Genghis Khan

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
slash.
Genghis Khan, born Temujin, seewhen he went in 62, august 1227
, also known as Genghis Khan,was the founder and first Khan
of the Mongol Empire.
After spending most of his lifeuniting the Mongol tribes, he
launched a series of militarycampaigns, conquering large
parts of China and Central Asia.
Welcome to Human Wreckage, thisepisode we are going to talk

(00:23):
about.
Genghis Khan, let's get into it.
Born between 1155 and 1167 andgiven the name Temujin, he was
the eldest child of Yesuji, aMongol chieftain of the Borjigin
clan, and his wife Hurlun.
When Temujin was eight, hisfather died and his family was
abandoned by its tribe.
Reduced to near poverty,temujin killed his older

(00:45):
half-brother to secure hisfamilial position.
His charismatic personalityhelped to attract his first
followers and to form allianceswith two prominent step-leaders
named Jamukha and Tagrol.
They worked together toretrieve Temujin's newlywed wife
, bert, who had been kidnappedby raiders.
As his reputation grew, hisrelationship with Jamukha
deteriorated into open warfare.

(01:07):
Temujin was badly defeated in Cwhen M-187, and may have spent
the following years as a subjectof the Jin dynasty.
Upon re-emerging in 1196, heswiftly began gaining power.
Togrol came to view Temujin asa threat and launched a surprise
attack on him in 1203.
Temüjin retreated, thenregrouped and overpowered Togrol

(01:29):
.
After defeating the Neymantribe and executing Jamukha, he
was left as the sole ruler onthe Mongolian steppe.
Temüjin formally adopted thetitle Genghis Khan, the meaning
of which is uncertain, at anassembly in 1206.
Of which is uncertain, at anassembly in 1206.
Carrying out reforms designedto ensure long-term stability,

(01:49):
he transformed the Mongols'tribal structure into an
integrated meritocracy dedicatedto the service of the ruling
family.
After thwarting a coup attemptfrom a powerful shaman, genghis
began to consolidate his power.
In 1209, he led a large-scaleraid into the neighboring
western Zia, who agreed toMongol terms the following year.
He then launched a campaignagainst the Jin Dynasty, which

(02:10):
lasted for four years and endedin 1215 with the capture of the
Jin capital, zhongdu.
His general, jib, annexed thecentral Asian state of
Karakhetai in 1218.
Genghis was provoked to invadethe Khwarazmian Empire the
following year by the executionof his envoys.
The campaign toppled theKhwarazmian state and devastated
the regions of Transoxiana andKhorasan.

(02:32):
While Jib and his colleagueSabutai led an expedition that
reached Georgia and Kivan Rus,in 1227, genghis died while
subduing the rebellious WesternXia.
Following a two-yearinterregnum, his third son and
heir, urjadei, acceded to thethrone in 1229.
Genghis Khan remains acontroversial figure.
He was generous and intenselyloyal to his followers, but

(02:55):
ruthless towards his enemies.
He welcomed advice from diversesources in his quest for world
domination, for which hebelieved the shamanic supreme
deity Tengri had destined him.
The Mongol army under Genghiskilled millions of people, yet
his conquests also facilitatedunprecedented commercial and
cultural exchange over a vastgeographical area.

(03:15):
He is remembered as a backwards, savage tyrant in Russia and
the Arab world, while recentWestern scholarship has begun to
reassess its previous view ofhim as a barbarian warlord.
He was posthumously deified inMongolia.
Modern Mongolians recognize himas the founding father of their
nation.
Multiple chronicles in Persianhave also survived, which

(03:36):
display a mix of positive andnegative attitudes towards
Genghis Khan and the Mongols.
Both Minhaj-i-Suroj-Juzjani andAtamalik Jubaini completed
their respective histories in1260.
Juzjani was an eyewitness tothe brutality of the Mongol
conquests and the hostility ofhis chronicle reflects his
experiences.
His contemporary Jubaini, whohad traveled twice to Mongolia

(03:59):
and attained a high position inthe administration of a Mongol
successor state, was moresympathetic.
His account is the mostreliable for Genghis Khan's
Western campaigns.
The most important Persiansource is the Jami al-Tawarik
Compendium of Chroniclescompiled by Rashid al-Din on the
order of Genghis's descendant,ghazan in the early 14th century
.
Ghazan allowed Rashidprivileged access to both

(04:22):
confidential Mongol sources suchas the Alton Deader and to
experts on the Mongol oraltradition, including Kublai
Khan's ambassador Bala Ching San.
As he was writing an officialchronicle, rashid censored
inconvenient or taboo details.
There are many othercontemporary histories which
include additional informationon Genghis Khan and the Mongols,

(04:42):
although their neutrality andreliability are often suspect.
Additional Chinese sourcesinclude the chronicles of the
dynasties conquered by theMongols and the Song diplomat
Zhao Hong, who visited theMongols in 1221.
Arabic sources include acontemporary biography of the
Khwarazmian prince Jalal al-Dinby his companion al-Masawi.

(05:03):
There are also several laterChristian chronicles, including
the Georgian Chronicles andworks by European travelers such
as Carpini and Marco Polo.
The year of Temujin's birth isdisputed, as historians favor
different dates 1155, 1162, or1167.
Some traditions place his birthin the year of the pig, which

(05:24):
was either 1155 or 1167.
While dating to 1155 issupported by the writings of
both Zhao Hong and Rashid al-Din, other major sources, such as
the history of Yuan and theShenggu, favor the year 1162.
The 1167 dating favored by thesinologist Paul Pelliot is
derived from a minor source, atext of the artist Yang Huizhen,

(05:46):
but is more compatible with theevents of Genghis Khan's life
than a 1155 placement, whichimplies that he did not have
children until after the age of30 and continued actively
campaigning into his seventhdecade.
1162 is the date accepted bymost historians.
The historian Paul Rachnevskynoted that Temujin himself may
not have known the truth.

(06:07):
The location of Temujin's birth, which the secret history
records as Daluun Bulldog on theAnan River, is similarly
debated.
It has been placed at eitherDatil in Kentiai province or in
southern Aginbaryat, akhrag,russia.
Temujin was born into theBorjigin clan of the Mongol
tribe, to Yesuji, a chieftainwho claimed descent from the

(06:27):
legendary warlord Bodhichar,monk Hag and his principal wife
Hurlun, originally of theAlkanag clan, whom Yesuji had
abducted from her marketbridegroom childhood.
The origin of his birth name iscontested.
The earliest traditions holdthat his father had just
returned from a successfulcampaign against the Tatars with
a captive named Temujin Yuj,after whom he named the newborn

(06:48):
in celebration of his victory,while later traditions highlight
the root Temur, meaning iron,and connect to theories that
Temujin means blacksmith.
Several legends surroundTemujin's birth.
The most prominent is that hewas born clutching a blood clot
in his hand, a motif in Asianfolklore indicating the child
would be a warrior.
Others claimed that Hurlun wasimpregnated by a ray of light

(07:11):
which announced the child'sdestiny, a legend which echoed
that of the mythical Borgianancestor Alangua.
Yesuje and Hurlun had threeyounger sons after Temujin,
kassar Hachun and Temuj, as wellas one daughter, temulun.
Temujin, kassar Hachun andTemuj, as well as one daughter,
temulun.
Temujin also had twohalf-brothers, bader and Belgute

(07:33):
, from Yesuje's secondary wife,sachajil, whose identity is
uncertain.
The siblings grew up atYesuje's main camp on the banks
of the Anan, where they learnedhow to ride a horse and shoot a
bow.
When Temujin was eight years old, his father decided to betroth
him to a suitable girl.
Yesuje took his heir to thepastures of Herlun's prestigious
Angjerat tribe, which hadintermarried with the Mongols on
many previous occasions.
There, he arranged a betrothalbetween Temujin and Bert, the

(07:56):
daughter of an Angjeratchieftain named De Sechen.
As the betrothal meant Yesecewould gain a powerful ally, and
as Bert commanded a high brideprice, dei Sechin held the
stronger negotiating positionand demanded that Temujin remain
in his household to work offhis future debt.
Accepting this condition,yesuji requested a meal from a
band of totters he encounteredwhile riding homewards alone.

(08:19):
Relying on the steppe traditionof hospitality to strangers,
however, the totters recognizedtheir old enemy and slipped
poison into his food.
Yesuji gradually sickened butmanaged to return home.
Close to death, he requested atrusted retainer called Munglig
to retrieve Temujin from theAngjerat.
He died soon after.

(08:39):
Yesuji's death shattered theunity of his people, which
included members of the Borjigin, teichir and other clans.
As Temujin was not yet ten andBader around two years older,
neither was consideredexperienced enough to rule.
The Teichud faction excludedHurlun from the ancestor worship
ceremonies which followed aruler's death and soon abandoned
her camp.

(09:00):
The secret history relates thatthe entire Borjigin clan
followed, despite Hurlun'sattempts to shame them into
staying by appealing to theirhonor.
Rashid al-Din and the Shengu,however, imply that Yesuji's
brothers stood by the widow.
It is possible that Hurlun mayhave refused to join and
liberate marriage with one,resulting in later tensions, or
that the author of the secrethistory dramatized the situation
, or that the author of thesecret history dramatized the

(09:22):
situation.
All the sources agree that mostof Yesu-J's people renounced
his family in favor of theTeichuds and that Herlun's
family were reduced to a muchharsher life, taking up a
hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
They collected roots and nuts,hunted for small animals and
caught fish.
Tensions developed as thechildren grew older, both

(09:43):
Temujin and Bader had claims tobe their father's heir.
Although Temujin was the childof Yesajay's chief wife, bader
was at least two years hissenior.
There was even the possibilitythat, as permitted under
Leverate law, bader could marryher alone upon attaining his
majority and become Temujin'sstepfather.
As the friction, exacerbated byfrequent disputes over the

(10:04):
division of hunting spoils,intensified, temujin and his
younger brother, kassar,ambushed and killed Bader.
This taboo act was omitted fromthe official chronicles, but
not from the secret history,which recounts that Herlun
angrily reprimanded her sons.
Bader's younger full brother,belgite, did not seek vengeance
and became one of Temujin'shighest ranking followers,

(10:25):
alongside Kassar.
Around this time, temujindeveloped a close friendship
with Jamukha, another boy ofaristocratic descent.
The secret history notes thatthey exchanged knuckle bones and
arrows as gifts and swore theAndapak, the traditional oath of
Mongol blood brothers, ateleven.
As the family lacked allies,temujin was taken prisoner on
multiple occasions.

(10:45):
Captured by the Teichutes, heescaped during a feast and hid
first in the Anan and then inthe tent of Sorkin Shira, a man
who had seen him in the riverand not raised the alarm.
Sorkin Shira sheltered Temujinfor three days at great personal
risk, before helping him toescape.
Temujin was assisted on anotheroccasion by Borchu, an
adolescent who aided him inretrieving stolen horses.

(11:08):
Soon afterwards, borchu joinedTemujin's camp as his first
Nurkur personal companion, plNurkod.
These incidents, related by thesecret history, are indicative
of the emphasis its author puton Jenga's personal charisma.
Temujin returned to Dei Sechinto marry Bert when he reached
the age of majority at 15.
Delighted to see the son-in-lawhe feared had died, dei Sechin

(11:32):
consented to the marriage andaccompanied the newlyweds back
to Temujin's camp.
His wife Chodden presented herloom with an expensive sable
cloak.
Seeking a patron, temujin choseto regift the cloak to Togrilil
, con-ruler of the Kere tribe,who had fought alongside Yesuje
and sworn the Ande pact with him.
Toghril ruled a vast territoryin central Mongolia but

(11:53):
distrusted many of his followersIn need of loyal replacements.
He was delighted with thevaluable gift and welcomed
Temujin into his protection.
The two grew close and Temujinbegan to build a following as
Nurkads, such as Jelmi, enteredinto his service.
Temujin and Bert had their firstchild, a daughter named Kajin,
around this time.
Soon afterwards, seekingrevenge for Yesuje's abduction

(12:17):
of Haralun, around 300 Merkitsraided Temujin's camp.
While Temujin and his brotherswere able to hide on Berk in
Kaldan Mountain.
Bert and Sachajul were abductedIn accordance with Leverate law
.
Bert was given in marriage tothe younger brother of the now
deceased Childu.
Temujin appealed for aid fromTagrol and his childhood and a
Jamukha who had risen to becomechief of the Jataran tribe.

(12:40):
Both chiefs were willing tofield armies of 20,000 warriors
and with Jamukha in command, thecampaign was soon won.
A now pregnant Bert recoveredsuccessfully and soon gave birth
to a son, jachai, althoughTemujin raised him as his own
questions over his truepaternity followed Jachai
throughout his life.
This is narrated in the secrethistory in contrast with Rashid

(13:02):
al-Din's account, which protectsthe family's reputation by
removing any hint ofillegitimacy.
Over the next decade and a half, temujin and Bert had three
more sons Chagatai, erjideh andTolui, and four more daughters
Chetch-Yajin, alaka, tumulun andAl-Altan.
The followers of Temujin andJamukha camped together for a
year and a half, during whichtheir leaders reforged their

(13:24):
Anda pact and slept togetherunder one blanket.
According to the secret history, the source presents this
period as close friends bonding,but Raczniewski questioned if
Temujin actually entered intoJamukha's service in return for
the assistance with the Merkits.
Tensions arose and the twoleaders parted, ostensibly on
account of a cryptic remark madeby Jamukha on the subject of

(13:44):
camping.
In any case, temujin followedthe advice of Herlun and Bert
and began to build anindependent following.
The major tribal rulersremained with Jamukha, but 41
leaders gave their support toTemujin, along with many
commoners.
These included Subutai andothers of the Urienshai, the
Barulas, the Olkanods and manymore.
Many were attracted byTemujin's reputation as a fair

(14:07):
and generous lord who couldoffer better lives, while his
shamans prophesied that heavenhad allocated him a great
destiny.
Temujin was soon acclaimed byhis close followers as the Khan
of the Mongols.
Togrol was pleased at hisvassals' elevation, but Jamukha
was resentful.
Tensions escalated into openhostility and in around 1187 the

(14:28):
two leaders clashed in battleat Dalin Baljot.
The two forces were evenlymatched, but Temujin suffered a
clear defeat.
Later chroniclers, includingRashid al-Din, instead state
that he was victorious, buttheir accounts contradict
themselves and each other.
Modern historians such asRachnevsky and Timothy may
consider it very likely thatTemujin spent a large portion of

(14:49):
the decade following the clashat Dalin Baljit as a servant of
the Jurchen Jin dynasty in NorthChina.
Zhao Hong recorded that thefuture Genghis Khan spent
several years as a slave of theJin, formerly seen as an
expression of nationalisticarrogance.
The statement is now thought tobe based in fact, especially as
no other source convincinglyexplains Temujin's activities

(15:10):
between Dalin Baljut and Si whenhe was 95.
Taking refuge across the borderwas a common practice both for
disaffected steppe leaders anddisgraced Chinese officials.
Temujin's re-emergence, havingretained significant power,
indicates that he probablyprofited in the service of the
Jin as he later overthrew thatstate.
Such an episode, detrimental toMongol prestige, was omitted

(15:33):
from all their sources.
Zhao Hong was bound by no suchtaboos.
The sources do not agree on theevents of Temujin's return to
the steppe.
In early summer 1196, heparticipated in a joint campaign
with the Jin against the Tatars, who had begun to act contrary
to Jin interests.
As a reward, the Jin awardedhim the honorific Cha-Ot-Kyuri,

(15:54):
the meaning of which probablyapproximated Commander of
Hundreds in Jurchen.
At around the same time, heassisted Togrol with reclaiming
the lordship of the Kerait,which had been usurped by one of
Togrol's relatives, with thesupport of the powerful Naaman
tribe.
The actions of 1196fundamentally changed Temujin's
position in the steppe.
Although nominally stillTogrol's vassal, he was de facto

(16:17):
an equal ally.
Jamukha behaved cruellyfollowing his victory at Dalin
Baljit.
He allegedly boiled 70prisoners alive and humiliated
the corpses of leaders who hadopposed him.
A number of disaffectedfollowers, including Yesuje's
follower Moonvig and his sons,defected to Temujin as a
consequence.
They were also probablyattracted by his newfound wealth

(16:38):
.
Temujin subdued the disobedientJurkin tribe that had
previously offended him at afeast and refused to participate
in the Tatar campaign.
After executing their leaders,he had Belgute symbolically
break a leading Jurkan's back ina staged wrestling match in
retribution.
This latter incident, whichcontravened Mongol customs of
justice, was only noted by theauthor of the secret history,

(17:01):
who openly disapproved theseevents occurred c 1197.
During the following years,temujin and Togrol campaigned
against the Merkits, the Namansand the Tatars, sometimes
separately and sometimestogether.
In around 1201, a collection ofdissatisfied tribes, including
the Angjerat, the Teichud andthe Tatars, swore to break the

(17:21):
domination of the Borjigin-Karidalliance, electing Jamukha as
their leader and Gherkin LittKhan of the tribes.
After some initial successes,temujin and Togrol routed this
loose confederation atYedikwanan, and Jamukha was
forced to beg for Togrol'sclemency.
Desiring complete supremacy ineastern Mongolia, temujin
defeated first the Teichud andthen, in 1202, the Tatars.

(17:44):
After both campaigns, heexecuted the clan leaders and
took the remaining warriors intohis service.
These included Sorkin Shira,who had come to his aid
previously, and a young warriornamed Jib who, by killing
Temujin's horse and refusing tohide that fact, had displayed
martial ability and personalcourage.
The absorption of the Tatarsleft three military powers in

(18:05):
the steppe the Namans in thewest, the Mongols in the east
and the Karait in between.
Seeking to cement his position,temujin proposed that his son
Jachai marry one of Togrol'sdaughters.
Led by Togrol's son Singam, theKarait elite believed the
proposal to be an attempt togain control over their tribe,
while the doubts over Jachai'sparentage would have offended

(18:26):
them further.
In addition, jamukha drewattention to the threat Temujin
posed to the traditional steppearistocracy by his habit of
promoting commoners to highpositions which subverted social
norms.
Yielding eventually to thesedemands, togrol attempted to
lure his vassal into an ambush,but his plans were overheard by
two herdsmen.
Temujin was able to gather someof his forces, but was soundly

(18:50):
defeated at the battle of KalaAljid Sands.
Retreating southeast to Baljana,an unidentified lake or river,
temujin waited for his scatteredforces to regroup.
Borchu had lost his horse andwas forced to flee on foot,
while Temujin's badly woundedson Urjadeh had been transported
and tended to by Barakula, aleading warrior.
Temujin called in everypossible ally and swore a famous

(19:13):
oath of loyalty, later known asthe Baljana Covenant, to his
faithful followers, whichsubsequently granted them great
prestige.
Prestige the oath-takers ofBaljana were a very
heterogeneous group, men fromnine different tribes, who
included Christians, muslims andBuddhists.
United only by loyalty toTemujin and to each other, this
group became a model for thelater empire, termed a

(19:34):
proto-government of aproto-nation by historian John
Mann.
The Baljana covenant wasomitted from the secret history
as the group was predominantlynon-Mongol.
The author presumably wished todownplay the role of other
tribes.
A ruse de guerra involvingKassar allowed the Mongols to
ambush the Karait at the JedjerHeights, but though the ensuing
battle still lasted three days,it ended in a decisive victory

(19:58):
for Temujin.
Togrol and Sengum were bothforced to flee, and while the
latter escaped to Tibet, togrolwas killed by a Naaman who did
not recognize him.
Temujin sealed his victory byabsorbing the Kered elite into
his own tribe.
He took the princess Ibaka as awife and married her sister
Sorgatani and niece Dakwas tohis youngest son, tolui.

(20:18):
The ranks of the Naamans hadswelled due to the arrival of
Jamukha and others defeated bythe Mongols, and they prepared
for war.
Temujin was informed of theseevents by Alakwish, the
sympathetic ruler of the Angadtribe.
In May 1204, at the Battle ofChakramaut in the Alta Mountains
, the Namans were decisivelydefeated.
Their leader, tayang Khan, waskilled and his son, kuchlug, was

(20:41):
forced to flee west.
The markets were decimatedlater that year, while Jamukha,
who had abandoned the Naemans atChakramaut, was betrayed to
Temujin by companions who wereexecuted for their lack of
loyalty.
According to the secret history, jamukha convinced his
childhood Anda to execute himhonorably.
Other accounts state that hewas killed by dismemberment.

(21:02):
Now sole ruler of the steppe,temujin held a large assembly
called Akiraltai at the sourceof the Anon river in 1206.
Here he formally adopted thetitle Genghis Khan, the
etymology and meaning of whichhave been much debated.
Some commentators hold that thetitle had no meaning, simply
representing Temujin's actual ofthe traditional Gherkin title

(21:22):
which had been accorded toJamukha and was thus of lesser
worth.
Another theory suggests thatthe word Genghis bears
connotations of strength,firmness, hardness or
righteousness.
A third hypothesis proposesthat the title is related to the
Turkic Tengiz Ocean.
The title Genghis Khan wouldmean master of the ocean and, as
the ocean was believed tosurround the earth, the title

(21:44):
thus ultimately impliedUniversal Ruler.
Having attained control over onemillion people, genghis Khan
began a social revolution, inMay's words.
As traditional tribal systemshad primarily evolved to benefit
small clans and families, theywere unsuitable as the
foundations for larger statesand had been the downfall of
previous steppe confederations.

(22:05):
Genghis thus began a series ofadministrative reforms designed
to suppress the power of tribalaffiliations and to replace them
with unconditional loyalty tothe Khan and the ruling family.
As most of the traditionaltribal leaders had been killed
during his rise to power,genghis was able to reconstruct
the Mongol social hierarchy inhis favor.
The highest tier was occupiedsolely by his and his brother's

(22:28):
families, who became known asthe Altanuruk Lit Golden Family
or Chagan Yasin Lit White Bone.
Underneath them came the KaraYasin Lit Black Bone, sometimes
Karachu, composed of thesurviving pre-empire aristocracy
and the most important of thenew families.
To break any concept of triballoyalty, mongol society was

(22:49):
reorganized into a militarydecimal system.
Every man between the age of 15and 70 was conscripted into a
Minyan PL Minkad, a unit of athousand soldiers, which was
further subdivided into units ofhundreds, jaghan, pl Jaghat and
Tens Arben.
The units also encompassed eachman's household, meaning that

(23:10):
each military Minkin wassupported by a Minkin of
households in what May hastermed a military-industrial
complex.
Each Minkin operated as both apolitical and social unit, while
the warriors of defeated tribeswere dispersed to different
Minkad to make it difficult forthem to rebel as a single body.
This was intended to ensure thedisappearance of old tribal
identities, replacing them withloyalty to the great Mongol

(23:33):
state and to commanders who hadgained their rank through merit
and loyalty to the Khan.
This particular reform provedextremely effective even after
the division of the MongolEmpire.
Fragmentation never happenedalong tribal lines.
Instead, the descendants ofGenghis continued to reign
unchallenged, in some casesuntil as late as the 1700s, and

(23:54):
even powerful non-imperialdynasties such as Timur and Adig
were compelled to rule frombehind.
A puppet ruler of his lineage,genghis's senior Nurkod, were
appointed to the highest ranksand received the greatest honors
.
Borchu and Mukhali were eachgiven 10,000 men to lead as
commanders of the right and leftwings of the army respectively.
The other Nurkhod were eachgiven commands of one of the 95

(24:17):
Minkad, in a display of Genghis'meritocratic ideals.
Many of these men were born tolow social status.
Rachnevsky cited Jelmi andSavitai, the sons of blacksmiths
, in addition to a carpenter, ashepherd and even the two
herdsmen who had warned Temujinof Togrul's plans in 1203.
As a special privilege, genghisallowed certain loyal

(24:38):
commanders to retain the tribalidentities of their units.
A lackwish of the Angud wasallowed to retain 5,000 warriors
of his tribe because his sonhad entered into an alliance
pact with Genghis marrying hisdaughter, olaka.
A key tool which underpinnedthese reforms was the expansion
of the Kesheg bodyguard.
After Temujin defeated Togrolin 1203, he had appropriated

(25:00):
this carried institution in aminor form, but at the 1206
Kurultai its numbers weregreatly expanded from 1,150 to
10,000 men.
The Kesheg was not only theKhan's bodyguard but his
household staff, a militaryacademy and the center of
governmental administration.
All the warriors in this elitecorps were brothers or sons of

(25:21):
military commanders and wereessentially hostages.
The members of the Keshignevertheless received special
privileges and direct access tothe Khan, whom they served and
who, in return, evaluated theircapabilities and their potential
to govern or command.
Commanders such as Subutai,chormakan and Beju all started
out in the Keshig before beinggiven command of their own force

(25:42):
.
From 1204 to 1209, genghis Khanwas predominantly focused on
consolidating and maintaininghis new nation.
He faced a challenge from theshaman Kokshu, whose father,
munglig, had been allowed tomarry Hurlun after he defected
to Temujin Kokshu, who hadproclaimed Temujin as Genghis
Khan and took the Tenggris titleTebtengri-Lit, wholly heavenly,

(26:04):
on account of his sorcery, wasvery influential among the
Mongol commoners and sought todivide the imperial family.
Genghis's brother, kassar, wasthe first of Kokshu's targets.
Always distrusted by hisbrother, kassar was humiliated
and almost imprisoned on falsecharges before Herlun intervened
by publicly reprimandingGenghis.
Nevertheless, kokshu's powersteadily increased and he

(26:27):
publicly shamed Temüj, genghis'syoungest brother.
When he attempted to intervene,bert saw that Kokshu was a
threat to Genghis's power andwarned her husband, who still
superstitiously revered theshaman but now recognized the
political threat he posed.
Genghis allowed Temüj toarrange Kokshu's death and then
usurped the shaman's position asthe Mongols' highest spiritual

(26:48):
authority.
During these years, the Mongolsimposed their control on
surrounding areas.
Genghis dispatched Jachinorthwards in 1207 to subjugate
the Hoi'in Urgin, a collectionof tribes on the edge of the
Siberian Tega.
Having secured a marriagealliance with the Warats and
defeated the Yenisei Kyrgyz, hetook control of the region's
trade in grain and furs, as wellas its gold mines.

(27:10):
Mongol armies also rode retorts, defeating the Neyman-Merkit
alliance on the river Erdish inlate 1208.
Their Khan was killed andKuchlug fled into Central Asia.
Led by Barchuk, the Uyghursfreed themselves from the
suzerainty of the Karakitai andpledged themselves to Genghis in
1211 as the first sedentarysociety to submit to the Mongols

(27:32):
.
The Mongols had started raidingthe border settlements of the
Tangut-led western Zia kingdomin 1205, ostensibly in
retaliation for allowing SengumTogrol's son refuge.
More prosaic explanationsinclude rejuvenating the
depleted Mongol economy with aninflux of fresh goods and
livestock, or simply subjugatinga semi-hostile state to protect

(27:52):
the nascent Mongol nation.
Most Zia troops were stationedalong the southern and eastern
borders of the kingdom to guardagainst attacks from the Song
and Jin dynasties respectively,while its northern border relied
only on the Gobi Desert forprotection.
After a raid in 1207 sacked theZia fortress of Wuluhai,
genghis decided to personallylead a full-scale invasion in

(28:13):
1209.
Wuluhai was captured again inMay and the Mongols advanced on
the capital Jiangxing modern-dayYinchmen but suffered a reverse
against the Zia army.
After a two-month stalemate,genghis broke the deadlock with
a feigned retreat.
The Xia forces were deceivedout of their defensive positions
and overpowered.
Although Zhang Xing was nowmostly undefended, the Mongols

(28:35):
lacked any siege equipmentbetter than crude battering rams
and were unable to progress thesiege.
The Xia requested aid from theJin, but Emperor Zhangzong
rejected the plea.
Genghis's attempt to redirectthe Yellow River into the city
with the dam initially worked,but the poorly constructed
earthworks broke, possiblybreached by the Xia, in January
1210, and the Mongol camp wasflooded, forcing them to retreat

(28:59):
.
A peace treaty was soonformalized.
The Xia Emperor, zhangzong,submitted and handed over
tribute, including his daughterChaka, in exchange for the
Mongol withdrawal.
Wan Yangji usurped the Jinthrone in 1209.
He had previously served on thesteppe frontier and Genghis
greatly disliked him.
When asked to submit and paythe annual tribute to Yangji in

(29:20):
1210, genghis instead mocked theEmperor spat and rode away from
the Jin envoy, a challenge thatmeant war.
Despite the possibility ofbeing outnumbered eight to one
by 600,000 Jin soldiers, genghishad prepared to invade the Jin
since learning in 1206 that thestate was wracked by internal
instabilities.
Genghis had two aims to takevengeance for past wrongs

(29:43):
committed by the Jin, foremostamong which was the death of
Ambigai Khan in the mid-12th to8th century, and to win the vast
amounts of plunder his troopsand vassals expected.
After calling for a kyriltai inMarch 1211, genghis launched his
invasion of Jin, china, in May,reaching the outer ring of Jin
defenses the following month.
These border fortificationswere guarded by a Laquish's

(30:05):
Ongud, who allowed the Mongolsto pass without difficulty.
The three-pronged chevachéaimed both to plunder and burn a
vast area of Jin territory, todeprive them of supplies and
popular legitimacy, and tosecure the mountain passes which
allowed access to the NorthChina plain.
The Jin lost numerous towns andwere hindered by a series of
defections, the most prominentof which led directly to

(30:28):
Mukhali's victory at the Battleof Yunershui in autumn 1211.
The campaign was halted in 1212when Genghis was wounded by an
arrow during the unsuccessfulsiege of Zaijing, modern Dadong.
Following this failure, genghisset up a core of siege
engineers which recruited 500Jin experts over the next two
years.
The defenses of Jiang Pass hadbeen strongly reinforced by the

(30:50):
time the conflict resumed in1213, but a Mongol detachment
led by Jib managed to infiltratethe pass and surprise the elite
Jin defenders, opening the roadto the Jin capital, zhongdu
modern-day Beijing.
The Jin administration began todisintegrate After the kittens,
a tribe subject to the Jin,entered open rebellion.
Hushahu, the commander of theforces at Zijing, abandoned his

(31:13):
post and staged a coup inZhongdu, killing Yangji and
installing his own puppet ruler,xuanzang.
This governmental breakdown wasfortunate for Genghis's forces.
Emboldened by their victories,they had seriously overreached
and lost the initiative, unableto do more than camp before
Jiangdu's fortifications.
While his army suffered from anepidemic and famine, they

(31:34):
resorted to cannibalism,according to Karpini, who may
have been exaggerating Genghis'sopen peace negotiations.
Despite his commander'smilitants, he secured tribute
including three-deen horses, 500slaves, a Jin princess and
massive amounts of gold and silk, before lifting the siege and
setting off homewards in May1214.
As the northern Jin lands hadbeen ravaged by plague and war,

(31:57):
xuanzong moved the capital andimperial court 600 kilometers,
370 miles southwards, to Kaifeng.
Interpreting this as an attemptto regroup in the south and
then restart the war, genghisconcluded the terms of the peace
treaty had been broken.
He immediately prepared toreturn and capture Zhangdu.
According to Christopher Atwood, it was only at this juncture

(32:18):
that Genghis decided to fullyconquer northern China.
Mughali captured numerous townsin Liaodong during winter
1214-15, and although theinhabitants of Jiangdu
surrendered to Genghis on the31st of May 1215, the city was
sacked.
When Genghis returned toMongolia in early 1216, mughali
was left in command in China.
He waged a brutal but effectivecampaign against the unstable

(32:42):
Jin regime until his death in1223.
In 1207, genghis had appointed aman named Korkai as governor of
the subdued Hoi-Yin urgenttribes in Siberia.
Appointed not for his talentsbut for prior services rendered.
Korkai's tendency to abductwomen as concubines for his
harem caused the tribes to rebeland take him prisoner in early

(33:02):
1216.
The following year, theyambushed and killed Borokul, one
of Genghis's highest-ranking.
Nurkod the Khan was livid atthe loss of his close friend and
prepared to lead a retaliatorycampaign.
Eventually, dissuaded from thiscourse, he dispatched his
eldest son, jachai, and a Derbiccommander.
They managed to surprise anddefeat the rebels, securing

(33:24):
control over this economicallyimportant region.
Kuchlug, the Naaman prince, whohad been defeated in 1204, had
usurped the throne of theCentral Asian Karakiti dynasty
between 1211 and 1213.
He was a greedy and arbitraryruler who probably earned the
enmity of the native Islamicpopulace, whom he attempted to
forcibly convert to BuddhismIslamic populace whom he

(33:46):
attempted to forcibly convert toBuddhism.
Genghis reckoned that Kuchlugcould be a threat to his empire
and Jib was sent with an army of20,000 cavalry to the city of
Kashgar.
He undermined Kuchlug's rule byemphasizing the Mongol policies
of religious tolerance andgained the loyalty of the local
elite.
Kuchlug was forced to fleesouthwards, to the Pamir
Mountains, but was captured bylocal hunters.
Kuchlug was forced to fleesouthwards to the Pamir

(34:07):
Mountains, but was captured bylocal hunters.
Jib had him beheaded andparaded his corpse through
Kara-Kitai, proclaiming the endof religious persecution in the
region.
Genghis had now attainedcomplete control of the eastern
portion of the Silk Road, andhis territory bordered that of
the Khwarazmian Empire, whichruled over much of Central Asia,
persia and Afghanistan.
Merchants from both sides wereeager to restart trading, which

(34:28):
had halted during Kuchelug'srule.
The Khwarazmian ruler, muhammadRoman II, dispatched an envoy
shortly after the Mongol captureof.
While Genghis instructed hismerchants to obtain the
high-quality textiles and steelof Central and Western Asia,
many members of the Alta Nurukinvested in one particular
caravan of 450 merchants, whichset off to Khwarazmia in 1218

(34:50):
with a large quantity of wares.
Inalchuk, the governor of theKhwarazmian border town of Atrar
, decided to massacre themerchants on grounds of
espionage and seize the goods.
Muhammad had grown suspiciousof Genghis's intentions and
either supported Inalchuk orturned a blind eye.
A Mongol ambassador was sentwith two companions to avert war

(35:10):
, but Muhammad killed him andhumiliated his companions.
The killing of an envoyinfuriated Genghis, who resolved
to leave Mughali with a smallforce in north China and invade
Khwarazmia with most of his army.
Muhammad's empire was large butdisunited.
He ruled alongside his mother,turk and Khatan in what the
historian Peter Golden terms anuneasy daichi, while the

(35:33):
Khwarazmian nobility andpopulace were discontented with
his warring and thecentralization of government.
For these reasons and others,he declined to meet the Mongols
in the field, insteadgarrisoning his unruly troops in
his major cities.
This allowed the lightlyarmored, highly mobile Mongol
armies uncontested superiorityoutside city walls.
Uttar was besieged in autumn1219, the siege dragged on for

(35:57):
five months, but in February1220 the city fell and Inalchuk
was executed.
Genghis had meanwhile dividedhis forces, leaving his sons
Chagatai and Urjadei to besiegethe city.
He had sent Jachai northwardsdown the Sardaria river and
another force southwards intocentral Transoxiana, while he
and Tolui took the main Mongolarmy across the Kaizokum desert,

(36:19):
surprising the garrison ofBukhara in a pincer movement.
Bukhara's citadel was capturedin February 1220 and Genghis
moved against Muhammad'sresidence, samarkand, which fell
the following month.
Bewildered by the speed of theMongol conquests, muhammad fled
from Balkh, closely followed byJeeb and Subutai.
The two generals pursued theKhwarazmsha until he died from

(36:40):
dysentery on a Caspian Seaisland in winter 12, 2021,
having nominated his eldest son,jalal al-Din, as his successor.
Jeeb and Subutai then set outon a 7,500-kilometer, 4700-mile
expedition around the CaspianSea, later called the Great Raid
.
This lasted four years and sawthe Mongols come into contact

(37:00):
with Europe for the first time.
Meanwhile, the Khwarazmiancapital of Gurganj was being
besieged by Genghis's threeeldest sons.
The long siege ended in spring1221.
Amid brutal urban conflict,jalloh al-Din moved southwards
to Afghanistan, gathering forceson the way and defeating a
Mongol unit under the command ofShigi Qutub, genghis's adopted

(37:22):
son.
In the Battle of Parwan, jallohwas weakened by arguments among
his commanders and, afterlosing decisively at the Battle
of the Indus in November 1221,he was compelled to escape
across the Indus River intoIndia.
Genghis's youngest son wasconcurrently conducting a brutal
campaign in the regions ofKhorasan.
Every city that resisted wasdestroyed.

(37:44):
Nishapur, merv and Herat, threeof the largest and wealthiest
cities in the world, were allannihilated.
This campaign establishedGenghis's lasting image as a
ruthless, inhumane conqueror.
Contemporary Persian historiansplace the death toll from the
three sieges alone at over 5.7million, a number regarded as
grossly exaggerated by modernscholars.

(38:04):
Nevertheless, even a totaldeath toll of 1.25 million for
the entire campaign, asestimated by John Mann, would
have beena demographiccatastrophe.
Genghis abruptly halted hisCentral Asian campaigns in 1221.
Initially aiming to return viaIndia, genghis realized that the
heat and humidity of the SouthAsian climate impeded his army's

(38:26):
skills, while the omens wereadditionally unfavorable.
Although the Mongols spent muchof 1222 repeatedly overcoming
rebellions in Khorasan, theywithdrew completely from the
region to avoid overextendingthemselves, setting their new
frontier on the Almudaria River.
During his lengthy returnjourney, genghis prepared a new
administrative division whichwould govern the conquered

(38:48):
territories, appointing Darghajicommissioners, lit those who
pressed the seal and baskedlocal officials to manage the
region back to normalcy.
He also summoned and spoke withthe Taoist patriarch Changchun
and the Hindu Kush.
The Khan listened attentivelyto Changchun's teachings and
granted his followers numerousprivileges, including tax
exemptions and authority overall monks throughout the empire,

(39:10):
a grant which the Taoists laterused to try to gain superiority
over Buddhism.
The usual reason given for thehalting of the campaign is that
the Western Xia, having declinedto provide auxiliaries for the
1219 invasion, had additionallydisobeyed Mukhali in his
campaign against the remainingJin, and Shaanxi Mei has
disputed this, arguing that theZia fought in concert with

(39:32):
Mukhali until his death in 1223.
When frustrated by Mongolcontrol and sensing an
opportunity with Genghiscampaigning in Central Asia,
they ceased fighting.
In either case, genghisinitially attempted to resolve
the situation diplomatically,but when the Zia elite failed to
come to an agreement on thehostages they were to send to
the Mongols.
He lost patience.

(39:53):
Returning to Mongolia in early1225, genghis spent the year in
preparation for a campaignagainst them.
This began in the first monthsof 1226 with the capture of
Karakoto, on Zia's westernborder.
The invasion proceeded apace.
Genghis ordered that the citiesof the Gansu corridor be sacked
one by one, granting clemencyonly to a few.

(40:14):
Having crossed the Yellow Riverin autumn, the Mongols besieged
present-day Lingwu, located just30 kilometers, 19 miles south
of the Zia capital, jiangxing,in November.
On the 4th of December, genghisdecisively defeated a Zia
relief army.
The Khan left the siege of thecapital to his generals and
moved southwards with Subutai toplunder and secure Jin

(40:35):
territories.
Genghis fell from his horsewhile hunting in the winter of
1226-27 and became increasinglyill during the following months.
This slowed the siege ofJiangxing's progress, as his
sons and commanders urged him toend the campaign and return to
Mongolia to recover, arguingthat the Ziya would still be
there another year.
Incensed by insults from Ziya'sleading commander, genghis

(40:58):
insisted that the siege becontinued.
He died on either 18 or the25th of August 1227, but his
death was kept a closely guardedsecret and Jiangxing, unaware,
fell the following month, thecity was put to the sword and
its population was treated withextreme savagery.
The Zia civilization wasessentially extinguished in what
man described as a verysuccessful ethnocide.

(41:21):
The exact nature of the Khan'sdeath has been the subject of
intense speculation.
Rashid al-Din and the historyof Yun mention he suffered from
an illness, possibly malaria,typhus or bubonic plague.
Marco Polo claimed that he wasshot by an arrow during a siege,
while Carpini reported thatGenghis was struck by lightning.
Legends sprang up around theevent.

(41:42):
The most famous recounts howthe beautiful Gerbilchin,
formerly the Zia Emperor's wife,injured Genghis's genitals with
a dagger during sex.
After his death, genghis wastransported back to Mongolia and
buried on or near the sacredBirkin Kaldun Peak in the Kenti
Mountains, on a site he hadchosen years before.
Specific details of the funeralprocession and burial were not

(42:04):
made public knowledge.
The mountain declared itKorglit.
Specific details of the funeralprocession and burial were not
made public knowledge.
The mountain declared itKorglit.
Great Tabu, that is, prohibitedzone, was out of bounds to all
but its Uriankai guard.
When Urjadei acceded to thethrone in 1229, the grave was
honored with three days ofofferings and the sacrifice of
30 maidens.
Rachnevsky theorized that theMongols, who had no knowledge of

(42:27):
embalming techniques, may haveburied the Khan in the Ordos to
avoid his body decomposing inthe summer heat while en route
to Mongolia.
Atwood rejects this hypothesis.
The tribes of the Mongol steppehad no fixed succession system,
but often defaulted to some formof ultimajnature succession of
the youngest son because hewould have had the least time to
gain a following for himselfand needed the help of his

(42:47):
father's inheritance.
However, this type ofinheritance applied only to
property, not to titles.
The secret history records thatCengiz chose his successor
while preparing for theKhwarazmian campaigns in 1219.
Rashid al-Din, on the otherhand, states that the decision
came before Cenghis's finalcampaign against the Zia.
Regardless of the date, therewere five possible candidates

(43:11):
Genghis's four sons and hisyoungest brother, temüj, who had
the weakest claim and who wasnever seriously considered, even
though there was a strongpossibility.
Jachai was illegitimate.
Genghis was not particularlyconcerned by this was
illegitimate.
Genghis was not particularlyconcerned by this.
Nevertheless, he and Jachaibecame increasingly estranged
over time.
Due to Jachai's preoccupationwith his own appanage.

(43:31):
After the siege of Gurganj,where he only reluctantly
participated in besieging thewealthy city that would become
part of his territory, he failedto give Genghis the normal
share of the booty, whichexacerbated the tensions.
Genghis was angered by Jachai'srefusal to return to him in
1223, and was consideringsending Urjidei and Chagatai to
bring him to heel when news camethat Jachai had died from an

(43:54):
illness.
Chagatai's attitude towardsJachai's possible succession—he
had termed his elder brother amurkid bastard and had brawled
with him in front of theirfather—led Genghis to view him
as uncompromising, despite hisgreat knowledge of Mongol legal
customs.
His elimination left Erjude andTolui as the two primary
candidates.

(44:15):
Tolui was unquestionablysuperior in military terms.
His campaign in Khorasan hadbroken the Khwarezmian empire,
while his elder brother was farless able as a commander.
Erjude was also known to drinkexcessively even by Mongol
standards.
That eventually caused hisdeath in 1241.
However, he possessed talentsall his brothers lacked.

(44:35):
He was generous and generallywell-liked.
Aware of his own lack ofmilitary skill, he was able to
trust his capable subordinatesand, unlike his elder brothers,
compromise on issues.
He was also more likely topreserve Mongol traditions than
Talyuri, whose wife, sorghatani,herself an historian Christian,
was a patron of many religions,including Islam.

(44:56):
Urjadei was thus recognized asthe heir to the Mongol throne.
Serving as regent afterGenghis's death, talyuri
established a precedent for thecustomary traditions after a
Khan's death.
These included the halting ofall military offensives
involving Mongol troops, theestablishment of a lengthy
mourning period overseen by theregent, and the holding of a

(45:17):
kyril-tai which would nominatesuccessors and select them.
For Talyui, this presented anopportunity.
He was still a viable candidatefor succession and had the
support of the family of Jachai.
Any general Kiriltai attendedby the commanders Genghis had
promoted and honored would,however, observe their former
ruler's desires without questionand appoint Erjude as ruler.

(45:38):
It has been suggested thatTalui's reluctance to hold the
Kiriltai was driven by theknowledge of the threat it posed
to his ambitions.
In the end, talui had to bepersuaded by the advisor Yeller
Chukai to hold the Kiriltai.
In 1229, it crowned Urjadei asKhan, with Talui in attendance.
Bert, whom Temujin married Siwhen he went here in 78,

(46:00):
remained his senior wife.
She gave birth to four sons andfive daughters, who all became
influential figures in theempire.
Genghis granted Bert's sonslands and property through the
Mongol appanage system, while hesecured marriage alliances by
marrying her daughters toimportant families.
Her children were Khajan, adaughter born C 1179, who later

(46:23):
married Butu of the Achaers, oneof Temujin's earliest and
closest supporters and thewidower of Temelun.
Widower of Temelun.
Jachai, a son born C when hewent in 82, after Bert's
kidnapping, whose paternity wasthus suspect, even though
Temujin accepted his legitimacy.
Jachai Predesis Genghis.
His appanage along the Erdishriver and, extending into

(46:43):
Siberia, evolved into the GoldenHorde.
Chagatai, a son born C when Iwent in 84,.
His appanage was the formerKarakiti territories surrounding
Almolig in Turkestan, whichbecame the Chagatai Khanate.
Erjide, a son-born Si 1a186, whoreceived lands in Dizengaria
and who succeeded his father asruler of the empire.

(47:05):
Chetchyajin, a daughter-born Si1a188, whose marriage to
Tarelchi secured the loyalty ofthe Warats to the north.
Alaka, a daughter born C 1A190,who married several members of
the Angud tribe between 1207 and1225.
Tumulun, a daughter born C1A192, who married Cheeg of the

(47:27):
Angarat tribe.
Talui, a son born C.
Tribe Taluy, a son born Si whenhe wintered 93, who received
lands near the Altai Mountainsas an appanage.
Two of his sons, murink andKublai, later ruled the empire,
while another, hilagu, foundedthe Ilkhanate.
Al-altan, a daughter born Siwhen he wintered 96, married the
powerful Uyghur ruler BarchukShortly after the accession of

(47:50):
Guyuk Khan in the 1240s.
She was tried and executed oncharges that were later
suppressed.
After Bert's final childbirth,temüjin began to acquire a
number of junior wives throughconquest.
These wives had all previouslybeen princesses or queens, and
Temüjin married them todemonstrate his political
ascendancy.
They included the KerytPrincess Ibaka, the Tatar

(48:12):
sisters Yesujin and Yesui,kualan Amurkit Guobesu, the
queen of the Neiman-Tang Khan,and two Chinese princesses,
chaka and Kigwo, of the WesternXia and Jin dynasties
respectively.
The children of these juniorwives were always subservient to
those of Burke, with daughtersmarried off to seal lesser
alliances and sons, such asQu'lan's child Kreljan, never a

(48:34):
candidate for succession.
No eyewitness description orcontemporaneous depiction of
Genghis Khan survives.
The Persian chronicler Jizjaniand the Song diplomat Zhao Hong
provide the two earliestdescriptions.
Both recorded that he was talland strong with a powerful
stature.
Zhao wrote that Genghis had abroad brow and long beard, while
Jizjani commented on his cat'seyes and lack of gray hair.

(48:57):
The secret history records thatBert's father remarked on his
flashing eyes and lively facewhen meeting him.
Atwood has suggested that manyof Genghis Khan's values,
especially the emphasis heplaced on an orderly society,
derived from his turbulent youth.
He valued loyalty above all,and mutual fidelity became a
cornerstone of his new nation.

(49:17):
Genghis did not find itdifficult to gain the allegiance
of others.
He was superbly charismaticeven as a youth, as shown by the
number of people who leftexisting social roles behind to
join him.
Although his trust was hard toearn, if he felt loyalty was
assured, he granted his totalconfidence in return.
Recognized for his generositytowards his followers, genghis

(49:40):
unhesitatingly rewarded previousassistants.
The Nurkod most honored at the1206 Kiriltai were those who had
accompanied him since thebeginning and those who had
sworn the Valjana Covenant withhim at his lowest point.
He took responsibility for thefamilies of Nurkod killed in
battle or who otherwise fell onhard times, by raising a tax to

(50:01):
provide them with clothing andsustenance.
The principal source of steppewealth was post-battle plunder,
of which a leader would normallyclaim a large share.
Genghis eschewed this custom,choosing instead to divide booty
equally between himself and allhis men Disliking any form of
luxury.
He extolled the simple life ofa nomad in a letter to Changchun
and objected to being addressedwith obsequious flattery.

(50:22):
He encouraged his companions toaddress him informally, give
him advice and criticize hismistakes.
Jengis's openness to criticismand willingness to learn saw him
seeking the knowledge of familymembers, companions,
neighboring states and enemies.
He sought and gained knowledgeof sophisticated weaponry from
China and the Muslim world,appropriated the Uyghur alphabet

(50:43):
with the help of the capturedscribe Tadatanga, and employed
numerous specialists acrosslegal, commercial and
administrative fields.
He also understood the need fora smooth succession, and modern
historians agree he showed goodjudgment in choosing his heir.
Although he is today renownedfor his military conquests, very
little is known about Genghis'spersonal generalship.

(51:04):
His skills were more suited toidentifying potential commanders
.
His institution of ameritocratic command structure
gave the Mongol army militarysuperiority, even though it was
not technologically ortactically innovative.
The army that Genghis createdwas characterized by its
draconian discipline, itsability to gather and use
military intelligenceefficiently, a mastery of

(51:27):
psychological warfare and awillingness to be utterly
ruthless.
Genghis thoroughly enjoyedexacting vengeance on his
enemies.
The concept lay at the heart ofAchai Karyoklet Good for good,
evil for evil, the step code ofjustice.
In exceptional circumstances,such as when Muhammad of
Khwarizm executed his envoys,the need for vengeance overrode

(51:48):
all other considerations.
Genghis came to believe thesupreme deity Tengri had
ordained a great destiny for him.
Initially, the bounds of thisambition were limited only to
Mongolia, but as successfollowed success and the reach
of the Mongol nation expanded,he and his followers came to
believe he was embodied withSulit divine grace, believing

(52:09):
that he had an intimateconnection with heaven.
Anyone who did not recognizehis right to world power was
treated as an enemy.
This viewpoint allowed Genghisto rationalize any hypocritical
or duplicitous moments on hisown part, such as killing his
Anda Jamuka or killing Nurkod,who wavered in their loyalties.
Genghis Khan left a vast andcontroversial legacy.

(52:29):
His unification of the Mongoltribes and his foundation of the
largest contiguous state inworld history permanently
altered the worldview ofEuropean, islamic and East Asian
civilizations.
According to Atwood, hisconquests enabled the creation
of Eurasian trading systemsunprecedented in their scale,
which brought wealth andsecurity to the tribes.

(52:49):
Although he very likely did notcodify the written body of laws
known as the Great Yasa, he didreorganize the legal system and
establish a powerful judicialauthority under Shigi Kutuk.
On the other hand, hisconquests were ruthless and
brutal.
The prosperous civilizations ofChina, central Asia and Persia
were devastated by the Mongolassaults and underwent

(53:11):
multi-generational trauma andsuffering as a result.
Perhaps Genghis's greatestfailing was his inability to
create a working successionsystem.
His division of his empire intoappanages, meant to ensure
stability, actually did thereverse, as local and statewide
interests diverged and theempire began splitting into the
Golden Horde, the ChagataiKhanate, the Ilkhanate and the

(53:32):
Yuan Dynasty in the late 1200s.
In the mid-1990s, theWashington Post acclaimed
Genghis Khan as the man of themillennium, who embodied the
half-civilized, half-savageduality of the human race.
This complex image has remainedprevalent in modern scholarship
, with historians emphasizingboth Genghis Khan's positive and
negative contributions.
For historians emphasizing bothGenghis Khan's positive and

(53:53):
negative contributions.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
For many centuries, Genghis was remembered in
Mongolia as a religious figure,not a political one.
After Altan Khan converted toTibetan Buddhism in the late
1500s, Genghis was deified andgiven a central role in the
Mongolian religious tradition.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
As a deity.
Genghis drew upon Buddhist,shamanistic and folk traditions.
For example, he was defined asa new incarnation of a
Chakravartin idealized ruler,like Ashoka, or a Vajrapani, the
martial bodhisattva.
He was connected genealogicallyto the Buddha and to ancient
Buddhist kings.
He was invoked during weddingsand festivals, and he took a

(54:30):
large role in ancestorveneration rituals.
He also became the focus pointof a sleeping hero legend which
says he will return to help theMongol people in a time of great
need.
His cult was centered at theNeymanchagan Ordon Lit Eight
white yurts, today a mausoleum.
In Inner Mongolia, china.
In the 19th and early 20thcentury, genghis began to be

(54:52):
viewed as the national hero ofthe Mongolian people.
Foreign powers recognized thisDuring its occupation of Inner
Mongolia.
Imperial Japan funded theconstruction of a temple to
Genghis, while both theKuomintang and the Chinese
Communist Party used the memoryof Genghis to woo potential
allies in the Chinese Civil War.
This attitude was maintainedduring World War II, when the

(55:14):
Soviet-aligned MongolianPeople's Republic promoted
Genghis to build patriotic zealagainst invaders.
However, as he was anon-Russian hero who could serve
as an anti-communist figurehead, this attitude swiftly changed
after the war's end.
According to May, genghis wascondemned as a futile and
reactionary lord who exploitedthe people.
His cult was repressed, thealphabet he chose was replaced

(55:37):
with the Cyrillic script, andcelebrations planned for the
800th anniversary of his birthin 1962 were cancelled and
denigrated after loud Sovietcomplaints, because Chinese
historians were largely morefavorable towards him than their
Soviet circumstances.
Genghis played a minor role inthe Sino-Soviet split.

(55:59):
The arrival of the policies ofGlasnost and Perestroika in the
1980s paved the way for officialrehabilitation.
Less than two years after the1990 revolution, lenin Avenue in
the capital, ulaanbaatar, wasrenamed Chinggis Khan Avenue.
Since then, mongolia has namedChinggis Khan International
Airport and erected a largestatue in Sukhbader Square,
which was itself renamed afterGenghis between 2013 and 2016.

(56:21):
His visage appears on itemsranging from postage stamps and
high-value band notes to brandsof alcohol and toilet paper.
In 2006, the Mongolianparliament officially discussed
the trivialization of his namethrough excessive advertising.
Modern Mongolians tend todownplay Genghis's military
conquests in favor of hispolitical and civil legacy.

(56:41):
They view the destructivecampaigns as a product of their
time, in the words of thehistorian Mikkel Buran, and
secondary to his othercontributions to Mongolian and
world history.
Secondary to his othercontributions to Mongolian and
world history.
His policies, such as use ofthe kyrgyzstan, his
establishment of the rule of lawthrough an independent
judiciary and human rights areseen as the foundations that
allowed the creation of themodern, democratic Mongolian

(57:03):
state.
Viewed as someone who broughtpeace and knowledge rather than
war and destruction, genghisKhan is idealized for making
Mongolia the center ofinternational culture for a
period.
He is generally recognized asthe founding father of Mongolia.
The historical and modern Muslimworld has associated Genghis
Khan with a myriad of ideologiesand beliefs.

(57:24):
Its first instinct, as Islamicthought had never previously
envisioned being ruled by anon-Muslim power, was to view
Genghis as the herald of theapproaching Judgment Day.
Over time, as the world failedto end and as his descendants
began converting to Islam,muslims began to see Genghis as
an instrument of God's will whowas destined to strengthen the

(57:44):
Muslim world by cleansing itsinnate corruption.
In post-Mongol Asia, genghiswas also a source of political
legitimacy because hisdescendants had been recognized
as the only ones entitled toreign.
As a result, aspiringpotentates not descended from
him had to justify their ruleeither by nominating puppet
rulers of Genghis's dynasty orby stressing their own

(58:06):
connections to him.
Most notably, the greatconqueror Timur, who established
his own empire in Central Asia,did both.
He was obliged to pay homage toGenghis's descendants, sawyer
Gadmash and Sultan Mahmud, andhis propaganda campaigns vastly
exaggerated the prominence ofhis ancestor, karachar Noyan,
one of Genghis's lessercommanders, depicting him as

(58:27):
Genghis's blood relative andsecond-in-command.
He also married at least two ofGenghis's descendants.
Babur, the founder of theMughal Empire in India, in turn,
derived his authority throughhis descent from both Timur and
Genghis.
Until the 18th century inCentral Asia, genghis was
considered the progenitor of thesocial order and was second

(58:47):
only to the Prophet Muhammad inlegal authority.
With the rise of Arabnationalism in the 19th century,
the Arab world began to viewGenghis increasingly negatively.
Today, he is perceived as theultimate accursed enemy, a
barbarian savage who began thedemolition of civilization,
which culminated in the siege ofBaghdad in 1858 by his grandson

(59:08):
, heligu.
Similarly, genghis is viewedextremely negatively in Russia,
where historians haveconsistently portrayed the rule
of the Golden Horde, the TotterYoke, as backwards, destructive,
inimical to all progress andthe reason for all of Russia's
flaws.
His treatment in modern CentralAsia and Turkey is more
ambivalent.
His position as a non-Muslimmeans other national traditions

(59:30):
and heroes such as Timur and theSeljuks are viewed more highly.
Under the Yuan dynasty in China,genghis was revered as the
nation's creator, and heremained in this position even
after the foundation of the Mingdynasty in 1368.
Although the late Ming somewhatdisavowed his memory, the
positive viewpoint was restoredunder the Manchu King dynasty

(59:50):
1644-1911, who positionedthemselves as his heirs.
The rise of 20th centuryChinese nationalism initially
caused the denigration ofGenghis as a traumatic occupier,
but he was later resurrected asa useful political symbol on a
variety of issues.
Modern Chinese historiographyhas generally viewed Genghis
positively and he has beenportrayed as a Chinese hero.

(01:00:13):
In contemporary Japan, he ismost known for the legend that
he was originally Minamoto noYoshitsune, a samurai and tragic
hero who was forced to commitseppuku in 1189.
The western world, neverdirectly affected by Genghis,
has viewed him in shifting andcontrasting ways.
During the 14th century, asshown by the works of Marco Polo

(01:00:34):
and Geoffrey Chaucer, he wasseen as a just and wise ruler,
but during the 18th century hecame to embody the Enlightenment
stereotype of a typicalbarbarian warlord.
In recent decades, westernscholarship has become
increasingly nuanced, viewingGenghis as a more complex
individual.