For almost 100,000 years prior to the 6th century AD, this enormous region known as Mongolia was a warzone populated by never-ending warring nomadic tribes. During the iron age, Mongolia constantly tried to invade wealthy China to the east, but were always subdued by the Chinese throughout most of the pre-Empire history.
In 540, Mongols slowly lost their power as the Turks overthrew their feudal rulers-the Ruruan-thus having the Turks become a significant military power throughout Inner Asia. Having the mindset of the other Mongolian tribes, the Turks decided to invade China because their vast wealth of that country, and were lured by the perceived weakness caused by decades of dynastic splintering. In 629, the Turks succeeded in their raids when China joined forces under the Tang dynasty. However in 648, the Turks were beaten back and contained by the Tang, who was known for fragmenting the semi-unified Mongolia into two halves. Eastern side of Mongolia was ruled by the Chinese. By 744, the Turkic alliance had fully dissolved and Mongolia returned to being a veritable warzone of myriad warring tribes. With China afraid of the Mongol’s continuous raids, they decide to manipulate the powerful Mongol tribes in to attacking each other. They believed this would cripple Mongolia. The domestic infighting continued for almost 500 years.
In the 12th century, Mongolia split into five major tribes: Mongols, Kereyds, Merkits, Naimans, and Tatars. In the Mongol tribe, a warlord named Temujin planned to unify his tribe with the Kereyds thanks to his father’s friendship with that faction’s chieftain, Toghoril. With these two major tribes working together, they conquered the three remaining tribes and unified all of Mongolia for the first time in 1205. The next year was known as the start of the Mongol empire. They named their great leader, Temujin, Genghis Kahn, meaning universal ruler.
Now, you may have expected Genghis Kahn may have been greedy. Genghis was a fair ruler whose policies showed that he valued loyalty above all else. Any servant who is loyal to Genghis would be rewarded with responsibility, rather than basing his decisions on caste, entitlement, or heredity. Many of those who rose to positions of authority unded Genghis’ rule were not members of his family and often came from the lowest social ranks of Mongolian society.
In his 21-year reign up to his death in 1227, Genghis Kahn created Mongolia as an aggressive and significant military power throughout most of Asia, enjoying great military successes against China to the east as well as the Muslims to the west. Even though Mongolia under Genghis Kahn’s rule, its greatest reign was under his son, Ogedei Kahn.
In 540, Mongols slowly lost their power as the Turks overthrew their feudal rulers-the Ruruan-thus having the Turks become a significant military power throughout Inner Asia. Having the mindset of the other Mongolian tribes, the Turks decided to invade China because their vast wealth of that country, and were lured by the perceived weakness caused by decades of dynastic splintering. In 629, the Turks succeeded in their raids when China joined forces under the Tang dynasty. However in 648, the Turks were beaten back and contained by the Tang, who was known for fragmenting the semi-unified Mongolia into two halves. Eastern side of Mongolia was ruled by the Chinese. By 744, the Turkic alliance had fully dissolved and Mongolia returned to being a veritable warzone of myriad warring tribes. With China afraid of the Mongol’s continuous raids, they decide to manipulate the powerful Mongol tribes in to attacking each other. They believed this would cripple Mongolia. The domestic infighting continued for almost 500 years.
In the 12th century, Mongolia split into five major tribes: Mongols, Kereyds, Merkits, Naimans, and Tatars. In the Mongol tribe, a warlord named Temujin planned to unify his tribe with the Kereyds thanks to his father’s friendship with that faction’s chieftain, Toghoril. With these two major tribes working together, they conquered the three remaining tribes and unified all of Mongolia for the first time in 1205. The next year was known as the start of the Mongol empire. They named their great leader, Temujin, Genghis Kahn, meaning universal ruler.
Now, you may have expected Genghis Kahn may have been greedy. Genghis was a fair ruler whose policies showed that he valued loyalty above all else. Any servant who is loyal to Genghis would be rewarded with responsibility, rather than basing his decisions on caste, entitlement, or heredity. Many of those who rose to positions of authority unded Genghis’ rule were not members of his family and often came from the lowest social ranks of Mongolian society.
In his 21-year reign up to his death in 1227, Genghis Kahn created Mongolia as an aggressive and significant military power throughout most of Asia, enjoying great military successes against China to the east as well as the Muslims to the west. Even though Mongolia under Genghis Kahn’s rule, its greatest reign was under his son, Ogedei Kahn.