Who was Genghis Khan?
Genghis Khan (JENG-gis KON) has what you might call a nasty reputation. More than 700 years after his death, he is still remembered as a very bad guy. His image is that of a barbarian, a notorious villain. Like Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan led thousands of warriors into one battle after another, conquering lands and peoples far beyond his homeland. Both men were brilliant generals who built vast empires. Yet history often remembers Alexander as heroic, and Genghis Khan as bloodthirsty.
Genghis Khan was born in the early 1160’s (it has been argued between 1162 and 1167, but recently agreement has been made for 1167), the son of the Kiyat-Borjigid chieftain Yisugei. He was named Temujen because, at the time of his birth, his father had captured a Tatar chieftain of the same name. Legend says that the newborn Temujen had a bloodclot in the palm of his hand, an omen that he was destined to be a hero. When Temujen was a boy, his father was poisoned by a group of Tatars, and the Kiyat tribe broke up and scattered, abandoning their chief’s family and leaving Temujen’s mother, Ho’elun, to raise her children alone. Accounts of Temujen glorify him as intelligent, brave, and an adept fighter, even from an early age, and as such a potential threat to the leaders of other tribes of the steppe. As a young man, despite extreme hardships, he repeatedly met perils and endured crises through force of character and willpower. In 1189, after he was elected the new leader of the Kiyat, h
Genghis Khan established the Mongol empire, conquered most of Asia and Europe and rightfully earned the reputation as one of the greatest military leaders of all time. Although he was often called “barbarian,” Genghis Khan achieved his victories through brilliant organization and tactics rather than barbaric behavior.
