What was Genghis Khan's real name?

His birth name was Temujin. The Secret History of the Mongols and Rashid al-Din say his father named him after a Tatar chief, Temujin Uge, whom he had just captured. Chinggis Khan was the title given at the 1206 assembly; its meaning is debated, with readings such as "supreme" or "Khan of All Between the Oceans".

Who succeeded Genghis Khan?

His third son Ögedei, whom he had named as heir, became Great Khan. Under Ögedei the Mongols moved into Russia in the 1230s, destroyed the Jin dynasty in 1234 and won at Legnica in 1241. Later, Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan ruled China, Mongolia, Korea and Tibet as the Yuan dynasty.

The Yasa, or Jasagh, was the body of laws and decrees credited to Genghis Khan. Juvaini wrote that it set a penalty for every crime and was written on rolls, the Great Book of Yasas, which the princes consulted when a khan was enthroned or an army mobilized. Columbia describes it as moral injunctions and laws.

How big was the Mongol Empire?

Under Genghis Khan's heirs the Mongol Empire stretched from Korea and China across Central Asia and Persia to Russia, and its armies reached Hungary in 1241. The Library of Congress study of Mongolia and Columbia's Asia for Educators both call it the largest contiguous land empire in history. By 1260 it had split into four parts.

Genghis Khan: How Temujin Founded the Mongol Empire

Q: Who was Genghis Khan?

Genghis Khan, born Temujin in about 1162 or 1167, was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. After uniting the tribes of the Mongolian steppe, he was proclaimed Chinggis Khan in 1206 and led campaigns against the Western Xia, the Jin dynasty of northern China and Khwarazm. He died in 1227.

Q: How did Genghis Khan die?

He died in 1227 while campaigning against the Western Xia in northwest China. According to the Secret History of the Mongols, he fell from his horse during a hunt in the winter of 1226 and developed a fever; Rashid al-Din describes an illness that grew worse by the day. The exact cause of death is not known.

Q: Where is Genghis Khan buried?

No one knows. Rashid al-Din wrote that he chose the mountain Burqan Qaldun as the burial ground for himself and his descendants. Columbia's Asia for Educators reports a legend that horses trampled the grave to hide it and notes that he may have had no tomb at all. A 2014 satellite search still treated the tomb as unlocated.

Sayf al-Vahidi, manuscript painted in Herat, 1430, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Quick answer

Who was Genghis Khan?

Genghis Khan, born Temujin in about 1162 or 1167, was the Mongol ruler who united the tribes of the Mongolian steppe and was proclaimed Chinggis Khan by an assembly in 1206. He then led wars against the Western Xia, the Jin dynasty of northern China and Khwarazm in Central Asia, founding the Mongol Empire before his death in 1227.¹

His own campaigns ran from the steppe wars of the 1190s and 1200s to the Western Xia, whose ruler accepted him as overlord in 1209; the Jin war, which began in 1211 and took the Jin capital Zhongdu, near modern Beijing, in 1215; and the invasion of Khwarazm, which began in 1219. His last campaign, against the Western Xia again, ended with his death.²

How his record compares with other conquerors is weighed in our comparisons Genghis Khan vs Caesar, Genghis Khan vs Alexander, Genghis Khan vs Hannibal and Genghis Khan vs Napoleon.

What was Genghis Khan famous for?

Genghis Khan is famous for uniting the feuding Mongol tribes in 1206 and starting the conquests that created the Mongol Empire. Under his heirs it stretched from Korea and China across Central Asia and Persia to Russia, and its armies reached Hungary in 1241, making it the largest contiguous land empire in history.³

Columbia University's Asia for Educators notes that many see the unification of the Mongols, more than the conquests that followed, as his biggest accomplishment: he brought rival tribes into one confederation whose loyalty was owed to him.⁴

How did Temujin become Genghis Khan?

Temujin's father, the chieftain Yesugei, was killed by Tatars when the boy was between nine and thirteen years old, and his kin abandoned the family on the steppe. Temujin rose through alliances and years of war, became chief of the Borjigin Mongols, and in 1206 an assembly of chieftains proclaimed him Chinggis Khan.⁵

The Secret History of the Mongols, a 13th-century Mongol chronicle, and the Persian historian Rashid al-Din both tell the legend that Temujin was born clutching a blood clot the size of a knucklebone, and that he was named after a Tatar chief, Temujin Uge, whom his father had just captured.⁶

The meaning of the title is debated. The Library of Congress study of Mongolia renders chinggis as "supreme" or "great", while Columbia's Asia for Educators gives "Khan of All Between the Oceans".⁷

Miniature of Genghis Khan seated in a tent pavilion with attendants standing around him — Temujin enthroned as Genghis Khan at the great assembly of 1206, attended by his sons and courtiers. Illustration from a Jami al-tawarikh manuscript made in Herat around 1430. Public domain⁸

Why was Genghis Khan's army so effective?

His army combined a decimal organization, in units of ten, a hundred, a thousand and ten thousand, with fast mounted troops trained in maneuvers such as the feigned retreat. He dispersed the tribes that joined him across these units, so that loyalty ran to him, and he used Chinese and Muslim siege specialists to take walled cities.⁹

Decimal organization. In 1206 he formed units of a thousand and appointed commanders of ten, a hundred, a thousand and ten thousand, many of them companions who had fought beside him. Juvaini, a Persian official in Mongol service, wrote that no man could leave the unit he had been assigned to.¹⁰
Loyalty to the khan, not the tribe. Tribes that joined him were split up among his units, so that loyalty went to him rather than to their old chiefs.¹¹
The feigned retreat. Columbia's Asia for Educators names the feigned withdrawal as one of his favorite tactics. The Secret History describes his general Jebe using it in 1211, luring a Jin army away from the Chabchiyal Pass and then turning to rout it.¹²
Siege warfare. In the Jin war the Mongols at first won in the field but could not take major cities; with the help of Chinese engineers they learned to storm fortifications. Juvaini describes Mongol catapults and mangonels at the sieges in Khwarazm.¹³
Terror. Juvaini wrote that whoever resisted was annihilated together with family and followers, and Columbia's Asia for Educators notes mass slaughter on both sides in the Central Asian campaign.¹⁴

What were Genghis Khan's greatest victories?

His greatest victories came in three campaigns he led in person: against the Tangut state of Western Xia in northwest China, whose ruler accepted him as overlord in 1209; against the Jin dynasty, whose capital Zhongdu, near modern Beijing, fell in 1215; and against Khwarazm in Central Asia, invaded from 1219.¹⁵

Persian miniature of Mongol horsemen in pointed caps with round shields and swords charging and unhorsing enemy riders on a pale blue ground. — Mongol horsemen clash with the Jin army in 1211, the start of Genghis Khan's war on northern China. Miniature from a Herat copy of Rashid al-Din's Jami al-tawarikh, about 1430. Public domain¹⁶

After Zhongdu fell, the Jin emperor moved his capital south to Kaifeng. The dynasty was finally destroyed in 1234, under Genghis Khan's son Ögedei.¹⁷

The war on Khwarazm began with a killing. According to Juvaini, the governor of Otrar, with the shah's approval, put to death a caravan of merchants who had come from the Mongol side; the Library of Congress study dates the mistreatment of Mongol emissaries to 1218. Columbia's Asia for Educators calls the campaign that followed the most devastating of his wars.¹⁸

The rise of the Mongol Empire

c. 1162 or 1167Born Temujin, son of the Mongol chieftain Yesugei, who is killed by Tatars while the boy is still young.¹⁹
1206An assembly of the tribes at the source of the Onon River proclaims him Chinggis Khan.²⁰
1209The ruler of the Western Xia, the Tangut kingdom in northwest China, accepts him as overlord.²¹
1211 to 1215War against the Jin dynasty of northern China; the Jin capital Zhongdu, near modern Beijing, falls in 1215.²²
1219He sets out against Khwarazm in Central Asia, his most destructive campaign.²³
1227Dies during his last campaign against the Western Xia. His third son, Ögedei, succeeds him.²⁴

How did Genghis Khan rule his empire?

He ruled through decrees and a law code, the Yasa (Columbia spells it Jasagh). He had the Mongols adopt writing based on the Uyghur script, gave safe conduct to merchants who came into his lands, and favored no religion over another, honoring the clergy of every faith while remaining loyal to Mongol shamanism himself.²⁵

Juvaini wrote that the Yasa set a penalty for every crime and was written down on rolls, the Great Book of Yasas, which the princes consulted when a khan was enthroned or an army mobilized. Columbia describes the code as general moral injunctions and laws, with punishments suited to nomadic society.²⁶

How did Genghis Khan die?

Genghis Khan died in 1227 during his last campaign against the Western Xia. The Secret History says he fell from his horse while hunting wild asses in the winter of 1226 and developed a fever; Rashid al-Din writes of an illness that grew worse by the day. The exact cause of death remains uncertain.²⁷

Where he lies is unknown. Rashid al-Din says he chose the mountain Burqan Qaldun in Mongolia as the burial ground for himself and his descendants. Columbia's Asia for Educators reports a legend that horses trampled the grave to hide it, and the possibility that he had no tomb at all; a 2014 satellite survey published in PLOS ONE still treated the tomb as unlocated.²⁸

What happened to the Mongol Empire after Genghis Khan?

His third son Ögedei, whom he had named as heir, became Great Khan and the conquests went on: into Russia in the 1230s, the end of the Jin in 1234 and Legnica in 1241. In 1260 the Mamluks of Egypt defeated a Mongol army at Ain Jalut. His grandson Kublai Khan ruled China as the Yuan dynasty.²⁹

At Legnica, on April 9, 1241, a Mongol army destroyed the army of Henry the Pious, Duke of Silesia, who was killed. At Ain Jalut in Palestine, in 1260, the Mamluks halted the Mongol advance in the Middle East. The generals behind many of these campaigns are profiled in the greatest commanders of the Mongol Empire, among them Subutai.³⁰

By 1260 the empire had split into four parts: Kublai's realm of China, Mongolia, Korea and Tibet; Central Asia; the Ilkhanate in Persia; and the Golden Horde in Russia.³¹

Historical atlas map of Asia and eastern Europe showing the Mongol khanates around 1300 — The Mongol dominions between 1300 and 1405, when Genghis Khan's empire had split into successor states such as the Yuan dynasty in China and the Golden Horde. Map from William R. Shepherd's Historical Atlas, 1923. Public domain³²

Set his campaigns beside the commanders of other ages in our guide to the greatest military commanders in history, from Alexander to Napoleon, or see which conqueror you most resemble in our Which Commander Are You quiz.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “Key Figures in Mongol History”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”; Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “Mongol Unity under Chinggis Khan”; Asia for Educators, “The Mongol Conquests”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “The Collapse of the Empire”; Muzeum Historii Polski, “Najazdy mongolskie na Polskę”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “Mongol Unity under Chinggis Khan”; Asia for Educators, “Tribal Group vs. Mongol Identity under Chinggis Khan”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “Key Figures in Mongol History”; Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Rashiduddin Fazlullah, “Jami'u't-tawarikh”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Rashiduddin Fazlullah, “Jami'u't-tawarikh”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “Mongol Unity under Chinggis Khan”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Asia for Educators, “Mongol Unity under Chinggis Khan”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “Chinggis's Mastery of Organization and Military Tactics”; Asia for Educators, “Tribal Group vs. Mongol Identity under Chinggis Khan”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Asia for Educators, “Chinggis's Mastery of Organization and Military Tactics”; 'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, “The History of the World-Conqueror, vol. 1”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “Tribal Group vs. Mongol Identity under Chinggis Khan”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “Chinggis's Mastery of Organization and Military Tactics”; Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; 'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, “The History of the World-Conqueror, vol. 1”. ↩
'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, “The History of the World-Conqueror, vol. 1”; Asia for Educators, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”; Asia for Educators, “Chinggis's Successor and Further Expansion of the Empire”. ↩
'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, “The History of the World-Conqueror, vol. 1”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “Key Figures in Mongol History”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Asia for Educators, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩
'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, “The History of the World-Conqueror, vol. 1”; Asia for Educators, “Chinggis Khan's Four Great Legacies”. ↩
'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, “The History of the World-Conqueror, vol. 1”; Asia for Educators, “Chinggis Khan's Four Great Legacies”. ↩
Igor de Rachewiltz, “The Secret History of the Mongols”; Rashiduddin Fazlullah, “Jami'u't-tawarikh”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “The Death of Chinggis Khan”. ↩
Rashiduddin Fazlullah, “Jami'u't-tawarikh”; Asia for Educators, “The Death of Chinggis Khan”; Albert Yu-Min Lin, “Crowdsourcing the Unknown”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “Chinggis's Successor and Further Expansion of the Empire”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Asia for Educators, “The Collapse of the Empire”; Muzeum Historii Polski, “Najazdy mongolskie na Polskę”; Gilmar E. Visoni, “Battle of Ain Jālūt”. ↩
Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”; Muzeum Historii Polski, “Najazdy mongolskie na Polskę”; Gilmar E. Visoni, “Battle of Ain Jālūt”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “The Collapse of the Empire”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩
Asia for Educators, “The Collapse of the Empire”; Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada, “Mongolia”. ↩

Sources

Robert L. Worden and Andrea Matles Savada (eds.), “Mongolia: A Country Study” (Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 2nd ed., 1991), ch. 1. Read at the Internet Archive.
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Key Figures in Mongol History: Chinggis Khan”.
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”.
Igor de Rachewiltz (trans.), “The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century”, shorter version ed. John C. Street (Western Washington University, CEDAR, 2015).
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Mongol Unity under Chinggis Khan”.
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “The Mongol Conquests: What Led to the Conquests?”.
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “The Collapse of the Empire”.
Muzeum Historii Polski, “Najazdy mongolskie na Polskę”.
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Tribal Group vs. Mongol Identity under Chinggis Khan”.
Rashiduddin Fazlullah, Jami'u't-tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles. A History of the Mongols, trans. W. M. Thackston (Harvard University, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998-1999).
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Chinggis's Mastery of Organization and Military Tactics”.
'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, The History of the World-Conqueror, vol. 1, trans. John Andrew Boyle (Manchester University Press, 1958).
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Chinggis's Successor and Further Expansion of the Empire”.
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Chinggis Khan's Four Great Legacies”.
Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “The Death of Chinggis Khan”.
Albert Yu-Min Lin, Andrew Huynh, Gert Lanckriet and Luke Barrington, “Crowdsourcing the Unknown: The Satellite Search for Genghis Khan”, PLOS ONE 9, no. 12 (2014): e114046.
Gilmar E. Visoni, “Battle of Ain Jālūt”, EBSCO Research Starters.