Genghis khan real name

Genghis Khan^[a] (born Temüjin; c. 1162 – August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the first ruler of the Mongol Empire, which he created in 1206 in his fatherland (modern Mongolia).

After the death of his father when Temüjin was eight, his family was left behind by the Mongols. They became very poor, but did not die. Temüjin was very clever, and people who liked him came to be his soldiers. He made friends with two rulers named Jamukha and Toghrul, and they helped him find his wife Börte, who had been made a prisoner. However, Temüjin and Jamukha started to dislike each other, and they began a war. Temüjin lost at the start and may have had to run away for years. By 1196, he was back in Mongolia, and many soldiers came to fight for him. Soon, Toghrul started to dislike Temüjin and attacked him in 1203. Temüjin won this war and Toghrul and Jamukha died.

Temüjin took the name "Genghis Khan", the meaning of which is unknown, at a large meeting in 1206. He made changes to the society of the Mongols so that it was more stable and killed a powerful shaman who tried to overcome him. His armies then attacked foreign lands: the Western Xia in 1209, the Chinese Jin dynasty in 1211, the Qara Khitai in 1218, and the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219. Many of these countries suffered greatly from these attacks. Genghis Khan died in 1227. His third son Ögedei became the second ruler of the Mongol Empire in 1229.

Many people think very different things about Genghis Khan. For his people, he was intelligent and caring. To his enemies, he was an evil murderer. His soldiers killed millions of people, but also allowed trading and communications to grow across Asia. After his death, Mongolians made him into a god. Today, they remember him as the father of their country.

Name

Because the Mongolian language is written differently, how to spell their words in English is not agreed. "Genghis" comes from the Mongolian ᠴᠢᠩᠭᠢᠰ. Some other well-known spellings are "Chinggis", "Chingis", "Jinghis", and "Jengiz". His birth name "Temüjin" (ᠲᠡᠮᠦᠵᠢᠨ in Mongolian) is also spelled "Temuchin" in English.

Early life

Different historians (people who study history) think Temüjin was born in different years: 1155, 1162 or 1167. 1162 is the date accepted by most historians. Temüjin himself may not have known. Where he was born is also unknown. It was on the Onon River, but it could have been in modern Mongolia or modern Russia.

Temüjin was born into the Mongol tribe. His father was a chief named Yesügei. His mother was Yesügei's main wife Hö'elün. Yesügei had taken Hö'elün by force from the husband she had before. Historians do not know what his name means. Some think he was named after an enemy prisoner called Temüchin-uge. Other historians think that "Temüjin" means 'blacksmith'. Many stories were told about Temüjin's birth. One story says he was born holding blood clot in his hand. For the Mongols, this was a sign that Temüjin would be a soldier. Other people claimed that his real father was a ray of light which touched Hö'elün.

Temüjin had three younger brothers and one younger sister. He also had two half-brothers. One of them, named Behter, was older than him. The children grew up at Yesugei's home next to the Onon River, where they learned how to ride a horse and shoot a bow. When Temüjin was eight years old, his father wanted to arrange his future marriage. They went to Hö'elün's original people, who the Mongols had arranged marriages with many times. Yesügei arranged that Temüjin would marry Börte, the daughter of a powerful chief named Dei Sechen. When he was going home, Yesügei was poisoned by the Tatars, his old enemies. He soon died.

Yesügei's death caused the people he ruled to break apart. Both Temüjin and Behter were too young to rule. The other Mongols found new chiefs and left behind Hö'elün and her family, whose lives became much harder. To eat, they were forced to collect roots and nuts, hunt for small animals, and catch fish. Because both Temüjin and Behter could have been Yesügei's heir. Temüjin was the child of Yesügei's main wife, but Behter was older. Temüjin also feared that Behter would marry Hö'elün when he became an adult. One day, Temüjin and his younger brother Qasar murdered Behter. This crime was absent from official histories of Temüjin's life. Around this time, Temüjin became best friends with another boy named Jamukha. They gave each other presents and promised that they would always be friends.

Temüjin became a prisoner many times because his family was no longer protected by the Mongols. One time, he ran away while the people imprisoning him were having a meal. Another time, he was helped by another boy. Named Bo'orchu, he soon became Temüjin's first follower.

Rise to power

Temüjin returned to Dei Sechen to marry Börte when he became fifteen. Dei Sechen was very happy to see Temüjin and organised the marriage. Temüjin wanted to serve Toghrul, khan (chief) of the Kerait tribe, who had been best friends with Yesügei. Toghrul ruled a large country in central Mongolia but disliked many of his followers. He was happy to accept Temüjin as a new follower. The two liked each other, and Temüjin started to attract followers for himself. Temüjin and Börte had their first child, a daughter named Qojin, around this time.

Soon afterwards, 300 Merkits attacked Temüjin and took Börte prisoner. She was married by force to a Merkit man. Temüjin asked Toghrul and Jamukha, who was now chief of the Jadaran tribe, to help. Both of them took 20,000 soldiers to attack the Merkits and soon won. Börte was found safely but soon gave birth to a son, Jochi. It was never known who Jochi's real father was. Temüjin raised him as his son, but others believed that he was the son of the Merkit man. Over the next fifteen years, Temüjin and Börte had three more sons (Chagatai, Ögedei, and Tolui) and four more daughters (Checheyigen, Alaqa, Tümelün, and Al-Altan).

Although Temüjin and Jamukha stayed friends for a while, they started to like each other less. Hö'elün and Börte told Temüjin he needed to have more followers. He listened to their advice and many of Jamukha's people became his followers. Temüjin was known to be more caring than other rulers, while his shamans (priests) claimed that his destiny was very large. Jamukha disliked Temüjin's rise. They fought a battle around 1187 which Temüjin lost clearly. It is likely that Temüjin spent many years as a servant of the Jurchen Jin dynasty in North China. Becaue Temüjin later attacked that state, this shameful time was not mentioned by official Mongol historians.

Around 1196, Temüjin returned to Mongolia to fight against the Tatars. He also helped Toghrul to become khan of the Kereit again. Jamukha had cruelly killed many prisoners after his 1187 victory. Many of his followers defected to Temüjin when he returned. Temüjin and Toghrul fought many battles together against other tribes, becoming very powerful. Temüjin became the only power in eastern Mongolia by winning battles against the Tatars. He killed the Tatar chiefs and their men became his followers.

Three main peoples were left in Mongolia: the Naimans in the west, the Mongols in the east, and the Kereit in between. Temüjin wanted Jochi to marry one of Toghrul's daughters. Toghrul's son Senggum thought Temüjin was trying to control his Kereit tribe. He made his father believe Temüjin had to die. Toghrul attacked Temüjin in 1203 and won the Battle of Qalaqaljid Sands. Temüjin was left with very few men. He made a promise to them, called the Baljuna Covenant, that he would make them famous if they remained his followers. He gathered all the friends and followers he could and attacked Toghrul, catching him by surprise. The Mongols won this battle. Toghrul was killed while he was running away.

The Naiman tribe, which Jamukha had run to, was the only enemy left. In May 1204, Temüjin won the Battle of Chakirmaut. Jamukha asked his former friend to kill him without cruelty, which he did..

Early reign: reforms and Chinese campaigns (1206–1215)

Kurultai of 1206 and reforms

Temüjin held a large meeting called a kurultai beside the Onon River in 1206. Here, he took the official name "Genghis Khan". No one knows what it means. Some historians think it had no meaning and was just a name for the ruler of the new Mongol Empire. Others think "Genghis" means strong and just. A third theory claims that "Genghis" meant "Universal Ruler".

Genghis Khan began to reorganise Mongol society. The existing systems were best for small tribes and peoples, but were not suited to large countries. Genghis wanted his new country to be stable. Because he had killed many chiefs, he could organise everything however he wanted. His family became the most important people in the new empire. Genghis broke down the tribes and sorted the people into groups of tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands. Each new group was made up of men from many tribes, to make sure they were not obedient to their old people any more.

Genghis's early followers also became very important. Bo'orchu and Muqali were each given ten thousand men to lead. Other followers took control of a thousand soldiers each. Many of these men had been very poor—two were sons of blacksmiths, one was a carpenter, and three were shepherds—but Genghis made them important because they were obedient to him.

Consolidation of power (1206–1210)

From 1204 to 1209, Genghis Khan was predominantly focused on consolidating and maintaining his new nation. He faced a challenge from the shaman Kokechu, whose father Münglig had been allowed to marry Hö'elün after he defected to Temüjin. Kokechu, who had proclaimed Temüjin as Genghis Khan and taken the Tengrist title "Teb Tenggeri" (lit. "Wholly Heavenly") on account of his sorcery, was very influential among the Mongol commoners and sought to divide the imperial family. Genghis's brother Qasar was the first of Kokechu's targets—always distrusted by his brother, Qasar was humiliated and almost imprisoned on false charges before Hö'elün intervened by publicly reprimanding Genghis. Nevertheless, Kokechu's power steadily increased, and he publicly shamed Temüge, Genghis's youngest brother, when he attempted to intervene. Börte saw that Kokechu was a threat to Genghis's power and warned her husband, who still superstitiously revered the shaman but now recognised the political threat he posed. Genghis allowed Temüge to arrange Kokechu's death, and then usurped the shaman's position as the Mongols' highest spiritual authority.

During these years, the Mongols imposed their control on surrounding areas. Genghis dispatched Jochi northwards in 1207 to subjugate the Hoi-yin Irgen [ja], a collection of tribes on the edge of the Siberian taiga. Having secured a marriage alliance with the Oirats and defeated the Yenisei Kyrgyz, he took control of the region's trade in grain and furs, as well as its gold mines. Mongol armies also rode westwards, defeating the Naiman-Merkit alliance on the River Irtysh in late 1208. Their khan was killed and Kuchlug fled into Central Asia. Led by Barchuk, the Uyghurs freed themselves from the suzerainty of the Qara Khitai and pledged themselves to Genghis in 1211 as the first sedentary society to submit to the Mongols.

The Mongols had started raiding the border settlements of the Tangut-led Western Xia kingdom in 1205, ostensibly in retaliation for allowing Senggum, Toghrul's son, refuge. More prosaic explanations include rejuvenating the depleted Mongol economy with an influx of fresh goods and livestock, or simply subjugating a semi-hostile state to protect the nascent Mongol nation. Most Xia troops were stationed along the southern and eastern borders of the kingdom to guard against attacks from the Song and Jin dynasties respectively, while its northern border relied only on the Gobi desert for protection. After a raid in 1207 sacked the Xia fortress of Wulahai, Genghis decided to personally lead a full-scale invasion in 1209.

Wulahai was captured again in May and the Mongols advanced on the capital Zhongxing (modern-day Yinchuan) but suffered a reverse against a Xia army. After a two-month stalemate, Genghis broke the deadlock with a feigned retreat; the Xia forces were deceived out of their defensive positions and overpowered. Although Zhongxing was now mostly undefended, the Mongols lacked any siege equipment better than crude battering rams and were unable to progress the siege. The Xia requested aid from the Jin, but Emperor Zhangzong rejected the plea. Genghis's attempt to redirect the Yellow River into the city with a dam initially worked, but the poorly-constructed earthworks broke—possibly breached by the Xia—in January 1210 and the Mongol camp was flooded, forcing them to retreat. A peace treaty was soon formalised: the Xia emperor Xiangzong submitted and handed over tribute, including his daughter Chaka, in exchange for the Mongol withdrawal.

Campaign against the Jin (1211–1215)

Wanyan Yongji usurped the Jin throne in 1209. He had previously served on the steppe frontier and Genghis greatly disliked him. When asked to submit and pay the annual tribute to Yongji in 1210, Genghis instead mocked the emperor, spat, and rode away from the Jin envoy—a challenge that meant war. Despite the possibility of being outnumbered eight-to-one by 600,000 Jin soldiers, Genghis had prepared to invade the Jin since learning in 1206 that the state was wracked by internal instabilities. Genghis had two aims: to take vengeance for past wrongs committed by the Jin, foremost among which was the death of Ambaghai Khan in the mid-12th century, and to win the vast amounts of plunder his troops and vassals expected.

After calling for a kurultai in March 1211, Genghis launched his invasion of Jin China in May, reaching the outer ring of Jin defences the following month. These border fortifications were guarded by Alaqush's Ongud, who allowed the Mongols to pass without difficulty. The three-pronged chevauchée aimed both to plunder and burn a vast area of Jin territory to deprive them of supplies and popular legitimacy, and to secure the mountain passes which allowed access to the North China Plain. The Jin lost numerous towns and were hindered by a series of defections, the most prominent of which led directly to Muqali's victory at the Battle of Huan'erzhui in autumn 1211. The campaign was halted in 1212 when Genghis was wounded by an arrow during the unsuccessful siege of Xijing (modern Datong). Following this failure, Genghis set up a corps of siege engineers, which recruited 500 Jin experts over the next two years.

The defences of Juyong Pass had been strongly reinforced by the time the conflict resumed in 1213, but a Mongol detachment led by Jebe managed to infiltrate the pass and surprise the elite Jin defenders, opening the road to the Jin capital Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing). The Jin administration began to disintegrate: after the Khitans, a tribe subject to the Jin, entered open rebellion, Hushahu, the commander of the forces at Xijing, abandoned his post and staged a coup in Zhongdu, killing Yongji and installing his own puppet ruler, Xuanzong. This governmental breakdown was fortunate for Genghis's forces; emboldened by their victories, they had seriously overreached and lost the initiative. Unable to do more than camp before Zhongdu's fortifications while his army suffered from an epidemic and famine—they resorted to cannibalism according to Carpini, who may have been exaggerating—Genghis opened peace negotiations despite his commanders' militance. He secured tribute, including 3,000 horses, 500 slaves, a Jin princess, and massive amounts of gold and silk, before lifting the siege and setting off homewards in May 1214.

As the northern Jin lands had been ravaged by plague and war, Xuanzong moved the capital and imperial court 600 kilometres (370 mi) southwards to Kaifeng. Interpreting this as an attempt to regroup in the south and then restart the war, Genghis concluded the terms of the peace treaty had been broken. He immediately prepared to return and capture Zhongdu. According to Christopher Atwood, it was only at this juncture that Genghis decided to fully conquer northern China. Muqali captured numerous towns in Liaodong during winter 1214–15, and although the inhabitants of Zhongdu surrendered to Genghis on 31 May 1215, the city was sacked. When Genghis returned to Mongolia in early 1216, Muqali was left in command in China. He waged a brutal but effective campaign against the unstable Jin regime until his death in 1223.

Later reign: western expansion and return to China (1216–1227)

Defeating rebellions and Qara Khitai (1216–1218)

In 1207, Genghis had appointed a man named Qorchi as governor of the subdued Hoi-yin Irgen tribes in Siberia. Appointed not for his talents but for prior services rendered, Qorchi's tendency to abduct women as concubines for his harem caused the tribes to rebel and take him prisoner in early 1216. The following year, they ambushed and killed Boroqul, one of Genghis's highest-ranking nökod. The khan was livid at the loss of his close friend and prepared to lead a retaliatory campaign; eventually dissuaded from this course, he dispatched his eldest son Jochi and a Dörbet commander. They managed to surprise and defeat the rebels, securing control over this economically important region.

Kuchlug, the Naiman prince who had been defeated in 1204, had usurped the throne of the Central Asian Qara Khitai dynasty between 1211 and 1213. He was a greedy and arbitrary ruler who probably earned the enmity of the native Islamic populace whom he attempted to forcibly convert to Buddhism. Genghis reckoned that Kuchlug could be a threat to his empire, and Jebe was sent with an army of 20,000 cavalry to the city of Kashgar; he undermined Kuchlug's rule by emphasising the Mongol policies of religious tolerance and gained the loyalty of the local elite. Kuchlug was forced to flee southwards to the Pamir Mountains, but was captured by local hunters. Jebe had him beheaded and paraded his corpse through Qara Khitai, proclaiming the end of religious persecution in the region.

Invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire (1219–1221)

Genghis had now attained complete control of the eastern portion of the Silk Road, and his territory bordered that of the Khwarazmian Empire, which ruled over much of Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan. Merchants from both sides were eager to restart trading, which had halted during Kuchlug's rule; the Khwarazmian ruler Muhammad II dispatched an envoy shortly after the Mongol capture of Zhongdu, while Genghis instructed his merchants to obtain the high-quality textiles and steel of Central and Western Asia. Many members of the altan uruq invested in one particular caravan of 450 merchants which set off to Khwarazmia in 1218 with a large quantity of wares. Inalchuq, the governor of the Khwarazmian border town of Otrar, decided to massacre the merchants on grounds of espionage and seize the goods; Muhammad had grown suspicious of Genghis's intentions and either supported Inalchuq or turned a blind eye. A Mongol ambassador was sent with two companions to avert war, but Muhammad killed him and humiliated his companions. The killing of an envoy infuriated Genghis, who resolved to leave Muqali with a small force in North China and invade Khwarazmia with most of his army.

Muhammad's empire was large but disunited: he ruled alongside his mother Terken Khatun in what the historian Peter Golden terms "an uneasy diarchy", while the Khwarazmian nobility and populace were discontented with his warring and the centralisation of government. For these reasons and others he declined to meet the Mongols in the field, instead garrisoning his unruly troops in his major cities. This allowed the lightly armoured, highly mobile Mongol armies uncontested superiority outside city was besieged in autumn 1219—the siege dragged on for five months, but in February 1220 the city fell and Inalchuq was executed. Genghis had meanwhile divided his forces. Leaving his sons Chagatai and Ögedei to besiege the city, he had sent Jochi northwards down the Syr Darya river and another force southwards into central Transoxiana, while he and Tolui took the main Mongol army across the Kyzylkum Desert, surprising the garrison of Bukhara in a pincer movement.

Bukhara's citadel was captured in February 1220 and Genghis moved against Muhammad's residence Samarkand, which fell the following month. Bewildered by the speed of the Mongol conquests, Muhammad fled from Balkh, closely followed by Jebe and Subutai; the two generals pursued the Khwarazmshah until he died from dysentry on a Caspian Sea island in winter 1220–21, having nominated his eldest son Jalal al-Din as his successor. Jebe and Subutai then set out on a 7,500-kilometre (4,700 mi)-expedition around the Caspian Sea. Later called the Great Raid, this lasted four years and saw the Mongols come into contact with Europe for the first time. Meanwhile, the Khwarazmian capital of Gurganj was being besieged by Genghis's three eldest sons. The long siege ended in spring 1221 amid brutal urban conflict. Jalal al-Din moved southwards to Afghanistan, gathering forces on the way and defeating a Mongol unit under the command of Shigi Qutuqu, Genghis's adopted son, in the Battle of Parwan. Jalal was weakened by arguments among his commanders, and after losing decisively at the Battle of the Indus in November 1221, he was compelled to escape across the Indus river into India.

Genghis's youngest son Tolui was concurrently conducting a brutal campaign in the regions of Khorasan. Every city that resisted was destroyed—Nishapur, Merv and Herat, three of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, were all annihilated.^[b] This campaign established Genghis's lasting image as a ruthless, inhumane conqueror. Contemporary Persian historians placed the death toll from the three sieges alone at over 5.7 million—a number regarded as grossly exaggerated by modern scholars. Nevertheless, even a total death toll of 1.25 million for the entire campaign, as estimated by John Man, would have been a demographic catastrophe.

Return to China and final campaign (1222–1227)

Genghis abruptly halted his Central Asian campaigns in 1221. Initially aiming to return via India, Genghis realised that the heat and humidity of the South Asian climate impeded his army's skills, while the omens were additionally unfavourable. Although the Mongols spent much of 1222 repeatedly overcoming rebellions in Khorasan, they withdrew completely from the region to avoid overextending themselves, setting their new frontier on the Amu Darya river. During his lengthy return journey, Genghis prepared a new administrative division which would govern the conquered territories, appointing darughachi (commissioners, lit. "those who press the seal") and basqaq (local officials) to manage the region back to normalcy. He also summoned and spoke with the Taoist patriarch Changchun in the Hindu Kush. The khan listened attentively to Changchun's teachings and granted his followers numerous privileges, including tax exemptions and authority over all monks throughout the empire—a grant which the Taoists later used to try to gain superiority over Buddhism.

The usual reason given for the halting of the campaign is that the Western Xia, having declined to provide auxiliaries for the 1219 invasion, had additionally disobeyed Muqali in his campaign against the remaining Jin in Shaanxi. May has disputed this, arguing that the Xia fought in concert with Muqali until his death in 1223, when, frustrated by Mongol control and sensing an opportunity with Genghis campaigning in Central Asia, they ceased fighting. In either case, Genghis initially attempted to resolve the situation diplomatically, but when the Xia elite failed to come to an agreement on the hostages they were to send to the Mongols, he lost patience.

Returning to Mongolia in early 1225, Genghis spent the year in preparation for a campaign against them. This began in the first months of 1226 with the capture of Khara-Khoto on the Xia's western border. The invasion proceeded apace. Genghis ordered that the cities of the Gansu Corridor be sacked one by one, granting clemency only to a few. Having crossed the Yellow River in autumn, the Mongols besieged present-day Lingwu, located just 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the Xia capital Zhongxing, in November. On 4 December, Genghis decisively defeated a Xia relief army; the khan left the siege of the capital to his generals and moved southwards with Subutai to plunder and secure Jin territories.

Death and aftermath

Genghis fell from his horse while hunting in the winter of 1226–27 and became increasingly ill during the following months. This slowed the siege of Zhongxing's progress, as his sons and commanders urged him to end the campaign and return to Mongolia to recover, arguing that the Xia would still be there another year. Incensed by insults from Xia's leading commander, Genghis insisted that the siege be continued. He died on either 18 or 25 August 1227, but his death was kept a closely guarded secret and Zhongxing, unaware, fell the following month. The city was put to the sword and its population was treated with extreme savagery—the Xia civilization was essentially extinguished in what Man described as a "very successful ethnocide". The exact nature of the khan's death has been the subject of intense speculation. Rashid al-Din and the History of Yuan mention he suffered from an illness—possibly malaria, typhus, or bubonic Polo claimed that he was shot by an arrow during a siege, while Carpini reported that Genghis was struck by lightning. Legends sprang up around the event—the most famous recounts how the beautiful Gurbelchin, formerly the Xia emperor's wife, injured Genghis's genitals with a dagger during sex.

After his death, Genghis was transported back to Mongolia and buried on or near the sacred Burkhan Khaldun peak in the Khentii Mountains, on a site he had chosen years before. Specific details of the funeral procession and burial were not made public knowledge; the mountain, declared ikh khorig (lit. "Great Taboo"; i.e. prohibited zone), was out of bounds to all but its Uriankhai guard. When Ögedei acceded to the throne in 1229, the grave was honoured with three days of offerings and the sacrifice of thirty maidens. Ratchnevsky theorised that the Mongols, who had no knowledge of embalming techniques, may have buried the khan in the Ordos to avoid his body decomposing in the summer heat while en route to Mongolia; Atwood rejects this hypothesis.

Succession

The tribes of the Mongol steppe had no fixed succession system, but often defaulted to some form of ultimogeniture