I was fascinated by the name Chengiz Khan when I read about him in a book in my 4th Standard and felt later that he was neglected by the Historians. I have posted another note a long time ago on him. This is a much more comprehensive note on his life. I relied mostly on Wikipedia and a few other sources to make this compilation.
Chengiz Khan whose original name was Temuzin was born sometime around 1162 AD in Mongolia near the present capital of Ulaanbaatar. The Mongols were a congregation of nomadic tribes. The meaning of Temuzin in Mongolis Blacksmith. Temuzin’s father Yesegei Bagatur emerged as the leader of the leading clan of Mongols known as Borjigin.
Temuzin had 3 brothers, one sister and two half brothers. At the age of 9 he was delivered by his fatherto his future wife Borte’s family of the Khongirad tribe. He lived there till 12 years of age.
Temuzin’s father was poisoned by the Tartars who had been the enemy of the Mongols. Coming to know ofthis Temuzin returned back and claimed the chieftainship of the tribe when he was just 12 years old. The tribe refused to be led by a young boy. The tribe abandoned his mother Hoelun and her children without protection.
For many years Chengiz’s family lived in the desert surviving on wild fruits, ox carcasses etc. Slowly Temuzin’s older half brother Begter started exercising the role of the eldest male member in the family. After he reached adulthood Hoelun has to take Begter as a mate. He was born to another mother. Temuzin was against this. In one hunting expedition Temuzin and his brother Khasar killed Begter.
In 1177 when he was just 15 years old, he was captured by his father’s erstwhile enemies theTayichiud tribe. Chengiz Khan escaped from their captivity with the help of as ympathetic guard. Chengiz’s reputation became widespread after this escape which was considered miraculous.
Chengiz grew up in the tough Mongolain environment which included thievery, raids, corruption and continual acts of revenge carried out between the various tribes.
Chengiz married Borte as betrothed when he was 16 years old.Soon after their marriage Borte was kidnapped by another tribe called Merkits and given away as wife to another. Chengiz rescued her with the help of his friend and future rival Jamukha his blood brother ( brothers by the ritual of uniting their bloods physically) and Togrul Khan, the blood brother of his father. Borte bore a son named Jochi just9 months after this which clouded the issue of his parentage. Borte gave him 3 more sons. Chengiz had many more children with his other wives.
Jamukha and Temuzin slowly drifted apart as their mission is to be supreme and also due to the diverse methods they adopted. Chengiz favored meritocracy while Jamukha favored the Mongolian aristocracy.
In 1186 when Chengiz was just 24 years old he was elected as the Khan of the Mongols. Alarmed by Temuzins growth Jamukha launched an attack on him in 1187 with 30,000 troups. Temuzin was decisively defeated in this battle. But Jamukha acted cruelly and boiled some prisoners taken in the war which made the people sympathetic to Chengiz.
The life of Chengiz is unclear for the next 10 years and we have no historic information on them. Around the year 1197, the Jin empire in China attacked their former vassals, the Tartars with help from Mongols. Chengiz commanded a part ofthis force and after his victory he and Toghrul Khan were restored by the Jinto positions of power. He then started defeating the rival tribes one after the other. Chengiz diverged from Mongol tradition and delegated authority based on merit and loyalty than on family ties.
He devised the “Yassa” code of law that all the people under him have to follow. For people who swore allegiance to this code, he promised wealth from his future war spoils. Unlike the Mongol tribes at that time after conquest he took the conquered tribe under his protection and integrated its members into his own tribe. This act evoked strong loyalty from the conquered people making him stronger with each victory.
The son of Toghrul Khan felt jealous at the rising power of Chengiz and he hatched a plot to kill him. Toghrul Khan too yielded to his sons acts. Chengiz found out about the plot and defeated Toghrul’s son and his loyalists in a battle.
Chengiz turned against Toghrul when he refused to give the hand of his daughter in marriage to Chengiz’s eldest son by Borte. As per Mongol traditions this is considered an insult. This led to war between Chengiz and Toghrul. In this his old rival Jamukha allied himself with Toghrul to attack Chengiz. However, an internal dispute between Toghrul and Jamukha as well as desertion of their allies to Chengiz led to Toghrul’s defeat. Jamukha escaped during the battle.
Jamukha and his followers took shelter with the Mongolian tribe called Naimans and later Jamukha was given the title of Universal ruler which angered Chengiz. Jamukha formed a coalition of tribes to defeat Chengiz. Before the battle, several generals abandoned Jamukha and joined Chengiz. After several battles Jamukha was turned in by his own men in 1206.
Chengiz again offered friendship to Jamukha which he declined and said there can only be one sun in the sky. He asked for a bloodless death from Chengiz which was granted and Jamukha’s back was broken.
After the defeat of the Naimans, entire Mongolia came under Chengiz’s power. The life of Chengiz is filled with a series of betrayals and conspiracies.
The “Yam Route” is a method for fast dissemination of information by Chengiz is a supply point route messenger system. Relay stations were used to give food, shelter and spare horses for Mongol army messengers. A Mongol horseman can travel 300 KM a day to relay information across the empire.His intelligence gathering system was excellent and he understood the psychologies of his rivals beforehand. He adopted new technologies from the Chinese in warfare. He was also absolutely ruthless when required.
Chengiz Khans forces defeated the Western Xia dynasty, the Jin dynasty and Qara Khitai in China and the empire now bordered Kwarizim state in Central Asia ruled by a sultan. It contained the present areas of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhastan.
Chengiz initially sent a caravan of 500 people to Kwarizim seeing the advantage of commerce through the silk route. However, the Governor of one city in Kwarizim said that it contained spies and attacked the caravan. The governor later refused to return the looted articles and handover the people who did it. Chengiz then sent a group of 3 ambassadors consisting of 2 Mongols and1 Muslim to meet the Shah asking him to surrender. The Shah beheaded the Muslim and shaved the 2 Mongol ambassadors and made them carry back the head to Chengiz.
This affront enraged Chengiz who marshaled 100,000 soldiers for invasion of Kwarizim. He split his army into 3 groups and attacked Kwarizim in 3 places simultaneously after gathering sufficient intelligence. First the Mongol army seized the city whose governor defied Chengiz. The civilians were massacred wholesale and the rest were enslaved. The Governor was killed by pouring molten silver into the eyes and ears. The Sultan was utterly defeated and fled.
After the capital Samarkhand fell, Chengiz had every soldier who opposed him executed. All the population was driven into a plain and massacred. Pyramids of their severed heads were raised as a symbol of victory. Similarly in the trading city of Urgench 1.2 million people were massacred. Chengiz ordered 2 of his generals to completely destroy the remnants of the empire.Such was the ruthlessness of Chengiz Khan when provoked.
Although it is impossible to know how many perished during the Mongol conquests, it is said that he was responsible for the deaths of 40 million people which is around 11% of the world’s population at that time.
For a man of his temperament and ruthlessness Chengiz was surprisingly tolerant towards other religions.
Chengiz died in the year 1227 and his third son Ogedei Khan became Emperor. During his reign he conquered Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Hungary,Poland, Serbia and Bulgaria. Ogedei, then granted permission to his generals to conquer Europe up to the sea (Atlantic). To Europe’s luck Ogedei died and the generals had to go back to Mongolia to name the successor to the throne andEurope was saved.
Alexander was named the world conqueror by historians who donot mention about Chengiz Khan. The Mongol Empire was 5 times the size of Alexander’s empire. Of course Alexander being Greek was civilized whereasChengiz is a nomadic Mongol tribal at heart and is brutal.
When I last posted a note on Chengiz Khan my friend JP Mishra reminded me that at least 0.5% of the world’s population had the blood of Chengiz in them. That is a fact as the following study suggests. In fact as many as 8% of the people living in the area of the then Mongol empire are considered to be the direct line descendants of Chengiz Khan.
