GENGHIS KHAN (1162 – 1227) WAS THE WORLD'S GREATEST CONQUEROR CIVILIZED AND INNOVATOR.GENGHIS KHAN AND THE MONGOL EMPIRE THAT CAPTURE HIS LARGER THAN LIFE LEGACY FROM HIS HISTORIC WARS.HE WAS THE LARGEST BRUTAL MONSTER IN WORLD HISTORY,HE KILLED TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

Tribal warfare was a major hindrance on the Mongol tribes, preventing similar people from becoming a larger collective. Neighboring empires like China capitalized on this disunity for their own goals.It wasn’t until a guy by the name of Temujin (soon to be Genghis Khan) was able to unite the tribes, even the Turkic ones, into a growing military threat to the rest of Asia and even Eastern Europe.The Mongol invasion of Europe from the east took place over the course of three centuries, from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.

Genghis Khan was born in Delüün Boldog in 1162. He died in 1227 at the age of 65. According to legend, he was born with a blood clot in his clenched fist, foretelling his emergence as a great leader.Genghis Khan is a name that resonates with all who have heard of his harrowing exploits. History books portray him as a brutal emperor who massacred millions of Asian and Eastern European people. However, he also practiced religious and racial tolerance, and his Mongolian Empire valued the leadership of women. Khan also brought law and civilization to Mongolia and is regarded as a hero in his native land. Western impressions are heavily influenced by negative Persian accounts, whereas Eastern impressions vary.The Mongol Empire (1206–1368) was the largest contiguous land empire in world history (with its only rival in total extent being the British Empire). Founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, it encompassed the majority of the territories from southeast Asia to eastern Europe. Historically the time of Mongol Empire facilitated great cultural exchange and trade between the East, West, and the Middle East during the time between 13th century and 14th century.The rapid expansion of the Mongol Empire was possible as a result of military skill, brilliant political and economic organization, and discipline. It unified large regions, some of which (such as uniting eastern and western Russia, the western parts of China) continue as nations even now. While much of the Mongol culture was integrated with local customs, and the descendants of the empire adopted Islam, the imprint of empire may be in us in other ways - recent genetic tests appear to indicate that one out of every 200 males in Eurasia may be descended from Genghis Khan.At the time of Genghis Khan's death in 1227, the empire was divided among his four sons with his third son as the nominal supreme Khan, but by the 1350s, the khanates were in a state of fracture and had lost the organization of Genghis Khan. Eventually the separate khanates drifted away from each other (e.g. Golden Horde, Yuan Dynasty).Genghis Khan, through political manipulation and military might, united the Mongol tribes under his rule by 1206. He quickly came into conflict with the Jin empire of the Jurchen and the Western Xia in northern China. Under the provocation of the Khwarezmid Empire, he moved into Central Asia as well, devastating Transoxiana and eastern Persia, then raiding into southern Russia and the Caucasus. While engaged in a final war against the Western Xia, Genghis fell ill and died. Through much hard work, Genghis had built an empire that in his mind was the heritage of the imperial house. Before dying, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and immediate family, but as custom made clear, it remained the joint property of the entire imperial family who, along with the Mongol aristocracy, constituted the ruling class.The empire's expansion continued for a generation or more after Genghis's death in 1227 — indeed, it was under Genghis's successor Ögedei Khan that the speed of expansion reached its peak. Mongol armies pushed into Persia, finished off the Xia and the remnants of the Khwarezmids, and came into conflict with the Song Dynasty of China, starting a war that would last until 1279 and that would conclude with the Mongols' successful conquest of China.Then, in the late 1230s, the Mongols under Batu Khan invaded Russia, reducing most of its principalities to vassalage, and pressed on into Eastern Europe. In 1241 the Mongols may have been ready to invade western Europe as well, having defeated the last Polish-German and Hungarian armies at the Battle of Legnica and the Battle of Mohi. However, at this point, news of Ögedei's death led to first the partial suspension of the invasion and then to its effective conclusion as Batu's attention switched to the election of the next Great Khan.During the 1250s, Genghis's grandson Hulegu Khan, operating from the Mongol base in Persia, destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and destroyed the cult of the Assassins, moving into Palestine towards Egypt. The Great Khan Möngke having died, however, he hastened to return for the election, and the force that remained in Palestine was destroyed by the Mamluks under Baibars in 1261 at Ayn Jalut.When Genghis Khan died, a major potential weakness of the system he had set up manifested itself. It took many months to summon the kurultai, as many of its most important members were leading military campaigns thousands of miles from the Mongol heartland. And then it took months more for the kurultai to come to the decision that had been almost inevitable from the start — that Genghis's choice as successor, his third son Ögedei, should indeed become Great Khan. Ögedei was a rather passive ruler and personally self-indulgent, but he was intelligent, charming and a good decision-maker whose authority was respected throughout his reign by apparently stronger-willed relatives and generals whom he had inherited from Genghis.On Ögedei's death in 1241, however, the system started falling apart. Pending a kurultai to elect Ögedei's successor, his widow Toregene Khatun assumed power and proceeded to ensure the election of her son Guyuk by the kurultai. Batu, though, was unwilling to accept Guyuk as Great Khan but without the power in the kurultai to procure his own election. Therefore, while moving no further west, he simultaneously insisted that the situation in Europe was too precarious for him to come east and that he could not accept the result of any kurultai held in his absence. The resulting stalemate lasted four years — in 1246 Batu eventually agreed to send a representative to the kurultai but never acknowledged the resulting election of Guyuk as Great Khan.Guyuk died in 1248, only two years after his election, on his way west apparently to force Batu to acknowledge his authority, and his widow Oghul Ghaymish assumed power pending the meeting of the kurultai. But she could not keep the power. Batu again remained in the west but this time gave his support to his and Guyuk's cousin, Möngke, who was duly elected Great Khan in 1251.It was Möngke Khan who unwittingly provided his brother Kublai with a chance to become Khan in 1260. Möngke assigned Kublai, to a province in North China. Kublai expanded the Mongol empire, and made several good military moves, putting him in the favor of his brother the khan.Later, though, when he began to rule and abide by more Chinese laws, his brother, Möngke, was persuaded by his advisors that Kublai was becoming too Chinese and would become treasonous. After meeting in person and several diplomatic moves on Kublai's part, they were at peace. Möngke kept a closer watch on Kublai from then on until his death campaigning in the west. After his older brother's death, Kublai placed himself in the running for a new khan against his younger brother, and, although his younger brother won one election, Kublai won another, staged in a less traditional place. Kublai was soon known as Kublai Khan.He proved to be a good conqueror, but critics said he dwelt too long in China. When he moved his headquarters to Peking, there was an uprising in the old capital that he barely staunched. He focused mostly on foreign alliances, and opened trade routes. He dined with a large court every day, and met with many ambassadors, foreign merchants, and even offered to convert to Christianity if this religion was proved to be correct by 100 priests.However, as his eyes strayed from the Mongol empire he ruled, the war-ravaged Mongol masterpiece he had worked so hard to expand began to decline, and only his returning attention saved it from a swift fall. Although turmoil always happened when a khan died, even as the empire grew larger, khans were still elected in the traditional manner. The decaying empire sagged when Kublai Khan died, and it rotted through after Kublai's successor failed to maintain the Pax Mongolica policy. After Kublai died in 1294, his heirs failed to maintain the Pax Mongolica and the Silk Road closed. Already during the reign of Kublai Khan, the empire was in the process of splitting into a number of smaller khanates.Inter-family rivalry (compounded by the complicated politics of succession, which twice paralyzed military operations as far off as Hungary and the borders of Egypt, crippling their chances of success) and the tendencies of some of the khans to drink themselves to death fairly young (causing the aforementioned succession crises) hastened the disintegration of the empire.Another factor which contributed to the disintegration was the decline of morale when the capital was moved from Karakorum to modern day Beijing by Kublai Khan, because Kublai Khan associated more with Chinese culture. Kublai concentrated on the war with the Song, assuming the mantle of ruler of China, while the more western khanates gradually drifted away.The four descendant empires were the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty in China, the Chagatai Khanate, the Golden Horde that controlled Central Asia and Russia, and the Ilkhans who ruled Persia from 1256 to 1353. Of the latter, their ruler Ilkhan Ghazan was converted to Islam in 1295 and actively supported the expansion of this religion in his empire.

Mongol invasion of Hungary and Poland,In 1241, the Mongol army marched into Hungary, defeating the Polish and Hungarian armies and forcing the Hungarian king to flee. In 1242, despite meeting no significant military resistance, the Mongols abruptly packed up and left.A cold and snowy winter yielded to a particularly wet spring in Hungary in 1242, according to data from tree rings. As a result, the grasslands of Hungary turned to marsh. The invasion of Hungary happened well after the death of notorious Mongol leader Genghis Khan in 1227. His successor, his son Ogodei, led the Mongols into Russia in 1235 and into Eastern Europe by 1240.

Genghis Khan was tall, had a long beard, and likely sported red hair and green eyes, although he would have looked oriental. This mixing of European and Asian characteristics was quite common in Mongolia at the time.He  founded the Mongol Empire when he united the tribes occupying the Mongol plains. These plains are situated between China and Russia in central Asia.He   accomplished what no other human before him had ever done and what none have done since. Through brutal military force, he amassed one of history's greatest armies and built the largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen.Second only to the British Empire in terms of overall size, Khan's Mongol Empire controlled much of Asia and laid claim to a quarter of the world's population during the 13th century. His conquests not only changed the ancient world .For example, some fairly recent research has suggested that 0.5 percent of men worldwide (about 16 million people at the time of the study) can most likely trace their genetic lineage back to male-line descendants of Genghis Khan.A conqueror of such great power and influence, Genghis Khan was destined to be a leader from birth according to Mongolian folklore. Local tradition holds that the blood clot found in his hand upon his birth  in the mountains of northeast Mongolia circa 1162 — meant that he would become a ruler.Born with the name Temüjin and part of the Borjigin tribe, Khan had a difficult childhood. His father, the tribe's leader, was poisoned when he was just a young boy and the family spent much of his childhood living a nomadic and meager lifestyle without the protection of a tribe.However, this only fueled Khan's quest for power. He soon aligned himself with his father's sworn ally Toghrul, leader of the Keraite tribe confederation. The alliance proved fruitful and the young warrior was able to gather 20,000 fighters and defeat the rival confederacy of Merkit.These early military campaigns allowed Khan to slowly unite the various Mongolian tribes and launch larger campaigns that eventually allowed him to conquer nearly all of Eurasia.Like other conquerors of the ancient world, Genghis Khan (a name he didn't adopt until middle age) was known for his fearsome military tactics and ruthless bloodshed. Entire cities were burned and those left alive were incorporated into the Mongol's growing population.This gave Khan's empire an incredibly diverse population for the time and one that was made up of multiple faiths and skilled artisans of various trades. Without his seemingly unquenchable thirst for expansion of the Mongol Empire, the Silk Road likely would not have been as expansive as it became.Despite his extraordinary influence, the number of verifiable Genghis Khan facts that we know today is still quite small. Depictions of his appearance vary and the uncertain location of his tomb has remained both a point of frustration and intrigue for archaeologists.However, the fact that we only know about small parts of Genghis Khan's life and death is probably what he would have wanted. His soldiers actually went to great lengths to keep his tomb a secret.As these interesting facts about Genghis Khan above show, however, what we do know about him proves that his life was one of monumental impact that the world still feels today.After this look at the most astounding Genghis Khan facts, check out the most interesting facts about Ancient Egypt. Then, read up on Khutulun, Genghis Khan's great-great-granddaughter, and one of history's fiercest warrior princesses. Genghis's mother appears in the traditional Mongol sources as a savior and great heroine. According to the Chinese government: "When Temujin was 9 years old, his father was poisoned by the Tatars. The Boerzhijin clan lost their leader, and Temujin lost his backer. The clansman dispersed one after another, and their properties were ransacked. The family had to make their livings by fishing, mousing, and picking wild fruits. Still, some forces like Taiyichiwu didn't let them pass, and they were afraid that when the Temujin brothers grew up, they would revive their family force, and that would be a threat to their status and interests. Thus, they sent arms to capture Temujin, and wanted to "cut the weeds and dig up the roots" and put an end to the future trouble. Fortunately, Temujin was saved by a kind-hearted man Suoerhanshila, and escaped from danger. In such difficult and dangerous environment, Temujin's family had endured all hardships, but at the same time, his willpower was tempered, and his brave and fearless spirit in fighting was cultivated. Genghis Khan was named Temüjen (meaning "blacksmith") after a Tatar chief his father had just killed. He was born in the 1160s, purportedly with a clot of blood in his hand (a good omen to the Mongols). His officials date of birth is 1162 but estimates of when he was really born vary form 1155 to 1167. Describing the origin of Genghis Khan, Secret History reports, 'There was once a blue-gray wolf who was born with his destiny preordained by Heaven Above. His wife was a fallow doe." The exact location of Genghis Khan's birthplace and his burial place are unknown but we do know that he was raised in the upper regions of the Onon (Orkhon) River, a forested region rich in game. Many Mongolians believe that he was born in a valley called the Gurvan Nuur where there is a spring where he washed and a pine-cloaked mountain where he prayed.Around the time of Genghis Khan's birth, Mongolia was inhabited by 1.5 to 3 million people who were divided among several dozen Turkic- and Mongol-speaking tribes. The same general region is believed to have also given birth to the Huns, Turks and Xiongnu a people that had raided China for centuries.Dadal (350 miles northwest of Ulaan Baatar) is the purported birthplace of Genghis Khan. Also known as Bayan Ovoo, it is a small village in Khentii province surrounded by beautiful forests, mountains and lakes. More than 43 sites associated with Genghis Khan have been identified in the region, including the place where he was crowned and the place he formed his army. Huddu Aral is sometimes described as the home of the “Palace of Genghis Khan." Encircled by the Herlen and Tsenheriin rivers and the Herlen Bayan Ulaan Mountains, it is a grass plain about 30 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide, at an elevation of 1,300 meters. The site of the Ikh Auring (Palace) of Genghis Khan was on this plain according to the Secret Life of the Mongols. The remains of fortifications can be found here.enghis Khan was orphaned when he was 13. According to one story Temüjen's father, a petty warlord and tribal chieftain, was poisoned by Tartars when Temüjen was nine and according to another story he died in combat while a 12-year Temüjen hid in a lake breathing from a hollow reed.Temüjen's father, Yessugei, was the leader of the Kiyat-Borjigin tribe, who homeland was at the source of the Onon River and before that southern Siberia. Many think that Genghis Khan's family were not even Mongols but were Buriats, a Mongol-related group more associated with the Orkhon River area than the Mongols.After the his father death, Temüjen, his mother and the rest of his family enduring a number of hardships. According to Secret History, they became so poor they had to eat rats, marmots, berries and insects to survive. Temüjen was constantly on the run from family rivals determined to extinguish his family line. An early sign of his propensity to violence was the killing of his half brother Bekter for stealing one of his fish while still a teenager.According to the Chinese government: Later, with the help of his father's sworn brother Wang Han, he gathered his men, accumulated his forces and started his carving out process. In 1185, he defeated Mieerqi. In 1189, he was elected as Khan by the noble class of Qiyan family. After that, he spent more than ten years on expedition.Under Genghis Khan, the Mongol army aggressively expanded through Asia. With massive armies at their disposal, the Mongols experienced success under Khan, attributed to the rapid movements of cavalrymen during battle.Tactics employed by Genghis Khan and his army were brutal. Each time a new city was conquered, large segments of the population, both human and animal, were slaughtered.Survivors were subjected to pillage and rape. Some were used as human shields in front of the Mongol army during subsequent attacks.After conquering a territory, Genghis Khan would get the first pick of women to add to his harem. Some estimates suggest he impregnated over 1,000 different women.The heirs to Genghis Khan were also prolific. One of his children was thought to have had 40 sons of his own by wives and concubines, with an unknown number of children from many other women.These children of Khan having had many more children helped to expand his genetic legacy across the continent.

 Russia’s history with the Mongols began with the defeat of the Khwarezmian Empire, and the route the Great Khan’s generals took on their way home to Mongolia. Subutai, one of the Khan’s most trusted and valuable generals, suggested the army be split into two parts on their journey home, to scout out and pillage different places on their return to Mongolia. Genghis and the main body of the army, raided through Afghanistan and Northern India, while Subutai and Jebe went through what is now Georgia, the Caucasus, and modern day Ukraine and Russia with their contingent of 20,000 elite horsemen.The terms Tatars or Tartars are applied to nomadic Mongolic peoples who, themselves, were conquered by Mongols and incorporated into their horde. They were mainly composed of Kipchaks-Cuman people.Mongol-Tatar Golden Horde forces led by Batu Khan, (a grandson of Genghis Khan), began attacking Europe in 1223, starting with Cumans, Volga Bulgaria and Kievan Rus. They destroyed many Rus cities including Kiev,Vladimir and Moscow in the process, sparing Novgorod and Pskov however. 

Genghis Khan is a truly amazing man in many aspects. Amazingly cruel. Amazingly ruthless. Amazingly smart. Amazingly daring. And perhaps amazingly lucky. Genghis Khan was born as Temujin to the son of a khan of a small Mongol clan in modern-day Mongolia in an unknown date. Anyway, Temujin, while on his way to his new wife’s tribe at a rather young age, got news back from his family that his father, Yesugei, had been poisoned by his enemies. Temujin and his family was abandoned by the rest of the tribe and forced to live as outcasts.At the beginning of 1223 the head of the western tribal union of Polovetsi (Kypchaks – Cumans), khan Kotyan, asked for help from Prince Mstislav Galitski against the troops of Genghis Khan. Mstislav Galitski called for many heroic deeds. He was successful and called all the princes to assemble to consider the threat from the Mongols. They assembled in Kiev where the Polovetsi described how terrible the Mongols were. The princes decided on a joint campaign.In second half of March the princes started their preparations to conduct the campaign. The backbone of each Prince’s forces was his own private druzhina. The number of members of the druzhina that consisted of their hired mercenary warriors must have been quite different, from dozens up to 3-5000 troops, mounted warriors for the very rich princes. The first part of the druzhina was the heavy cavalry – kopeishchiki (lancers). This part of the druzhina was called “best” or “elders”. The “younger” druzhina consisted of more lightly armed archers. The warriors belonged in these two parts were quite different according to their status in the feudal structure. Besides this the druzhina was divided into two parts, the combat part and the supply train (oboz ) The combat part was the main striking force of the detachment of every prince. The armaments of the druzhiniki consisted of a spear of either the “steppe” or European type, sword, which did not differ from the European type, combat axe, bludgeon, spiked mace, shestoper (six flanged mace), sabre, dagger, and knife. After a lot of battles with steppe warriors the use of bow and arrow spread widely into Russia.The main armour of the warrior was the kolchuga, but in the XIII century almost all warriors wore over the kolchuga also a pantsir. Pantsir was either of rings or scales (of Byzantine or west European type) consisting of metal scales attached to a leather or cloth base or tied together by leather thongs. Also in use which came from Europe were iron ring stockings or trousers formed of metal plates on leather, and also different types of knee and shoulder protectors.The shield was large, round or almond shaped. The armament of the warrior was completed by the helmet with half mask or a metal plate with eye slits (which were called lichina) that came into use from the end of the XII century in Europe and Asia. Besides the druzhina the princes had the ability to appeal to the people and to assemble from them polki (battles) from the city population. The village people who were providing supplies for the army rushed to support in case of emergency.  These warriors as well as the younger drushina got their armour and weapons from the prince’s or the city arsenal. This armament was not so variable and consisted mainly of the kolchuga, helmet, sword and spear. Besides this the troops organized by the prince might be the so called volunteers which consisted of very different people. They provided their own armament.At the beginning of April after preparation, the princes began to come to the assembly place. In this enterprise took part three main groups of Russian princes. Kievan portion led by grand prince Mstislav Romanovich consisted of his son, Vsevolod; son-in-law, prince Andrei; and also Svyatoslav Shumski, and Yuri Nesvizhski. The second group – Chernigovo-Smolenski, led by great prince Chernigovsi, Mstislav Sviatoslavovich, consisted of troops of Prince Oleg Kurski, prince Putivlski and prince TrubchevskiAt head of the third group – the Galitsko-Volinski coalition – was great prince Galitskii, Mstislav Mstislavovich. His group consisted of troops of Danilo Romanovich Volinski; Mstislav Yaroslavovich Nemoi; prince of Lutski, Prince Izyaslav Ingvaryevich; and prince of Izyaslav, Vladimirovich Trebovl’ski.The grand prince of Vladimir-Suzdal, Yuri, did not participate in the campaign even though many asked him to join in the campaign.Yuri at that time went on campaign against the Livonian knights and he could only send the troops of his kinsman Vasili Konstantinovich, prince of Rostov, but his troops arrived at the battlefield so late that they did not take part in it.At the end of April all troops rallied near the city Zaruba, 50-60 km below Kiev. The cavalry came on horseback along the river banks and the infantry by boats on the rivers. The waterways were used to move all the various supplies and armaments.Here at the assembly place of the Russian troops the Mongol ambassadors arrived. The Mongols proposed that the Russians join with them against the Polovetsi and each would take their spoils from the Polovetsi on the one side or the other. Bu the Russians did not break their word to the Polovetsi and warriors of Khan Khotan killed the Mongol ambassadors. Now the war with Russia which initially was not in the plan of the Mongols, according to their custom became inevitable. The assembly of the Russians was accomplished and by the end of April the princes transported their forces down the Dnieper; after a few days a second Mongol embassy arrived, again proposing peace with the Russians. After getting a new refusal the Mongols said to the Russian princes “If you follow the advice of the Polovetsi, kill our ambassadors and coming against us – go against us. But we did not trouble you and only God will make his judgement.”The Russian troops began their movement down the right bank of the Dnieper. On 15 May at the mouth of the River Khortisa the Russian troops assembled. The main part of the Polovetsi troops which mainly consisted of mounted archers also arrived at this place. Their quivers made from leather or birch bark were decorated with wooden plates. The richer warriors had sabres, lances with narrow armour-piercing tips. Their defensive consume consisted of a kolchuga and scale or plate armour. Polovetsi helmets had a mask having a steel frame covered by iron plates or pork. The whole number of Russian troops which rallied on the river were about 80 – 100,000 people but only 15-20,000 of them were well armed and skilful warriors.The next day Mstislav Galitski with part of his druzhina and Polovetsi came to the other bank of the river and charged against the Mongol outpost. The result of this enterprise was tremendous. The Mongols fled. Mstislav followed them and captured the head of the detachment Ghemyabek. He killed him. The day after for reconnaissance the detachment of Danilo Volinski crossed to the left bank of the river. They were also successful. Meeting with a small Mongol detachment they overran the Mongol troops. After returning to base, these leaders without any trouble convinced the remaining princes to cross the Dnieper and attack the Mongols. They built a bridge and the troops started to cross the river. This lasted some days.A small outpost of Subodai, beginning combat with the Russia troops moved further and further into the steppe. The Russian troops collected domestic animals and prisoners so their force became larger and larger. The commander and chiefs of the Russian troops could not reach a common concept on how to conduct the battle. All the princes had their own idea about this. This contradiction among the princes became vivid on the Dniper. Many of them thought it was no use to cross the Dniper but to conduct the war carefully without penetrating into the steppe. Subodai wanted to entice the Russian troops into the steppe. By very small but active attacks by small groups he damaged the Russian troops. On 31 May 1223 the united troops reached the Kalka River. After several very successful clashes with the vanguard of the Mongols, the princes gathered the council to discuss the problem whether to go further or to stop and take position for defence.After long discussion of this point with clashes and contradictions among them, the princes left the council without coming to one opinion. Prince Mstislav Galitsi crossed the Kalka River and continued his advance. Later on Mstislav Chernogovski followed him. Then the break between the separated detachments of the Russian troops was so large that they were waiting for a long time for this occasion, and gave the signal for a charge. The marching order for the Mongols consisted of five lines of dzhagunov (hundreds). The first two of them were made of heavy cavalry of swordsmen wearing the heavy plate and scale armour. This armour was made from layers of buff leather with a varnished surface.

The Mongolian leader Genghis Khan was known to have fathered many children with different women.One study suggests that up to 10 other men in Asian history have rivaled the procreative prowess of Khan. Unfortunately, except for this one ruler, we don’t know the names of any of the other suspects.A study in 2003 found that up to 16 million men, half a percent of the world’s male population, were genetic descendants of Genghis Khan.Even more astounding was that up to 8 percent of men living within the former area of the Mongol empire have Y chromosomes related to that royal line. The line of descent goes back around 1,000 years.Genghis Khan had about 500 wives, many of them given to him by opposing rulers as peace offerings. In Mongol society, men were dominant. The society was patriarchal and patrilineal. However, Mongol women had far more freedom and power than women in other patriarchal cultures such as Persia and China. While the Chinese were binding women’s feet, Mongol women were riding horseback, fighting in battles, tending their herds and influencing their men on important decisions for the Mongolian Empire.Still, while women were highly valued participants in Mongol society, they still held less rank than their fathers, husbands and brothers. Work was divided between men and women; the men handled the herds and went to battle, and women raised the gers, made the clothes, milked the animals, made cheese and cooked the food. Men and women raised their children together. Children of the Mongols did not attend a school; rather they learned from their families the roles and work of men and women. Mongol children had toys and played games, much as children of any culture.Marriages were usually arranged between families, with goods traded between the families as bride prices and dowries. Occasionally, a woman was stolen from one tribe by a man from another; Genghis’s father Yesugei, for example, stole his mother Hoelun from another tribe. Stealing women was not done often as it could lead to a blood feud between the tribes. Men could practice polygamy, marrying more than one woman. Each wife and her children had their own ger. Usually the entire family got along well. The first wife was considered the legal wife, although these distinctions didn’t matter much except in terms of inheritance. The children of the first wife would inherit more than the children from other wives.Married women wore headdresses to distinguish themselves from unmarried women. These headdresses could be quite elaborate, as all Mongols loved hats and headgear. Women remained loyal to their husbands and didn’t often remarry if her husband died. A widow inherited the property of her dead husband and became head of the family.A good illustration of this, and of the power of women to influence Mongol history and culture was Sorkhaqtani, wife of Genghis’s son Tolui. Sorkhaqtani had been an advisor to another of Genghis’ sons, Ogodai, when he was khan. When Tolui died, she became the head of her household of sons, including Mongke, Kublai, Hulagu and Ariq Boke, who all became khans in their time. She insisted they all become educated and learned in the languages they would need to know as leaders of an empire. After Ogodai’s death, Sorkhaqtani kept the empire together by diplomatic means while Guyuk was khan. After his death, her son Mongke became Great Khan.Genghis Khan would marry off a daughter to the king of an allied nation, dismissing his other wives. Then he would assign his new son-in-law to military duty in the Mongol wars, while the daughter took over the rule. Most of his sons-in-laws died in combat, giving him shield around the Mongol lands.There’s a place in Mongolia called Ikh Khorig that was declared sacred by Genghis Khan. The only people allowed to enter were the Mongol Royal Family and a tribe of elite warriors, the darkhat, whose job was to guard it, punishment for entering being death. They carried out their task for 697 years, until 1924.Researchers have now recognized ten other men whose fecundity has left a lasting impression on present-day populations. The team's study¹ points to sociopolitical factors that foster such lineages, but the identities of the men who left their genetic stamp remains unknown.The founders who lived between 2100 bc and 300 bc existed in both sedentary agricultural societies and nomadic cultures in the Middle East, India, southeast Asia and central Asia. Their dates coincide with the emergence of hierarchical, authoritarian societies in Asia during the Bronze Age, such as the Babylonians. Three lineages dating to more recent times were all linked to nomadic groups in northeast China and Mongolia. These included the lineages linked to Genghis Khan and Giocangga, plus a third line dating to around ad 850.All three lineages seem to have expanded westwards, possibly along the Silk Road trade route. Historians have documented a series of polities based in inner Asia between 200 bc and the eighteenth century, such as the Qing Dynasty. Jobling says that these civilizations could have fostered dominant male lineages after the sons of a fecund founder decamped to satellite outposts, where they, in turn, fathered powerful descendants.The researchers identify several candidates for the lineage dating to ad 850, but say that more research is needed. Recovering DNA from the candidate or or a long-dead descendant would be the ultimate proof.

The Mongol military structure was based purely on meritocracy. For example if a Khan was not fit for military command, the troops would be led by someone with more experience and victories an example being Subedei. Genghis Khan refused to divide his troops into different units based on ethnicity, instead he mixed tribesmen from conquered groups, like the Tatars and Keraits, which fostered a sense of unity and loyalty by reducing the effects of the old tribal affiliations and preventing any one unit from developing a separate ethnic or national character. Discpline was strictly maintained, with severe punishments provided for even small infractions. The armies were also divided based on the decimal system in units of 10 (arban), 100 (jaghun), 1,000 (mingghan), and 10,000 (tumen) men that is command wise similar to squads, companies, regiments, and divisions of modern military,  taking advantage of the superb mobility of his mounted archers to attack their enemies on several fronts simultaneously and they were extremely ruthless when in battle based on others' standards (see below). These units of 10s were like a family or close-knit group, every unit of 10 had a leader who reported up to the next level, and men were not allowed to transfer from one unit to another . The leader of the 100,000 (10 leaders of 10,000s or more traditionally 10 leaders of 10 tumen) soldiers was the Khagan himself. Mongols in general were very used to living through cold, harsh winters, in fact often preferring to campaign in winter in order to facilitate river crossings, as well as hot summers, and they were very used to travelling great distances in very short time without difficulty, since their nomadic lifestyle already involved bi-annual migrations from summer to winter pastures.Renactment of Mongol military movement.Genghis Khan expected unwavering loyalty from his generals, and granted them a great deal of autonomy in making command decisions. Muqali, a trusted general, was given command of the Mongol forces against the Jin Dynasty while Genghis Khan was fighting in Central Asia, and Subutai and Jebe were allowed to pursue the Great Raid into the Caucausus and Kievan Rus, an idea they had presented to the Khagan on their own initiative. The Mongol military also was successful in siege warfare, cutting off resources for cities and towns by diverting rivers, taking enemy prisoners and driving them in front of the army (a form of psychological warfare) , and adopting new ideas, techniques and tools from the people they conquered, particularly in employing Muslim and Chinese siege engines and engineers to aid the Mongol cavalry in capturing cities. They used terror very successfully and had legendary name with terror in almost all battles that after fear inducing slaughters of populations they would intentionally spread the information to others by sending refugees and survivors to other towns and cities to tell their tale that for example the feared Assassins cult laid down their arms upon hearing the Mongol armies. Also one of the standard tactics of Mongol military was the commonly practiced feigned retreat to break enemy formations and to lure small enemy groups away from larger group and defended position for ambush and counterattack.There also were instances of mass slaughter even where there was no resistance, especially in Northern China where the vast majority of the population had a long history of accepting nomadic rulers. Many ancient sources described Genghis Khan's conquests as wholesale destruction on an unprecedented scale, causing radical changes in the demographics of Asia. For example, over much of Central Asia speakers of Iranian languages were replaced by speakers of Turkic languages. According to the works of Iranian historian Rashid al-Din, the Mongols killed more than 70,000 people in Merv and more than a million in Nishapur. China suffered a drastic decline in population during 13th and 14th centuries. For instance, before the Mongol invasion, unified China had approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the conquest was completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported roughly 60 million people. [13] How many of these deaths were attributable directly to Genghis Khan and his forces is unclear, as are the highly generalized numbers themselves. In addition, some modern scholars question the validity of such estimates, since the methodology of the 1300 census likely underestimated the populationGenghis Khan began with just a handful of fighters. While still in his teens Temüjen made a name a name for himself with his daring raids on neighboring tribes and gained the allegiance of disgruntled warlords.. He becomes a blood brother with a man named Jamuqa (Jamukha) and befriended the leader of the Kereyit tribe, a man named Toghril. Both young men helped Temüjen rescue Borte when she was kidnaped. According to one story, Temujin returned home from hunting one day to find that his wife had been kidnaped by a rival clan, the Merkit tribe. Calling an old family debt of honor, he raised a small band of armed men, freed his wife and killed the kidnappers. Next he paid back his new allies by eliminating some of their rivals, in the process strengthening his bond with existing allies and boosting his influence and reputation among other tribes. Other men, the story goes, tired of endless clan warfare, joined him. Genghis Khan formed an important alliance with Toghril, his father's sworn brother, and became the leader of his clan (the Borjigin Mongol clan) when eight prince swore allegiance to him. In a dramatic struggle described in The Secret History of the Mongols, Temujin, by the age of twenty, had become the leader of the Kiyat subclan and by 1196, the unquestioned chief of the Borjigin Mongols.Then through a combinations of powerful alliances, marriages and a series of battles, he brought several tribes under his control and defeated the Tatars, a powerful Turkic tribe that killed his father, and effectively wiped them off the face of the earth by ordering the execution of any male taller than the height of a cart axle (everyone except young children) to ensure that the next generation would be loyal to him. There is still ambiguity as to who the Tatars actually are. Russians and Europeans later used the name Tartar to describe the Mongols .It took 16 years of nearly constant warfare for Temujin to consolidate his power north of the Gobi. Much of his early success was because of his first alliance, with the neighboring Kereit clan, and because of subsidies that he and the Kereit received from the Jin emperor in payment for punitive operations against Tatars and other tribes that threatened the northern frontiers of Jin. Jin by this time had become absorbed into the Chinese cultural system and was politically weak and increasingly subject to harassment by Western Xia, the Chinese, and finally the Mongols. Later Temujin broke with the Kereit, and, in a series of major campaigns, he defeated all the Mongol and Tatar tribes in the region from the Altai Mountains to Manchuria. In time Temujin emerged as the strongest chieftain among a number of contending leaders in a confederation of clan lineages. His principal opponents in this struggle had been the Naiman Mongols, and he selected Karakorum (west-southwest of modern Ulaanbaatar, near modern Har Horin), their capital, as the seat of his new empire."Genghis defeated other powerful Mongol-related tribes such as the Taichutt and Naiman. As his power grew some of Temüjen's friends turned against him. Togbril's army was crushed in a fierce three day battle and Jamuqa allied himself with the Naiman. When the Naiman were defeated, Temügen granted Jamuqa his last wish, "Let me die quickly." Scholars believe these events did happen because they are mentioned in old Chinese records.Genghis Khan unified the people under him by replacing tribal loyalties with a feudal system and organizing a well-disciplined army, a task that began in 1185 and took more than 20 years to achieve and wasn't really completed until the priest class was under his control. According to one story Khan was able assuage the powerful Mongol priest class and claim absolute power by executing one priest for allegedly betraying the Khan's brother.In 1206 at a great assembly of tribal leaders known as kuriltai, gave 40-year-old Temüjen the title of Genghis Khan, which means "Strong Ruler," “Rightful Ruler," "Oceanic Ruler," "Emperor of all Emperors" or "Perfect Warrior"---depending on which scholar you ask. Along with the title the charismatic Genghis Khan took control over all the Turk-Mongol people---a group described as “all the people who live in felt tents” in an area of desert and steppe in Mongolia the size of AlaskaGenghis Khan's leadership of all Mongols and other peoples they had conquered between the Altai Mountains and the Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range was acknowledged formally by the kuriltai. Temujin took the honorific Genghis (also romanized as genghis or jenghiz), creating the title Genghis Khan, in an effort to signify the unprecedented scope of his power. In latter hagiography, Genghis was said even to have had divine ancestry.From the tribal groups that attending his enthronement Genghis Khan forged a strong confederation of Mongol tribes, and a powerful army composed of units under fealty-swearing tribal chieftains. The Khans most loyal supporters late become his greatest generals, the most brilliant of which were Jebe and Subedal.Genghis Khan conquered more territory than any other single commander in the history of the world. He was personally responsible of the conquering of present-day Mongolia, northern China and most of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the space of less than 20 years. He is also credited with inventing the blitzkrieg to achieve this. Both Rommel and Patton were among the admirers of his tactics.Although his soldiers were paid with the treasures they looted from conquered cities, Genghis Khan himself seemed less interesting in loot than conquest itself. The Persian chronicler Rashid Ad-Din, quoted him as saying: "Man's greatest good fortune is to chase and defeat his enemy, seize his total possessions, leave his married women weeping and wailing, ride his gelding, use the bodies of his women as a nightshirt and support."Historians credit Genghis Khan's military success to his management and organization skills. He organized his forces into groups of ten, subjected them to rigorous training, issued standized equipment and promoted officers on the basis of merit rather than blood or clan relations.“Many believe that his unification of the Mongols — rather than the conquests that he initiated once he had unified the Mongols — was Genghis Khan's biggest accomplishment. Unifying the Mongols was no small achievement — it meant bringing together a whole series of disparate tribes. Economically the tribal unit was optimal for a pastoral-nomadic group, but Genghis brought all the tribes together into one confederation, with all its loyalty placed in himself. This was indeed a grand achievement in a country as vast as Mongolia, an area approximately four times the size of France.Once Genghis had succeeded in bringing the Mongols together, in 1206, a meeting of the so-called Khuriltai (an assemblage of the Mongol nobility) gave their new leader the title of "Genghis Khan": Khan of All Between the Oceans. Genghis's personal/birth name was Temujin; giving him the title "Genghis Khan" was an acknowledgment by the Mongol nobles of Genghis's leadership and their loyalty. From that point on Temujin would be the Khan of all within Mongolia and of the Mongols.Genghis Khan was also "a supreme military strategist and talented politician, as adept at forging alliances and gathering intelligence as he was at wreaking terror and havoc."Genghis Khan was crafty as well as cruel. Kessler told Time that he "was a very intelligent man and not at all compulsive. He avoided war if he could subjugate another tribe with diplomacy. “If he had to fight he would use spies to gather all the available information and then send in agents to unsettle the situation before attacking."Genghis Khan developed complicated battle strategies and carefully chose his routes of attack. Before engaging in battle, he calculated the benefits and costs and withdrew if the costs were too high. He avoided combat himself and often hid once the battle began. After every military campaign, Genghis Khan returned to Mongolia.Yassa was a secret written code of law created by Genghis Khan. The word Yassa translates into "order" or "decree". It was the de facto law of the Mongol Empire even though the "law" was kept secret and never made public. The Yassa seems to have its origin as decrees issued in wartime. Later, these decrees were codified and expanded to include cultural and life-style conventions. By keeping the Yassa secret, the decrees could be modified and used selectively. It is believed that the Yassa was supervised by Genghis Khan himself and his stepbrother Shihihutag who was then high judge of the Mongol Empire. Genghis Khan appointed his second son Chagatai.The famous historian Harold Lamb wrote: “With the selection of Genghis Khan as master of the Turko-Mongol people, these people were united for the first time in centuries. They were enthusiastic, believing that Genghis Khan was sent from the gods and endowed with the power of Heaven. They had long been governed only by tribal custom, and, to hold them in check, Genghis Khan drew from his Mongol military organization and also created a code of laws, the Yassa, which was a combination of his will and tribal customs.The Yassa aimed at three things: obedience to Genghis Khan, a binding together of the nomad clans, and the merciless punishment of wrong-doing. It concerned itself with people, not property. Unless a man actually confessed, he was not judged guilty unless he was caught in the act of crime. Little is known of Genghis Khan's life. He is said to have been afraid of dogs and his passion seemed to be falconry. He kept 800 sake falcons and 800 attendants to take care of them and demanded that 50 camel-loads of swans, a favored prey, be delivered every week. His favorite wine was shiraz. Genghis Khan is thought to have been very superstitious and a believer in spirits. He consulted shaman and astrologers. One of the most important persons in his empire was a shaman, known as Tov Tengri, who ultimately betrayed Genghis by trying to install a rival khan and was killed by having his back broken in a staged wrestling match. When Genghis Khan was an old man he ordered a 71-year-old Chinese-Taoist alchemist to mix up an elixir of immortality at his camp in the Hindu Kush.It is said Genghis Khan died on August 18, 1227 at the age of 60 somewhere south of the Xi Xia capital of Ningxia, near present-day Yinchian in Gansu Province, during the military campaign there. According to the Secret History he died hunting wild ass when his mount shied and he fell, "his body being in great pain." According to another account he ailing, perhaps with typhus or malaria. From his deathbed Genghis Khan ordered the extermination of the Xi Xia people. No one knew about Genghis Khan's death until weeks later when the XI Xia were defeated. According to the Chinese government: “There are many stories and records about his death, the place he was buried, his coffin and so on. As is told, when Genghis Khan fought against Western Xia dynasty, he had passed Yijinhuoluo. He stopped his horse, looked around, and was reluctant to leave this beautiful grassland with lush grass, flowers and flocks. Just at that time, the horsewhip dropped from his hand, and he seemed to realize something, and chanted: "a place where flowers and deer inhabits, a home where hoopoes give birth to their babies, a terra where the declined dynasty revives, and a garden where gray-haired man enjoys his life.