Genghis Khan
Great Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire
"The greatest joy is to conquer one's enemies, to drive them before you, and to take from them all they possess."
Biography
Born Temüjin around 1162, the future Genghis Khan rose from a childhood of abandonment, captivity, and poverty on the Mongolian steppe to unite the warring nomadic tribes into a single nation. In 1206 a great assembly proclaimed him Genghis Khan — 'Universal Ruler.' He reorganized his people into a meritocratic, decimal-based military machine of extraordinary discipline and mobility, bound by a code of law, the Yassa, and absolute loyalty. He then turned this machine on the settled civilizations around him. He shattered the Jin of North China and, when the Khwarezmian Shah murdered his envoys, annihilated the wealthy empire of Central Asia in a campaign of calculated terror that depopulated entire cities. His conquests were accompanied by massacres on a scale that made his name a byword for destruction — yet he also fostered religious tolerance, trade, and a written Mongol script, and built an administration drawing on the talents of conquered peoples. He died in 1227 on campaign against the Tangut; his burial place, by tradition kept utterly secret, has never been found.
Did you know?
Genetic studies suggest a strikingly large number of men across Asia today may descend from him or his close male line.
Key Battles
Siege of Zhongdu
Mongol Empire victory1215 · 100,000 total casualties
The fall of Zhongdu announced that the steppe nomads could take and destroy even the mightiest fortified cities of a great sedentary empire. It marked the beginning of the long Mongol conquest of China and taught Genghis the value of Chinese siege engineers and administrators, whom he absorbed into his war machine.
The Fall of Samarkand
Mongol Empire victory1220 · 200,000 total casualties
The destruction of the Khwarezmian Empire was one of the most devastating campaigns in history, annihilating the flourishing cities of Central Asia and the Iranian world. The irrigation systems and urban civilization of the region took centuries to recover, if they ever fully did. It opened the way for the Mongols to drive into Persia, the Caucasus, and beyond.
Life Journey
Timeline
c. 1162
🌅 Birth
Born Temüjin on the Mongolian steppe
1206
📍 Posting
Proclaimed Genghis Khan, ruler of all Mongols
1215
⚔️ Battle
Sacks the Jin capital of Zhongdu
1220
⚔️ Battle
Destroys the cities of Khwarezmia
August 1227
✝️ Death
Dies on campaign; buried in a secret grave