The Mongol Empire Was Founded by a Charismatic Monster
“My greatest joy is to defeat my enemies and drive them before me. To see their cities reduced to ashes. To see their loved ones shrouded and in tears, and to embrace their wives and daughters” – Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan, born Temujin (1162 – 1227), must have embraced many an enemy’s wives and daughters: a 2003 DNA study showed that nearly 40 million people were his descendants. This staggering statistic means about 1 in 200 of the world’s population. He founded history’s largest contiguous empire, and was one of history’s most terrifying figures. Widespread massacres, even genocides, often accompanied his conquests. About 40 million people were killed during the Mongol conquests he started. If that number was extrapolated to modern global population, it would be equivalent to 280 million deaths in the 20th century – around four times the casualties of WWI and WWII, combined.
Temujin’s father, the chief of a small Mongol tribe, was assassinated when Temujin was a child. Tribal rivals then expelled the widow and her children to fend for themselves on the harsh Mongol Steppe. As a result, Temujin grew up in extreme poverty and want. During that difficult childhood, he killed one of his brothers for refusing to share a rodent.
He grew up a hard man, but also a charismatic one. By the time he was a young man, Temujin had a small and devoted following. With diplomatic maneuvering, backed by force when warranted, he took over the Mongol clans, one at a time. He ruthlessly eradicated tribal distinctions by exterminating the nobility, and combining the commoners into a single Mongol tribe, united by their personal loyalty to Temujin.
After uniting the Mongols, he took on the rival Tatar tribe, defeated them, and executed all males taller than a wagon’s axle. By 1206, Temujin had destroyed all Steppe rivals, and united its feuding tribes into a Mongol nation. That year, he called for a grand assembly, and revealed his vision, endorsed by shamans, that the heavens had ordained that he rule all under the sky. The Mongols proclaimed him “Genghis Khan”, meaning Universal Ruler.