Before Genghis Khan was the legendary founder and ruler of the Mongolian Empire, which was the largest contiguous land empire the world had ever seen, he was known as Temujin. Temujin was born in either 1162 or 1167 CE to aristocratic parents named Hoelum and Yisugei. He was born holding a blood clot which was seen as an omen that, one day, he would be a great leader.
As Temujin kept winning, his army kept growing and he was victorious against rivals such as the Tartas, Kereyids, Naimans and Merkids. In 1206, a Mongol confederation met at a Kumultai or great conference, and declared Temujin as their leader formally. At this point, he was given the title of Genghis Khan, or Universal leader. Now that he was Genghis Khan, his next goal was to consolidate his army and power with the traditional skills of the Mongols, horsemanship and archery. This was so they could continue uniting and overcoming neighbouring rival states, but also so he could build an empire and eventually conquer China, which at that time, was the richest state in Asia. His empire eventually stretched through all of Central Asia, from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Sea of Japan (also known as East Sea) in the East.
On the 18th of August 1227, Genghis Khan died of an unknown illness which may or may not have had something to do with the fact that he fell off his horse a few months earlier. He was buried in Mongolia in an unmarked tomb in a secret location.
— CHAPTERS — 0:00 Introduction 0:56 Early Life of Temujin 4:30 The Mongolian Empire Under Genghis Khan 6:54 Battles Fought by Genghis Khan 10:03 Death of Genghis Khan 11:20 Outro
Did you know that not only did Genghis Khan found the Mongolian Empire,
but his empire was the largest contiguous land empire in history to that date,
and conquered more land in 25 years than the Roman Empire did in 400.
Stick around to learn all about Genghis Khan.
Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia.
My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the founder of the Mongolian Empire,
Genghis Khan.
Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up,
subscribing to our channel, and hitting that bell icon for notifications,
so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday.
World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization,
so if you'd like to support our work you can head to our Patreon
via the link in the top corner of the screen, or via the Patreon link down below.
Before Genghis Khan was the founder and ruler of the Mongolian Empire,
which was the largest contiguous land empire the world had ever seen,
he was known as Temüjin.
Temüjin was born in either 1162 or 1167 CE to aristocratic parents named Hoelun and Yesugei,
who was the tribal leader.
He was born holding a blood clot,
which was seen as an omen that one day he would be a great leader.
When he was 9 or 12 years old,
his father Yesugei planned to have Temüjin marry Borte,
the daughter of another influential tribe leader.
But before they could seal the deal,
Yesugei was poisoned and killed by an enemy clan.
As Temüjin was a child,
he couldn't keep the loyalty of his father's men,
and so he and his mother and brothers
were all abandoned on the Asian steppe to fend for themselves.
For a brief time,
Temüjin was captured by a rival clan after he killed his older half-brother.
Temüjin was able to escape in the night,
and then he gathered the few people still loyal to his family.
He joined up with Kerait,
the chief of a local clan his father had once helped.
He then finally got to marry Borte.
However, his bride got kidnapped after they were married,
and Temüjin attacked the tribe that took her,
only to get her back.
He had three other wives and many, many concubines.
But since Borte was his one true love,
whom he even relied on for advice during his conquests,
only the sons he had with Borte could be his heir and successor.
Geneticists have recently studied the Y chromosomes,
which are passed down from father to son,
and they have estimated that 0.5% of the Earth's male population,
which equals to around 16 million males,
are direct descendants from Genghis Khan.
This means that he would have had to have had hundreds of children,
and we know that his son Toshi had 40 sons,
and his grandson Kublai Khan had 22 legitimate sons.
Now Temüjin started to win victories against rival clans
due to his skills in leadership and battle.
As he worked through the clans of Mongolia,
conquering and uniting them,
he was putting people of merit in prominent positions,
rather than relatives.
His battle against the Taichuits,
a tribe that used to be allies with his father,
and the people who took Temüjin captive for a bit,
resulted in him boiling his captives alive in 70 large cauldrons.
Temüjin was working to unify all of the clans
and bring them together under his leadership,
even by brutal slaughter if necessary.
Since before uniting these clans,
they were all separate,
and there was a lot of history and violence between them.
He used violence, brutal force, and punishments,
as well as diplomacy and generosity,
to bring the tribes together.
As Temüjin kept winning,
his army kept growing,
and he was victorious against rivals
such as the Tatars,
Karayids,
Naimans,
and Merkins.
To stop infighting and tribal warfare after uniting the clans,
he didn't allow for the kidnapping or selling of women.
He banned enslavement of Mongols,
and if you stole someone's livestock,
it was punishable by death.
In 1206,
a Mongol confederation met at Kumultai,
or Great Conference,
and declared Temüjin as their leader formally.
At this point,
he was given the title of Genghis Khan,
or Universal Leader.
Now that he was Genghis Khan,
his next goal was to consolidate his army and power
with the traditional skills of the Mongols.
This was so they could continue uniting
and overcoming neighbouring rival states,
but also so he could build an empire
and eventually conquer China,
which at that time was the richest state in Asia.
Prior to the Mongol Empire,
the people of Mongolia were nomadic
and hadn't established towns or villages.
Genghis would continue to live like this,
in a large portable wall or felt tent or yurt.
Although he enjoyed living as he always had,
he still looked to improve the empire,
which included making the Mongol language
into a written one,
using the script of the Uyghur Turks.
Since they now had written language,
they could write out law codes,
specific punishments and crimes.
They also developed a postal system
where messengers or couriers on horseback
could carry messages and packages
with stations along the route
for rest, food and changing your horse,
a concept first developed by the Persians.
He adopted the system of burning torches
and using the smoke to relay messages
over a long distance.
Genghis Khan unified his army,
expanded his elite bodyguard from 800 to 10,000
and members of his guard swore loyalty
in exchange for special favours with war booty
and important administration functions
in the conquered territories.
Genghis Khan's army was composed
of only elite warriors.
He only allowed expert archers and marksmen
and tough soldiers to join.
And they rode nimble horses
who could survive in harsh temperatures.
His soldiers and army adopted the skills,
technology and innovations of others
and incorporated them into their own strategy,
following Genghis's policy
of taking the best aspects of other cultures
and making the most use of them.
Genghis Khan also exploited weaknesses in enemies,
like internal divisions
and stirring up old rivalries to weaken them.
Genghis Khan got this information
through his merchants and spies,
who sometimes acted as assassins.
Mongol warfare was about one thing,
to gain booty
and generals who were victorious
could expect to be given large plots of land to govern.
In 1205, 1209 and 1211,
Genghis attacked the Jin state,
which was in control of most of northern China.
It would take 20 years for Genghis
and the Mongolian empire
to completely conquer the Jin.
Although the Jin had more men in the fight than Mongolia,
the Mongols superior tactics won them the region.
Genghis had multiple siege tactics that he used.
One was sacking a city,
then retreating,
letting the Jin retake it
and then deal with the chaos.
Sometimes he did this multiple times to the same city.
He would also capture a city
and simply murder everyone
as a warning to neighboring cities
that they should just surrender.
Anyone he didn't have killed
would be used as human shields
as they conquered the next city.
Pretty brutal.
Between the years 1212 and 1213,
Genghis Khan destroyed 90 cities in China.
In 1214, the Jin signed a peace deal
due to their internal issues of corruption,
natural disasters
and assassinations of top officials
and had to pay tribute to Genghis Khan
and retreat to the south.
The Mongols then reattacked the Jin
in their new capital in the south in 1215.
In 1215, the Mongols also captured the city of Beijing,
which was then known as Zhongdu,
which burned for a month,
as well as attacking the Xixia in northern China.
The Chinese Song dynasty though
decided to ally with Genghis Khan.
He attacked Korea in 1232 and 1235
and China in 1234,
which was the end of the Jin state.
After decimating much of China
and leaving the north incredibly weak,
Genghis Khan then turned southwards
between 1218 and 1220.
His target during his movement southwest
was the Khwarazm empire,
located in the area of modern Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan and Iran.
Genghis Khan sent ambassadors
to the Shah of Khwarazm
requesting he submit to him and his empire
and in reply, the Shah assassinated them.
In retaliation,
Genghis Khan sent 100,000 men
to sweep through Persia
and sent them running to an island
in the Caspian Sea.
He destroyed the cities,
murdered innocent people
and even wrecked the impressive irrigation system
in the region.
In 1221, the Mongols moved
into northern Afghanistan
and in 1222,
they defeated a combined army
of Ruz principalities.
His empire stretched through all of central Asia,
from the Caspian Sea in the west
to the Sea of Japan,
also known as East Sea in the east.
Now that Genghis Khan had conquered
such a huge amount of territory,
he knew he needed some form of stable government
to keep hold of it.
In order to keep his regions united,
he allowed rulers to keep power.
There was religious tolerance,
international trade was encouraged
and merchants traveling through his empire
were protected.
He even reopened the Silk Road.
On the 18th of August 1227,
Genghis Khan died of an unknown illness,
which may or may not have had something to do
with the fact that he fell off his horse
a few months earlier.
He was buried in Mongolia
in an unmarked tomb in a secret location.
He'd already sorted out the issue of succession
before he died
and three of his sons,
each got to rule a khanate.
Ogedei, the youngest of the three,
became the Great Khan in 1229
and held that position until his death in 1241.
Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan,
conquered the rest of China in 1275
and caused the collapse of the Chinese Song dynasty.
For the next two decades,
China was dominated by the Mongols.
Kublai Khan also expanded the empire in the west
into Europe up to the Danube River
in modern-day Bulgaria.
Was Genghis Khan a great military genius
or mass murderer?
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this video,
make sure to give it a thumbs up,
subscribe to our channel
and hit that bell icon for notifications
so you don't miss out on our new videos
every Tuesday and Friday.
This video was brought to you by
World History Encyclopedia.
For more great articles and interactive content,
head to our website via the link below.
If you like my shirt,
you can find this design and a bunch more
on our shop at worldhistory.store
or you can find the link to it
under the merch tab down below.
Thanks so much for watching
and we'll see you soon with another video.
