Genghis Khan - Greatest Conqueror Ever?|BS chandra Mohan |Mlife Daily

o the Chinese he was the barbarian scourge born from the wastes. To the Europeans he was a demonic servant, leading a “detestable nation of Satan that poured like devils from Tartarus”. To human history though he was one of the greatest warlords in history. We’re talking of course, about Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan was born sometime around 1162 AD, and originally named “Temujin” after a Tatar chieftain that his father had captured.

Genghis had been born a member of the Borjigin tribe and was a descendant of the fabled Khabul Khan, who had done what so few Mongols had ever managed to do- unite the many disparate tribes against the Jin dynasty of China six decades earlier. Greatness marked Genghis from birth, not just in the heritage of his mighty bloodline, but physically with a literal mark caused by a blood clot in his hand- to the superstitious mongols this meant that Genghis was destined to become a great leader.

Young Genghis though would have a hard education in survival ahead of him amidst the various clans that made up Mongol lands. When he was just nine years old, his father took him to live with the family of his future bride, and on the return trip his father encountered members of a rival tribe who invited him home with them to share in a conciliatory meal.

Believing that the rival tribal members meant to bury the hatchet over past transgressions, Genghis' father agreed and dined with them, only to be poisoned. When Genghis learned of his father's death he immediately returned home to claim his position as clan chief, however the rest of the clan refused to acknowledge the leadership of a nine year old boy and his family was ostracized, becoming near-refugees in their own tribe.


Genghis vowed revenge, and to never be laughed at again, so when during a dispute over the spoils of a hunting expedition he quarreled with his half-brother, Genghis killed him and confirmed his position as the head of his family. The young chieftain was yet a child and had already learned the harsh truths of Mongol life: power is won by blood spilled, and very often held the same way.


At sixteen years old Genghis married the woman he had long ago been promised to, a young girl by the name of Borte. The marriage cemented the alliance between her tribe and his, but soon after the wedding Genghis' wife was kidnapped by a rival tribe and given to their chieftain as a wife. Genghis, along with his close friend Jamukha and his older protector, Toghrul, raided the rival tribe's camp and rescued his bride.



However when she gave birth to a son nine months later, Jochi, there were doubts about who the real father was, though Genghis accepted young Jochi as his own, daring any of his rivals to question his judgement. Eventually, Genghis would have four sons with Borte, and though during the course of his rule he would take many other wives and have many other children, Borte alone would remain his lifelong companion, and only his male children with her would qualify for succession in the family.


Troubles typically precede greatness though, and at age twenty Genghis was captured in a raid by a tribe that had formerly been his family's allies, the Taichi'uts. Genghis was enslaved briefly, though his iron will would prove difficult to break and he was often punished for refusing to submit.


With the help of a sympathetic captor who perhaps still held some loyalty to Genghis' family, Genghis was able to escape. His daring escape from captivity fueled Genghi's reputation, and he formed a fighting unit out of his brothers and some of his most trusted clansmen. Believing that his people would never truly become great until they ceased the petty infighting and rivalries between the various clans, Genghis took his small force out into the steppes and began to unite the clans together one by one.


His goal was simple: he would destroy all the divisions between his people, through slaughter if he had to, and the Mongols would at last become one people, a mighty nation to rival the powers of China. Young Genghis' small force would swell to an elite fighting force of twenty thousand battle hardened warriors..


A brilliant tactical mind combined with savage brutality, Genghis proved an exceptional battlefield commander, and his fighting force met its first true challenge when Genghis turned his army on the Tatars, who had murdered his father so long ago. Easily defeated, Genghis then ordered as punishment that every Tatar male who was taller than the axle pin of a wagon wheel to be killed, ensuring that only children who could be molded to be obedient to the young Khan would be left alive.