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Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire Don Nardo G e n g h i s K h a n a n d t h e M o n g o l E m p i r e L U C E N T B O O K S The World History series examines the eras, events, civilizations, and movements that have shaped human history, providing readers with insight into the past and its many legaciesnullnullvid writing, nullllnullolor photographs and extensive use onullnulllly cited primary and secondary source nullotations provide a sense onullimmediacynullnulldenullrs, time lines, indexes, and annotated nullnulliographies, which appear in every volume, onuller a wealth onulladditional innullrmation as well as provide launching points nullr nullrther discussion and studynull 9781420503265_WH-GENGHIS KHAN.indd 1 10/6/10 4:24 PM By Don Nardo Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire © 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyrighted material. Lucent Books 27500 Drake Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48331 ISBN-13: 978-1-4205-0326-5 ISBN-10: 1-4205-0326-X Nardo, Don, 1947- Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire / by Don Nardo. p. cm. -- (World history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4205-0326-5 (hardcover) 1. Genghis Khan, 1162-1227--Juvenile literature. 2. Mongols--Kings and rulers--Biography--Juvenile literature. 3. Mongols--History--Juvenile literature. I. Title. DS22.N36 2010 950’.21092--dc22 2010032960 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 13 12 11 10 Contents Foreword 4 Important Dates at the Time of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire 6 Introduction From Barbarian to Modern Man 8 Chapter One Ancient Peoples of the Steppes 14 Chapter Two The Rise of Genghis Khan 27 Chapter Three Military and Legal Reforms 39 Chapter Four Subduing Northern China 52 Chapter Five Conquests in Western Asia 65 Chapter Six The Mongols After Genghis Khan 75 Notes 84 Glossary 87 For More Information 89 Index 91 Picture Credits 95 About the Author 96 Foreword E ach year, on the first day of school, nearly every history teacher faces the task of explaining why his or her students should study history. Many reasons have been given. One is that les- sons exist in the past from which con- temporary society can benefit and learn. Another is that exploration of the past allows us to see the origins of our cus- toms, ideas, and institutions. Concepts such as democracy, ethnic conflict, or even things as trivial as fashion or mores, have historical roots. Reasons such as these impress few stu- dents, however. If anything, these expla- nations seem remote and dull to young minds. Yet history is anything but dull. And therein lies what is perhaps the most compelling reason for studying history: History is filled with great stories. The classic themes of literature and drama— love and sacrifice, hatred and revenge, injustice and betrayal, adversity and over- coming adversity – fill the pages of history books, feeding the imagination as well as any of the great works of fiction do. The story of the Children’s Crusade, for example, is one of the most tragic in history. In 1212 Crusader fever hit Eu- rope. A call went out to the pope that all good Christians should journey to Jeru- salem to drive out the hated Muslims and return the city to Christian control. Heeding the call, thousands of children made the journey. Parents bravely al- lowed many children to go, and entire communities were inspired by the faith of these small Crusaders. Unfortunately, many boarded ships captained by slave traders, who enthusiastically sold the children into slavery as soon as they ar- rived at their destination. Thousands died from disease, exposure, and star- vation on the long march across Europe to the Mediterranean Sea. Others per- ished at sea. Another story, from a modern and more familiar place, offers a soul-wrench- ing view of personal humiliation but also the ability to rise above it. Hatsuye Egami was one of 110,000 Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during World War II. “Since yesterday we Japanese have ceased to be human beings,” he wrote in his diary. “We are numbers. We are no longer Egamis, but the number 23324. A tag with that number is on ev- ery trunk, suitcase and bag. Tags, also, on our breasts.” Despite such dehuman- izing treatment, most internees worked hard to control their bitterness. They cre- ated workable communities inside the camps and demonstrated again and again their loyalty as Americans. These are but two of the many stories from history that can be found in the pages of the Lucent Books World History series. All World History titles rely on Foreword ■ 5 sound research and verifiable evidence, and all give students a clear sense of time, place, and chronology through maps and time-lines as well as text. All titles include a wide range of au- thoritative perspectives that demonstrate the complexity of historical interpreta- tion and sharpen the reader’s critical thinking skills. Formally documented quotations and annotated bibliographies enable students to locate and evaluate sources, often instantaneously via the Internet, and serve as valuable tools for further research and debate. Finally, Lucent’s World History titles present rousing good stories, featuring vivid primary source quotations drawn from unique, sometimes obscure sources such as diaries, public records, and contemporary chronicles. In this way, the voices of participants and wit- nesses as well as important biographers and historians bring the study of his- tory to life. As we are caught up in the lives of others, we are reminded that we too are characters in the ongoing human saga, and we are better pre- pared for our own roles. 6 ■ Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire Important Dates at the Time of 1162 1172 1182 1192 1202 1212 1222 1232 1242 ca. 1162 Temujin, the future Genghis Khan, is born in Mongolia. ca. 1178 Temujin marries Borte, a young woman from a different tribe. 1206–1218 Genghis Khan issues his new code of laws and justice, the Great Yasa. 1169 Italy’s Mount Etna volcano erupts, killing an estimated fifteen thousand people. 1187 In Palestine a Muslim army attacks the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. 1204 Temujin defeats Jamuka, an old friend turned enemy, in battle. 1227 Genghis Khan dies. 1206 The Mongols proclaim Temujin Genghis Khan, meaning “Universal Leader.” 1241 A Mongol army defeats a coalition of eastern Europeans at Liegnitz, in Poland. 1230 In Africa the Kingdom of Mali gives way to the empire of Ghana. 1219 The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, invade Persia. 1215 In England King John signs the Magna Carta. 1223 The Franciscan order of monks is founded in Europe. Important Dates in the Time of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire ■ 7 Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire 1252 1262 1272 1282 1292 1302 1312 1322 1332 1294 Kublai Khan dies and no Great Khan takes his place. 1251 Genghis Khan’s grandson, Mongke, becomes Great Khan. 1256 The Hanseatic League is established in Scandinavia. 1325 In Mexico the Aztecs establish their capital city of Tenochtitlán. 1281 Kublai launches an unsuccessful attempt to invade Japan. 1264 Another of Genghis Khan’s grandsons, Kublai, takes charge of the Mongol Empire. 1265 The institution of Parliament emerges in England. 8 ■ Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire Introduction From Barbarian to Modern Man I n the thirteenth century, Mongolia, the region of eastern Asia lying north of China, became the launching point for a series of events that shocked and forever changed the world. Under their leader, who came to be known as Genghis Khan, Mongol armies pushed outward from their ancestral homeland. Like an unstoppable wave, they swept across the continent, destroying or seizing control of city after city and nation after nation. China fell to them. So did central Asia and much of the Middle East. And even- tually, led by the Khan’s successors, the fearsome invaders attacked Japan in the east and Europe in the west. In the span of a mere two centuries, hundreds of thousands of people died and tens of millions were conquered or displaced. Partly for these reasons, later genera- tions developed an extremely unflatter- ing image of the Mongols. Even well into the twentieth century, most saw them as a primitive, barbaric people who raped and pillaged without mercy. In this view, they and their most famous leader, Genghis Khan, demolished everything in their path without a thought for pre- serving the fruits of civilization. Both Good and Bad Qualities Although this ugly portrait of the Mon- gols does contain some grains of truth, more recent studies have shown that it is also exaggerated and misleading in a number of ways. In particular, mod- ern scholars have significantly reevalu- ated and refurbished the image of Genghis Khan. They do not dispute that he was a ruthless conqueror re- sponsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Yet, some of these experts point out, so were a number of larger-than-life Western military lead- ers, including Greece’s Alexander the G re a t a n d F r a n c e ’ s N a p o l é o n Bonaparte. And no one calls Alexander From Barbarian to Modern Man ■ 9 or Napoléon a barbarian. Rather, such leaders are usually described as having both bad and good qualities, with some of the good ones canceling out, or at least balancing, the bad ones. Alexan- der, for instance, was undoubtedly an arrogant and cold-blooded dictator. Yet he also built dozens of new cities and fostered cultural exchanges, trade, and intermarriage between Greeks and the peoples he conquered. Similarly, the reevaluations of Genghis Khan reveal him as a sometimes callous and cruel leader who also possessed cer- tain positive qualities. Granted, he was not as noble and lofty as the renowned English writer Geoffrey Chaucer made him out to be. In his poem The Canterbury Tales, penned in about 1380, Chaucer presents a highly romanticized version of the Mongol leader, whom he calls Cambinskan. Chaucer writes, There was nowhere in the wide world known So excellent a lord in everything; He lacked in naught belonging to a king. As for the faith to which he had been born, He kept its law to which he had been sworn; A map of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century, which was carved out under the leadership of Genghis Khan. CHINA MONGOLIA PAKISTAN INDIA TAJIKISTAN KYRGYZSTAN RUSSIA Khanty Manisysk Irkutsk Krasnoyarsk Xi'an Qaraghandy Chelyabinsk Omsk Novokuznetsk Yekaterinburg Perm' Ulan Bator Alma Ata Ozero Baykal O b ' O b ' I rt y s h L e n a L e n a V ilyu y A nga ra I n d i g i r k a O l e n e k N iz hnyay a Tun gu s k a Y e n i s e y Laptev Sea New S berian Is. ZAPADNO SIBIRSKAYA RAVNINA REDNE SIBIRSKOYE PLOSKOGRYE U R A L M O U N T A I N S Y A B L O N O V Y Y K H R E B E T MONGOLIA 1000 Miles0 0 1000 Kilometers500 500 KAZAKHSTAN 10 ■ Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire And therewith he was hardy, rich, and wise . . . [And] in warfare ambitious As any bachelor knight of all his house. Of handsome person, he was fortu- nate, And kept always so well his royal state That there was nowhere such an- other man. 1 Although Genghis Khan was not the idealized European monarch pictured by Chaucer, the writer correctly drew a portrait of a great ruler rather than of a pitiless, thoughtless savage. Indeed, a reading of the available evidence shows the famous Mongol to be a leader of amazing talent, versatility, and at times wisdom. Further, these qualities did not emerge solely on the battlefield, where he frequently showed brilliance. He also demonstrated highly effective political skills and vision, created a strict but fair law code, and championed religious freedom for all. Moreover, no great or wise ruler or thinker taught Genghis Khan these skills and abilities. They came to him— the product of a poverty-stricken up- bringing on the edge of the civilized A map of Mongolia as it exists today. From Barbarian to Modern Man ■ 11 world—quite naturally. Along with the awe he inspired in millions of people, such abilities allowed him to achieve remarkable deeds, including carving out the largest land empire in human history. One of his chief modern biogra- phers writes, In American terms, the accomplish- ment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, in- stead of being created by a group of educated merchants or wealthy planters, had been founded by one of its illiterate slaves, who, by the sheer force of personality, charisma, and determination, liberated Amer- ica from foreign rule, united the people, created an alphabet, wrote the constitution, established univer- sal religious freedom, invented a new system of warfare, marched an army from Canada to Brazil, and opened roads of commerce in a free- trade zone that stretched across the continents. On every level … the scope of Genghis Khan’s accom- plishments challenges the limits of imagination and taxes the resources of scholarly explanation. 2 Deciphering the Mongols’ Secrets It is only natural to ask why the Mon- gols and their greatest leader, Genghis Khan, were so thoroughly reevaluated in recent times. Why did their image as monstrous barbarians with no redeeming qualities give way to one of aggressive conquerors who balanced their warlike acts with numerous constructive poli- cies and achievements? To be sure, for a long time peoples throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Europe routinely blamed the Mongol “destroyers” for their own shortcomings. Soviet Russian leaders in the early twentieth century are a good example. When Russia fell behind Britain, the United States, and other Western countries in developing modern technologies, leaders claimed it was largely because of devastation wrought on Russia by the Mongols cen- turies before. Similarly, Chinese, Indian, and Arab leaders all cited centuries of Mongol brutality and oppression as a reason that they, too, were less techno- logically and militarily advanced than An ink portrait depicts Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. 12 ■ Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire the West. Later, both the repressive Tali- ban regime in Afghanistan and Iraqi dic- tator Saddam Hussein complained about the long-ago Mongol invasions of their lands; they also compared the interven- tion of U.S. troops in their countries be- tween 1991 and 2003 to the those medieval invasions. Such arguments no longer carry much weight for two main reasons. First, some reliable old literary works that recorded the Mongols’ construc- tive deeds, as we