Compared to him, Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin seem like inexperienced beginners.

Genghis Khan was the founder Mongol Empire and one of the most brutal people in human history. Compared to him, Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin seem like inexperienced beginners.

Today, we rarely hear anything about Mongolia, except that Russia is conducting nuclear tests in the steppes there. If Genghis Khan were alive, he would never allow this!

And in general, he would not give anyone peace, because most of all he loved to fight.

Here are 15 amazing facts about the Mongol commander who could have conquered the whole world:

1. 40 million corpses

Historians estimate that Genghis Khan was responsible for 40 million deaths. For you to understand, this is 11% of the total population of the planet at that time.

For comparison: the second World War sent to the other world "only" 3% of the world's population (60-80 million).

The adventures of Genghis Khan thus contributed to the cooling of the climate in the 13th century, as they removed more than 700 million tons of carbon dioxide from the Earth.

2. At the age of 10, Genghis Khan killed his stepbrother

Genghis Khan had a difficult childhood. His father was killed by warriors of a warring tribe when Genghis Khan was only 9.

Then his mother was expelled from the tribe, so she had to raise seven children alone - in Mongolia of the 13th century it was not easy!

When Genghis Khan was 10 years old, he killed his half-brother Bekter because he did not want to share food with him!

3. Genghis Khan is not his real name

The real name of the man known to us as Genghis Khan is Temujin, which means "iron" or "blacksmith".

The name is not bad, but clearly not worthy of a great warrior and emperor. Therefore, in 1206, Temujin called himself Genghis Khan.

"Khan"- this, of course, "ruler", but about the meaning of the word "Genghis" scientists are still arguing. The most common version says that this is a distorted Chinese "zheng" - "fair". So that - this, oddly enough, "just ruler".

4. Genghis Khan used brutal torture

Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols were famous terrible torture. One of the most popular was to pour molten silver down the throat and ears of the victim.

Genghis Khan himself loved this method of execution: the enemy was bent back until his spine broke.

And Genghis Khan and his squad celebrated the victory over the Russians in the following way: they threw all the surviving Russian soldiers to the ground, and huge wooden gates were placed on top of them. Then a feast was held at the gates, flattening the suffocating prisoners.

5. Genghis Khan held beauty pageants

Having captured a new land, Genghis Khan ordered to kill or enslave all men, and gave women to his soldiers. He even arranged beauty contests among captives to choose the most beautiful for himself.

The winner became one of his numerous harem, and the rest of the participants went to the soldiers to be insulted.

6. Genghis Khan defeated overwhelming armies

The size of the Mongol Empire testifies that Genghis Khan was a truly great commander.

At the same time, he repeatedly won victories over superior enemy forces. For example, he defeated a million soldiers of the Jin Dynasty with an army of 90,000 Mongols.

During the conquest of China, Genghis Khan destroyed 500,000 Chinese soldiers before the rest surrendered to the mercy of the victor!

7 Genghis Khan Turned Enemies Into Companions

In 1201, Genghis Khan was wounded in battle by an enemy archer. The Mongol army won the battle, after which Genghis Khan ordered to find the very archer who shot at him.

He said that the arrow hit his horse and not himself, so that the archer would not be afraid to confess. And when the archer was found, Genghis Khan acted unexpectedly: instead of killing the enemy on the spot, he invited him to join the Mongol army.

Such military cunning and foresight is one of the reasons for the unprecedented military successes of Genghis Khan.

8 Nobody Knows What Genghis Khan Looked Like

There are tons of images of Genghis Khan on the internet and history books, but we really have no idea what he looked like.

How is this possible? The fact is that Genghis Khan forbade himself to portray. Therefore, there are no paintings, no statues, not even written descriptions of his appearance.

But after his death, people immediately rushed to portray the late tyrant from memory, so we have a rough idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat he might have looked like. However, some historians say that he had red hair!

9. Genghis Khan had a lot of children

Every time Genghis Khan conquered a new country, he took one of the local women as his wife. All of them eventually became pregnant and gave birth to his descendants.

Genghis Khan believed that by populating all of Asia with his offspring, he would guarantee the stability of the empire.

How many children did he have?

It is impossible to say for sure, but, according to historians, about 8% of all Asians are his descendants!

10. In Mongolia, Genghis Khan is revered as a folk hero.

The portrait of Genghis Khan adorns the tugriks, the Mongolian currency. In Mongolia, he is considered a hero for creating the great Mongol Empire.

It is not customary to talk about the cruelty of Genghis Khan there - he is a hero.

When Mongolia was socialist, that is, ruled from Moscow, any mention of Genghis Khan was forbidden. But since 1990, the cult of the ancient ruler has flourished with renewed vigor.

11 Genghis Khan Committed Iranian Genocide

The Iranians hate Genghis Khan as much as the Mongols adore him. And there is a reason for that.

The Khorezm Empire, located on the territory of modern Iran, was a powerful power until the Mongols attacked it. For several years, the Mongol army completely destroyed Khorezm.

According to historians, the troops of Genghis Khan slaughtered ¾ of the entire population of Khorezm. It took Iranians 700 years to restore the population!

12 Genghis Khan Was Religiously Tolerant

Despite his cruelty, Genghis Khan was quite tolerant in matters of religion. He studied Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity and dreamed of the Mongol Empire as a place where there would be no religious strife.

Once, Genghis Khan even held a debate between Christians, Muslims and Buddhists to determine which religion was the best. However, the participants got very drunk, so the winner was not determined.

13. Genghis Khan did not forgive offenders

Genghis Khan allowed the inhabitants of the Mongol Empire to live for their own pleasure, if they did not violate the rules he set. But any violation of these rules was punished in the most severe way.

For example, when the ruler of a Khorezm city attacked a Mongolian trade caravan and killed all the merchants, Genghis Khan became furious. He sent 100,000 soldiers to Khorezm, who killed thousands of people.

The unlucky ruler himself paid a severe price: his mouth and eyes were poured with molten silver. It was a clear sign that any attack against the Mongol Empire would be punished disproportionately.

14. The death of Genghis Khan is shrouded in mystery.

Genghis Khan died in 1227 at the age of 65. To this day, his death is surrounded by a halo of mystery.

It is not known from what he died, nor where is his grave. Of course, this gave rise to many legends.

The most popular version says that he was killed by a captive Chinese princess. There are also versions that he fell off his horse - either just like that, or because an enemy arrow hit him.

It is unlikely that we will ever know the truth about what happened 800 years ago. After all, even the burial place of the Mongol emperor was never found!

15. Genghis Khan created the largest uninterrupted empire in history

The Mongol Empire created by Genghis Khan will forever remain the largest uninterrupted empire in human history.

It occupied 16.11% of all land, and its area was 24 million square kilometers!

Yesugai carefully took the screaming baby in his arms, looked carefully at his beloved wife and said:

Ohelun, he will be a real warrior! Just look how he screams, how tightly he squeezes his fists! Let's call him Temujin, shall we?

Why Temujin? the brown-eyed beautiful wife asked calmly. In the short time since Yesugai stole her from the crown, she had taught herself not to be surprised at her husband's impulsive actions: after all, he was a warrior, the ruler of a small domain.

That was the name of the brave leader who fought with me until last drop blood, Yesugai answered thoughtfully. - I respect strong opponents. Our son will have the path of a warrior, may he be as brave as Temujin defeated by my hand?

Hoelun resignedly agreed. Her mother's heart told her that her firstborn would have a difficult path in life, and the talisman in the form of the name of a strong warrior would come in handy for the boy.

Temujin grew up as a strong and courageous boy. Together with his brothers, he organized competitions on the banks of the Onon River, where his father's possessions were located. Mother told them legends and tales about brave warriors, inspired them that the time would come when they would be able to conquer the whole world. Temujin listened to her every word. Then neither he nor his parents could have imagined that after several decades this clever boy would be proclaimed the ruler of all the lands from the Urals to China - the great khan over all the tribes that inhabited the lands he conquered. And his name will be Genghis Khan.

Years of Temujin's wanderings

The childhood of the future commander proceeded until the age of nine in a calm atmosphere of a loving and friendly family, until his father decided to marry him to the daughter of an eminent neighbor, the brave warrior Dai-sechen. The girl was only a year older than Temujin, and her name was Borte. According to Mongolian law, the groom had to live in the bride's yurt for several years before the wedding. However, the marriage did not take place on time, because on the way back Yesugai got to the Tatars, his sworn enemies. He mistook them for peacefully feasting nomads and shared a meal with them. Soon he returned home to his wife and died a few days later in terrible agony. Before his death, Yesugai blamed the Tatars for his death, saying that they had poisoned him.

The grief of Hoelun was immeasurable, the grief of Yesugai's sons was immeasurable. But no one could have imagined that his eldest son, who survived the death of his beloved father, his idol, the hardest of all, began to hatch a plan of revenge on the poisoners. Thirty years later, he, with his invincible warriors, will fall on the Tatars and defeat them, capturing territories.

Having learned about the death of his father, Temujin urgently left the yurt of his future wife, to whom he had become very attached during this time, and went to his native village. What was his grief when he learned that the cunning neighbors, having slandered Hoelun and falsely accused her of non-compliance with rituals (the widows of the khans had to go to the worship of their ancestors every year on the spring holiday and offer sacrifice to the gods), provoked an exodus of Yesugai's subjects. They themselves quickly took possession of the cattle and lands that rightfully belonged to Olwen and her family.

They had to endure many hardships during this time - constant assassination attempts from treacherous neighbors, destruction of pastures, theft of livestock, hunger, poverty, the murder of Yesugai's loyal subjects who decided to share the fate with the widow and her children. Fearing for the fate of the heirs, Hoelun decides to go to a very remote, even by the standards of Mongolia, province - at the foot of the mountain Burkhan-Khaldun. The family spent several years there. It was in those places that the character of her eldest son, Temujin, the future conqueror and khan of all the Mongol tribes, was tempered in adversity.

Temujin never gave up. In his youth, he was captured by his father's enemy Targutai. Fleeing from hunger, the Yesugaya family, now impoverished to an extreme degree, descended into the river valley. There they were tracked down and robbed by Targutai, capturing Temujin. In addition, he subjected the young man, and the future conqueror at that time was only 16-17 years old, to a shameful punishment - having chained him in stocks. The young man himself could not outside help to take food, water and even move around - during the week he walked around the village and asked each yurt for food and lodging for the night. But one day he hit a guard with a neck block and fled. In pursuit of him, the best warriors of Targutai set off, who did not manage to catch Temujin there - he spent the whole day in one of the creeks of the river, chained in stocks. The neck acted as a lifeline.

Soon he returned home, where another test awaited him - to return the horses stolen by horse thieves. And Temujin did an excellent job with this task, at the same time making friends with his peer Bogorchi from the seedy Arulat family. Becoming Genghis Khan, he did not forget his comrade and made him his own. right hand- the head of the right flank of the army.

Marriage of Temujin

On the eve of his seventeenth birthday, Temujin reminded his mother of his matchmaking with Borte and expressed his desire to marry her. Hoelun was tormented by doubts - after all, despite their famous bloodline, they now barely make ends meet. How will the wealthy and influential Dai-sechen take them? Will he drive away her firstborn in disgrace? However, Hoelun's fears were not justified. Borte's father turned out to be a man of his word and agreed to give Temujin his daughter as a wife.

She became the first and most beloved wife of the future Genghis Khan. Together they lived for almost fifty years. She was her husband's adviser, support, keeper hearth. Borte gave her husband four sons, future uluses of the Great Mongolian state and five daughters. When, due to her age, she could no longer bear children, she humbly accepted her husband's desire to have children from other wives, whom Genghis Khan had, according to some information, eight.

The family life of the future Genghis Khan with Borte has long been overgrown with legends. According to one of them, the girl's mother gave her daughter a sable fur coat as a dowry, which later played an important role in the release of Borte from captivity. Long before the birth of Temujin, Yesugei stole Hoelun from a noble Merkit warrior from under the crown. With this in mind, the Merkits stole Borte from Yesugei's son and kept her captive. Temujin donated this fur coat to the Kereit Khan as a reminder of the warm and friendly relations between Yesukei and the Kereites. It was they who helped Temujin attack the Merkits, defeat their army and free Borte.

When Borte was released after several months of captivity, it turned out that she was expecting a child. The noble Temujin stubbornly insisted that his wife had been stolen from him in position. The subjects, however, did not really believe in it. It is possible that Genghis Khan was not completely sure of his paternity, but he never reproached his beloved. And he treated the child (and this was his first-born, Jochi, the father of Batu Khan) with the same love as for the rest of his children.

Military campaigns of Temujin - Genghis Khan

How many aggressive campaigns the emperor of the Mongol Empire undertook is not known for certain. However, in the annals of history, information about the largest military enterprises in his biography has been preserved. It is known that Genghis Khan was very ambitious. His main goal was to create a powerful state out of scattered Mongol tribes.

He owes his first military successes not only to his tactical plans, but also to the help of his allies. So, for example, with the help of Togrul, his father's comrade-in-arms, he participated in a campaign against the Tatars, whom he had long intended to avenge his father's death. They succeeded. The leaders of the Tatars were defeated, the soldiers were taken prisoner, and the lands were divided between the Jin emperor, Temujin and Togrul.

The second time, being the head of a small army, he undertook a campaign against his childhood friend Jamukha. Despite the fact that they considered themselves to be named brothers, their views on the form of government in Mongolia differed in many ways. Jamukha sympathized with the common people, while Temujin placed his hopes on the aristocracy.

The future Genghis Khan believed that only among the Mongols a new leader and commander could appear, who would be able to bring together all the disparate Mongolian tribes. Remembering the numerous legends told to him by his mother in childhood, Temujin was convinced that such a mission was ahead of him.

Genghis Khan was supported by the numerous Mongolian aristocracy, and the common people took the side of Jamukha. Temujin's former comrade now turned out to be his sworn enemy, who plotted against him with forces hostile to the future ruler of Mongolia. However, Temujin, with the help of troops and cunning military tactics, won. He betrayed the leaders to immediate execution to intimidate the enemies.

In the future, many leaders and ordinary warriors went over to the side of the future emperor - this is how the army of Genghis Khan gradually increased, as well as the lands he conquered. There are several reasons for this: thanks to many military victories, the ideal of a hero, who is patronized by Heaven itself, was entrenched in him. In addition, Temuzhdin possessed a remarkable oratorical gift that inflamed the hearts of people, a rare mind, military talents and a strong will.

After numerous military victories in 1206, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan, i.e. greatest ruler all Mongolian tribes. Among his many victories are the Mongol-Jin, Tangut wars, the conquest of all of Central Asia, Siberia, several provinces of China, the Crimea, as well as the famous battle on the Kalka River, when the army of Genghis Khan easily defeated the army of Russian princes.

Military tactics of Genghis Khan

The army of Genghis Khan did not know defeat, because the main principle of the leader was attack and good intelligence. Genghis Khan always attacked from several positions. He demanded a detailed plan of action from the military leaders, approved it or rejected it, was present at the beginning of the battle, and then left, completely relying on his subordinates.

Most often, the Mongols attacked suddenly, acted by deception - they pretended to run away, and then, scattering, surrounded one of the enemy's flanks and smashed it. They attacked under the cover of light cavalry in parallel columns, chasing the enemies until they were destroyed. The right ear of the dead was cut off, folded separately, and then specially trained people counted the number of dead from such unusual trophies. In addition, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the Mongol warriors began to use a smoke screen and signal black and white flags.

Death of Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan participated in military campaigns until his very old age. In 1227, returning with a victory from the Tangut state, he died. Several causes of death are named at once - from illness, from a wound, from a fall from a horse, from the hand of a young concubine, and even from exposure to an unhealthy climate, i.e. from fever. Until now, this is an unresolved issue.

It is only known that Genghis Khan was a little over seventy. He had a presentiment of his death, he was very upset by the death of his eldest son Jochi. Shortly before the campaign against the Tanguts, the emperor left a spiritual testament to his sons, in which he spoke of the need for the brothers to stick together both in managing the great empire and in military campaigns. This was necessary, according to Genghis Khan, in order for his children to enjoy power.

Before his death, the great commander bequeathed to bury himself in his homeland, in a tomb, at the bottom of the river, the location of which no one should know. Two historical monuments - "Golden Chronicle" and "Secret Tale" say that the body of Genghis Khan was buried in a tomb of gold, at the very bottom of the river. For these purposes, the noble Mongols brought with them many slaves who built a dam after the burial, and then returned the river to its former course.

On the way to the Onon River (according to one of the versions), the soldiers killed all living things that they met on the way - people, birds, animals. It was ordered that all the slaves involved in the construction of the dam be beheaded. All these measures were necessary so that no one could discover the graves of Genghis Khan. She has not been discovered so far.

After the death of Genghis Khan, the glory of the Mongol Empire only increased, thanks to the exploits of his sons and grandsons. The empire continued great power until the end of the 15th century, when internecine wars weakened and destroyed it. The Mongols still believe in the imminent coming of a great hero who will be able to return the former glory to the country, as Genghis Khan once did.

In the middle of the XII century. after the death of several Mongol khans, the defense of the Mongols from the Jurchens and their allies - the Tatars - was headed by a descendant of Khabul Khan Yesugei bagatur ("bagatur" means "hero"). A brave and determined man, Yesugei Bagatur was not a khan, but the head of the Borjigin clan, who lived in the area north of the modern Russian-Mongolian border, where the city of Nerchinsk is now located.

Once Yesugei, while still a very young man, was hunting in the steppe with a falcon and suddenly saw some kind of Merkit carrying a girl of exceptional beauty in a cart drawn by a very good horse. Yesugei called his brothers, and the Mongols rushed in pursuit of prey. Seeing the pursuers, the girl wept bitterly and said to the Merkit, her fiancé: “You see these people - they will kill you, leave me, leave, I will always remember you.” Then she took off her shirt and gave it to him as a keepsake. The Mongols were already approaching - the Merkit quickly unharnessed his horse, burned it with a whip and left the chase. And the brothers harnessed their horses to the cart and, bringing the weeping girl home, they said: “Forget about your fiancé, our Yesugei lives without a woman” - and they married her off as Yesugei. Yesugei's wife, whose name remains in history, was called Hoelun.

The marriage turned out to be happy. In 1162, Hoelun gave birth to her first child - Temujin, and subsequently three more sons: Khasara, Khachiun beki, Temuge - and daughter Temulun. From the second wife (the Mongols allowed and encouraged polygamy) - Sochikhel - Yesugei had two more sons: Bekter and Belgutei.

When Temujin grew up and he was 9 years old, then according to the Mongolian custom, he was supposed to be engaged. The father arranged the engagement of Temujin with the parents of a beautiful ten-year-old girl named Borte from the neighboring Khonkirat tribe and took his son to the camp of the future father-in-law. Leaving Temujin the Khonkirats, so that he could get used to his bride and future relatives, Yesugei went to Return trip. On the way, he saw several people sitting by the fire, who, as is customary in the steppe, invited him to share a meal. Yesugei rode closer and only then realized that they were Tatars. It was useless to run, because the Tatars would have chased after him, and Yesugei's horse was tired. According to the steppe tradition, no one could touch the guest at the campfire.

Yesugei had no choice - he accepted the invitation and, having eaten, left safely. But on the way, Yesugei felt bad and decided that he had been poisoned. On the fourth day, having reached home, he died, bequeathing to his relatives to take revenge on the Tatars. It is difficult to say how right Yesugei was in his suspicions, but something else is important: he admitted that the Tatars could poison him, that is, commit an unprecedented violation of the customs of the steppes.

Father's companions went for Temujin and brought the boy home. As the eldest son, he became the head of the clan, and then it became clear that the entire strength of the tribe lay in the will and energy of Yesugei. With his authority, he forced people to go on campaigns, defend themselves from the enemy, forget local scores for the sake of a common cause. But since Yesugei was not a khan, his influence ended with his death. The tribesmen had no obligations to Yesugei's family and left the Borjigins, having driven away all their cattle, essentially dooming Yesugei's family to starvation: after all, the eldest, Temujin, was only 9 years old, and the rest even less.

The initiators of such cruelty were the Taijiuts, a tribe that was hostile towards Yesugei. Then Hoelun seized Yesugei's banner, rode after those who were leaving, and shamed them: "Aren't you ashamed to leave your leader's family!" Some returned, but then left again, and all the difficulties of raising children and obtaining food for the family fell on the shoulders of two women: Hoelun and Sochikhel - the eldest and youngest wives of Yesugei. They caught marmots to get at least some meat, and collected wild garlic - wild garlic. Temujin went to the river and tried to shoot the taimen. Like all Mongols, he knew how to shoot through water, despite the fact that water refracts light, distorting the image, and it is very difficult to hit the target. Even in summer, the family lived from hand to mouth, making provisions for the winter.

Meanwhile, the tribesmen who insulted and abandoned Yesugei's family continued to follow her, as they feared a well-deserved revenge. Apparently, they managed to make Bekter, the eldest son of Sochikhel, a spy. Bechter, feeling the power behind him, began to behave dismissively towards the children of Hoelun. Temujin and Khasar could not stand the bullying of their half-brother and shot him with a bow.

By this time, the characters and inclinations of Yesugei's children were already fully formed. Khasar was a brave and strong guy, an excellent shooter. Temuge became a gentle and obedient son, he took care of his mother and stepmother. Hachiun Beki didn't have any merit. In Temujin, both friends and enemies noted endurance, will, and stubborn pursuit of a goal. Of course, all these qualities frightened the enemies of the Borjigins, and therefore the Taijuits attacked the yurt of Yesugei's family. Temujin managed to escape into the taiga thicket, where, as the Mongolian source says, there were not even paths along which "a well-fed snake could crawl."
Nine days later, tormented by hunger, Temujin was forced to surrender. He went out into the steppe, where he was seized and brought to his camp. Why were they hunting him? Yes, apparently for killing Bekter, the Taijiut spy. The Taijiuts did not kill Temujin. Targutai Kiriltukh - a friend of Yesugei - was able to save the young man from death, but not from punishment. They put a block on Temujin - two wooden boards with a hole for the neck, which were pulled together. The block was a painful punishment: the person himself did not have the opportunity to eat, drink, or even drive away the fly that sat on his face. In addition, the boards had to be held with hands all the time so that they would not squeeze the neck.

Temujin outwardly endured everything completely resignedly. But one day, during the full moon festival, the Taijiuts made a big drinking bout and got drunk, leaving the captive under the guard of some weak guy who was not given archi (milk vodka). Temujin seized the moment, hit the guy on the head with a block and ran away, holding the boards with his hands. But you can’t run so far - Temujin reached the bank of the Onon and lay down in the water. The watchman, having come to his senses, shouted: “I missed the convict!” - and the whole drunken crowd of Taichiuts rushed to look for the fugitive. The moon shone brightly, everything was visible as in the daytime. All of a sudden Temujin I realized that a man was standing over him and looking into his eyes. It was Sorgan Shira from the Suldus tribe, who lived in the camp of the Taijiuts and was engaged in his craft - he made koumiss. He said to Temujin: “That’s why they don’t like you, that you are so quick-witted. Lie down, don't be afraid, I won't betray you."

Sorgan Shira returned to his pursuers and offered to search everything again. It is easy to understand that the prisoner was not found. The drunken Taijiuts wanted to sleep and, having decided that the man in the block would not go far, they stopped searching. Then Temujin got out of the water and went to his savior. Sorgan Shira, seeing that the convict was crawling into his yurt, was frightened and was about to drive Temujin away, but then the children of Sorgan Shira protested: “No, what are you, father. When a predator drives a bird into a thicket, then, after all, the thicket saves it. We can't kick him out since he's a guest." They removed the block from Temujin, chopped it up and threw it into the fire. Sorgan Shira had only one way out - to save Temujin, and therefore he gave him a horse, bow, two arrows, but did not give flint and flint. After all, horses grazed in the steppe, the bow was kept on the upper ledge of the door of the yurt, and it was easy to steal them, and every steppe person carried flint and flint. If Temujin had been seized and found with him a steel or flint of Sorgan Shira, the family of the savior and himself would have had a hard time.

Temujin rode away and after a while found his family. The Borjigins immediately migrated to another place, and the Taijiuts could no longer find them. This circumstance shows that Bekter really was a scammer: after his death, there was no one to inform the enemies about the places of nomadic Borjigins. Then Temujin married his betrothed Borte. Her father kept his word - the wedding took place. Borte's dowry was a luxurious sable coat. Temujin brought Borte home... and immediately "seized" her precious fur coat. He understood that without support he could not resist numerous enemies, and therefore he soon went to the most powerful of the then steppe leaders - Wang Khan from the Kerait tribe. Wang Khan was once a friend of Temujin's father, and he managed to enlist the support of Wang Khan, reminding him of this friendship and offering a luxurious gift - Borte's sable fur coat.

But before Temujin, happy from the success achieved, had time to return home, the camp of the Borjigins was subjected to a new attack. This time, the Merkits attacked, forcing the family to hide on Mount Burkhan Khaldun. At the same time, there were losses: Borte and Yesugei's second wife, Sochikhel, were captured. Temujin, having lost his beloved wife, was in despair, but not at a loss. The messengers of the Borjigins galloped to his brother Jamukha Sechen from the Jajirat tribe and the Kerait Van Khan. The united army was led by Jamukha, who was a talented commander.

In the late autumn of 1180, when the first snow had already fallen, the warriors of Jamukha and Temujin suddenly attacked the nomad camp of the Merkits, located to the east of Lake Baikal. The enemies, taken by surprise, fled. Temujin wanted to find his Borte and called her by name. Borte heard and, running out of the crowd of women, grabbed the stirrup of her husband's horse. And Sochihal left with the kidnappers. It seems that she began to perform the same espionage duty as her son Bekter: after all, apart from her, there was no one to tell the Merkits where the Borjigin nomad camp was and how an attack could be organized. Sochikhel did not return, and in vain her son, the good-natured Belgutei, who loved his mother very much, demanded from the Merkits that she be returned to him.

It must be said that, although Belgutei was the son of a traitor and the brother of a traitor, Temujin, knowing that Belgutei himself was a sincere person, appreciated him, loved him and always saw him as his closest relative. This, of course, does not characterize the man out of whom historians tried to make a monster! When reading what was written by contemporaries about Temujin, one must remember that people who wrote about him were extremely ill-disposed towards him. But even the Devil (Iblis) in Muslim poetry says: “I am painted in the baths so ugly, because the brush is in the palm of my enemy.”

The campaign against the Merkits greatly increased the authority and fame of Temujin, but not among all the inhabitants of the steppe, but among their passionate part - "people of long will." Lonely heroes saw that it makes sense to support the enterprising son of Yesugei, even risking his life. And a process began, which, without suspecting it, was provoked by the Kerait Khan and the Jajirat leader: brave steppe people began to gather around Temujin. They then in 1182 elected him khan with the title of "Genghis".

The very word "Genghis" is incomprehensible. D. Banzarov, a Buryat researcher, believes that this is the name of one of the shamanic spirits. Others believe that the title comes from the word "chingihu" - "to hug", therefore, "Genghis" is the title of a person who had full power. Be that as it may, the Mongols established a new system of government. It is rather difficult to call its principle monarchical, because the khan was by no means autocratic, but, on the contrary, could not but reckon with the noyons - the heads of the tribes that joined him - and with his heroes. Thus, the army reliably limited the will of the khan.

The state structure did not provide for the right of inheritance, although subsequently each new khan was elected only from the descendants of Genghis. But this was not a law, but an expression of the will of the Mongols themselves. respecting Genghis Khan, his services to the people, they saw no reason to refuse to inherit the throne to his descendants. In addition, the Mongols believed in the innate nature of human virtues and shortcomings. Thus, the tendency to betrayal was considered as an inalienable attribute of heredity as the color of eyes or hair, and therefore traitors were exterminated mercilessly along with their relatives.

The election as khan came as a surprise to Temujin: all other pretenders to the throne from among the descendants of Khabul Khan simply refused this burdensome position. The news of the election of Temujin as Khan was received differently in the steppe. Wang Khan was very pleased with this turn of affairs, and the leader of the Jajirats, Jamukha, received the news of the rise of his brother with irritation. As a sin, while trying to drive away the herd from the possessions of Genghis, Jamukha's brother, Taichar, was killed. Under the pretext of revenge, Jamukha with thirty thousand troops moved against Chinggis. Having not achieved decisive success in defeating the enemy, the leader of the Jajirats limited himself to cruel reprisals against the prisoners and retreated.

The manifestation of cruelty, unusual for the steppes, deprived Jamukha of popularity. The two largest and most combat-ready tribes - the Uruts and the Manguts - migrated to Genghis. At a feast in honor of deliverance from Jamukha, Genghis Khan's brother Belgutei caught a thief who stole a bridle and a leash from a hitching post. Bogatyr Buri Boko from the Chzhurki (Yurki) tribe stood up for the thief. There was a fight, which ended badly for the chzhurka. When Genghis launched another campaign against the Tatars, the Chzhurks, mindful of the quarrel, did not come to the aid of their own, but moved to the defenseless Mongolian yurts, robbed and killed a dozen infirm old people. Returning from the campaign, Genghis decided to punish the Chzhurka tribe and defeated their camps. The leaders of the tribe were executed, and the surviving warriors were included in the army of the Mongol Khan.

The details of what happened next (1185-1197) are not exactly known, but the gap in historical knowledge may well be filled with information from the informative book Meng da Bei Lu (The Secret History of the Mongols). Meng da Bei lu reports that Temujin was captured by the Manchus and spent 11 years in prison. Then he somehow escaped and returned to the steppe.

Now Genghis had to start all over again. Of the 13 thousand horsemen, less than 3 thousand remained, the Mongols not only lost all the advantages that they acquired during their reign Genghis Khan but also quarreled with each other. Even Khasar abandoned his brother and went to serve the Khan of the Keraites.

But already in 1198, Temujin again stood at the head of a powerful horde. What allowed him to return what he had lost so quickly? Probably, the increase in the passionarity of the Mongols again affected. The number of "people of long will" grew; their desire to arrange life in their own way also grew. Therefore, they still needed a leader to order them to do what they wanted to do. After all, the rivals of Genghis - the well-born noyons of Altai, Khuchar, Seche Biki - dreamed of the old order based on arbitrariness, the right to disgrace, lack of fidelity to obligations; supporters of Genghis wanted firm order, guarantees of mutual assistance and respect for their rights. Having perfectly understood the aspirations of his followers, Genghis Khan formulated a new set of laws - the Great Yasa. Yasa was by no means a modification of customary law, but was based on the obligation of mutual assistance, uniform discipline for all and condemnation of betrayal without any compromise.

So Yasa Genghis Khan, in fact, was the regulation of those new stereotypes of behavior that the "people of long will" defended. Mongolian practice did not know anything of the kind. Yes, by Great Yasa, each traitor, that is, a person who deceived someone who trusted him, was put to death. Ordinary people were cut off their heads, and people of high birth were broken in the spine so that the blood remained in the body of the slain. In this case, according to Mongolian belief, the dead could be reborn to a new life. If the blood flowed to the ground, the person lost not only his life, but also his soul.

Similar the death penalty also relied on for failure to provide assistance to a comrade-in-arms. For example, having met any fellow tribesman in the desert, each Mongol was obliged (!) to offer him something to drink and eat. After all, a traveler who did not have the opportunity to reinforce his strength could die, and then the accusation of murder fell on the violator of the law. If one of the soldiers lost a bow or a quiver with arrows, then the one riding behind had to pick up and return the weapon to him. Violation of this rule was also equated with failure to provide assistance and entailed the death penalty.

Punishment by death was also a retribution for murder, fornication of a man, unfaithfulness of a wife, theft, robbery, buying up stolen goods, hiding a runaway slave, sorcery aimed at harming one's neighbor, threefold failure to return a debt. For less serious crimes, exile to Siberia or punishment by a fine was supposed.

Yasa - an unheard of violation of tribal customs - marked the end of the latent ("incubation") period of the Mongol ethnogenesis and the transition to an explicit period of the rise phase with a new imperative: "Be who you should be!" The legally enshrined principle of mutual assistance gave the passionate sub-ethnos of Chingas supporters the opportunity to coordinate their efforts. However, most of the Mongols stubbornly preferred the usual forms of tribal life, and not the life of a military horde.

The enemies of the Mongols of Genghis, as before, were the Merkits, and the Naimans, and the Tatars, and the Jurchens, and the Oirats, and the only ally, the Keraites led by Wang Khan, was not reliable. "People of long will", as before, had to defend themselves in order to live. But now the increased passionarity dictated to them the desire for victories, because in those days only victory over enemies was able to save the people from the constant threat. And the wars for victory began. The entry of the Mongols into the arena of world military-political history became a turning point in the existence of the entire Eurasian continent.

At the very beginning of the 13th century, in 1202-1203, which were a turning point for the entire situation in the steppe, the Mongols first defeated the Merkits, and then the Keraites. The fact is that the Keraites were divided into supporters of Genghis Khan and his opponents. The opponents of Genghis Khan were led by the son of Van Khan, the legitimate heir to the throne - Nilha (among the Keraites, Nestorian Christians, this name corresponded to the name Ilya). Nilha had reason to hate Genghis Khan: even at a time when Wang Khan was an ally of Genghis, the leader of the Keraites, seeing the undeniable talents of the latter, wanted to transfer the throne of Kerait to him, bypassing his own son. This part of the Keraites clashed with the Mongols during the lifetime of Wang Khan. And although the Keraites had a numerical superiority, the Mongols defeated them, thanks to the fact that they showed exceptional mobility and took the enemy by surprise.

In the clash with the Keraites, the character of Genghis Khan was fully manifested. When Van Khan and his son Nilha fled from the battlefield, one of their noyons with a small detachment detained the Mongols, saving their leaders from captivity. This noyon was seized, brought before the eyes of Genghis, and he asked: “Why, noyon, seeing the position of your troops, did not leave yourself? You had both the time and the opportunity." He replied: "I served my khan and gave him the opportunity to escape, and my head is for you, O conqueror." Genghis Khan said: “Everyone should imitate this man. Look how brave, faithful, valiant he is. I cannot kill you, noyon, I offer you a place in my army.” Noyon became a thousand-man and, of course, served faithfully Genghis Khan, because the Keraite horde fell apart. Wang Khan himself absurdly died while trying to escape to the Naimans. Their guards on the border, seeing a kerait, without thinking twice, killed him, and presented the severed head of the old man to their khan.

In 1204, there was an inevitable clash between the Mongols of Genghis Khan and the powerful Naiman Khanate - a horde with a mixed population, consisting of the Naiman Mongols and the Turks who joined them. And again the Mongols of Genghis won. The Khan of the Naimans died, and his son Kuchluk (Gush Luk) fled to his tribesmen - Kara Kitai. The defeated, as usual, were included in the horde of Genghis.

There were no more tribes in the eastern steppe that could actively resist the new order, and in 1206, at the great kurultai, Genghis was again elected khan, but already of all Mongolia. Thus was born the all-Mongolian state. The only hostile tribe remained the old enemies of the Borjigins - the Merkits, but by 1208 they were forced out into the valley of the Irgiz River.

The growing passionarity of the horde of Genghis Khan allowed her to quite easily and fruitfully assimilate different tribes and peoples. For, in accordance with the Mongolian stereotypes of behavior, the khan could and should have demanded obedience, obedience to an order, fulfillment of duties, but to demand from a person to abandon his faith or customs was considered not only stupid, but also immoral - the individual had the right to his own choice . This arrangement attracted many. In 1209, the independent state of the Uighurs sent ambassadors to Genghis Khan with a request to accept them into his ulus. The request, of course, was granted, and Genghis Khan gave the Uighurs huge trading privileges. A caravan route passed through Uyghuria, and the Uighurs, being part of the Mongolian state, got rich by selling water, fruits, meat and “pleasures” to starving caravaneers at high prices.

The voluntary unification of Uighuria with Mongolia turned out to be useful for the Mongols as well. Firstly, the steppes, not having their own written language, borrowed the Uighur. (It is interesting that the first literate in the ulus was a Tatar by birth, an orphan boy Shikhi Khutukhu, raised by the Khan's mother, Oelun.) Secondly, with the annexation of Uighuria, the Mongols went beyond the borders of their ethnic range and came into contact with other peoples of the Oikumene.

In 1210, a heavy war broke out with the Jurchens. The Mongolian army was led Genghis Khan, his sons Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedei and commander Jebe. The Jurchen commanders were not inferior in talent to the Mongol ones, but they did not have troops similar to the troops of Genghis Khan. The Jurchens suffered defeats, but fought stubbornly - the war lasted a very long time and ended only in 1234, after the death of Genghis Khan, with the capture of the last strongholds of the Kin empire - Kaifeng and Caizhou,

In Kaifeng, the desperately resisting Jurchens simply died of hunger. They were so weak that they could not hold weapons in their hands. When they were offered to surrender, the soldiers said: “As long as there are mice in the fortress, we catch and eat them, and if there are none, then we have wives and children, we will eat them, but we will not surrender.” Such was the Jurchen passionarity, in no way inferior to the Mongol one.

In 1216, on the Irgiz River, the Mongols utterly defeated the remnants of the Merkits, but they themselves were attacked by the Khorezmians.

It is necessary to say more about Khorezm. Khorezm turned out to be the most powerful of the states that arose in the 12th century, with the weakening of the power of the Seljukids. The rulers of Khorezm from the governors of the ruler of Urgench turned into independent sovereigns and adopted the title of "Khorezmshahs". They proved to be energetic, enterprising and warlike rulers. This allowed the Khorezmshahs to conquer most of Central Asia. They conquered even southern Afghanistan, thereby uniting Iran and Maverannahr under their rule. The Khorezmshahs created a huge state in which the main military force was the Turks from the adjacent steppes: the Kangly (Pechenegs) and the Karluks.

But this state turned out to be fragile, despite the abundance of material wealth, brave warriors and experienced ulema who served as diplomats. The regime of military dictatorship relied on tribes alien to the local population, which had a different language, other customs and customs. It cannot be said that religions were also different, since the understanding of religion among the Turkic soldiers was extremely amorphous. But the mercenaries knew how to misbehave! They aroused dissatisfaction among the inhabitants of Samarkand, Bukhara, Merv - in a word, a number of Central Asian cities, where the population could not bear the arbitrariness of the gulams. The uprising in Samarkand, for example, led to the fact that the Turkic garrison was destroyed, and the local residents tore the Turks apart. Naturally, this was followed punitive operation Khorezmians, who suppressed the uprising and brutally dealt with the population of Samarkand. Other large and rich cities of Central Asia also suffered.

In this situation, Khorezmshah Mohammed decided to confirm his title of "ghazi" - "victorious infidels" - and become famous for another victory over them. The opportunity presented itself to him in that same 1216, when the Mongols, fighting with the Merkits, reached the Irgiz. Having learned about the arrival of the Mongols, Muhammad sent an army against them only because the steppe people did not believe in Allah.

The Khorezmian army attacked the Mongols, but in the rearguard action they themselves went on the offensive and badly beaten the Khorezmians. Only the attack of the left wing, commanded by the talented commander Jelal ad Din, the son of Khorezmshah, corrected the situation. After that, the Khorezmians withdrew, and the Mongols returned home: they were not going to fight with Khorezm, on the contrary, Genghis Khan wanted to establish relations with the Khorezmshah with all his might. After all, the Great Caravan Route went through Central Asia, and all the owners of the lands along which it ran grew rich due to the duties paid by merchants. Merchants willingly paid any duties, because they invariably passed the costs on to consumers, without losing anything themselves. Wishing to preserve all the advantages associated with the caravan route, the Mongols sought peace and quiet on their borders. The difference of faiths, in their opinion, did not give a reason for war and could not justify bloodshed. Probably, the Khorezmshah himself understood the episodic nature of the collision on the Irgiz. In 1218 Muhammad sent a trade caravan to Mongolia. Peace was restored, especially since the Mongols had no time for Khorezm.

A little earlier, the Naiman prince Kuchluk began a new war with the Mongols, relying on the strength of his fellow tribesmen - the punishment of the Kitai. Kuchluk was defeated, but it was not military weakness that killed the prince. His forces were sufficient to fight against the small corps sent by Genghis Khan, but Kuchluk accepted a new faith, details of which are not available in the sources. In any case, this belief did not belong to Islam, or to Christianity, or to Buddhism, but was a kind of unknown cult. Something else is known for sure: the entire population refused Kuchluk obedience. He fled, heroically defending himself, retreated to the Pamirs, where he was overtaken by the Mongols and killed. And the population of the Kara-Khitay Khanate completely and willingly submitted to Genghis Khan.

For the second time, Mongol-Khorezmian relations were violated by the Turkic sardars (officers) and the Khorezmshah himself, who approved of their arbitrariness. In 1219, a rich caravan approached the city of Otrar, the possession of the Khorezmshah, coming from the lands of Genghis Khan. The caravan stopped on the banks of the Syr Darya, and the merchants went to the city to buy supplies at the bazaar and take a bath. The merchants met two acquaintances, and one of the people they met informed the ruler of the city that these merchants were spies. He immediately realized that there is a great reason to rob travelers. Merchants were killed, property was confiscated. The ruler of Otrar sent half of the loot to Khorezm, and Mohammed accepted the booty, which means he shared the responsibility for what he had done.

Genghis Khan sent envoys to find out what caused such a strange incident. Mohammed was angry when he saw the infidels, and ordered to kill part of the ambassadors, and part, having stripped naked, drive them to certain death in the steppe. Two or three Mongols still got home and told about what had happened. Genghis Khan's anger knew no bounds. From the point of view of the Mongol, the most terrible crimes took place: the deceit of those who trusted and the murder of guests. According to the Great Yasa, Genghis Khan could not leave unavenged either those merchants who were killed in Otrar, or those ambassadors whom the Khorezmshah insulted and killed. The Khan had to fight, otherwise the tribesmen would simply refuse to trust him.

In Central Asia, the Khorezmshah had at his disposal a 400,000-strong regular army. And the Mongols, as our famous orientalist V.V. Bartold established, had only 200 thousand militias. Genghis Khan demanded military assistance from all allies. Warriors came from the Turks and Kara Kitai, the Uighurs sent a detachment of 5 thousand people, only the Tangut ambassador boldly replied: "If you do not have enough troops, do not fight." Genghis Khan considered the answer an insult and said: "Only dead I could bear such an insult."

So, Genghis Khan threw on Khorezm the assembled Mongolian, Uyghur, Turkic and Kara Chinese troops. The Khorezm Shah, having quarreled with his mother Turkan Khatun, did not trust the military leaders related to her by kinship. He was afraid to gather them into a fist in order to repel the onslaught of the Mongols, and scattered the army among the garrisons. The shah's best commanders were his own unloved son, Jelal ad Din, and the commandant of the Khojent fortress, Timur Melik. The Mongols took fortresses one after another, and in Khojent, even taking the fortress, they could not capture the garrison. Timur Melik put his soldiers on rafts and escaped pursuit along the wide Syr Darya. Scattered garrisons could not hold back the offensive of Genghis Khan's troops. Soon everyone big cities Sultanate: Samarkand, Bukhara, Merv, Herat - were captured by the Mongols.

Regarding the capture of the Central Asian cities by the Mongols, there is a well-established version: "Wild nomads destroyed the cultural oases of the agricultural peoples." This version is based on legends created by Muslim court historiographers. For example, the fall of Herat was reported by Islamic historians as a disaster in which the entire population was exterminated in the city, except for a few men who managed to escape in the mosque. They hid there, afraid to go out into the streets littered with corpses. Only wild animals roamed the city and tormented the dead. After sitting for some time and recovering, these "heroes" went to distant lands to rob caravans in order to regain their lost wealth.

This is a typical example of myth-making. After all, if the entire population big city were exterminated and lay corpses on the streets, then inside the city, in particular in the mosque, the air would be contaminated with ptomaine, and those who hid there would simply die. No predators, except for jackals, live near the city, and they very rarely penetrate the city. It was simply impossible for exhausted people to move to rob caravans a few hundred kilometers from Herat, because they would have to walk, carrying burdens - water and provisions. Such a “robber”, having met a caravan, would not be able to rob it, since his strength would only be enough to ask for water.

Even more amusing is the information given by historians about Merv. The Mongols took it in 1219 and also allegedly exterminated all the inhabitants there until last person. But already in 1229, Merv rebelled, and the Mongols had to take the city again. And, finally, two years later, Merv sent a detachment of 10 thousand people to fight the Mongols.

The fruits of an ardent fantasy, taken literally, gave rise to an evil, "black" legend about the Mongol atrocities. If we take into account the degree of reliability of sources and ask simple but necessary questions, it is easy to separate historical truth from literary fiction.

The Mongols occupied Persia almost without a fight, driving the Khorezmshah's son Jelal ad Din to northern India. Mohammed II Ghazi himself, broken by struggle and constant defeat, died in a leper colony on an island in the Caspian Sea (1221). The Mongols also made peace with the Shiite population of Iran, which was constantly offended by the Sunnis in power, in particular the Caliph of Baghdad and Jelal ad Din himself. As a result, the Shiite population of Persia suffered much less than the Sunnis of Central Asia. Be that as it may, in 1221 the chimera formation - the state of the Khorezmshahs - was finished. Under one ruler - Mohammed II Ghazi - this state both reached its highest power, and died. As a result, Khorezm, Northern Iran, and Khorasan were annexed to the Mongol Empire.

In 1226, the hour of the Tangut state struck, which at the decisive moment of the war with Khorezm refused Genghis in help. The Mongols rightly viewed this move as a betrayal that, according to Yasa, required vengeance. Now the territory of the Tangut state, and these are the steppes and plateaus adjacent to the bend of the Yellow River and the Nanshan ridge, is a real desert. But in the thirteenth century on this earth existed rich country with big cities, gold mines, regular army and original culture. The capital of Tangut was the city of Zhongxing. It was besieged in 1227 by Genghis Khan, having defeated the Tangut troops in previous battles.

During the siege of Zhongxing, Genghis Khan died, but the Mongol noyons, on the orders of their leader, concealed his death. The fortress was taken, and the population of the "evil" city, on which the collective guilt for betrayal fell, was subjected to execution. The Tangut state disappeared, leaving behind only written evidence former high culture, but the city survived and lived until 1405, when it was destroyed by the Chinese of the Ming dynasty.

From the capital of the Tanguts, the Mongols took the body of their great khan to their native steppes. The funeral ceremony was as follows: the remains were lowered into the dug grave Genghis Khan along with many valuable things and killed all the slaves who performed the funeral work. According to custom, exactly one year later, it was required to celebrate a commemoration. In order to accurately find the burial place, the Mongols did the following. At the grave they sacrificed a little camel just taken from their mother. And a year later, the camel herself found in the boundless steppe the place where her cub was killed. Having slaughtered this camel, the Mongols performed the prescribed rite of commemoration and then left the grave forever. And still no one knows where Genghis Khan is buried.

AT last years own life Genghis Khan was extremely concerned about the fate of his state. The khan had four sons from his beloved wife Borte and many children from other wives, who, although they were considered legitimate children, did not have any rights to take the place of their father. The sons of Borte differed greatly among themselves in inclinations and in character. The eldest son, Jochi, was born shortly after the Merkit captivity of Borte, and therefore not only " gossips”, but the younger brother Chagatai called him a “merkit degenerate”. Although Borte invariably defended Jochi, and Genghis Khan himself always recognized his son as his own, the shadow of the Merkit captivity of his mother fell on Jochi as a burden of suspicion of illegitimate birth. Once, in the presence of his father, Chagatai openly called Jochi, and the matter almost ended in a fight between the brothers.

There were some stable stereotypes in Jochi's behavior that greatly distinguished him from Genghis. If for Genghis Khan there was no very concept of mercy for enemies (he left life only for small children, who were adopted by his mother Hoelun, and for the valiant bagaturs who accepted the Mongol service), then Jochi was distinguished by humanity and kindness. So, during the siege of Gurganj, the Khorezmians, completely exhausted by the war, asked to accept surrender, that is, in other words, to spare them. Jochi spoke out in favor of showing mercy, but Genghis Khan categorically rejected the request for mercy, and as a result, the Gurganj garrison was partially massacred, and the city itself was flooded by the waters of the Amu Darya. Unfortunately, the misunderstanding between the father and the eldest son, constantly fueled by the intrigues and slander of relatives, deepened over time and turned into distrust of the sovereign to his heir.

Genghis Khan suspected that Jochi wanted to gain popularity among the conquered peoples and secede from Mongolia. It is unlikely that this was the case, but the fact remains: at the beginning of 1227, Jochi, who was hunting in the steppe, was found dead, with a broken spine. The terrible details of what happened are unknown, but, without a doubt, the father was the only person interested in the death of Jochi and able to end the life of the khan's son.

In contrast to Jochi, the second son of Genghis Khan, Chagatai, was a strict, executive and even cruel man. Therefore, he received the position of "Keeper of Yasa" (something like the Attorney General or Supreme Judge). Chagatai observed the law absolutely strictly and treated violators without any mercy.

The third son of the Great Khan. Ogedei, like Jochi, was distinguished by kindness and tolerance towards people. But the most characteristic feature of Ogedei was a passion for steppe hunting and drinking in the company of friends. The difference in Ogedei's behavior is best illustrated by the following case: once, on a joint trip, the brothers saw a Muslim bathing by the water. According to Muslim custom, every true believer was obliged to perform prayer and ritual ablution several times a day. Mongolian tradition, on the contrary, forbade a person to wash anywhere during the whole summer. The Mongols believed that washing in a river or lake causes a thunderstorm, and a thunderstorm in the steppe is very dangerous for travelers, and therefore the “call” of a thunderstorm was seen as an attempt on the life of other people. Nuhurs (combatants) of the ruthless lawyer Chagatai seized a Muslim. Anticipating a bloody denouement - the unfortunate man was threatened with beheading - Ogedei sent his man to tell the Muslim to answer that he had dropped gold into the water and was just looking for it there. The Muslim said so to Chagatai. He ordered to look for a coin, and during this time, Ugedei's combatant threw a gold one into the water. The found coin was returned to the "rightful" owner. In parting, Ugedei, taking out a handful of coins from his pocket, handed them to the man he saved and said: “The next time you drop gold into the water, don’t go after him, don’t break the law.”

Most younger son Genghis Khan, Tului, was born, as the Chinese chronicle indicates, in 1193. As we know from Meng da Bei Lu, Genghis Khan was in Jurchen captivity until 1197. This time, Borte's infidelity was quite obvious, but Genghis Khan and Tului recognized his legitimate son, although outwardly Tuluy did not resemble Borjigin. All Borjigins were distinguished by green or bluish eyes, Chinese historians called them "glassy", and blond with red hair, and Tului had a completely ordinary Mongolian appearance - black hair and dark eyes.

Of the four sons of Genghis Khan, the youngest possessed the greatest talents and showed the greatest moral dignity. good commander and an outstanding administrator, Tului remained a loving husband and distinguished by nobility. He married the daughter of the deceased head of the Keraites, Wang Khan, who was a devout Christian. Tului himself did not have the right to accept the Christian faith: like Genghisides, he had to profess the religion of his ancestors - Bon. But the Khan's son allowed his wife not only to perform all Christian rites in a luxurious "church" yurt, but also to have priests with her and receive monks. The death of Tului can be called heroic without any exaggeration. When Ogedei fell ill, Tului voluntarily took a strong shamanic potion, seeking to "attract" the disease to himself, and died saving his brother.

All four sons were eligible to inherit Genghis Khan. After the elimination of Jochi, three heirs remained, and when Genghis died, and the new khan had not yet been elected, Tului ruled the ulus. At the kurultai of 1229, the gentle and tolerant Ogedei was chosen as the great khan, in accordance with the will of Genghis. Ogedei, as we have already mentioned, had a good soul, but the kindness of the sovereign is often not to the benefit of the state and subjects. The management of the ulus under him was very weak and was carried out mainly due to the strictness of Chagatai and the diplomatic and administrative skills of Tului. The great khan himself preferred roaming with hunts and feasts in the Western Mongolia.

The grandchildren of Genghis Khan were allocated various areas ulus or high positions. The eldest son of Jochi, Horde Ichen, received the White Horde, located between the Irtysh and the Tarbagatai ridge (the area of ​​\u200b\u200bpresent-day Semipalatinsk). The second son, Batu, began to own the Golden (big) Horde on the Volga. The third son, Sheibani, went to the Blue Horde, which roamed from Tyumen to the Aral Sea. At the same time, the three brothers - the rulers of the uluses - were allocated only one two thousand Mongol warriors, while total strength The army of the Mongols reached 130 thousand people.

The children of Chagatai also received a thousand soldiers each, and the descendants of Tului, being at the court, owned the entire grandfather and father's ulus. Thus, the Mongols established a system of inheritance, called the minority, in which the youngest son received all the rights of his father as an inheritance, and older brothers only a share in the common inheritance.

The great Khan Ugedei also had a son - Guyuk, who claimed the inheritance.
The increase in the clan during the lifetime of the children of Genghis caused the division of the inheritance and enormous difficulties in managing the ulus, which stretched over the territory from the Black to the Yellow Sea. In these difficulties and family scores lurked the seeds of future strife that ruined the great state created by Genghis Khan and his associates.

Genghis Khan (known by his own name Temujin) is one of the the greatest generals in history. The date of his birth is set approximately, usually they say about 1155.

Genghis Khan had a difficult childhood. The father died when the boy was very young, and the future conqueror had to live literally starving with his mother.

Temujin was captured by his relative, who was afraid of revenge, managed to escape from there, and then found mutual language with a powerful steppe leader, Tooril, with whose support he began to gain power and authority. Even then, he proved himself a cruel ruler, even by medieval standards, who did not know pity for his rivals.

First, Genghis Khan won in internecine wars in Mongolia, and, starting from 1202, stood at the head of conquest campaigns.

In 1202, the Tatar troops were crushed by Temuchin with particular cruelty. In 1204, in the struggle for power in Mongolia, Genghis Khan crushed the powerful Khan Jamukha - a man with whom they were friends in childhood and went into battle shoulder to shoulder in their first battles.

Officially, the nickname is "Genghis Khan", i.e. "Lord of water" Temujin received in 1206, when the Kurultai (large assembly) elected him khan. Genghis Khan held a series administrative reforms in home country but he wanted power over for the most part peace.

In 1207-1211, Temujin's troops, led by himself and his sons, made an offensive campaign against Northern China. The Mongols conquered part of the Jin Empire in the area of ​​the Great Wall of China and almost reached Beijing.

Beijing was taken by the Mongol troops in 1215, fires blazed in the city, the whole area around was turned into a desert.

After the conquest of China, Genghis Khan began to gather troops to conquer prosperous and prosperous Central Asia. This campaign began in 1218 and was marked by a number of high-profile conquests. The Mongols took Bukhara, Samarkand, Urgench - the ancient Central Asian centers.

In 1220 Northern Iran fell, the Mongols came to the Crimea.

The first clash of terrible nomadic tribes with Europeans occurred in 1223. It was the infamous battle on the Kalka River in Russian history. In this battle, the Mongols inflicted heavy defeat Russian-Polovtsian troops, famous Russian princes died in it. The battle on the Kalka became a harbinger of the future conquest of the Mongols against Russia.

The last campaign of Genghis Khan took place in 1226-1227 against the Tibetan empire Xi-Xia. The Mongols crushed the ancient empire, but Genghis Khan did not have time to enjoy the fruits of this victory. Under the walls of the capital of the empire, he fell from his horse, fell seriously ill and died. The location of the grave of the great leader of the Mongols was classified, but popular rumor says that great treasures were hidden in it.

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Biography of Genghis Khan about the main thing

The exact year of Genghis Khan's birth is not known for certain, 3 dates are mainly called: 1155, 1162 and 1167. Temujin was born in the Delyun-Boldok valley near the Onon River. His father was Yesugei-bagatura from the ancient Mongolian family Borjigin. Genghis Khan's mother's name was Hoelun, she came from ancient family olkhonut. The name Temujin belonged to one Tatar leader, who, shortly before the birth of his son, was defeated by the father of Genghis Khan.

9 years after birth, the matchmaking of young Temujin and Borte, a little girl from the Ungirat clan, took place, she was only a year older than Genghis Khan. According to tradition, the father left the children so that they met and began to recognize each other. Shortly after leaving, Yesugei-bagatur dies. One of literary sources he was poisoned.

The death of the head of the family hit Yesugei's widows and children hard, they were driven from their homes, left without livestock, hungry and harsh years lay ahead of them. However, this was not enough for the Taichiut leader, and, fearing for his life, he decides to overtake Temujin. The parking lot is attacked and Genghis Khan is taken prisoner. He spends some time in captivity, being tortured, but later escapes. Thanks to Sorgan-Shir, who did not betray the fugitive, Temujin is restored, receives a weapon, a horse and returns to his family.

Later, Temujin marries Borta and begins enlisting the support of the steppe leaders.

Biography of Genghis Khan

Gradually, more and more people gather around him, and raids on neighbors begin in order to expand their lands. Even then, Genghis Khan tried to increase his army at the expense of the surviving opponents. In 1201, many Mongols began to realize the magnitude of the threat posed to them by Temujin and decided to unite against him. After 5 years, Genghis Khan is proclaimed the Great Khan.

Along with the title, Temujin comes with great responsibility, and he carries out large-scale reforms. Not stopping there, Genghis Khan decides to conquer northern China and in 1211 the Mongol-Jin war begins. The war continued until 1235 and ended very disappointingly for China. This was followed by a campaign in Central Asia, which also turns into a victory and new conquests. After Central Asia, the troops of Genghis Khan follow to the West, where they smash the Alans and pay tribute to Russia.

The remnants of the troops returned to Genghis Khan in 1224, together with them he undertakes a second campaign against Western China, during which he falls from his horse and receives a severe bruise. By nightfall, it becomes clear that the commander is very ill, the disease continues to torment Temujin for a whole year. However, he is nursed and again leads the army. 1227, during the siege of the capital of the Tangut state, Genghis Khan dies, the exact cause of death is unknown.

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Interesting facts and dates from life

Rashid ad-Din testifies that the strength of the Tatar tribes, which previously numbered 70,000 houses, by the end of the 12th century, especially after their defeat in 1196 by their former overlord, the Jurchens, who were supported by the army of Genghis Khan and Wang Khan, noticeably weakened. Obviously, and therefore Genghis Khan opposed the Tatars on his own, without his ally, Wang Khan.

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"The Secret History of the Mongols" reports that the campaign against the Tatars was preceded by adopted by Genghis Khan decree, the purpose of which was to strengthen discipline in his rati. Jack Weatherford assessed these innovations of Genghis Khan as follows: “In this war against the Tatars, Temujin carried out another series of radical changes in the laws that had reigned in the Steppe for centuries.

These changes, on the one hand, alienated from him several traditionally minded supporters from aristocratic clans, but on the other, strengthened a hundredfold the love and loyalty that he enjoyed among the poor and ignoble families, whose lives he improved.

Making raid after raid, Temujin realized that the general desire to plunder other people's gers (yurts, dwellings. - A.M.) becomes an obstacle to complete victory over the enemy. Instead of chasing the fleeing enemy warriors, the attackers were usually distracted by robbery. Such a system of warfare allowed many warriors to escape and eventually return to take revenge. In this regard, Temujin decided to order his troops to postpone the looting of the settlements until the moment when a complete victory over the Tatars was achieved. Then it would be possible to carry out the plunder in a more organized way: all the booty would be collected in his hands so that he would fairly distribute it among all his associates ...

His other innovation was that he ordered the share of the soldiers who died during the campaign to be transferred to their widows and orphans ... Such a policy not only gave him support from the poorest people in the tribe, but also strengthened the loyalty of his soldiers, who were sure that, even if they are killed in battle, the khan will take care of their families ...

Taking upon himself the distribution of all the plundered wealth, Temujin again curtailed the customary privileges of the noble families, who usually divided the booty among themselves. This caused many of them to become very angry, and some even went over to the side of Zhamukha, further deepening the enmity between the "white bone" and simple nomads.

Temujin again showed that, instead of relying on blood ties and the power of custom, members of his tribe could turn to him directly for help. In this way, he markedly centralized the administration of the clan and at the same time increased the loyalty of his subjects "(Weatherford J. Genghis Khan and the birth modern world. Moscow: ACT, 2005, pp. 128–130).

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This area is located at the confluence of the Khalkhin-gol and Numurgu-gol rivers.

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Khubilai is one of the four "faithful dogs" of Genghis Khan; originally from the Barulas tribe. In 1206, he was appointed by Genghis Khan as commander-in-chief of the troops of a single Mongolian state.

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After the defeat of the Tatars and captivity Tatar people at the meeting of the closest relatives and associates of Genghis Khan "they held advice on how to deal with captive Tatars." The description of this gathering and the ensuing merciless reprisal against the enemies of the Tatars is given by the author of the "Secret Legend of the Mongols", which tells of the decision of Genghis Khan and his relatives and associates to "end them forever" as a natural, logical act of retribution against "the one who from time immemorial destroyed them grandfathers and fathers" of the people.

Modern scholars interpret the fact of the extermination of the Tatars by Genghis Khan ambiguously. Thus, the Russian scientist E. I. Kychanov believes that "the bloody beating of the Tatars, although it was in the spirit of that environment and those years, could not but frighten contemporaries with its cruelty. The gloomy prophecy of Genghis birth with a piece of gore in his hand came true. Mongolia, which, as at least, modern science believes, longed for unification, could for the first time see with its own eyes the price that it would pay for it. In the internecine wars of the Tatar-Mongolian tribes, that destructive character was born ... which then, when they splash out beyond the borders of Mongolia, will make the whole world shudder "(Kychanov E. I. Life of Temuzhin, who thought to conquer the world. M .: IF "Eastern Literature" RAS , Shkola-Press, 1995. P. 115).

A different opinion on this issue is held by the Mongolian researcher J. Bor, who is not inclined to explain the fact of the almost total extermination of the male part of the Tatar people by the "natural, wild cruelty" of Genghis Khan, but believes that "the Tatars for almost a hundred years were henchmen of foreigners, a source of schism and fragmentation of the Mongolian tribes.

Brief biography of Genghis Khan the most important

And Temuzhin had no other way to resolve the situation that threatened the independence of the Mongolian state in one fell swoop, than to use repressive measures "(Bor J. Genghis - a born diplomat (in Mongolian). Ulan Bator, 2004. P. 27).

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The French scholar Rene Grousset assessed the defeat of the Tatar tribes by Genghis Khan as follows: "The extermination of the Tatar people provided Genghis Khan with absolute power over Eastern Mongolia at a time when the Kherids were the rulers of Central Mongolia, and the Naimans - Western. To understand the significance of the victory over the Tatars, you should know what exactly in their former country Yesukheev's son fled the next year, when, having quarreled with the Kherids, he was forced to leave them his lands on the upper Kerulen. If ... the Tatars had not been defeated, then the Hero would have been in a vice. With these ancestral enemies of his family and Wang Khan, he would undoubtedly have been crushed. The destruction of the Tatars changed the balance of power in Mongolia in favor of Genghis Khan, to the detriment of the Kherids. The son of Yesukhei the Brave was not slow to express his claims to Wang Khan and thereby provoked a break with him "(Grusse R. Genghis Khan. Conqueror of the Universe. M .: Young Guard, 2000. P. 94).

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Aimak - here: tribal military unit.

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During the period of the decomposition of the communal-tribal system, "aimag" was understood as a community of people united by family ties and living on a common territory; the last feature of this community later became prevalent.

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According to Rashid ad-Din, these events (Toril Khan's campaign against the Merged) took place in 1198.

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"In the year of the Yellow Sheep, or in 1199, Genghis Khan was thirty-eight years old. In this year, together with Wang Khan, Genghis Khan made a military campaign against the northern Naimans (Buirug Khan. - A.M.). For Genghis Khan, this was the first battle against the Naimans ...

The Naimans, even before their full entry into the Mongol ulus, maintained close relations with the Mongol tribes, with whom, obviously, they spoke in Mongolian. Therefore, it would be correct to consider them already at that time Mongol-speaking.

From the 11th century The Naimans professed Nestorian Christianity. They were mainly engaged in cattle breeding, although agriculture was also cultivated in a number of areas. Naimans were considered the most cultured people among the Mongolian nomadic tribes. Much was learned by them from a highly developed Turkic culture. In particular, they were one of the very first Mongol-speaking peoples who began to use the ancient Sogdian alphabet, which came to them from the Uighurs (some scholars believe that they borrowed this alphabet directly from the Sogdians) ...

At the end of the XII century. (according to the Chinese historian Tu Zi (1856–1921), in 1197), after the death of the Naiman Khan Inanch, he was succeeded by the eldest son of Taibukh, who was later called Tayankhan. At the same time, his younger brother Huchugud did not share his father's concubine named Gurbesu with his older brother (in fact, he disputed the right to the throne). The younger was forced to yield to the elder and be content with power over some of the northern territories of the Naimans. Since then, he began to call himself Buyrug Khan.

Genghis Khan and Wang Khan this time attacked precisely Buyrug Khan, the ruler of the northern Naiman territories (area near the present Kobdo aimag of Mongolia) "(Saishal. History of Genghis Khan (in Mongolian). Ulan Bator, 2004. Book 1 pp. 223–224).

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The authors of ancient chronicles disagree about the fate of Buyrug Khan himself. According to Rashid ad-Din, "Buirug Khan, who was put to flight, went to the Kem-Kemdzhiut region, belonging to the areas that were part of the Kirghiz region ..." This area is located between the upper reaches of the Ob and Yenisei rivers (Rashid ad-Din. Collection of chronicles T. 1. Book 2. S. 112).

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The main attention of the ancient sources for this period of Genghis Khan's life is drawn to an incident that happened along the way of the allies going home. According to the "Secret History of the Mongols" and "Collection of Chronicles", the way to the allies was blocked by the commander of the second half (Tayan Khan) of the Naimans - Khugsegu sabrag. The opponents agreed to fight in the morning. However, at night, judging by our sources, without explanation to his comrade-in-arms, Wang Khan left the parking lot and moved in the direction of his homeland. Sources also testify that Zhamukha, one of his main rivals in the struggle for power in the Mongolian steppe, played an important role in making this, at first glance, unexpected decision by Wang Khan. The latter convinced Wang Khan that Genghis Khan "lives in friendship with the Naimans" and "he wants to separate from Wang Khan."

The personality of Genghis Khan in history

Genghis Khan was a tall and strong man. The most detailed description of his appearance is found in the Muslim historian Juzdzhani and the Chinese author of the "Complete Description of the Mongol-Tatars" Zhao Hong, younger contemporaries of Genghis Khan. Apparently, they themselves did not see Genghis Khan, but compiled his description from the words of people who met with the Mongol ruler.

According to Juzjani, “Genghis Khan was distinguished by his tall stature and strong physique. Had cat's eyes". “As for the Tatar ruler Temujin,” Zhao Hong wrote, “he is tall and majestic in stature, with a broad forehead and a long beard. The personality is militant and strong."

According to Rashid ad-Din, the father of Genghis Khan and all the descendants of Yesu-gei-Bahadur and Genghis Khan were red-haired and blue-eyed: “The third son of Bartan-Bahadur was Yesugei-Bahadur, who is the father of Genghis Khan. The Kiyat-Burjigin tribe comes from his offspring. The meaning of burlzhigin is blue-eyed, and, oddly enough, those descendants who up to the present time (beginning of the XIV century) descended from Yesugei-baha-dur, his children and his urug (descendants) are mostly blue-eyed and red.

According to the author of The History of the First Four Khans from the House of Genghis Owl, Genghis Khan “possessed a deep mind and great reason. He was extremely fast in the war." The Chinese author is echoed by the Persian historian, the author of the Collection of Chronicles. Genghis Khan, he writes, "was extremely brave and courageous man, very smart and gifted, reasonable and knowledgeable.

Even in those years when young Temujin did not even think about power over a powerful empire, many traits of his character were already noted by the steppes - strength, generosity, cunning and intelligence. They said about him: “This Temujin takes off the dress he wore and gives it back; from the horse on which he was sitting, he gets off and gives back. Thanks to these qualities, the source says, “glory and rumor about him spread throughout the surroundings, and love for him arose in the hearts of people. The tribes bowed and showed attraction to him, so that he grew strong and powerful and made his friends victorious and victorious, and humiliated and conquered his enemies.

Following his ancestors, Genghis Khan worshiped the Eternal Blue Sky (Tengri) as the supreme deity and creator of all things, but was free from superstitious fear and reverence for the shaman, guided in his actions only by political calculation. When the influence of the chief shaman of the country, Kokechu, nicknamed Teb-Tengri (Most Heavenly), from whom Temujin received his khan title, increased so much that it threatened to weaken the authority of the khan himself, he eliminated the shaman as simply as he eliminated his rivals from the highest aristocracy. Teb-Tengri's spine was broken and his death was explained to people as the retribution of the Eternal Sky for "offending and unfairly slandering" the brothers of Genghis Khan.

Conquering a vast empire, subjugating many peoples, Genghis Khan encountered various religions, but did not give preference to any of them. Juvaini also points to this.

“Genghis Khan,” he writes, “did not belong to any religion and to any religious community, he was alien to any kind of fanaticism and to give preference to one church over another and allow the advantage of the followers of one religion over the followers of another. Although he respected the Muslims, at the same time he honored both Christians and pagans, therefore the children chose him, each according to his inclination, different religions. Some converted to Islam, others became Christians, still others preferred to worship idols, and still others followed the beliefs of their ancestors without leaning towards any of the existing other religions.”

AT scientific literature an opinion has already been expressed about the lack of a system in the upbringing and education of the Mongolian princes. Some descendants of Genghis Khan received a Christian-Uyghur upbringing, others a Muslim one, all this caused discord and ultimately dealt an additional blow to the unity of the empire.

In the states formed by the Mongols, the Mongolian script based on the Uighur was predominantly "Khan" and continued to be used as such, especially in diplomatic documents, as early as the 14th and 15th centuries.

Genghis Khan was merciless to the enemies of the state, no matter how high qualities they possessed. The episode, which I quote below, serves as a confirmation of his rigidity in making decisions regarding issues of power and the state.

In 1216, after the completion of another military campaign in China, Genghis Khan instructed Jochi, his eldest son (who died at the beginning of 1227), to finish off the Merkits who had fled to the west. Old opponents met in battle near the Irgiz, in the steppe expanses of modern Central Kazakhstan. The Merkits were completely defeated, and their leader Kultugan was captured and taken to the headquarters of Jochi. Since the prince, the source says, heard about Kultugan's accuracy, he set up a target and ordered him to shoot an arrow at it. Kultugan-mergen (mergen - a well-aimed shooter) hit the target, and then launched another arrow, which pierced the plumage of the first and split it. Jochi liked it very much. He sent an envoy to Genghis Khan with a request to save Kultugan's life. Genghis Khan did not approve the request of his son, and his answer was severe:

There is not a single tribe worse than the Merkit tribe: how many times we fought with them, we saw a lot of anxiety and difficulties from them. How is it possible to leave him alive so that he again initiates a rebellion ?! I have purchased for you all these regions, armies and tribes, what is the need for this man?! There is no enemy of the state best place than a grave! And Jochi executed Kultugan.

It fell to Genghis Khan to be born and live at a time when war was the main and even everyday affair. She "did not make out either age, or sex, or condition." Genghis Khan learned from his youth that history is written in blood and any means can be justified if you want to keep power in your hands.

Judging by the actions of Genghis Khan and his individual statements, war for him is not just an ordinary state, but also a need of the soul.

“The greatest pleasure and pleasure for a husband is,” he said, “to suppress the indignant and defeat the enemy, uproot him and seize everything that he has; make his married women sob and shed tears; is to sit on his good move, with smooth croups of geldings ... ".

Genghis Khan was a man of such inner strength that he was able to give a clear look to a huge multilingual and multi-confessional empire. This quality of the Mongol ruler was noted back in the 18th century by the French thinker Voltaire (1694-1778). The life of Genghis Khan, he wrote, “is one of the proofs that there can be no great conqueror who would not be a great politician. Conqueror - a person whose head skillfully uses other people's hands. Genghis managed the conquered part of China so adroitly that it did not revolt during his absence; and he knew how to dominate his family so well that his four sons, whom he made his lieutenant generals, almost always strove to serve him zealously and became the instrument of his victories.

The enormous organizational abilities of Genghis Khan are all the more noteworthy because until the end of his life he was a stranger to any education and, according to his son and successor Ogedei, did not know any other language than Mongolian.

But Genghis Khan took measures to ensure that his sons and descendants were educated and not completely dependent on foreign officials. As mentioned above, for the needs of the state, he introduced writing, borrowing it from the ancient Uighurs. “Since the Tatars did not have a written language,” writes Juvaini, “Genghis Khan ordered that Tatar children learn to read and write from the Uighurs.” The entire young generation of the Mongolian nobility studied Uyghur writing and sciences tens and tens of years after Genghis Khan. Noteworthy in this regard is the message of Rashid ad-Din that when Hulaguid Ghazan (born in 1271, ruled in Iran in 1295-1304) “was five years old, Abaga Khan entrusted him to the Chinese bakhshi (this term was equally applied to Uyghur scribes and Buddhist hermits.-T.S) Yaruk, so that he would educate him and teach Mongolian and Uyghur writing, sciences and their good, bakhshiy, techniques.

Here, as we see, is not just a statement, here is the whole worldview of a mature person. Therefore, the characterization that V.V. Bartold gives to Genghis Khan as a sovereign and a person seems very successful. “The worldview of Genghis Khan,” he writes, “to the end was the worldview of the ataman of robbers, who leads his comrades to victories and delivers prey to them, shares all their labors with them, in days of misfortune is ready to give them everything, even his clothes and his horse, in days happiness is experiencing with them the greatest of pleasures - to ride horses of killed enemies and kiss their wives. The ingenious savage applied his rare organizational skills to an ever wider circle of people and did not see the difference between the qualities necessary for the head of a detachment of ten people and the qualities necessary for managing an empire.

The rigidity of Genghis Khan, turning into cruelty, from the properties of his personality was elevated to the category of means of state policy. Genghis Khan deliberately applied brutal methods of warfare, involving the widespread use of repression. In his biliks (statements) there is the following phrase: "We go hunting and kill many red deer, we go on a campaign and destroy many enemies."

Muslim sources recorded about three dozen cases of "general massacre" during the capture of cities by the Mongols. Here is a review of those bloody events and their consequences of the Muslim historian an-Nesevi, a participant in the war with the Mongols:

“Bloodshed, looting and destruction were such that the settlements fell like cut grass, and the farmers left naked. The open and the closed were taken out, the open and the hidden were squeezed out, and it became so that neither bleating nor roaring was heard; only owls screamed and echoed ... ".

There are researchers who tried to justify the cruelty of Genghis Khan by the views of the environment in which he lived. However, as V.V. Bartold (1869-1930), an outstanding connoisseur of the history of the East and the founder of the Russian school of Turkestan studies, rightly noted, “nothing needs such attempts to justify historical people, nor a historical figure. The historian has to take the course of history as it was and as it could not have been if there were no people willing to shed blood to achieve their own ambitious goals. The legend already in The Secret History that Genghis Khan was born with a clot of gore in his hand clearly shows that the amount of blood spilled at the command of Genghis Khan amazed his Mongols as well, despite the fact that the idea of ​​moral responsibility to the "Eternal Sky" was not only "vague", but hardly existed at all. Mongolian paganism was still at that stage of development when ethical principles were not yet introduced into religious beliefs. Not only was the idea of ​​responsibility beyond the grave not connected with the idea of ​​shed blood, but, on the contrary, there was an idea that the killed people would serve in the next world to the one who killed them or for whom they were killed.

Genghis Khan was indeed an ambitious man. Let us recall his words to his sons before the last trip to Tangut in his life: “I do not want my death to happen at home, I am leaving for name and glory.”

In 1206 in Mongolia, somewhere on the banks of the steppe river Kerulen, a kurultai (meeting) of representatives of local nomadic temen took place. It announced the creation of a new state, headed by the successful leader Temujin, who took the new name Genghis Khan. This local event then led to global upheavals, which so struck the imagination of contemporaries that their consequences still do not leave anyone indifferent either to the name of Genghis Khan or to the state he created.

No one knows exactly what time of the year that historical kurultai took place. Therefore, modern Mongolia celebrates it all this year, and the main celebrations should take place just in August. For the Mongols, this is true great date and the memory of the glorious history of the ancestors, for a very short term once created the largest empire in the world. There is simply no other such example in the history of mankind. For a very short period, the Mongol Empire included territories from modern Croatia and Serbia - in the west to Korea - in the east, from Novgorod - in the northwest to the island of Java ~ in the southeast, from Tyumen - in the north to Syria and Mesopotamia - on South. The army of this state made campaigns against Vietnam, Burma, Japan, India, the Greek Nicaean Empire with its capital in Constantinople. It included all of China, plus Tibet that joined it, and most of the Muslim world. The question of how this was even possible still worries intellectuals around the world, especially in those countries that were conquered by the Mongols.

But the most striking thing is not even the fact of such large-scale conquests. It is much more interesting that the influence of that historical Mongol Empire on the fate of different modern peoples is still felt. Sharp discussions about certain turns in the history of various ethnic groups inevitably run into Mongolian statehood and attitudes towards it. None of the empires ever created by nomads made such profound changes in ethnic history Eurasia. In the Mongol era, some people and ethnic groups entered, and completely different ones appeared on its ruins. So it was with the Russians Ancient Russia, who emerged from the ruins of the Mongolian statehood divided into three groups, called Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. From the same era modern ethnic groups Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Nogais in the North Caucasus, Khazars in North Afghanistan and some others. Scientists have an opinion that the Dungan (Hui) ethnic group appeared just on the ruins of the Mongol Yuan empire in China. It was made up of people from the so-called Semu estate, it included mainly Muslims, both local and those who came from the west, who lived mainly in the province of Gansu, who in the Yuan occupied a privileged position in relation to the Chinese and, after its death, submitted to the new Ming empire. .

Perhaps the fact is that the history of the Mongols is known to us mainly from the stories of those peoples who had a written history, and here attention was mainly concentrated on the destruction they caused.

In addition, the nomadic Mongols were alien to both the Christian and Muslim perception of the world. They were considered barbarians in the most negative sense of the word, and their phenomenal successes were seen as a kind of "God's punishment." Therefore, in classical history dominated by the idea that Mongol conquests and the empire they created is something like an unpleasant misunderstanding on the path of development of different peoples, and they brought nothing but destruction and a halt in development to the history of Eurasia.

For example, the main thesis of Russian history is based on the fact that Ancient Russia, with its resistance, saved civilized Europe from the Mongols, respectively, lost time and pace of development, which was the reason for its subsequent some backwardness compared to European peoples.

Sons of Genghis Khan. Brief biography and children of Genghis Khan

However, another idea was also expressed that after joining the Mongol Empire in North-Eastern Russia, the political organization. The Moscow princes actually borrowed the eastern autocratic model of development and government from the Mongols, who, in turn, received it from the Chinese and adapted it to their needs. If before the Mongol conquest in Russia, the power of the prince was ephemeral and unstable, and the main role was played by the remnants of tribal democracy like the veche and the thousand elected by him, then in the post-Mongol period all this was no longer there. The autocratic power of the Moscow princes was transformed into the power of the Russian tsars, who then created their own great empire. Those parts of Ancient Russia that ended up in Lithuania, and then Poland, went their own way - they borrowed from the West control systems from Magdeburg city law to church union with the Catholics, and the life that is familiar to Moscow Russia is still alien to them .

On the other hand, in China, the Mongol Empire and the personality of Genghis Khan are treated very positively. Despite the fact that the destruction in China during the long wars was obviously no less than in the same Russia. Chairman Mao Zedong even wrote poems about Genghis Khan. For the Chinese, the Mongol Empire, unlike other nomads who limited themselves to conquering China proper, is most likely interesting in that it actively used Chinese methods of government and state organization and, at the same time, conquered half of the world known to them. If the Mongols, like other "barbarians" - the Huns, Xianbei, Tibetans, Khitans, Jurchens, exploited only China, then the Chinese would be offended. And so the Mongols reached the West, and one thing, very a short time, from modern Beijing, in the XIII century bearing the name Khanbalik, all of Eurasia was ruled, population censuses were conducted, taxes were collected. The Chinese are certainly pleased.

Much more difficult is the position of modern Kazan Tatars. On the one hand, their ancestors, the Volga Bulgars, offered fierce resistance to the Mongols. At least, the Mongol troops spent more time on the conquest of the Bulgars than on the North-Eastern Russia. On the other hand, today they are more and more clearly claiming the legacy of the Mongolian state of the Golden Horde. The situation is very complex and similar to the state of affairs in Kazakh history.

There are also two struggles here. One expressed heroic defense Otrar from the Mongol invaders. Second, the desire to adapt Mongolian history and the founder of the empire himself to meet the needs of Kazakh history. Therefore, the question of what the ancestors of the Kazakhs did in the Otrar region, defended it or besieged it, remains open. Last year, it even caused a sharp controversy between two respected cultural figures. One accused the other that he could not represent the interests of the Kazakh people, because his ancestors just stormed Otrar. The author hinted that his respected opponent belongs to the Kazakh tribe Konrat, which is clearly related by name to the Mongolian Khungirat.

In this regard, it is worth recalling the paradox of the well-known Kazakh orientalist Yudin: why large Kazakh tribes, undoubtedly related to Turkic roots, mainly have Mongolian names, and only two belong to the historical Turkic ones - Kipchaks and Kangly. Yudin had in mind Argyns, Dulats, Jala-irs, Kereis, Konrats, Naimans and some others. It can be added that some of the large historical tribes, both among the Kazakhs and the Uzbeks, bore the names of the military units of the Mongolian army. Among the Uzbeks, these are the tribes of Ming, Yuz, among the Kazakhs - Tama. In the first case, this is a thousand and a hundred, and in the second, the units assigned to the guards of the main camp. Discussions on this issue will continue for a long time, because an unambiguous answer is hardly possible today. But the fact remains: without Mongolian influence did not work here.

But the point is also that the Mongol conquests and the empire are understood by everyone as the history of the Mongol ethnos. At the same time, it can be assumed that the Mongolian ethnos just appeared as a result of the creation by Genghis Khan of the state from disparate tribes living in Mongolia. From the point of view of the Marxist understanding of history, this is an obvious heresy. Marxists, as you know, had a very bad attitude towards the role of the individual in history. But this empire differed from all other nomadic states in that it did not have a pronounced tribal, ethnic character. The empire could serve the most different people, and her uniqueness lies precisely in the fact that she was able to take advantage of everyone she met along the way.

The most unexpected people served and made careers in the Mongolian army in the most unexpected places. A Nestorian Christian priest from Northern China was appointed Metropolitan of Syria. A Muslim from Iran ~ the governor of the Vietnamese province, the Russian prince commanded troops during the assault on the Ossetian city in the foothills of the North Caucasus, Russian, Ossetian, Kipchak troops formed the guard of the Yuan empire until its fall. Their remnants retreated to the Mongolian steppes along with the Mongols. Renowned historian Vladimirtsov found traces of their presence in the structure of Mongolian clans of the late period.

This empire was created by the sword, but its peculiarity was that it was well governed and could use the experience of the peoples it conquered. For example, the most irreconcilable enemy of the Mongols in Central Asia ~ the ruler of Khujand Timur-Melik, after many years of wandering and fighting them, returned to his city and was surprised to learn that his son was ruling the city on behalf of the Mongols. The Russian historian Nasonov has an interesting testimony from the Uglich Chronicle. It says that people gathered in Uglich and decided: when Batu comes, open the gates for him, as they heard that the Mongols do not rob and kill those who submit. Batu came and left without robbing or destroying the city. Further, Nasonov writes that a number of cities in North-Eastern Russia had the same fate - Rostov, Kostroma, Yaroslavl and some others. The Armenian historian Galstyan has another interesting mention that a certain Armenian prince Hassan Prosh besieged with his army the city of Tigra-nakert, where one of the Ayyubid emirs took refuge, and took it two years later. Further, Galstyan literally says the following: “From with great difficulty the Mongols captured this city and then killed all the defenders. Therefore, the dominant idea of ​​\u200b\u200ba near-apocalypse, with which the Mongol conquests were associated, was still some exaggeration.

Thus, the Great Khan of the Mongols achieved what he wanted: Genghis Khan is unconditionally recognized as one of the largest conquerors in the history of mankind, and his name (more precisely, a nickname-title that completely replaced his personal name) is still known to millions of people on all five inhabited continents and has long become household name.

Genghis Khan (Temujin) is the greatest conqueror in the history of mankind, the founder and great khan of the Mongol state.

The fate of Temujin, or Temujin, was rather difficult. He was from a noble Mongolian family, who roamed with their herds along the banks of the Onon River (the territory of modern Mongolia). Born around 1155

When he was 9 years old, during the steppe civil strife, his father Yesugeybahadur was killed (poisoned). The family, having lost their protector and almost all their livestock, had to flee from the nomads. They endured the harsh winter in the wooded area with great difficulty.

Troubles did not cease to haunt Temujin - new enemies from the Taijiut tribe attacked the orphaned family and took the little Mongol into captivity, putting on him a wooden slave collar.

The boy showed the firmness of his character, hardened by the hardships of childhood. Having broken the collar, Temujin was able to escape and return to his native tribe, which could not protect his family a few years ago. The teenager became a zealous warrior: few of his relatives knew how to control the steppe horse so deftly and shoot accurately from a bow, throw a lasso at full gallop and cut with a saber.

But the warriors of his tribe were struck by something else in Temujin - imperiousness, the desire to subjugate others. From those who fell under his banner, the young Mongol commander demanded complete and unquestioning obedience to his will. Disobedience was punishable only by death. To the disobedient, he was as ruthless as to his natural enemies among the Mongols. Temujin was soon able to take revenge on all the offenders of his family.

He was not yet 20 years old, when he began to unite the Mongol clans around him, gathering a small detachment of warriors under his command. It was a very difficult matter, because the Mongol tribes constantly waged armed struggle among themselves, raiding neighboring pastures in order to take possession of their herds and capture people as slaves.

Steppe clans, and then entire tribes of the Mongols, Temujin united around him by force, and sometimes with the help of diplomacy. He married the daughter of one of the powerful neighbors, hoping for the support of his father-in-law's warriors in difficult times. But so far, the young steppe leader had few allies and his own soldiers, and he had to fail.

The Merkit tribe, hostile to him, once made a successful raid on Temujin's camp and was able to kidnap his wife. This was a great insult to the dignity of the Mongol commander. He redoubled his efforts to gather nomadic families around him, and in just a year he was already in command of a significant cavalry army. With him, the future Genghis Khan inflicted a complete defeat on the numerous Merkit tribe, exterminating most of it and capturing their herds, freeing his wife, who knew the fate of a captive.

Temujin's military successes in the war against the Merkits attracted other Mongol tribes under his banner. Now they resignedly gave their soldiers to the military leader. His army grew all the time, and the territories of the vast Mongolian steppe expanded, where now the nomads were subject to his authority.

Temujin was constantly at war with the Mongol tribes who refused to recognize his supreme power. At the same time, he was distinguished by perseverance and cruelty. So, he almost completely exterminated the tribe of Tatars (the Mongols were already called by this name in Europe, although as such the Tatars were destroyed by Genghis Khan in an internecine war).

Temujin was remarkably versed in the tactics of war in the steppes. He suddenly attacked the neighboring nomadic tribes and inevitably won. He offered the survivors the right to choose: either become his ally, or die.

The leader Temujin fought his first big battle in 1193 in the Mongolian steppes near Germany. At the head of 6,000 warriors, he defeated the 10,000-strong army of his father-in-law Ung Khan, who began to argue with his son-in-law. The Khan's army was commanded by the commander Sanguk, who, apparently, was very confident in the superiority of the tribal army entrusted to him. And therefore he did not worry about either intelligence or military guards. Temujin took the enemy by surprise in a mountain gorge and inflicted heavy damage on him.

By 1206, Temujin had become the strongest ruler in the steppes north of the Great Wall of China. That year is remarkable in his life in that at the kurultai (congress) of the Mongol feudal lords, he was proclaimed the “Great Khan” over all the Mongol tribes with the title “Genghis Khan” (from the Turkic “tengiz” - ocean, sea).

Under the name of Genghis Khan, Temujin entered world history. For the Mongols of the steppes, his title sounded like "universal ruler", "real ruler", "precious ruler".

The first thing the great khan took care of was the Mongol army. Genghis Khan demanded that the leaders of the tribes, who recognized his supremacy, maintain permanent military detachments to protect the lands of the Mongols with their nomad camps and for campaigns against their neighbors. The former slave no longer had open enemies among the Mongol tribes, and he began to prepare for wars of conquest.

To assert personal power and suppress any discontent in the country, Genghis Khan created a horse guard of 10,000 people. The best warriors were recruited from the Mongol tribes, and they enjoyed great privileges in the army of Genghis Khan. The guards were his bodyguards. From among them, the ruler of the Mongolian state appointed military leaders to the troops.

The army of Genghis Khan was built according to the decimal system: tens, hundreds, thousands and tumens (they consisted of 10,000 soldiers). These military units were not only accounting units. A hundred and a thousand could perform independent combat missions. Tumen acted in the war already at the tactical level.

According to the decimal system, the command of the Mongolian army was also built: ten's manager, centurion, thousand's manager, temnik. Genghis Khan appointed his sons and representatives of the tribal nobility to the highest positions - temniks - from among those military leaders who, by deed, proved to him their devotion and experience in military affairs. In the army of the Mongols, the strictest discipline was maintained along the entire command hierarchical ladder. Any violation was severely punished.

The main branch of the army in the army of Genghis Khan was the heavily armed cavalry of the Mongols proper. Her main weapons were a sword or saber, a pike and a bow with arrows. Initially, the Mongols protected their chest and head in battle with strong leather breastplates and helmets. Over time, they developed good protective equipment in the form of a variety of metal armor. Each Mongol warrior had at least two well-trained horses for the campaign and large stock arrows and tips for them.

Light cavalry, and these were usually horse archers, consisted of warriors from conquered steppe tribes. It was they who started the battles, bombarding the enemy with clouds of arrows and bringing confusion into his ranks. After that, the heavily armed cavalry of the Mongols themselves went on the attack in a dense mass. Their attack was more like a ramming blow than a dashing raid by the Mongol cavalry.

Genghis Khan entered military history as great strategist and tactics of the time. For his temnik commanders and other military leaders, he developed the rules for conducting war and organizing the entire military service. These rules, in the conditions of strict centralization of military and state administration, were strictly enforced.

Genghis Khan's strategy and tactics were characterized by: careful close and long-range reconnaissance, a surprise attack on any enemy, even noticeably inferior to him in strength, the desire to dismember the enemy forces in order to destroy them in parts later. Ambushes and luring the enemy in them were widely and skillfully used. Genghis Khan and his commanders skillfully maneuvered large masses of cavalry on the battlefield. The pursuit of the fleeing enemy was carried out not with the aim of capturing more military booty, but with the aim of destroying it.

At the very beginning of his conquests, Genghis Khan did not always gather a general Mongol cavalry army. Scouts and spies brought him information about a new enemy, about the number, location and routes of movement of his troops. This made it possible for Genghis Khan to determine the number of troops needed to defeat the enemy and rapid response to all his offensive actions.

But the greatness of the military art of Genghis Khan was also in something else: he was able to quickly respond to the actions of the opposite side, changing his tactics depending on the circumstances. Thus, having encountered strong fortresses in China for the first time, Genghis Khan began to use various types of throwing and siege machines of the same Chinese in the war. They were taken disassembled for the army and quickly assembled during the siege of a new city. When he needed mechanics or doctors, who were not among the Mongols, Genghis Khan ordered them from other countries or took them prisoner. AT last case military specialists became khan's slaves, who were kept in very good conditions.

Until the last days of his life, Genghis Khan sought to maximize his truly vast possessions. Therefore, every time the Mongol army went farther and farther from the steppes of Mongolia.

First, the great conqueror of the Middle Ages decided to annex other nomadic peoples to his state. 1207 - he conquered vast areas north of the Selenga River and in the upper reaches of the Yenisei. The military forces (cavalry) of the conquered tribes were included in the general Mongol army.

Then it was the turn of the large Uighur state in East Turkestan. 1209 - a huge army of the Great Khan invaded its territory and, capturing cities and flowering oases one after another, won a complete victory over the Uighurs. After this invasion, only heaps of ruins remained from many trading cities and villages of farmers.

The destruction of settlements on the occupied lands, the wholesale extermination of recalcitrant tribes and fortified cities that tried to defend themselves with weapons in their hands were characteristic features of the conquests of Genghis Khan. The strategy of intimidation made it possible for him to successfully solve military problems and keep the conquered peoples in obedience.

1211 - mounted army Genghis Khan attacked Northern China. Great Chinese Wall- the most grandiose defensive structure in history human civilization- did not become an obstacle for the conquerors. The Mongolian cavalry defeated the troops of a new enemy that stood in its way. 1215 - the city of Beijing (Yanjing) was captured by cunning, which the Mongols subjected to a long siege.

In northern China, the Mongols destroyed about 90 cities, the population of which resisted the army of the great Mongol Khan. In this campaign, Genghis Khan adopted the engineering military equipment Chinese - various throwing machines and battering rams. Chinese engineers trained the Mongols to use them and deliver them to the besieged cities and fortresses.

1218 - The Mongols, continuing their conquests, captured the Korean Peninsula.

After campaigns in Northern China and Korea, Genghis Khan turned his attention further to the west - towards the sunset. 1218 - The Mongol army invaded Central Asia and captured Khorezm. This time, Genghis Khan found a plausible pretext for the invasion - several Mongol merchants were killed in the border city of Khorezm. And therefore it was necessary to punish the country where the Mongols were treated "badly."

With the advent of the enemy on the borders of Khorezm, Khorezmshah Muhammad, at the head of a large army (figures up to 200,000 people are called), set out on a campaign. A great battle took place at Karaku, which was distinguished by such persistence that by the evening there was no winner on the battlefield. With the onset of darkness, the commanders took their armies to their camps.

The next day, Khorezmshah Mohammed refused to continue the battle due to heavy losses, which amounted to almost half of the troops he had gathered. Genghis Khan, for his part, also suffered heavy losses, retreated. But it was a military trick of the great commander.

The conquest of the huge Central Asian state of Khorezm continued. 1219 - the Mongol army of 200,000 people under the command of the sons of Genghis Khan, Oktay and Zagatai, besieged the city of Otrar (the territory of modern Uzbekistan). The city was defended by a 60,000-strong garrison under the command of the brave Khorezm commander Gazer Khan.

The siege of Otrar with frequent attacks was carried out for four months. During this time, the number of its defenders was reduced by three times. In the camp of the besieged, famine and disease began, since it was especially bad with drinking water. In the end, the Mongols broke into the city, but they could not take possession of the fortress citadel. Gazer Khan with the remnants of his soldiers was able to hold out in it for another month. By order of the Great Khan, Otrar was destroyed, most of the inhabitants were killed, and some - artisans and young people - were taken into slavery.

1220, March - the Mongol army led by the great Mongol Khan besieged one of the largest Central Asian cities - Bukhara. The 20,000-strong army of the Khorezmshah stood in it, which, together with its commander, fled when the Mongols approached. The townspeople, not having the strength to fight, opened the fortress gates to the conquerors. Only the local ruler decided to defend himself, hiding in the fortress, which was set on fire and destroyed by the Mongols.

1220, June - the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, besieged another major Khorezm city - Samarkand. The city was defended by a garrison of 110,000 (the figure is greatly inflated) under the command of the governor Alub Khan. His warriors made frequent sorties outside the city walls, preventing the enemy from conducting siege work. However, there were citizens who, wanting to save their property and life, opened the gates of Samarkand to the Mongols.

The army of the great khan broke into the city, and on its streets and squares heated battles began with the defenders of Samarkand. But the forces were unequal, and besides, Genghis Khan brought more and more detachments into battle to replace those who were tired of fighting. Seeing that he could not hold Samarkand, Alub Khan, at the head of 1000 horsemen, was able to escape from the city and break through the blockade ring of the invaders. The surviving 30,000 Khorezmian soldiers were killed by the Mongols.

The conquerors also met stubborn resistance during the siege of the city of Khujand (modern Tajikistan). It was defended by a garrison led by one of the best Khwarezmian commanders, the fearless Timur-Melik. When he realized that the garrison was no longer able to repel the attacks, he, with part of the soldiers, embarked on ships and sailed down the Jaksart River, pursued along the shore by the Mongol cavalry. However, after a fierce battle, Timur-Melik was able to break away from his pursuers. After his departure, the city of Khojent surrendered to the mercy of the winner the next day.

The army of Genghis Khan continued to capture the Khwarezmian cities one after another: Merv, Urgench ... 1221 - they besieged the city of Bamiyan and, after many months of struggle, took it by storm. Genghis Khan, whose beloved grandson was killed during the siege, ordered that neither women nor children be spared. Therefore, the city with the entire population was completely destroyed.

After the fall of Khorezm and the conquest of Central Asia, Genghis Khan made a campaign in North-Western India, capturing this large territory as well. But he did not go further to the south of Hindustan: he was always attracted by unknown countries at sunset.

The Great Khan, as usual, thoroughly worked out the route of a new campaign and sent far to the west his best commanders Jebe and Subedei at the head of their tumens and auxiliary troops of the conquered peoples. Their path passed through Iran, Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus. So the Mongols ended up on the southern approaches to Russia, in the Don steppes.

In those days, Polovtsian towers roamed in the Wild Field, which had long lost their military strength. The Mongols defeated the Polovtsy without much difficulty, and they fled to the borderlands of Russian lands. 1223 - the generals Jebe and Subedei defeated the united army of several Russian princes and Polovtsian khans in the battle on the Kalka River. After the victory, the vanguard of the Mongol army turned back.

In 1226-1227, Genghis Khan made a trip to the country of the Tangut Xi-Xia. He instructed one of his sons to continue the conquest of Chinese lands. The anti-Mongol uprising that began in the conquered Northern China caused great concern to the great khan.

Genghis Khan died during his last campaign against the Tanguts, in 1227. The Mongols gave him a magnificent funeral and, having destroyed all the participants in these sad celebrations, they were able to keep him in complete secrecy location of the tomb of Genghis Khan ...