inevitable: in 1219 the Mongols invaded the empire and in the space of little more than a year they conquered all the cities, including the capital Samarkand.
After the victory, Genghis returned to the East to reach the Xia territorywho had refused to provide him with a contingent of troops and therefore had to be punished. In 1227, while the war with the Xia was going on, Genghis found deathfor reasons that were never fully clarified. His body was taken to Mongolia and buried in an undisclosed location.
The military organization of the Mongols
Genghis’ army consisted mostly of horse archersto which were added the heavy cavalry and few foot soldiers. For example, during the attack on the Khwarezmian Empire, the Mongol army included, according to some sources, 150,000 cavalry and about 10,000 Chinese foot engineers. The large-scale use of cavalry guaranteed the troops great mobility.
The army was organized into formations of ten men, the arbangrouped into larger units, composed of 100, 1000 and 10000 soldiers. The main weapon was thecomposite bowbuilt with wood, horn and animal sinew, which could shoot arrows up to two hundred metres away.
The Reasons for Genghis Khan’s Success
The powerful Mongol expansion was made possible by favorable conditions, because in Asia there were no powers military capable of effectively opposing, and by Genghis’s qualities as a commander. First of all, his army had a rigid discipline. For example, if a soldier deserted, the entire arban to which he belonged was put to death. The desertion rate was consequently close to zero. Genghis, moreover, considered the meritocracy more important than lineage: he assigned command positions based on ability and not on membership in noble families.
Another winning feature was the ability to to appropriate of technologies of the peoples he fought against: not only siege engines, but also gunpowder, which he did not use frequently, however (the gunpowder would later be used on a large scale by his successors).
Finally, Genghis knew how to use a very powerful weapon: the terror. The people he met on his way knew that if they refused to submit, they would be subjected to terrible punishments. The proverbial cruelty of the Mongol hordes was not an end in itself, but was part of a precise strategyaimed at facilitating the surrender of enemies and preventing rebellions.
The Mongol Empire after Genghis
After Genghis’ death, his successors continued their expansion. In the East, they conquered all of China’s territory; in the West they overthrew the Islamic Caliphate of Baghdad and established their dominion over theCentral Asia and on part of Russia. The empire reached its maximum extension at the time of Kublai Khan (1260-1294), a grandson of Genghis, who is also known to have welcomed Marco Polo to his court.
With his 24 million square kilometersthe territory dominated by Kublai was the most vast terrestrial empire that never existed and the second largest empire everpreceded only by the British Empire, which after the First World War reached a total extension of over 35 million km2. For comparison, Italy extends for about 300,000 km2, one eightieth of the Mongol Empire.
The empire, however, it didn’t last long and after Kublai’s death it was divided into four great kingdoms, called khanateswhich were in fact independent of each other.
