Who was greater, Genghis Khan or Napoleon?
It depends on what you measure. By sheer scale, Genghis Khan conquered far more, and the Mongol empire dwarfed anything Napoleon held, though it peaked under his heirs. Napoleon fought more battles against tougher, better-organized enemies and left laws and institutions that still shape the modern world. One was the supreme conqueror of land, the other the supreme reformer-general.
One built the largest contiguous land empire the world has ever seen from the saddle; the other rose from revolution to dominate Europe and rewrite its laws. Genghis Khan and Napoleon never shared a battlefield or a century, but as conquerors they invite the comparison. Here they are, side by side.
Head to head
| Genghis Khan | Napoleon | |
|---|---|---|
| Born | c. 1162 (some scholars prefer 1167)1 | 15 August 1769, Ajaccio, Corsica2 |
| Died | 18 August 1227, on campaign against the Western Xia3 | 5 May 1821, in exile on Saint Helena4 |
| Age at death | About 65 (about 60 if born in 1167) | 515 |
| Years in power | Genghis Khan from 1206 to 1227, about 21 years6 | First Consul from 1799, Emperor from 1804 to 1814 and again in 1815, about 15 years7 |
| Role | Founder and Great Khan of the Mongols | Emperor of the French and general |
| Greatest triumph | Uniting the steppe and conquering much of northern China | Austerlitz, 1805 |
| Realm at its height | 12 to 15 million km² (4.6 to 5.8 million sq mi) at his death in 12278 | About 2.1 million km² (810,000 sq mi) in 1813, counting the lands France controlled9 |
| Later peak | About 24 million km² (9.3 million sq mi) around 1279, under his heirs: the largest contiguous land empire in history10 | None: France was back within its old borders in 181511 |
| Main campaigns | Western Xia (1209 and 1226 to 1227), Jin China (from 1211), Khwarazm (from 1219)12 | Italy (1796 to 1797), Egypt (1798 to 1799), Austerlitz (1805), Jena (1806), Wagram (1809), Russia (1812), Leipzig (1813), Waterloo (1815)13 |
| Battle record | No reliable tally; rarely beaten in a lifetime of conquest | About 60 battles fought, by Andrew Roberts's count14 |
| Undoing | Died on campaign in 1227; the empire split among his heirs15 | Russia in 1812 and the coalitions; fell at Waterloo16 |
| Lasting legacy | Reshaped Eurasia, its trade and its peoples | The Napoleonic Code and modern warfare17 |
Genghis Khan: the empire from the steppe
Long before Napoleon's Grande Armée, Genghis Khan united Mongolia's quarreling tribes and built a cavalry army of expert horse archers on hardy steppe ponies. He seized much of northern China, then Central Asia, and the empire he founded grew under his heirs into the largest contiguous land empire in history, from the Pacific toward the gates of Europe.18
Napoleon: the master of Europe
Where the Khan rose from the steppe, Napoleon climbed out of the French Revolution to rule most of a continent, with victories such as Austerlitz in 1805, widely regarded as one of his greatest, and he remade its laws, its government and the conduct of war. He fought coalition after coalition until the invasion of Russia in 1812 broke his army and Waterloo in 1815 ended him for good.19
Who lived first, Genghis Khan or Napoleon?
Genghis Khan, by more than five centuries. He was born around 1162 and died on 18 August 1227, during a campaign against the Western Xia. Napoleon was born in Ajaccio on 15 August 1769 and died on Saint Helena on 5 May 1821. His birth came 542 years after the Khan's death.20
Whose empire was bigger?
Genghis Khan's, roughly six times over. The political scientist Rein Taagepera estimated the Mongol realm at the Khan's death in 1227 at 12 to 15 million km² (4.6 to 5.8 million sq mi). For France and the lands it controlled in Europe in 1813, Napoleon's last full year of power, his estimate is about 2.1 million km² (810,000 sq mi).21
The gap then widened. Guinness World Records puts the Mongol Empire at its peak, around 1279, at about 24 million km² (9.3 million sq mi), the largest contiguous land empire on record, and Taagepera's series reaches the same figure by 1309. In 1279 Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan completed the conquest of Song China. Napoleon's empire had no such afterlife: by 1815 France was back within its old borders. These are reconstructions drawn from shifting frontiers, and Taagepera gives the 1227 figure a margin of plus or minus 1.5 million km², so they are best read as orders of magnitude.22
How many battles did each win and lose?
Only Napoleon's record can be counted with any precision. By the historian Andrew Roberts's tally he fought sixty battles; his defeats included Leipzig in 1813 and Waterloo in 1815. We know of no comparable tally for Genghis Khan, whose wars are known largely from chronicles, so his career is easier to follow campaign by campaign.23
He invaded the Western Xia in 1209, began his war on the Jin dynasty of northern China in 1211, and in 1219 led the invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire that followed the massacre of his merchants at Otrar. He died during a second war on the Western Xia in 1227. Napoleon's best-known victories, from Austerlitz to Jena, are set out in our guide to the greatest Napoleonic battles; the Khan's generals have their own place among the greatest commanders of the Mongol Empire.24
How did Genghis Khan and Napoleon die?
Genghis Khan died on campaign, Napoleon in exile. The Khan died on 18 August 1227 fighting the Western Xia, aged about 65 if he was born in 1162. The Secret History of the Mongols records that on this last campaign, in the winter of 1226, he fell from his horse while hunting wild asses and was left in great pain and fever, and later Chinese and Persian sources suggest the fall may have led to his death. Napoleon died on Saint Helena on 5 May 1821, aged 51.25
The autopsy on Napoleon pointed to stomach cancer. A 2007 study whose senior author was the pathologist Robert Genta judged the evidence for that diagnosis overwhelming and found no sign of arsenic poisoning in the historical record, though the debate has not ended entirely. The Khan's burial place was kept secret and is still unknown.26
The verdict
By sheer scale Genghis Khan conquered far more: the Mongol empire dwarfed anything Napoleon held, though it reached its greatest extent under his heirs. Napoleon fought more battles against tougher, better-organized enemies, and left behind laws and institutions that still shape the modern world. One was the supreme conqueror of land, the other the supreme reformer-general. Set beside Rome's great conqueror instead, the Mongol empire again far outstrips the ground Caesar won, as our Genghis Khan vs Caesar comparison shows.
So who was better? Judged as a conqueror, Genghis Khan: in about 21 years in power he left a realm roughly six times the size of Napoleon's at its height, and it kept growing after him. Judged as a battlefield general on the record that can be measured, Napoleon: about sixty battles against the professional armies of Europe, and campaigns that were usually successful until 1812. Three caveats apply. The area figures are estimates. Much of the Mongol expansion covered sparsely populated steppe, as Taagepera himself notes, so area alone flatters the Khan. And while the Mongol Empire split into rival khanates from the 1260s, the Napoleonic Code outlived Napoleon's empire and still shapes law across Europe.27
Both men also face Alexander, in Napoleon vs Alexander and Genghis Khan vs Alexander, and you can see where the emperor and the Khan rank among the greatest military commanders. Both men are among the faces in Guess the Commander.
About this comparison
You will find a complete biography of Genghis Khan and of Napoleon on this site, each with its own source list. Weighing the steppe conqueror against the French emperor is our opinion and open to challenge; every fact and date is drawn from established histories. Our editorial policy explains how we work.
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