10 little-known facts about the great conqueror Genghis Khan

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For 30 years, the Mongol horde led by Genghis Khan marched across Asia, killing one tenth of all people on Earth and conquering almost a quarter of the land. His reign was the most brutal in all of human history. Some of Genghis Khan's actions today are considered one of the most cruel among all the rulers on Earth.

1. Genghis Khan killed his brother for food

Genghis Khan was born into the family of the influential leader Yesugei, but the boy's position in society changed when his father was poisoned by an enemy tribe. His family was expelled from their home and they were forced to seek funds for propatinium.

When Genghis Khan was 14 years old, he caught a big fish and brought it to his family. But his half-brother Beckter snatched the fish from his hands and ate it himself, refusing to share with anyone. The enraged Genghis Khan chased his brother until he shot him with a bow. The first murder did not get away with Genghis Khan: his mother strongly scolded him.

2. Genghis Khan decapitated people taller than 90 centimeters

When Genghis Khan was 20 years old, he led a campaign against the tribe that killed his father and took revenge. The Tatar army was defeated, and Genghis Khan began to exterminate people in an incredibly unusual way. Each Tatar was placed next to the cart and his height was measured in comparison with the axle of the wheel (which was at the level of 90 centimeters). Everyone who was above had their heads cut off. In fact, only children were spared.

3. The piles of bones of his victims were confused with mountains

In 1211, Genghis Khan turned his gaze to modern China and attacked the Jin Empire. It seemed like a rash decision: the Jin empire had 53 million people, while the Mongols were only one million. However, Genghis Khan won. Within three years, the Mongols reached the walls of Zhongdu (now Beijing). The city walls were 12 meters high and stretched for 29 km around the entire city. Since it was not possible to take them by storm, the Mongols decided to besiege the city and starve it out.

By the summer of 1215, cannibalism began to rage in the city and eventually Zhongdu surrendered. The Mongols plundered and burned the city, massacring all the inhabitants. A few months later, an eyewitness wrote that "from the bones of those killed, real white mountains were formed, and the earth was greasy with human fat."

4. Genghis Khan made an archer commander who shot him

During the war with the Mongol Taichigud clan, an arrow hit Genghis Khan's horse, killing the animal on the spot. The fallen horse pinned him down, but he was able to escape. The army of Genghis Khan won the battle, and he demanded to line up all the prisoners in front of him and asked who shot this arrow.

Unexpectedly for him, the archer Jebe came forward, who admitted that he had fired and wanted to kill Genghis Khan. The famous military leader was so impressed by Jebe's courage that he made him a commander in his army (later Jebe became a general and one of Genghis Khan's most loyal friends).

5. Genghis Khan gave his daughters in marriage to allies

One of the ways to seize power from Genghis Khan was to marry his daughters to allied rulers. When such a marriage was entered into, it effectively meant a death sentence for these rulers. First, for the privilege of marrying one of Genghis Khan's daughters, they had to expel all their other wives. Monogamy had nothing to do with it: Genghis Khan just had to make sure that his daughters were the only ones in line to the throne.

Then the rulers were sent to fight at the head of the army, and almost each of them immediately died in battle. By the time of Genghis Khan's death, his daughters ruled an area stretching from the Chinese Yellow Sea to the Iranian Caspian Sea.

6. Genghis Khan exterminated 1.7 million people, avenging one

His daughters' marriages may have been strategic alliances, but that doesn't mean they were devoid of romance. One of Genghis Khan's daughters loved her husband, Tokuchar, very much. Genghis Khan himself treated him like an adopted son and loved him very much. When Tokuchara was killed by an archer from Nishapur, his wife demanded revenge.

Genghis Khan's troops attacked Nishapur and massacred everyone in their path, including women, children and animals. According to some estimates, 1,748,000 people were killed. Then all the defeated were beheaded, and their skulls were folded into a pyramid at the request of Genghis Khan's daughter.

7. Mongols celebrated victory on the Russian nobility

In 1223, when the Mongol army marched victoriously through Kievan Rus, it won the battle on the Kalka River. The Mongols decided to celebrate the victory in a very peculiar way. The commanders of the army of Kievan Rus and the nobility were forced to lie on the ground, after which a heavy wooden gate was placed on them, on which chairs and tables were installed. Celebrating victory in the literal sense on the bodies of their enemies, the Mongols crushed them to death during a feast.

8. Genghis Khan put the river on a new channel

When Genghis Khan discovered the Muslim kingdom of Khorezm, he did something unusual for himself: he tried to establish peaceful relations. A group of diplomats were sent to the city, hoping to establish a trade route and establish diplomatic ties. The ruler of Khorezm, however, did not believe them. He believed that the diplomats were part of the Mongol conspiracy and executed them. He also killed the next group that the Mongols sent to negotiate. Genghis Khan was furious. He tried to mend peaceful relations, and in return received dead diplomats.

As a result, an army of 200,000 Mongols attacked and completely destroyed Khorezm. Even after the victory, Genghis Khan sent two more armies to burn down every castle, city and farm in the region and make sure that not the slightest hint of Khorezm will remain in history. If you believe the legend, he even started the river on a new channel so that it flows through the place where the emperor of Khorezm was once born.

9. Genghis Khan destroyed the Tangut state

When Genghis Khan attacked Khorezm, he asked the previously conquered kingdom of Xi Xia (Tangut state) to send troops to his aid. The Tanguts refused to do this, which they greatly regretted. The Mongol army passed through Xi Xia, destroying everything in its path. They cut out all the people, and by the end of this campaign Xi Xia was wiped off the face of the Earth.

Since the Tanguts did not record their own history, their state today can only be judged by records from neighboring countries. Their tongue has remained dead for over 700 years. Only in the middle of the 20th century did archaeologists unearthed stones with inscriptions in Tangut.

10. All people who participated in the burial of Genghis Khan were killed

When Genghis Khan died, according to the will of the great ruler, he had to be buried where no one could find his remains. To fulfill his desire, slaves and accompanied by soldiers took the body many kilometers into the depths of the desert. To make sure that the slaves never divulge the secret of the burial place, the soldiers killed them and threw the bodies into a common grave. The soldiers then rode horses over the grave during the day to hide all traces and planted trees over it. When the soldiers who participated in the funeral procession returned to the camp, they were immediately killed. The grave of Genghis Khan has not yet been found.

Continuing the theme of great people 15 little-known facts about Alexander the Great - the commander who changed the world.