[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. They pushed deep into Armenia and Azerbaijan. The earliest known images of Genghis Khan were produced half a century after his death, including the famous National Palace Museum portrait in Taiwan. The Persian scholar Juvayni states that 50,000 Mongol soldiers were given the task of executing twenty-four Urgench citizens each, which would mean that 1.2million people were killed. During the communist period in Mongolia, Genghis was often described by the government as a reactionary figure, and positive statements about him were avoided. Instead of killing local populations, the Mongols tended to enslave the conquered and either send them to Mongolia to act as menial labor or retain them for use in the war effort. 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. Jamukha supported the traditional Mongolian aristocracy, while Temjin followed a meritocratic method, and attracted a broader range and lower class of followers. [102], The conquests and leadership of Genghis Khan included widespread devastation and mass murder. The union became known as the Mongols. [64] According to widely circulated but unverified stories, the severed heads were then erected in separate piles for the men, women and children.[14]. [68][69][70] According to The Secret History of the Mongols, Genghis Khan fell from his horse while hunting and died because of the injury. Klg Khan later expanded Genghis Khan's title to Emperor Fatian Qiyun Shengwu (Chinese: ). The Shah died under mysterious circumstances on a small island in the Caspian Sea that he had retreated to with his remaining loyal forces. When he defeated rival tribes, he did not drive away their soldiers and abandon their civilians. Genghis Khan then sent a second group of three ambassadors (two Mongols and a Muslim) to meet the Shah himself, instead of the governor Inalchuq. "[105] In the conquest of Khwarezmia under Genghis Khan, the Mongols razed the cities of Bukhara, Samarkand, Hert, s, and Neyshbr and killed the respective urban populations. 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". This fragmentation was decisive in Khwarazmia's defeats, as it allowed the Mongols, although exhausted from the long journey, to immediately set about defeating small fractions of the Khwarazmian forces instead of facing a unified defense. "[94] An unknown number of people also migrated to Southern China in this period,[95] including under the preceding Southern Song dynasty. The GalicianVolhynian Chronicle alleges he was killed by the Western Xia in battle, while Marco Polo wrote that he died after the infection of an arrow wound he received during his final campaign. He translated the text as It chanced that he was born 2 months before Mge, and when Chingiz-Khan's eye fell upon him he said: all our children are of a ruddy complexion, but this child is swarthy like his maternal uncles. The guards had to pay particular attention to the individual yurt and camp in which Genghis Khan slept, which could change every night as he visited different wives. In 1227, Genghis Khan's army attacked and destroyed the Tangut capital of Ning Hia and continued to advance, seizing Lintiao-fu, Xining province, Xindu-fu, and Deshun province in quick succession in the spring. [citation needed], According to the Secret History, Genghis Khan again offered his friendship to Jamukha. While granting his generals a great deal of autonomy in making command decisions, Genghis Khan also expected unwavering loyalty from them. [106] Steven R. Ward writes that the Mongol violence and depredations in the Iranian Plateau "killed up to three-fourths of the population possibly 10 to 15 million people. 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. [82] Genghis Khan had a notably positive reputation among some western European authors in the Middle Ages, who knew little concrete information about his empire in Asia. Genghis Khan gave several of his high-status wives their own ordos or camps to live in and manage. His armies quickly took Heisui, Ganzhou, and Suzhou (not the Suzhou in Jiangsu province), and in the autumn he took Xiliang-fu. Later, his grandsons split his empire into khanates. This page was last edited on 9 July 2022, at 08:01. Modern Mongolian historians say that towards the end of his life, Genghis Khan attempted to create a civil state under the Great Yassa that would have established the legal equality of all individuals, including women. These invasions added Transoxiana and Persia to an already formidable empire while destroying any resistance along the way. Some historians have estimated that Iran's population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century. [61] However, Inalchuq, the governor of the Khwarazmian city of Otrar, attacked the caravan, claiming that the caravan contained spies and therefore was a conspiracy against Khwarazmia. He delegated authority based on merit and loyalty, rather than family ties. He was also ruthless, demonstrated by his tactic of measuring against the linchpin, used against the tribes led by Jamukha. On his way back, he camped close to this pass for three days and prayed for the departed souls. By tradition, the youngest son inherits his father's property. This force contained the bulk of the elite Mongolian cavalry. We will throw ourselves like lightning on your enemies. 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. [14] The sentence was duly carried out by the Khan's youngest son Tolui. [48] Despite initial difficulties in capturing Western Xia cities, Genghis Khan managed to force Emperor Renzong to submit to vassal status. [42] In 1186, Temjin was elected khan of the Mongols. Outraged, Genghis Khan planned one of his largest invasion campaigns by organizing together around 100,000 soldiers (10 tumens), his most capable generals and some of his sons. The federal government said they're a convicted criminal gang, and Hell's Angels consider them enemies. Genghis Khan learned of Senggum's intentions and eventually defeated him and his loyalists. [23], Temjin grew up with three brothers, Qasar, Hachiun, and Temge, one sister, Temlen, and two half-brothers, Behter and Belgutei. Chu'Tsai administered parts of the Mongol Empire and became a confidant of the successive Mongol Khans. The factual nature of this statement is considered controversial. There were Khans of various non-Mongolian ethnicities such as Muhammad Khan. [124] However, according to John Andrew Boyle, Rashid al-Din's text of red hair referred to ruddy skin complexion, and that Genghis Khan was of ruddy complexion like most of his children except for Kublai Khan who was swarthy. 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. [107] The second campaign against Western Xia, the final military action led by Genghis Khan, and during which he died, involved an intentional and systematic destruction of Western Xia cities and culture. [107] According to John Man, because of this policy of total obliteration, Western Xia is little known to anyone other than experts in the field because so little record is left of that society. Many of these invasions repeated the earlier large-scale slaughters of local populations. Genghis Khan died within eight days of setting off for his final campaign against the Western Xia on 18 August 1227, according to the official History of Yuan commissioned during China's Ming dynasty. He allegedly planned to assassinate Genghis Khan. Subutai had a large wooden platform constructed on which he ate his meals along with his other generals. Around 1200, the main rivals of the Mongol confederation (traditionally the "Mongols") were the Naimans to the west, the Merkits to the north, the Tanguts to the south, and the Jin to the east. It resulted in peace between previously warring tribes, and a single political and military force. [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. In response to this tension and possibly for other reasons, gedei was appointed as successor.[75]. As common to nomads in Mongolia, Temjin's early life was difficult. According to legend, it was here that Genghis Khan reportedly saw a line of five stars arranged in the sky and interpreted it as an omen of his victory. One of the Tangut generals challenged the Mongols to a battle near Helan Mountains but was defeated. Six Russian princes, including Mstislav III of Kiev, were put under this platform and crushed to death. Jamukha escaped during the conflict. [65] Various historical secondary sources Morgan, Chambers, Grousset state that the Mongols actually defeated the Bulgars, Chambers even going so far as to say that the Bulgars had made up stories to tell the (recently crushed) Russians that they had beaten the Mongols and driven them from their territory. The Mongols Motorcycle Club was convicted in late 2018 of racketeering and conspiracy. [67] In contrast, a 2021 study found that the great leader likely died from bubonic plague, after investigating reports of the clinical signs exhibited by both the Khan and his army, which in turn matched the symptoms associated with the strain of plague present in Western Xia at that time.[73]. [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.
There has been talk about regulating the use of his name and image to avoid trivialization. The Mongol army quickly seized the town of Otrar, relying on superior strategy and tactics. Genghis Khan left behind an army of more than 129,000 men; 28,000 were given to his various brothers and his sons. [45], Around the year 1197, the Jin initiated an attack against their formal vassal, the Tatars, with help from the Keraites and Mongols. In 1207, Genghis led another raid into Western Xia, invading the Ordos region and sacking Wuhai, the main garrison along the Yellow River, before withdrawing in 1208. Temjin was to live there serving the head of the household Dai Setsen until the marriageable age of 12. [80] However, there is no evidence of this, or of the lifting of discriminatory policies towards sedentary peoples such as the Chinese. 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. [56] He correctly believed that the more powerful young ruler of the Jin dynasty would not come to the aid of the Western Xia. [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. The Shah had all the men shaved and the Muslim beheaded and sent his head back with the two remaining ambassadors. [65] The Russian princes then sued for peace. Mongolian casualties were higher than normal, due to the unaccustomed difficulty of adapting Mongolian tactics to city fighting. Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi, died in 1226, during his father's lifetime. Jin had risen to power by displacing the Khitan people. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of the Mongol steppe and being proclaimed the universal ruler of the Mongols, or Genghis Khan. After several battles, Jamukha was turned over to Genghis Khan by his own men in 1205. Genghis told Chu'Tsai, who was a lineal descendant of Khitan rulers, that he had avenged Chu'Tsai's forefathers. [92][failed verification] The Black Death also contributed. For this purpose Genghis Khan invited a Khitan prince, Chu'Tsai, who worked for the Jin and had been captured by the Mongol army after the Jin dynasty was defeated. The third division under Genghis Khan and Tolui marched to the northwest and attacked Khwarazmia from that direction. Italian historian Igor de Rachewiltz claimed that the Mongol origins of the early ancestors of Genghis Khan were animals born from the blue eye wolf (Borte Chino) and the fallow doe (Qo'ai Maral) that was described in the early legends, that their ancestors were animals.[127]. Genghis Khan is an honorary title meaning "universal ruler" that represents an aggrandization of the pre-existing title of Khan that is used to denote a clan chief in Mongolian. A guilty verdict in a federal racketeering case may lead to the Mongols motorcycle club in Orange County losing trademarks rights to its logo. Under the suggestion of Subutai, the Mongol army was split into two forces. These two campaigns are generally regarded as reconnaissance campaigns that tried to get the feel of the political and cultural elements of the regions. [11][12][13] On the other hand, the Buddhist Uyghur kingdom of Qocho, for example, viewed him as a liberator and voluntarily left the Qara Khitai empire to become Mongol vassals. [47] As an incentive for absolute obedience and the Yassa code of law, Temjin promised civilians and soldiers wealth from future war spoils. Genghis Khan decided to conquer the Qara Khitai and defeat Kuchlug, possibly to take him out of power. 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. With the help of a sympathetic guard, he escaped from the ger (yurt) at night by hiding in a river crevice. Near to the end of the battle for Samarkand, the Shah fled rather than surrender. Yuan Dynasty: Ancient China Dynasties, paragraph 3. One chronicle from the early 17th century even relates the legend that the princess hid a small dagger and stabbed or castrated him. [114] Like many of the earliest images of Genghis Khan, the Chinese-style portrait presents the Great Khan in a manner more akin to a Mandarin sage than a Mongol warrior. This allowed increased communication and trade between the West, Middle East and Asia, thus expanding the horizons of all three cultural areas. Muqali, a trusted lieutenant, 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 Caucasus and Kievan Rus', an idea they had presented to the Khagan on their own initiative.
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. [40], As Jamukha and Temjin drifted apart in their friendship, each began consolidating power and they became rivals. Temjin gathered his followers to defend against the attack, but was decisively beaten in the Battle of Dalan Balzhut. Ousted leader of Mongols biker club denies he was an informant. Unlike most emperors, Genghis Khan never allowed his image to be portrayed in paintings or sculptures. This was disrespectful in Mongolian culture and led to a war. [128], Genghis Khan's birthday, on the first day of winter (according to the Mongolian lunar calendar), is a national holiday.[129]. He allowed them to make decisions on their own when they embarked on campaigns far from the Mongol Empire capital Karakorum. [63] Similarly, Juvayni wrote that in the city Termez, to the south of Samarkand, "all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain". [121], Other descriptions of Genghis Khan come from 14th century texts. [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. The custom was to die without spilling blood, specifically by having one's back broken. In the early 1990s, the memory of Genghis Khan underwent a powerful revival, partly in reaction to its suppression during the Mongolian People's Republic period. Genghis Khan put absolute trust in his generals, such as Muqali, Jebe and Subutai, and regarded them as close advisors, often extending them the same privileges and trust normally reserved for close family members. So many infact that decades later, when the Taoist sage Qiu Chuji was passing through this pass to meet Genghis Khan, he was stunned to still see the bones of so many people scattered in the pass. 
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. Jamukha refused the offer, saying that there can only be one sun in the sky, and he asked for a noble death. Ma Jianlong later died from wounds received from arrows in battle. [76] His descendants extended the Mongol Empire across most of Eurasia by conquering or creating vassal states in all of modern-day China, Korea, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and substantial portions of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia. The Mongols defeated the kingdom of Georgia, sacked the Genoese trade-fortress of Caffa in Crimea and overwintered near the Black Sea. [66] As was customary in Mongol society for nobility, the Russian princes were given a bloodless death.
Therefore, Genghis sent only two tumen (20,000 soldiers) against Kuchlug, under his younger general, Jebe, known as "The Arrow". Estimates of the number of people who died as a consequence of Genghis Khan's military campaigns range from about four million in the most conservative estimates to up to sixty million in the most sweeping historical accounts. At the subsequent Battle of Yehuling, which the Jin commander later committed to in the hope of using the mountainous terrain to his advantage against the Mongols, the general's emissary Ming'an defected to the Mongol side and instead handed over intelligence on the movements of the Jin army, which was subsequently outmanoeuvred, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Jin casualties. [18][19] Genghis Khan is spelled in a variety of ways in different languages such as Mongolian Chinggis Khaan, English Chinghiz, Chinghis, and Chingiz, Chinese: ; pinyin: Chngjs Hn, Turkic: Cengiz Han, ingiz Xan, Chingizxon, Shn'g'sxan, ingiz Han, z Xan, s xan, iiz Xaan, iizhan, Russian: (ingiskhan) or - (ingiz-khan). Temjin commanded part of this attack, and after victory, he and Toghrul were restored by the Jin to positions of power. In the early 13th century, the Khwarazmian dynasty was governed by Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad. 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. 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. 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). Before the conflict, several generals abandoned Jamukha, including Subutai, Jelme's well-known younger brother. First Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (c. 11621227), This article is about Genghis Khan, the historical figure and Mongol leader. His exceptional military successes made Genghis Khan one of the most important conquerors of all time, and by the end of the Great Khan's life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China. The Persian historian Rashid-al-Din in Jami' al-tawarikh, written in the beginning of the 14th century, stated that most Borjigin ancestors of Genghis Khan were "tall, long-bearded, red-haired, and bluish green-eyed," features which Genghis Khan himself had. [45] The Jin bestowed Toghrul with the honorable title of Ong Khan, and Temjin with a lesser title of j'aut quri.[46]. 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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. They call themselves the Mongols Motorcycle Club - and they're one of the most notorious MC groups in the world. Statue of Genghis Khan at his mausoleum, Inner Mongolia, China, Monument in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China, The actor LeKain in the role of Genghis Khan. [27], There is considerable uncertainty surrounding both the date and location of Genghis Khan's birth, with historical accounts assigning dates of birth ranging from 1155 to 1182 and a wide variety of possible birth locations. Bukhara was not heavily fortified, with just a moat and a single wall, and the citadel typical of Khwarazmian cities. He also practiced meritocracy and religious tolerance. 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. [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. This relationship was first reinforced when Brte was kidnapped by Merkits in around 1184. "[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. Genghis Khan is thus also referred to as Yuan Taizu (Emperor Taizu of Yuan; Chinese: ) in Chinese historiography. Women played a relatively important role in the Mongol Empire and in the family, for example Tregene Khatun was briefly in charge of the Mongol Empire while the next male leader Khagan was being chosen. In 1225 both divisions returned to Mongolia. 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". We will bring you their finest women and girls, their rich tents like palaces. [53], Though militarily inferior to the neighboring Jin, the Western Xia still exerted a significant influence upon the adjacent northern steppes. [72] All of these legends were invented well after Genghis Khan's death, however. Each camp also contained junior wives, concubines, and even children. 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. [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. According to legend, the funeral escort killed anyone and anything across their path to conceal where he was finally buried. Genghis Khan dedicated special attention to this in order to speed up the gathering of military intelligence and official communications. The second division under Jebe marched secretly to the southeast part of Khwarazmia to form, with the first division, a pincer attack on Samarkand. [71] Later Mongol chronicles connect Genghis's death with a Western Xia princess taken as war booty. Toghrul allied with Jamukha, who already opposed Genghis Khan's forces. [74] After he died, his body was returned to Mongolia and presumably to his birthplace in Khentii Aimag, where many assume he is buried somewhere close to the Onon River and the Burkhan Khaldun mountain (part of the Kentii mountain range).
Genghis Khan realised that he needed people who could govern cities and states conquered by him. It was the job of the Kheshig (Mongol imperial guard) to protect the yurts of Genghis Khan's wives. [77] The Mongol Empire was one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse empires in history, as befitted its size. Genghis Khan had killed the men who betrayed Jamukha, stating that he did not want disloyal men in his army. 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. [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. 