Genghis Khan - Feared Warrior and Empire Builder

Genghis Khan - Feared Warrior and Empire Builder

Every day on Polish radio, there is a recording of a trumpeter warning a city of an attack. It stops suddenly and unexpectedly. This is in commemoration of the man who sounded the alarm in Poland’s then capital city, Krakow, when he saw the advancing Mongol army on the horizon. It stops in mid-phrase because an arrow hit him in the throat.

In 1242, there was panic in Europe when the Mongols attacked Poland and Hungary with an army of between 100,000 and 150,000 men. The European powers were totally unprepared and it was only the death of the Great Khan (or Emperor) in Mongolia, causing the invading armies suddenly to retreat, which prevented them from conquering all of Europe.

And this was not the first or last time that the Mongols launched a startling attack. In 1234, they had conquered all of northern China and, in 1279, they would do the same with the southern part of the country. By the time of Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, the Mongol Empire ran from Poland in the west to modern-day Korea in the east; they governed all the land from the Pacific Ocean to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. What’s more, they ruled the two largest empires in the world, the Chinese and the Persian. What was especially unusual was that this huge territory belonged to these nomads for two or three centuries and some parts of it for even longer.

And all this started with Temujin, born in Mongolia in 1162 and later known as Genghis Khan. If we believe the legends, Temujin was born with blood in his hand, a sure sign that he would grow up a brave leader. As he could ride a horse and shoot arrows when he was three, it seemed as if the prophesy of his becoming a powerful warrior would come true but then, when he was eight or nine years old, his father was poisoned by his enemies and the child, his mother and brother were left to look after themselves on the Mongolian hills, away from their tribe which did not want to be ruled by a child.

So, Temujin grew up eating only the small animals he and his brothers could hunt and kill and any fruits they could find in the harsh climate of the region.

Temujin’s reputation began to grow with his estranged tribe when he killed his half-brother while they were out hunting. Their argument was about which weapons belonged to which brother. He was only about ten at the time. Then, in 1177, he was taken prisoner by a tribe that had been his father's allies, but managed to escape with the help of one of the guards who felt sorry for him.

Temujin later rewarded this man by making him a general in his army, but, at the age of fifteen, news of his escape attracted much attention. Temujin’s sense of loyalty to those who served him was already developed.

These were not the only misfortunes that Temujin had to suffer. His mother, Hoelun, had been captured by his father from a tribe called the Merkits before he married her. Although so many years had passed, the Merkits kidnapped Temujin’s young wife, Borte, out of revenge, when he was just sixteen and they had only just married. Although Temujin managed to rescue her, the birth of their first son only nine months later made many people suspicious that the child was not his own. Despite this, Temujin never married a second wife and had three more sons with Borte (although he also had several mistresses). This, of course, was another example of his strong sense of loyalty.

Temujin had a close childhood friendship with a boy called Jamukha from the Mongol tribe of Jadaran, who became a blood brother with Temujin – a bond more important than family in Mongol culture. When Temujin’s wife was kidnapped, Temujin went to an old friend of his father’s and asked his help. This chief’s name was Toghrul and he suggested that Temujin should take some of his men with Jamukha and get his wife back.

This they did and the relationship between Toghrul, Jamukha and Temujin grew stronger and stronger, until Toghrul’s son began to become jealous and persuaded his father to keep Temujin at a distance. Things came to a head when the family refused Temujin’s offer of marriage between his first son and Toghrul’s daughter. Jamukha and Toghrul allied against him and war began.

The reason why Temujin won the wars that followed was that he did not give important positions in his army only to his family but to soldiers who showed bravery and intelligence on the battlefield and were loyal to their leader. Jamukha and Toghrul followed the old Mongol tradition of only rewarding members of their own family and tribe, but Temujin included defeated tribes in his own and even got his mother to adopt some of them as his half-brothers. In short, Temujin was a very popular leader who was seen to be fair and honest to all. Above everything else, he valued loyalty.

When Jamukha was eventually captured in the same year, 1216, as Temujin changed his name to Genghis Khan (or Fierce Leader), it was because his own soldiers betrayed him, thinking that Genghis would reward them. Instead, he had them executed. He offered Jamukha the chance to renew their bonds of blood brotherhood but Jamukha preferred death, saying that, as there could only be one sun in the sky, so there could only be one Mongol lord.

Genghis Khan’s military successes increased as the years went by. There were a number of reasons for this: he established effective communication throughout his empire so that he was always aware of what was going on; and he tolerated the different religious beliefs of those tribes he conquered, saying that nobody could be harshly treated because he was Muslim, Christian or whatever.

Genghis Khan also learnt from his enemies. We can see this clearly when he first attacked towns where people lived permanently. This was a new experience for the nomadic Mongols who lived in tents and moved from place to place. But Genghis Khan soon discovered how to surround cities and win long wars that did not depend on the lightning speed of horsemen and their ability with arrows.

Genghis Khan studied his enemies very carefully as well. When he understood that a ruler did not trust his own men, he would deliberately spread misinformation by sending false letters suggesting treason, so that the ruler no longer knew what to believe. He would also trick his enemies into thinking that he was beaten and run away. As soon as they followed him, he would ambush and defeat them. Although he played this trick again and again so that it became very well-known, it always seemed to work.

So, through loyalty and fair treatment to all, Genghis Khan created the strongest and largest empire the world had ever seen. Most nomadic empires broke up and separated according to tribes when the leader died or soon afterwards. However, this did not happen to Genghis because he behaved equally to everyone. And that is the story of why Genghis Khan is still so famous eight hundred years after his death from a riding accident when he was sixty-five.

But, it leaves unanswered the question of why Genghis Khan is regarded with such fear in Europe even today. We have seen that he ruled with fairness, that he respected others’ religions and that he allowed foreigners to advance in his government and army. However, Genghis Khan would kill all the men in a city or a tribe if they defended themselves and sell all their women and children into slavery.

It was clear to all that if a country defended itself against Genghis Khan, they had to win. Defeat meant death. That is why the great Mongol leader’s name is still linked to fear today.

If you want to watch some videos on this topic, you can click on the links to YouTube videos below.

If you want to answer questions on this article to test how much you understand, you can click on the green box: Finished Reading?

Videos :

1. Mongol Invasion of Europe (5:38)

2. Genghis Khan (8:42)

3. Genghis Khan - the Rivalry of Blood Brothers (9:55)

4. Genghis Khan vs Jamukha (6:52)

5. Genghis Khan the Most Feared Emperor in History (1:59)

6. The Death of Genghis Khan (0:35)