Genghis Khan and the Rise of the Mongol Empire (1206)

Genghis Khan, born Temüjin, was the Mongol leader who united the nomadic tribes of the eastern Eurasian steppe and was proclaimed their supreme ruler at a great assembly on the Onon River in 1206. From that base he launched campaigns that conquered northern China, Central Asia and parts of Iran before his death in 1227. His sons and grandsons extended these conquests into the largest contiguous land empire in history, stretching at its height from Korea to eastern Europe.

Background: the steppe and Temüjin’s youth

In the 12th century the grasslands of what is now Mongolia were home to many rival peoples. The Tatars lived in the east, the Kereits in the centre, the Naimans in the west and the Merkits in the north, along with the Mongols proper in the valleys of the Onon and Kherlen rivers. They lived by herding horses, sheep and cattle, moved between seasonal pastures and fought frequently over grazing, livestock and captives.

The Jin dynasty, founded by the Jurchen people, ruled northern China and kept the steppe divided by playing tribes against one another. An early Mongol confederation had collapsed in the mid-12th century, partly under Jin and Tatar pressure, and the Mongols were weak and fragmented when Temüjin was born.

Temüjin was born near the Onon River, probably around 1162, although dates between about 1155 and 1167 have been proposed. His father Yesügei was a chief of the Borjigin clan and his mother was Hö’elün. When Temüjin was about nine, Yesügei was poisoned by Tatars, and his followers abandoned the widow and her children. The family survived by fishing, hunting and gathering roots.

The Secret History of the Mongols, the main Mongol account of his life, records that the young Temüjin killed his half-brother Begter in a quarrel over food, and that he was captured for a time by the rival Tayichiud clan before escaping. He married Börte, to whom he had been betrothed as a boy. When Merkit raiders carried her off, Temüjin recovered her with the help of Toghrul, khan of the Kereits and his father’s sworn brother, and Jamukha, his own childhood sworn brother (anda).

Uniting the tribes

Temüjin gathered followers by generosity and by promoting men for loyalty and ability rather than noble birth. He was chosen khan of a Mongol following, probably in the late 1180s or early 1190s, but his growing power soon set him against Jamukha, who defeated him at Dalan Baljut. Temüjin recovered as Jamukha’s harshness drove supporters away.

In 1196 Temüjin and Toghrul joined a Jin campaign against the Tatars, and the Jin rewarded them with titles. In 1202 Temüjin destroyed the Tatars, killing most of their men in revenge for his father. In 1203 his alliance with Toghrul broke down, and after a narrow escape, remembered in the oath of loyalty sworn by his companions at Baljuna, he defeated the Kereits in a surprise attack. In 1204 he crushed the Naimans and their allies in the Altai region. Jamukha, who had sided with his enemies, was handed over by his own men and executed around 1205.

The kurultai of 1206

In the spring of 1206 a great assembly, or kurultai, met at the source of the Onon River. The assembled leaders proclaimed Temüjin Chinggis Khan, the form usually written as Genghis Khan in English. The meaning of the title is uncertain; suggestions include “oceanic” or “universal” ruler and “firm” or “fierce” ruler.

The kurultai did more than crown a ruler. Temüjin declared the many steppe peoples to be a single people, the “people of the felt-walled tents”, under the name Mongol. The white standard with nine tails, symbol of his rule, was raised, and his followers were rewarded with commands.

One rival authority remained. The shaman Kököchü, known as Teb Tengri, had supported the proclamation and claimed to speak for Heaven, and he began to challenge the khan’s family. Shortly after the kurultai Genghis Khan allowed his brother Temüge to have the shaman’s back broken in a staged wrestling match. The episode, recorded in the Secret History, made clear that religious figures would serve the khan rather than rival him. Genghis Khan presented his rule as a mandate from Tengri, the Eternal Blue Sky, and this belief in a heavenly commission to rule the world later shaped the letters his successors sent to the rulers of Europe and Asia.

How Genghis Khan organised his state

Genghis Khan reorganised his people into a decimal military system of units of ten, a hundred, a thousand and ten thousand men (in Mongolian arban, jaghun, mingghan and tümen). The Secret History lists 95 commanders of a thousand appointed in 1206. Old tribes were broken up and their members spread across units, so that loyalty flowed to the khan and his officers rather than to tribal chiefs.

He enlarged his personal guard, the keshig, to about 10,000 men. It protected the khan, ran his household and trained future commanders. He appointed his adopted brother Shigi Qutuqu as chief judge to record decisions and settle disputes. After the defeat of the Naimans, a captured Uyghur scribe introduced the Uyghur script for writing Mongolian, giving the new state its first written administration.

Later tradition attributes to Genghis Khan a legal code called the Yasa. Many historians doubt that a single written code existed in his lifetime; it is more likely that his decrees and rulings were collected and treated as binding law by his successors.

The great conquests

With the steppe united, Genghis Khan turned outward. Between 1205 and 1210 he attacked the Tangut kingdom of Western Xia, which submitted and agreed to pay tribute. In 1211 he invaded the Jin empire, routing its army at the Battle of Yehuling, and in 1215 his forces took the Jin capital Zhongdu, modern Beijing.

In 1218 his general Jebe conquered the Qara Khitai realm in Central Asia. When the governor of Otrar massacred a Mongol-sponsored caravan, Genghis Khan launched the conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219, sacking Bukhara, Samarkand, Urgench and the great cities of Khorasan. A reconnaissance force under Jebe and Subutai rode around the Caspian Sea and defeated the Rus princes and the Cumans at the Kalka River in 1223.

Mongol success rested on mobile cavalry armies of mounted archers, each rider with several horses; strict discipline; careful scouting and intelligence; and rapid adoption of Chinese and Muslim siege engineers. Cities that surrendered were often spared; those that resisted were frequently destroyed and their inhabitants killed or deported. Contemporary chroniclers report enormous death tolls, which historians regard as exaggerated in detail but reflecting real devastation.

Genghis Khan died in August 1227 during a final campaign against Western Xia. The death of Genghis Khan and the secrecy of his burial gave rise to legends that continue today.

Key people

• Temüjin / Genghis Khan (c. 1162–1227): founder of the Mongol Empire.
• Börte: his principal wife and mother of his four main sons, Jochi, Chagatai, Ögedei and Tolui.
• Toghrul (Ong Khan): ruler of the Kereits, first Temüjin’s patron and later his enemy; killed in 1203.
• Jamukha: Temüjin’s sworn brother and chief rival for leadership of the Mongols.
• Muqali and Bo’orchu: two of his earliest companions and greatest commanders.

Legacy

Genghis Khan’s successors built on his work. His son Ögedei, elected Great Khan in 1229, completed the conquest of the Jin and sent armies into Rus and central Europe. His grandson Hülegü sacked Baghdad in 1258, and another grandson, Kublai, founded the Yuan dynasty and conquered Song China. By then the empire had split into four successor states, but under Mongol rule trade and travel across Eurasia, along the routes known as the Silk Road, became easier than ever before.

In Mongolia Genghis Khan is honoured as the founder of the nation; his portrait appears on banknotes and the main airport bears his name. Elsewhere, especially in parts of China, Central Asia, Iran and eastern Europe, he is remembered mainly for the destruction his armies caused.

Myths and facts

• Myth: We know what Genghis Khan looked like. Fact: No portrait was made in his lifetime. The best-known image, in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, was painted after his death for the Yuan court.
• Myth: He was simply a savage conqueror. Fact: He was also an innovative organiser who introduced writing, legal administration and religious tolerance to his state, although his wars caused immense loss of life.
• Myth: Genghis Khan is proven to be the ancestor of 16 million men. Fact: A 2003 study identified a widespread lineage that may descend from him or his relatives, but this remains a hypothesis.

Timeline

• c. 1162: Birth of Temüjin near the Onon River.
• c. 1171: His father Yesügei is poisoned by Tatars.
• 1202: Temüjin destroys the Tatars.
• 1203: He defeats Toghrul and the Kereits.
• 1204: The Naimans are crushed in the Altai.
• 1206, spring: Kurultai at the Onon River proclaims him Genghis Khan.
• 1211: Invasion of the Jin empire begins.
• 1215: Fall of the Jin capital Zhongdu.
• 1219–1221: Conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire.
• 1227, August: Death of Genghis Khan during the Western Xia campaign.

Why it matters

The kurultai of 1206 turned a patchwork of feuding tribes into a disciplined state that reshaped Eurasia within two generations. The Mongol conquests destroyed cities and dynasties, redrew the political map from China to Russia and the Middle East, and connected East and West more closely than any power before them.