Genghis Khan Used Terror as an Effective Strategy
Genghis Khan set out to conquer world, starting with China, which was fragmented at the time into various dynasties. After defeating the Western Xia Dynasty, he attacked the Jin Dynasty in 1211, crushing them in a decisive battle during which hundreds of thousands of Jin were massacred. Genghis then found himself ruling tens of millions of Chinese peasants, and his first instinct was to simply kill them all and transform the land into pasturage suitable for Mongol herds. Genocide was averted only after taxation was explained to Genghis, and he understood that live peasants working the fields and paying taxes meant steady wealth.
Soon thereafter, a governor in the powerful Khwarezmian Empire to the west executed envoys sent by Genghis to its emir, who then refused to hand over the offender. Genghis launched an invasion in 1218 that extinguished the Khwarezmian Empire by 1221. It was during this war that the Mongols won their reputation for savagery, and millions died as Genghis had entire cities massacred for offering the least resistance. After the capture of an enemy city, the Mongol cry “feed the horses!” was a dreaded signal to rape, murder, and plunder defenseless populations. Specific units were given the task of butchery, soldiers were assigned quotas of victims to kill, and the massacre was carried out relatively quickly.
Especially when operating deep in enemy territory, the Mongols preferred to leave no opponents or potential opponents behind. They made few distinctions between combatants and noncombatants, and frequently killed all whom them encountered. Prisoners – and the Mongols took few prisoners – were herded ahead of Mongol armies as human shields.
By the time Genghis was done, Khwarezm had been reduced to an impoverished and depopulated wasteland. At the central mosque in the once thriving but now smoldering city of Bukhara, Genghis told the survivors that he was the Flail of God, and that: “If you had not committed great sins, God would not have inflicted a punishment like me upon you“.