GENGHIS KHAN
The Man who Conquered the World

Genghis Khan: The Man who Conquered the World

Temugin, -- Genghis-khan (also spelled as Djingis Khan, Jingis Khan, Gingis Khan, Ginghis Khan), -- lost his father when he was still very young. The former had reigned over thirteen Tatar hordes, but these warlike tribes spurned the idea of being governed by a child. The youth fought a battle against his rebellious subjects, but was obliged to fly. Amidst a few fugitives he found kindred souls, who pledged themselves to divide the sweets and bitters of life. Temugin shared among them his horses and apparel, they sealed their covenant by sacrificing a horse and tasting of a running stream; and from this moment we see in Genghis, though still an unbearded youth, an invincible conqueror. Proving at length victorious over the rebels, who had refused to acknowledge his sway, to give a warning to others, he cast the leaders into a boiling cauldron. He them conquered one of the Christian Tatar princes, who refused obedience to his laws; and, to inspire terror, he drank, at his public banquets, out of the skull of Prester-John. As if aware of the decrees of fate, -- of the great distinction, for which he had been singled out and endowed by an Almightly power, he pretended to have been born of an immaculate virgin. "From heaven," he said, "I have received the title of Genghis, I have a divine right to the conquest and dominion of the earth." Seated upon a felt, he was proclaimed, by a general diet, khan of the Mongols and Tatars. To give stability to his new empire, he created new laws; adultery, murder, perjury, theft of a horse or ox, were punished with death. The who Mongol nation was pronounced a nation of free men, lords who were entitled to spend their lives in hunting, waging war, and idleness; all drudgery and labour being left to the slaves and women. Their troops were armed with bows, spears, scimetars, thousands, and tens of thousands. Woe to the coward who left his ranks: vanquish or die, this was the martial law. The valour of Genghis was at first directed against surrounding savage tribes, who were very soon subdued. The vassal of China carried his arms into the heart of the celestial empire and humbled the insolent Chinese; and at one time, conceived the plan of converting the whole of the northern provinces into one vast pasturage, like his own steppes. The inhabitants, who had surrendered at discretion, were ordered to evacuate their houses and to assemble in a vast plain, where all those who could bear arms were either instantly massacred, or enlisted into the Mongol army. The fine women, and artificers, in short, all useful persons, were divided amongst the soldiers, in equal lots, who carried on a regular trade in human beings, and demanded a high ransom from those who could pay it. Poor helpless wretches, who were a burden to the conquerors, were sent back to their native country, and condemned to pay a heavy tribute to their savage victors. If they were irritated by the vanquished foe, they levelled their habitations with the ground, and boasted that a horse might ride, without stumbling, over the place where a city once stood. With relentless cruelty they extirpated who races, and gloried in their feats of inhuman valour.

A Western portrait of Genghis Khan Genghis encountered in the west the sultan of Kharizmia, in who veins Turkish blood flowed. After having satiated himself with blood, he wished to establish a friendly intercourse with the Mohammedan princes; but unhappily these Turkish rulers knew not how to value the proffered friendship. A caravan of three ambassadors, and 150 merchants, was arrested and murdered by the sultan. Genghis, before he chastised his enemy, fasted and prayed for three days and three nights on a mountain; appealing to the judgment of God and of his sword. An army of 700,000 Mongols met half the number of Mohammedans, in the plains to the north of the Jihon or Iaxartes. The sultan was astonished at the fierce Mongolian valour, and trusted to his fortresses to prevent their invasion, and effect their expulsion. But they were grossly mistaken; one city after the other surrendered, and the work of destruction was carried on methodically. From the Caspian sea to the Indus, the Mongols ruined within four years, more than four centuries of continual labour have yet restored. Genghis himself encouraged the fury of his troops; to take revenge and exercise justice, he destroyed the peaceful habitations of many millions, who had never offended him. The most flourishing cities became a heap of ruins. Samarkand, Bokhara, Nizabour, Balkh, and Kandahar shared in the same destruction. He followed the vanquished Mohammedans to the Indus, where the valour of the remaining sultan was acknowledged even by Genghis himself. His army pining away, however, under a vertical sun, and loaded with spoil, forced their leader to return home. In his retreat he saw the ruins of the cities, which had been swept away by the tempest of his victories and promised to rebuild them. He now met with one of his generals whom he had dispatched to subdue the western provinces of Persia; and who had trampled upon the now vanquished nations, and carried destruction to all the tribes around the Caspian sea. Having reduced the rebellious Tatars, he departed this life stained with blood; and, with his last dying breath, exhorted his sons to attempt the conquest of China. Five hundred wives and concubines composed the harem of Genghis. His four sons, illustrious for talent and their high extraction, had occupied the highest offices of state. Tushi was his great huntsman, Zagatai his judge, Octai his minister, and Tuli his general. They had been educated in the camp, beheld their father's victories and had themselves conquered. They proclaimed Octai, great khan. He was succeeded by his son Gaiyuk, after whose death the empire devolved to his cousins, Mangou and Kublai, the sons of Tuli, the grandsons of Genghis. (A Sketch of Chinese History, by Charles Gutzlaff ) Mongolian prisons Prejevalsky's Exploration in Mongolia The Third Asiatic Expedition in Mongolia Foreign retirees in Manchuria My first trip to Tibet Mongolia A Culture Under Threat Funds to Improve Mongolian Prison Conditions Degrading Conditions at Inner Mongolia’s Prison An American in Turkistan