He killed an estimated
40 million people, he founded the Mongol
Empire, he might have a little of his DNA in you. He is Genghis Khan. Today, we're going to
talk about things you didn't know about Genghis Khan. But before we get
started, subscribe to our channel, Weird History. Leave us a comment, and let
us know what historical figure you want us to cover next. First things first,
you heard his name 100's if not 1000's
of times before, but there's a very good
chance you've never heard it pronounced correctly. While most Westerners say
Genghis with a hard g, that's incorrect. In Mongolia, the g is
soft, so it's actually pronounced like this, Chinghis. But we're going to go with
Genghis today, because that's what you're used to. What does it mean. Well, there's no
historical consensus, but Khan means ruler or King. And Genghis, or to be
100% accurate, Chinghis, is believed to mean
stern or fierce. So Genghis Khan means
stern or fierce King. The confusion goes
all the way back to spelling and
pronunciation getting lost in European translation. Since we're on the
topic of names, Genghis Khan wasn't
his name either, despite what you were taught
in junior high and most, if not all, of high school. The man who would
unite the Mongol tribes was actually born to Mujin,
meaning of or from iron, while Jin denotes agency. Thus, if you break it down
Temujin means blacksmith. His name was said to have come
from a Tatar tribesman who had been captured and brought
home by the boy's father. The name Genghis Khan wasn't
given to Temujin until 1206, when he was 44 years old,
as part of this coronation as the King of all Mongols. Most of what we know
about young Temujin comes from the Secret
History of the Mongols. An anonymous record of the
early days of the United Konate. According to that book, written
for the Khan successors, Temujin was born
sometime in 1162 on the banks of the Onon River. His father, Yesugei,
was the chieftain of the Borjigin clan, the ruling
class of the Mongol tribes. If you believe the
legend, Temujin was born clutching a
blood clot in his fist. An omen and that he was
destined to be a great leader. Whether that's true is
actually anyone's guess. For someone who radically
altered the world's population with his very own DNA-- we'll get back to
that in a bit-- Temujin's first son may
not even have been his. It all started when his father
arranged a marriage for him and delivered him at age 9 to
the family of his future wife, in order to cement alliances
between the Onggirat and the Mongols. Here's where things get messy. On his way home after delivering
his son to the Bortes, Temujin's father ran into
the neighboring Tatars, who had long been
Mongol enemies, and they assassinated him. When young Temujin heard
about his father's death by poisoning, he returned
home to claim his position as tribe's chief, but
they denied the kid and abandoned his family
leaving them without protection. After several years of
hardship and in slavery, Temujin finally married Borte,
but the bad news kept coming. Not long after the
marriage, Borte was kidnapped by the
Merkit, a rival tribe, and she was reportedly
given away as a wife. Temujin rescued her
several months later and she gave birth
to a son, Jochi, nine months after her rescue. The timeline of Jochi's
birth was iffy at best. Was Jochi Temujin's legitimate
firstborn son or was Borte impregnated when
she was kidnapped? It's something we'll
probably never know. But Jochi grew up to become
a great military leader nonetheless, even though he was
excluded from Genghis's line of succession We know of Jochi, the
son who may or may not have been the first
son of Genghis Khan. We also know of eight
other sons and daughters Temujin had with
Borte, but that's not the extent of Genghis's
offspring, not by a long shot. While married to
Borte, Temujin took a number of other wives,
far too many to name here. While many of these women were
taken as war trophies, at least one woman, Princess Qiguo
was married to Genghis Khan as a gift of sorts, in exchange
for relieving the Mongol siege upon Zhongdu. In short, it's uncertain which
if any of these marriages were consensual. Although it's
certain his spouses bore him numerous
children, including a number of daughters whose
names weren't even recorded. As famous and infamous
as Genghis Khan is, very little is known about
his personal or physical appearance. No contemporary
portraits or sculptures of him survived and what is
written about him at the time is practically
revisionist history, The little we do know
about Genghis Khan describes him as tall and
strong with a flowing mane of blond hair, blue
eyes, and a bushy beard. But 14th century Persian
chronicler Rashid Al Din claims Genghis had red
hair and green eyes. Al Din never met
the Khan in person, but these striking
features were not unheard of among the Mongol. You hear the name Genghis
Khan and the first things your imagination conjures
up are probably brutish acts of mass destruction,
barbarism, and blood lust. All of those things are a big
part of Genghis Khan's story but he was quite
the innovator too. He created the Yam route, which
was an efficient postal system meant to send written
orders to the far flung outposts of his empire. He also adapted an
official script in 1206 upon his election as Khan. And while he was very
likely illiterate, Genghis Khan kept written
books of his laws. A complex and far
reaching system of edicts called the Yassa. Of course, for any
good he did, he soured by destroying
countless works of art, priceless artifacts,
cultural sites, and other various
precious objects. Chinese, Russian, Persian,
and Muslim traditions of sculpture and
painting were subjugated, and their masters almost
always were killed. While other Mongol leaders
appreciated the cultures of the sedentary
people they wiped out, the Mongols
themselves left little in terms of cultural heritage
and almost no written works. Genghis Khan probably
enjoyed the sight of blood but he was also a
man of his word. Take for example,
the time he honorably murdered the Mongol military
and political leader, and childhood pal, Jamukha. According to the Secret
History of the Mongols, Jamukha was eventually
betrayed to Temujin by his followers in 1206. The first thing Temujin did
was execute Jamukha's betrayers on basic principle. Betrayal merits the worst
punishment imaginable. Then Temujin offered Jamukha
a renewal of the brotherhood, but Jamaica refused. He insisted that
just as there was only room for one
sun in the sky, there was room only
for one Mongol lord. Instead Jamukha
asked to be executed by dying a noble death,
without the spilling of blood. Temujin honored his
request by having a soldier snap Jamukha's spine. It's said that Temujin
then buried Jamukha with the golden belt
that he had given to him when they had formed
their bond of brotherhood. Pretty dramatic on
the Khan's part. Sounds like something
a young George Lucas would have written
in the mid 70s. One of the great things
about Genghis Kahn was that he had
an eye for talent when it came to choosing
people for leadership roles. Take for example, Jelme. During the 1201 Battle of the
13 Sides against the Taichuud tribe, Genghis got hit in
the neck with an arrow. He obviously survived, and
his army won the battle. But when he recovered
from his wound he asked the soldiers of
the defeated Taichuud tribe to reveal who shot
his horse in the neck. Side note, either Genghis
was using his horse's neck as a euphemism for
his own injury, in an attempt to
conceal his injury, or possibly to smoke
out a false confession. Moving along, a soldier
named Zurgadai voluntarily confessed and told
Genghis, and we paraphrase, you got me, I did
it, but if you let me live I will serve you loyally. Genghis was impressed. He valued skill and loyalty,
so he pardoned and praised Zurgadai, making him an
officer and nicknamed him Jebe, Mongolian for
both arrow and weapon. How's that for luck? It's like hitting your boss
over the head with a Louisville slugger because he
swiped your idea. Then he promotes
you for your candor and calls you bat boy at
the next office happy hour. Jebe would go on to become one
of the Mongol's greatest field commanders during the
conquest in Asia and Europe. Mongol warriors began learning
how to fight and live off the land, as children. When they came of age,
usually around 15, they had mastered how to ride,
shoot, fight, and go for days at a time without provisions. At this point in
their lives, they were Genghis Khan's warriors. These young warriors were
tactical and calculating. Employing many war worn
strategies when it came to war. Fighting was never a
simple exhibition of force. It was an evenly
paced, evaluated, and considered option. The Mongols would
fight using formations, proven battle game plans, and
were comfortable with a bow. If no bow was on hand,
then a Mongol warrior was more than
comfortable and capable of using a saber or a
spear to kill their enemy. No contemporary army could
match a Mongol warrior's skill, bravery and tenacity. Like most men in power
who wielded their force with little regard
for their foe, Genghis Khan was
a religious man. He passed laws declaring
religious freedom in conquered lands, even
granted tax exemptions to places of worship. The Mongols generally had an
exceptionally liberal attitude towards religion. While they subscribe to a
shamanistic belief system that revered the Eternal Blue
Sky, the step peoples also included Christians,
Buddhists, Muslims, and others. No one was persecuted
for their faith. Genghis Khan also had a personal
interest in spirituality. He was known to pray in
his tent for multiple days before important
campaigns and he often met with different
religious leaders to discuss their faiths. Conquering the Western
Xia and Jin empires was a matter of
survival for Genghis. He had no intention of war with
the powerful Khwarezmid Empire in modern day Iran, but
it became inevitable after the Khwarezmian Shah
executed Genghis's ambassadors to him and massacred
a peaceful caravan. In a war lasting just three
years, from 1218 to 1221, the Khwarezmid Empire
was annihilated. With its population cold
and its beautiful walled cities destroyed. Final defeat was inflicted at
the Battle of the Indus River where 50,000 men, led
by the Shah's son, were beaten and killed. The Mongols exacted such a
toll on the Khwarezmid Empire, that of its nearly three
million people, at least one million were killed. Usually executed methodically
using swords or axes. Of course, this is all
a drop in the bucket in terms of Khan's body count. Figures vary, but
about 40 million people or 10% of the world
population at the time were killed or died
because of his attacks. Famine and disease killed a
large portion of the people but Ganga is wiped out any city
or country that opposed him. After destroying the
Khwarezmid Empire, Genghis split his
army into two units. One unit, which
he led personally, headed back to Mongolia,
but not before laying waste to northern India. The other unit, made up
of two packs of soldiers, were led by Subutai and Jebe. They headed west, toward
what's now Russia, pursuing the Kwarezmian Shah. They didn't catch him, but
they made history anyway. In a raid of so much
power and destructiveness that it's never been equaled,
two of Genghis's dogs of war sacked Georgia, Armenia, and
defeated a gigantic Kievan Rus force at the legendary
Battle of the Kalka River. In keeping with
Mongol tradition, the Russian princes who
resisted were crushed to death under a platform, their
blood never spilling. Because you, know, royal blood. Hundreds of thousands of Russian
peasants were slaughtered and Russia itself
would take centuries to recover from this
Mongol invasion, and its geography was
permanently changed. It's only fitting that
Kangas Khan's death is as shrouded in
as much mystery as the basic details
of his personal life. The common tale says
he died in August 1227 during the sack of the
western Xia capital, around the age of 64 or
65, after injuring himself from falling off a
horse while hunting. Other sources list everything
from malaria to an arrow wound in the knee,
during the battle. One chronicle even
says he was murdered by a western Xia princess he was
attempting to add to his harem. After his death, the traditional
Kurultai tie was held. Meaning all Mongol
conquests were put on hold. sort of like a truce between
the Hatfields and McCoys. And all leaders met
at the Onon river. Bypassing Jochi, whose
parentage was never confirmed, they elected Genghis's third
son, Ogedai, as the new Khan. After his untimely
death in China, Genghis's body was returned
to Mongolia and presumably to his birthplace in
the Khentii Aimag. Per his orders,
Genghis was to be buried without any
markings or signage. But many assume his tomb
is buried somewhere close to the Onon river. Of course, this was
Genghis Khan's funeral, so there had to be some
level of barbarism to it, and the Mongols came
through in shocking style. According to
historical evidence, 30,000 people participated
in his funeral. Of course, these
30,000 were killed by Khan's army to preserve the
secret location of his tomb. But that wasn't enough,
because Khan's army knew where the tomb was,
they were killed by his traveling escorts. And as Khan was taken to
his final resting place by said escorts, all onlookers
were murdered in order to keep everything a secret. When Khan's traveling escorts
reached their destination and after they
buried his tomb, they rode horses over his burial
grounds to help conceal it, and they might even had
changed the course of a river to go over it. Then his escorts
killed themselves, taking the location
of their leaders final resting place with them. And before you ask, yes,
numerous excavations have already been
undertaken to find Genghis and the treasure said
to be buried with him. But even with satellite
imaging used recently, its precise location is unknown. What do you think of these
little known Genghis Khan facts? Let us know what you think
in the comments below and while you're
at it, check out some of these other stories
in our weird history.
