As everyone is beginning to plan their future holidays again, most likely in France, Le Petit Futé offers you the opportunity to delve back into the history of the world's great conquerors, to travel beyond our borders from home. Today, let's head for Asia and Mongolia to take an interest in the one who is said to have built the world's largest empire from the Caspian Sea to the Yellow Sea: Genghis Khan. At the beginning of the 13th century, this indomitable warrior and ruthless tyrant conquered, after having brought together men from Mongolian nomadic tribes, what today corresponds to Mongolia, China, northern India, the Middle East to the gates of Europe, all in about twenty years.
An extraordinary trajectory
Although there are few facts relating to the life of Genghis Khan before his conquests, or if it is always difficult for historians to agree on the basis of the archives, we know that the man was born around 1155-1162 under the name of Temüdjin. Nothing predestined him to become the conqueror he was. His father was murdered when he was only a young boy, his mother, in charge of five children and overworked, was forced to lead a vagabond existence of fishing and bow hunting with them in order to survive, and he even found himself having to kill one of his brothers who mistreated him. But Temüdjin nevertheless manages to establish relations with the powerful and gains social status by marrying the little girl he was engaged to as a young man, named Börte. Eventually, he found his clan again, until he became its leader. In 1206, he was proclaimed Khan and given his name, which means "universal chief". Under his command, he took all the Mongolian tribes and created a brilliant army of horsemen, which he then led relentlessly through Asia and the Middle East to form a territorial empire superior to that of Alexander the Great
A war strategy based on terror
Genghis Khan was a highly charismatic figure and his lieutenants and soldiers were devoted to him. Some of his former enemies even rallied to his cause, such as Djébé and Djelmé. Without benefiting from the high technologies of warfare, the leader could count on the physical and moral robustness of the Mongols and on armies largely structured in several units of one hundred, one thousand or even ten thousand men. In addition, he had the best horses, bows and advanced spying and propaganda techniques for the time
But this success, and this is the dark side of the story of Genghis Khan and his conquests, is the use of terror, collective punishment for the infidels and great violence against all the regions that resisted. Genghis Khan sent the message that all resistance was futile and that he had no time to waste on monitoring problem areas. He and his army plundered them so that they could better exploit their wealth. It is undeniable today that there were many casualties, as in northern China, but to establish one of the largest military expansions in the world, Genghis Khan's military genius had to be combined with methods that were unfortunately very cruel
Victory after victory, the constitution of the Mongolian Empire
This is what perfectly characterizes the conquests of Genghis Khan, a succession of victories, battle after battle. The invasions began with Siberia, before successively integrating into his empire the Xinjiang of the Uighurs, northwest China and the Sihia kingdom, the northeast of the Jin dynasty, and then Beijing. From 1220 to 1222, a major invasion struck the immense Turko-Iranian empire of Kharezm, corresponding to Iran, Transoxiana and Afghanistan. In one of the most advanced areas of the world, the countryside was ravaged, cities reduced to ashes and millions of people massacred. Then westward with Kashgar, a strategic place between China and Persia on the Silk Road. Many victories are scored in Afghanistan, while Genghis Khan's generals take possession of Persia and then make their way to the Genoese trading posts on the Black Sea, Georgia and the Crimea, who submit.
Death of Genghis Khan and fall of the Mongol Empire
Genghis Khan died on 18 August 1227 at the sites of a horse fall. But the Mongolian conquests will not stop following his death and his descendants will continue his work for years. His son Ogödei, then his grandson Kibilaï, will continue the conquests towards Persia, China, Tibet, Korea and in Europe in countries like Ukraine and Hungary
In the middle of the 16th century, the Great Plague precipitated the fall of Mongolian power. It spread in Asia, then in Europe and decimated 30% of the world's population. Heavy human losses prevented the Mongols from continuing to maintain order over an empire of unprecedented size, and trade links between East and West were eventually severed
