Chingis Khan

Chingis Khan

Regarded by many as the founder of the Mongolian nation, Chingis Khan was a great warrior, military genius and adroit leader.

Born around 1165 into a minor clan, Chingis Khan, named Temujin, quickly rose to prominence in Mongolia. At this time Mongolia was inhabited by several ethnic groups and clans, who were often at war amongst themselves. Through a period of gradual consolidation, Temujin gathered many clans to his banner and destroyed those who opposed him. When he was approximately 40 years old, there was a great ¡®khuriltai¡¯ (meeting), where he was proclaimed "Chingis Khan," the leader of all of the clans in Mongolia.

Chingis Khan then set his sights beyond Mongolia¡¯s borders. His first campaigns were against the Chinese. Although his armies, for the most part, defeated their Chinese counterparts, the Mongols never established a lasting occupying force. Instead, they would extract concessions from the Chinese and return to Mongolia laden with silks, jewelry, weapons and other booty.

Losing interest in China, Chingis Khan turned westward. At that time, the Khwarazam Empire, ruled by the Khwarazam Shah, controlled the land west of the Tien Shan Mountains to the Caspian Sea. After a short-lived attempt to develop trade between the two empires, a disagreement arose between the two leaders and Chingis Khan decided to mount a major campaign against the Khwarazam Empire. Despite the overwhelming fact that the Mongolian armies were outnumbered by more than two to one, the brilliant battle tactics of Chingis Khan and his generals resulted in total defeat of the Shah and brought an end to the Khwarazam Empire.

By Chingis Khan¡¯s death in 1227, the Mongol Empire reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea. Upon his death, the lands were divided between Chingis Khan¡¯s descendants who continued his legacy of conquest until they controlled the largest contiguous land empire the world has ever known (including all of present-day China, Korea, all of the former Soviet Central Asian Republics, major portions of Russia, including Kiev and Moscow, eastern Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan). Eventually, after the Mongol Empire had disintegrated, Chingis Khan¡¯s legacy continued when his distant descendants established the great Moghul Dynasty, which ruled the Indian Sub-continent for generations.