Image of Genghis Khan. Interesting facts about Genghis Khan (25 photos). Scorched earth tactics

The great Genghis Khan was one of the most ferocious people who ever lived on the planet. Temujin's reign was marked by bloody massacres, torture and the ruthless destruction of entire tribes: Hitler, Napoleon and Stalin look like amateurs compared to Genghis Khan. In the 13th century, there was not a single country throughout Europe that could not be afraid of the Mongol invasion - Genghis Khan’s empire had already spread throughout Asia and no one could resist his bloodthirsty army. Who knows, if the wheel of history had turned a little differently, now the descendants of this cruel emperor could have owned the entire Earth.

Genghis Khan's ambitions cost the lives of 40 million people. This means that the bloody conqueror destroyed 11% of the population of the entire planet at that time. Moreover, the death of so many people cooled the climate of the planet for the entire 13th century, because about 700 million tons of CO2 did not enter the atmosphere.

Fratricide

Genghis Khan's mother was forced to feed and support seven children alone after her father died in a raid on a neighboring tribe. At the age of nine, Genghis Khan killed his brother Bekter - he did not share his food.

Master of Torture

Genghis Khan knew a lot about torture. He often whiled away the evenings by pouring molten silver into the ears of prisoners. And the khan’s “signature” method of killing was the so-called “human bow”: the warriors bent a person so that his spine eventually broke.

Iranian genocide

The Khorezm Empire was very strong in the 13th century, but the onslaught of the Mongols literally erased it from the world map. In bloody battles, 3/4 of all Iranians died - a real genocide.

Loving Emperor

In each captured tribe, the most beautiful girls were selected especially for Genghis Khan, whose age should not exceed 15 years. The Mongol Khan's harem consisted of several thousand women and most had children from him. Imagine how huge the offspring of Genghis Khan are!

Scorched earth tactics

Genghis Khan's early campaigns ended with the total extermination of the entire enemy tribe. Even women and the smallest children died: the leader did not spare anyone.

great empire

For all his cruelty, Genghis Khan was an excellent and very wise ruler. Under his hand, the largest state in human history was founded: the territory of the Mongol Empire occupied 16.11% of the entire earth's land.

Tolerant pagan

The Mongol Khan considered religion an ideal means of maintaining order throughout the empire. He carefully studied all the major religions of the world. Islam, Taoism and Christianity interested the khan most of all. On the territory of the empire it was allowed to profess any religion - the smart ruler sought to unite his country.

Faceless Warrior

You've probably seen images of Genghis Khan at least in a school textbook, not to mention the fact that the image of the khan is shown in dozens of films. However, in fact, no one even knows what the Mongol conqueror looked like. Historians can only say one thing with certainty: the khan had red hair.

Mysterious death

It is still unknown why exactly Genghis Khan died. At 65 years old, the ruler of a huge empire remained a strong and active warrior, which practically excludes the possibility of death from old age. Some historians believe that Genghis Khan was stabbed to death by a young concubine, a captured Tangut princess.

Within 30 years, the Mongol horde led by Genghis Khan swept across Asia, killing one tenth of all people on Earth and conquering almost a quarter of the land. His reign was the most brutal in all of human history. Some of Genghis Khan’s actions are still considered today to be among the most cruel of all rulers on Earth.

1. Genghis Khan killed his brother for food

Genghis Khan was born into the family of the influential leader Yesugei, but the boy’s position in society changed when his father was poisoned by an enemy tribe. His family was expelled from their home and they were forced to look for funds to survive.

When Genghis Khan was 14 years old, he caught a big fish and brought it to his family. But his half-brother Bekter snatched the fish from his hands and ate it himself, refusing to share it with anyone. The enraged Genghis Khan chased his brother until he shot him with a bow. Genghis Khan did not get away with his first murder: his mother scolded him severely.

2. Genghis Khan beheaded people taller than 90 centimeters

When Genghis Khan was 20 years old, he led a campaign against the tribe that killed his father and took revenge. The Tatar army was defeated, and Genghis Khan began to exterminate people in an incredibly unusual way. Each Tatar was placed next to the cart and his height was measured in comparison with the axis of the wheel (which was at 90 centimeters). Everyone who was taller had their heads cut off. In fact, only children were spared.

3. The piles of bones of his victims were confused with mountains.

In 1211, Genghis Khan turned his attention to modern China and attacked the Jin Empire. This seemed like a rash decision: there were 53 million people in the Jin Empire, but there were only one million Mongols. Nevertheless, Genghis Khan won. Within three years, the Mongols reached the walls of Zhongdu (now Beijing). The city walls were 12 meters high and stretched for 29 km around the entire city. Since it was not possible to take them by storm, the Mongols decided to besiege the city and starve it out.

By the summer of 1215, cannibalism began to rage in the city and Zhongdu eventually surrendered. The Mongols plundered and burned the city, slaughtering all the inhabitants. A few months later, an eyewitness wrote that “real white mountains formed from the bones of the dead, and the ground was greasy with human fat.”

4. Genghis Khan made the archer who shot him his military leader

During the war with the Mongol Taichigud clan, Genghis Khan's horse was hit by an arrow, killing the animal on the spot. A fallen horse crushed him, but he was able to escape. Genghis Khan's army won the battle, and he demanded that all the prisoners be lined up in front of him and asked who fired that arrow.

Unexpectedly, the archer Jebe came forward and admitted that he shot and wanted to kill Genghis Khan. The famous military leader was so impressed by Jebe's courage that he made him a commander in his army (Jebe later became a general and one of Genghis Khan's most loyal friends).

5. Genghis Khan married his daughters to his allies

One of the ways to seize power from Genghis Khan was to marry his daughters to allied rulers. When such a marriage took place, it effectively meant a death sentence for these rulers. Firstly, for the privilege of marrying one of Genghis Khan's daughters, they had to expel all their other wives. Monogamy had nothing to do with it: Genghis Khan simply had to make sure that his daughters were the only ones in line for the throne.

Then the rulers were sent to fight at the head of the army, and almost every one of them immediately died in battle. By the time of Genghis Khan's death, his daughters ruled an area stretching from the Chinese Yellow Sea to the Iranian Caspian Sea.

6. Genghis Khan exterminated 1.7 million people, avenging one

His daughters' marriages may have been strategic alliances, but that doesn't mean the unions were devoid of romance. One of Genghis Khan's daughters loved her husband named Tokuchar very much. Genghis Khan himself treated him as an adopted son and loved him very much. When Tokuchar was killed by an archer from Nishapur, his wife demanded revenge.

Genghis Khan's troops attacked Nishapur and massacred everyone in their path, including women, children and animals. According to some estimates, 1,748,000 people were killed. Then all the defeated were beheaded, and their skulls were placed in a pyramid at the request of Genghis Khan’s daughter.

7. The Mongols celebrated their victory with the Russian nobility

In 1223, as the Mongol army marched victoriously through Kievan Rus, it won the Battle of the Kalka River. The Mongols decided to celebrate their victory in a very unique way. The commanders of the army of Kievan Rus and the nobility were forced to lie on the ground, after which a heavy wooden gate was placed on them, on which chairs and tables were placed. After celebrating their victory literally on the bodies of their enemies, the Mongols crushed them to death during a feast.

8. Genghis Khan let the river take a new course

When Genghis Khan discovered the Muslim kingdom of Khorezm, he did something unusual for himself: he tried to establish peaceful relations. A group of diplomats were sent to the city, hoping to establish a trade route and establish diplomatic ties. The ruler of Khorezm, however, did not believe them. He believed that the diplomats were part of a Mongol conspiracy and executed them. He also killed the next group that the Mongols sent to negotiate. Genghis Khan was furious. He tried to establish peaceful relations, and in return he received dead diplomats.

As a result, an army of 200,000 Mongols attacked and completely destroyed Khorezm. Even after his victory, Genghis Khan sent two more armies to burn every castle, town and farm in the region and ensure that not the slightest hint of Khorezm would remain in history. According to legend, he even turned the river along a new channel so that it would flow through the place where the Emperor of Khorezm was once born.

9. Genghis Khan destroyed the Tangut state

When Genghis Khan attacked Khorezm, he asked the previously conquered kingdom of Xi Xia (the Tangut state) to send troops to his aid. The Tanguts refused to do this, which they greatly regretted. The Mongol army marched through Xi Xia, destroying everything in its path. They slaughtered all the people, and by the end of this campaign, Xi Xia was wiped off the face of the Earth.

Since the Tanguts did not record their own history, their state today can only be judged by records from neighboring countries. Their language remained dead for over 700 years. Only in the middle of the 20th century did archaeologists unearth stones that had inscriptions in Tangut.

10. All the people who participated in the burial of Genghis Khan were killed

When Genghis Khan died, according to the will of the great ruler, he had to be buried where no one could find his remains. To fulfill his wish, slaves, accompanied by soldiers, took the body many kilometers deep into the desert. To make sure that the slaves would never reveal the secret of the burial place, the soldiers killed them and threw their bodies into a common grave. Then the warriors rode horses over the grave during the day to hide all traces and planted trees over it. When the soldiers who participated in the funeral procession returned to the camp, they were immediately killed. Genghis Khan's grave has not yet been found.

Continuing the theme of great people.

Unfortunately, the copyists of history have done a lot to ensure that the true events that took place during the time of the “Mongol-Tatars”, and in other times, were forgotten and erased from our memory.

The destruction of genuine evidence, its falsification, the silencing of remaining traces - these are the few tools that are used by the enemies of humanity to control society and enslave the consciousness of an individual.

But it’s not always possible to hide and destroy all artifacts. So it is with the topic of “Mongol-Tatars”: so much data has accumulated that contradicts the official version of history that few people have any doubts that the “Mongol-Tatars”, like the “yoke,” never existed.

And also the fact that the “Mongol-Tatars” are not Mongoloids at all, as they imposed on the whole world, but Europeans!

(Pictured above is the Coat of Arms of Genghis Khan (Museum of Mongolia))

Where did the term “Mongol-Tatars” come from?

In 1817, Christian Kruse published the Atlas of European History ("Atlas and tables for reviewing the history of all European lands and states from their first population to our times"), where he first introduced into scientific circulation the term "Mongol-Tatar yoke" (in Russian This work was translated into English in 1845).

In Russia, the term “Mongol-Tatars” was introduced into circulation by the famous historian P. N. Naumov in 1823. And only from this time, from the 19th century, it appeared in textbooks and scientific articles. In all surviving sources, be it maps, chronicles, dictionaries, of course there are no “Mongol-Tatars”.

Studying the etymology of the word “Mongol-Tatars”, we see that this term was artificially invented and introduced into use much later than the events of the “Mongol-Tatar yoke”. And now more details.

Looking at the maps and illustrations of the atlases that have come down to us, we will see the words MOGOL, MOGUL! Please note, without the letter "N".

The word "Mogul" is of Greek origin and means "Great". This is exactly what the Great Ones called us, the Slavs, the Rus, by some Europeans, Arabs, Chinese, and Japanese on their maps, on engravings and other surviving artifacts. And those whom historians call Mongols, call themselves Khalkhas or Khalkhas, Oirats and so on. But not the Mongols. And historians began to call them Mongols only in the 20th century.

And now regarding the word “Tatars”.

If you look at the cards, you will see the true spelling of the word - “Tartary”, “Tartarie”, “Tartaria”, Tartariae, Tartares, Tartarian. You can see and read in more detail about Tartaria, Tartars, Moguls, and Mogolia on the PishchaRa website.

That is, not Tatars, but Tartars. Yes, yes, exactly TARTARS. And these people lived on the territory of Great Tartary, that’s why they called them that!

So it turns out that in one case the Slavs were called Mughals, in another Tartars. But never - “Mongol-Tatars”! And the words “Mongols” and “Tatars” are already a modern translation of would-be historians from science. And if you take the original surviving artifact and the translation, you can see for yourself how “Tartars” turn into “Tatars” and “Mughals” into “Mongols.”

What did the “Mongol-Tatars” known to us all look like?

According to the official version of history, the “Mongol-Tatars” are representatives of the Mongoloid race, who have a different eye structure than other races, and first of all, they are slanted eyes with a highly developed fold of the upper eyelid, black hair, dark eyes, with a yellowish skin color, with strongly protruding cheekbones, a flattened face and poorly developed hair.

And, of course, in all films the “Mongol-Tatars” appear exactly as described above. In history lessons, teachers repeat the same thing; teachers at universities hammer the information into students’ heads that the “Mongol-Tatars” are Mongoloids, and nothing else. With the rare exception of teachers who are not afraid to go against the educational system.

In general, there are no affirmative sources that would unequivocally say that the “Mongol-Tatars” were Mongoloids. Rather, on the contrary, there are a very large number of artifacts indicating the opposite. Or rather, they say that all famous personalities of the times of the “Mongol-Tatars” were Europeans! And not just Europeans, but representatives of the white race - that would be more correct. But this information is carefully hushed up, because we will have to rewrite the entire history that was imposed on us in the 18th century.

Let's look at some of them in more detail.

Genghis Khan.

Let me start with the fact that history knows many Genghis Khans. But we will look at the one who became famous throughout the world. The one who is called the founder and first khan of the Mo(n) Gol Empire.

In fact, Genghis Khan, as many people think, is not a name, it is a title. And khans were the name given to military princes in Rus'. What is the real name of the famous Genghis Khan? Real name is Timur. Or, as was customary in those ancient times, Timur Chin (or Temujin, or Temujin in distorted pronunciation, as Genghis Khan was often called). The name of Genghis Khan has been sorted out. Now let's see what kind of “Mongol-Tatar” he was.

Of all the surviving portraits of Genghis Khan, historians have declared only one to be authentic. And this portrait of Emperor Taizu (Genghis Khan) is kept in the National Taipei Palace Museum, Taiwan:

The Mongolian doctor of sciences D. Bayar reports the following about the only portrait of Genghis Khan: “ The image of Genghis Khan was preserved in the walls of the palaces of the rulers of the Yuan times. When Manchu rule was overthrown in 1912, the historical and cultural assets were transferred to the Middle State.

These historical treasures included more than 500 paintings depicting rulers and their wives, sages and thinkers. There were also portraits of eight Mongol khans and seven khanshas. These portraits were published in Beijing in 1924, 1925 and 1926.

In this series of Mongol rulers, Genghis Khan is depicted wearing a light-colored Mongolian fur hat with a slanted brim, a wide forehead, a face radiating light, an intense gaze, bearded, braided behind the ears, and very old age. A detailed study was carried out regarding the authenticity of this image of Genghis Khan and it turned out that this portrait on fabric woven 59 cm long and 47 cm wide was starched and bordered in 1748.”

Those. this portrait dates back to the 18th century!!! But it was precisely in this century that a global process of falsification of history took place all over the world, including in Russia and China. So this portrait is another invention and falsification of historians.

Among the reproductions of Genghis Khan, there is another “medieval” Chinese drawing, which was made even later than the “official” portrait:

The drawing is made in ink on silk and depicts Genghis Khan in full growth in a Mongolian cap with a Mongolian bow in his right hand, a quiver with arrows behind his back, his left hand grasping the hilt of a saber in a sheath.

Rashid ad Din, a famous Persian figure, in his “Collection of Chronicles” also provides several miniatures where Genghis Khan appears in his imagination as a Mongoloid.

So what did the real Genghis Khan look like? And are there other sources indicating that he was not a Mongoloid?!

The historian Gumilyov in his book “Ancient Rus' and the Great Steppe” describes it as follows: “ The ancient Mongols were, according to the testimony of chroniclers and the finds of frescoes in Manchuria, a tall, bearded, blond-haired and blue-eyed people... Temujin was tall and majestic in stature, with a broad forehead and a long beard. The personality is militant and strong. This is what makes him different from others"

Borjigins have eyes that are “blue-green...” or “dark blue, with the pupil surrounded by a brown rim”“Histoire de Mogols el des Tatares par Aboul Ghazi Bahadour Khan, publiee, traduite el annotee par Baron Demaison. SPb., 1874. T. 11. P. 72, Cahun L. Introduclion a l "histoire de l" Asie. Paris, 1896. P. 201 "".

The Borjigins are a Mongolian family to which Timur-Genghis Khan belonged. Borjigin translates as "blue-eyed".

By the way, Rashid ad Din in his “Collection of Chronicles” also writes that Genghis Khan belonged to the Borjigin family and had light eyes.

AND here one can trace the inconsistency between the text, where Genghis Khan appears tall and light-eyed, and the illustrations, in which the Great Commander is clearly a Mongoloid, of short stature and dark eyes and hair color. But this is a topic for another conversation.

A Chinese drawing from the 13th-14th centuries has also been preserved, depicting Genghis Khan during a falconry:
As you can see, in this picture Genghis Khan is not a Mongoloid at all! A typical Slav, with a thick beard and signs of a clearly white race.

And here is the family seal of Genghis Khan, from the National Museum of Mongolia:

Doesn't remind you of anything? Falcon of Rurikovich? What about the Slavic and Aryan swastika?

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Nestorian crosses with swastikas began to be found in large numbers in Mongolia.

Nestorianism is a Christian movement founded c. 400 AD in Byzantium by Archbishop Nestorius; Later, in 431, by the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, despite the initial support of the emperor, the Nestorian movement was condemned as heresy, and Nestorius was exiled to a monastery in Egypt, then a province of Byzantium. Nowadays only the Syro-Persian (Assyrian) Church, otherwise the Assyrian Church of the East, adheres to this trend of Christianity.

During the period of the Mongol Empire, some high-ranking Mongols were Nestorian Christians, thanks to the activities of Byzantine preachers who had been active centuries before in Central Asia among the Mongol tribes, in particular the Mongol Kereit tribe. For example, the wife of Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, Barakchin and their son Sartak, the Mongol khan of the Golden Horde, who ruled for only one year in 1256, were Nestorian Christians.

So Marco Polo sees Genghis Khan as a European, and in his miniatures he paints him as a 100% Slav. In miniature “The Crowning of Genghis Khan”:

Marco Polo dresses both Genghis Khan and his retinue in European clothes, crowning the Great Commander with a crown with trefoils, which has always been an attribute of European rulers. And the sword that Genghis Khan holds in his hands has a shape that was characteristic of Russian swords!

So, it turns out that Genghis Khan was a blond guy with blue eyes!!! Here are the Mongols!

So, in addition to the “official” evidence recognized by science, there are others according to which Timur-Genghis Khan is more like a Slav than a Mongoloid, who are not tall, have clearly black hair and dark eyes. However, it is not customary to talk about this.

But before drawing any conclusions, let's see what other Great commanders and figures of the Mo(n) Gol era looked like, whose names have come down to us through the centuries.

Khan Batu.

Batu Khan, or rather Batu Khan, was the grandson of Timur-Genghis Khan. This fact is recognized by modern historians, and it is written about in chronicles and other documents.

Well, as usual, historians see him as a Mongoloid. Here is a portrait of him, which they recognize as authentic:

This is a Chinese manuscript “The History of the First Four Khans of the Clan of Genghis.”

But let's think logically. Batu also belongs to the Borjigin family and must at least resemble his grandfather, i.e. Genghis Khan, and have either blond hair, or blue eyes, or be at least 170 cm tall, or have other characteristics of the white race.

A bust of Batu Khan, located in Turkey, has survived to this day:

Of course, looking at the bust, it is difficult to draw conclusions about what color his eyes and hair were. But something else is visible. Before our eyes appears a typical European with a thick beard, in whose features there is absolutely no sign of a Mongoloid!

And here is another source - “Batu’s capture of Suzdal in 1238. Miniature from the “Life of Euphrosyne of Suzdal” of the 16th century. List of the 18th century":

This miniature depicts Khan Batu in a crown, on a white horse, who, accompanied by his squad, enters the city. His face is purely European, in no way Turkic. And it’s some kind of Slavic army, don’t you think?!

In another chronicle illustration, Batu Khan appears in the image of a Russian Tsar with his Russian warriors:

So the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu Khan, was not far from his grandfather in appearance.

Kublai Khan, or Kubla Khan, like Batu Khan, was the grandson of Genghis Khan, and, like his grandfather, became seriously famous. Let's take a look at this mo(n)goal.

According to the official version of history, Kublai conquered almost the entire world, capturing China and practically conquering Japan (and if not for the tornado, he would have succeeded). Of course, the men of official history see him as a Mongoloid:

To me, less so, Marco Polo portrays Kublai Kublai as a European. There is an illustration in the “Book of the Diversity of the World” depicting the arrival of Marco Polo at Kublai’s headquarters:

Here again Kublai is not a mo(n)goal, but a European!!! Facial features, beard - everything indicates that this is a man of European appearance.

And 4 wives of Kublai:

As you can see, they are not at all representatives of the Mongoloid race, and look like typical ladies of medieval Europe. And in crowns with trefoils, and the trefoil is a military symbol of the Slavic-Aryans!!!

And here is another illustration from the “Book about the Diversity of the World”:

On it, Kublai hands the Polo brothers a “golden medal” and sends them as ambassadors to the Pope. Again, the appearance, attire, attributes - everything is European!

Separately, I would like to draw your attention to the “golden treasure”. This is the so-called golden paiza. Paiza is a credential tag, issued as a symbol of delegation of power, vesting with special powers. No matter how surprising it may be, all the paizi belonging to the Mo(n)gol khans were found on the territory of Russia. Not a single paizi has been found in the spaces of modern Mongolia! This is another confirmation of the tale of the “Mongol-Tatar” yoke.

But let's return to Kublai.

A 13th-century Japanese scroll depicts Kublai's campaign against Japan:

On the right on the scroll is a wounded Japanese warrior, on the left are medieval mo(n)goals. In the picture, Khubilai's mo(n)gol army traditionally wears Russian clothes and boots. Noteworthy is the foot formation, characteristic of the tactics of the ancient Russians, as well as traditional Russian weapons: straight swords and complex bows. And pay attention also to the fiery-colored oseledets crest protruding from the top of the head of each of the three warrior-mo(n) heads - a detail of the external appearance inherent exclusively to the Slavs. But the most convincing thing is the faces that leave no doubt about their ethnicity.

In the miniature from the “Scroll of the Mongol Invasion” you can see one of Kublai’s ships:

The ship of the Mo(n) Gol flotilla, mainly with Russian warriors! The same as in the previous picture.

Those whom the Japanese call medieval mo(n)goals are one hundred percent Slavs!

Tamerlane.

The same story can be traced here as with Genghis Khan. Tamerlan is not a name, it's more of a nickname. And his name is Timur.

According to Ibn Arabshah's description, Timur was tall, broad-shouldered, had a large head and thick eyebrows, had long legs and long dry arms, and wore a large beard. Timur had a limp on his right leg. His eyes were like candles, but without sparkle. He had a loud voice, was distinguished by powerful strength and great courage, was not afraid of death, retained a clear memory until the end of his life, did not like jokes and lies, on the contrary, he liked the truth, even if it put him in a difficult position.

T.N. Granovsky in his “Complete Works” writes that Timur was born with white hair, like an old man’s, and through the female line he belonged to the offspring of Genghis Khan (who, as sources tell us, were fair-haired and blue-eyed). Although other historians claim that Timur did not belong to the Genghisid family. But we have a different task, for us the most important thing is whether he was a goal and what he looked like.

In the city of Sogyut, along with the bust of Batu Khan, there is also a bust of Timur:

As we see, Timur-Tamerlane here is a European, a typical Cossack. And in the minds of the Italians, Dutch, and French, Timur-Tamerlane is also a representative of the white race, and not the Mongoloid one:

But, surprisingly, some modern artists of Timur-Tamerlane in their works reproduce his appearance not as a Mongol, but as a European! Despite the fact that in films he appears as 100% Asian. So, on the stamp block Tamerlan is quite a Russian man, only with a black beard (apparently so that the censor will let him through for publication):

Thus, we figured out that there were no “Mongol-Tatars” in principle, and those who were called “Mughals” and “Tartars” were people of the white race, Europeans. And famous “Mongol-Tatar” personalities, such as Genghis Khan, Batu, Kublai, Tamerlane, Ulugbek, were Europeans. It is a fact! A fact that must be recognized not only by Russian historians, but also by the whole world.

PS: With the appearance in Russia of numerous medieval maps of Tartaria-Scythia, which also contain descriptions and portraits of the Emperors of Great Tartary, the official history does not stand up to criticism and requires the restoration of the truth, especially in the light of the school textbooks of our younger generation.

According to modern scientists, the blood of approximately 40 million people is on his hands, which is 11% of the entire population of the planet at that time.

To have something to compare with, the Second World War claimed only 3% of the world's population, that's 60-80 million. Having destroyed so much of the world's population, Genghis Khan deprived the Earth of more than 700 million tons of carbon dioxide, which influenced climate change and cooling in the 13th century.

At the age of 10 he killed his stepbrother

A difficult childhood and the loss of his father at the age of 9 had a negative impact on the formation of Genghis Khan’s character. His mother was expelled from the tribe along with her seven children and raised them alone, which was very difficult at that time. And Genghis Khan killed his brother Bekter because he did not want to share food with him.

Genghis Khan is a fictitious name

The real name of the ruler sounds like Tmujin, which means “iron” or “blacksmith”. But, apparently, the future ruler did not like his real name, and in 1206 he called himself Genghis Khan. “Khan” is a ruler, and scientists are still arguing about the meaning of the word “Chinggis,” but the most common opinion is that it is a distorted Chinese word “zheng,” which means “fair.”

Brutal torture

The Mongols under the rule of Genghis Khan were famous for their cruel tortures, the most favorite was pouring molten silver into the throat and ears of the victim. This method was often used: the enemy was bent backward until his spine broke.

When Genghis Khan's army defeated the Russians, they threw the surviving soldiers into one heap, perching a huge gate on top of them, on which his army feasted for several days, until all the soldiers under them suffocated.

Beauty pageants

When capturing new lands, Genghis Khan killed all the men and gave the women to his warriors, before organizing a beauty contest to choose the best one.

Genghis Khan defeated superior armies

Historical facts show that Genghis Khan was a truly great commander. With his army, he won victories over huge armies, several times their size.

For example, he defeated a million soldiers from the Jin Dynasty with an army of only 90,000 Mongols.

Turned enemies into comrades

Genghis Khan was an incredibly cunning and perspicacious man. In 1201, Genghis Khan was wounded in battle by an enemy archer. After the battle was won, Genghis Khan ordered to find the same archer who shot him.

So that the archer would not be afraid to confess, he said that the arrow hit his horse, and not himself. When the archer was found, Genghis Khan invited him to join the Mongol army instead of killing him.

Nobody knows what Genghis Khan looked like

The ruler forbade himself to be depicted, so today we do not know exactly what he looked like. Unfortunately, no written description of his appearance has survived, the only thing, some claim, is that he had red hair.

Huge offspring

Genghis Khan was famous for his huge harem and never denied himself the pleasure of enjoying more and more women. He planned to populate as many lands as possible with his descendants, this could guarantee the stability of the empire. Historians say that today about 8% of all Asians are descendants of Genghis Khan!

People's hero

In his homeland in Mongolia, he is revered to this day, the image of Genghis Khan adorns the Mongolian currency, and the people consider him a hero and the creator of an empire, but it is not customary to talk about his cruelty.

Iranian Genocide

The Khorezm Empire was a powerful power at that time, but Genghis Khan and his army massacred 3/4 of the entire population! After this, the Iranians restored their numbers only after 700 years.

Genghis Khan was religiously tolerant

Despite the bad character of the ruler and his cruelty, he still treated all religions with great respect. He studied Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity. His dream was to create an empire where there would never be religious strife.

One day he invited representatives of different religions to listen to arguments in defense of their religion, why it was the best. But the winner was never determined, since the participants got very drunk during the argument.

Didn't forgive the offenders

Genghis Khan did not tolerate either his offenders or the offenders of his people and always dealt with them cruelly.

For example, one ruler of a Khorezm city attacked one of the Mongol trade caravans and killed everyone. Having learned about this, Genghis Khan became furious and sent 100,000 soldiers to deal with this city, and ordered the ruler himself to fill his eyes and mouth with molten silver.

The mystery of death

Genghis Khan died in 1227 at the age of 65. Scientists around the world are still arguing over the cause of death. One legend says that he was killed by a Chinese princess he captured, and another that he fell from his horse because he was hit by an enemy arrow. Unfortunately, we do not know the burial place of Genghis Khan, which could reveal all the secrets.

Between 1206 and his death in 1227, the Mongol leader Genghis Khan conquered an area of ​​almost 31 million square kilometers - more than any person in history. On his way through Asia to Europe, he left behind millions of corpses. But the brutal conqueror also modernized Mongol culture, introduced religious freedom and helped establish contacts between East and West. Here are some interesting facts about the great ruler, who was a military genius, a political statesman and a bloodthirsty conqueror.

1. Real name

The man who became the "Great Khan" of the Mongols was born on the banks of the Onon River around 1162 and was originally named Temujin, meaning "of iron" or "blacksmith". He only received the honorific name "Genghis Khan" in 1206, when he was declared leader of the Mongols at a tribal meeting known as the kurultai.

Although "Khan" is a traditional title meaning "leader" or "ruler", historians still debate the origin of the word "Genghis". It could possibly mean "ocean" or "justice", but in context it is usually translated as "supreme ruler".

2. Difficult childhood

From an early age, Temujin experienced all the difficulties of life on the Mongolian steppe. The Tatars poisoned his father when the boy was just nine years old, and his own tribe later exiled his family, forcing his mother and seven children to survive alone. The boy hunted and fished to survive, and as a teenager he even killed his own half-brother who stole food from him.

When Temujin was a teenager, both he and the future conqueror's young wife were kidnapped by rival clans, and Genghis Khan was also at one time a slave until he managed to make a daring escape. Despite all these difficulties, by the early 1120s he had established himself as a formidable warrior and leader. After the young leader had accumulated a whole army of supporters, he began to enter into alliances with the heads of the main tribes. By 1206, he had already united the steppe peoples under his leadership and began his conquests.

3. Appearance

Even though Genghis Khan was such an influential figure, almost nothing is known about his personal life or even his appearance. Not a single portrait or sculpture of the Great Khan has survived, and what little information historians know is often contradictory or unreliable. Most stories describe him as a tall and strong man with a wild mane of hair and a long, bushy beard.

Perhaps the most unusual description is that of the 14th-century Persian chronicler Rashid al-Din, who claimed that Genghis Khan had red hair and green eyes. Such a claim is dubious since Al-Di never met the khan in person, but such traits were not unheard of among the ethnically very diverse Mongols.

4. Former enemies

The Great Khan valued talented people, and promoted his officers based on their skills and experience, not on their background or even personal affection. One famous example of such a belief in meritocracy occurred during the 1201 battle against the rival Taichigud clan. An arrow hit Genghis Khan's horse, killing the animal on the spot, and the great Khan himself was crushed by the horse. He survived literally by a miracle. When Genghis Khan's army won the battle, the commander ordered the prisoners to be lined up in front of him and demanded to confess who fired the very arrow that killed his horse.

One soldier bravely stepped forward and declared that he had done it. Genghis Khan, amazed by the archer's courage, made him an officer in his army and later nicknamed him "Jebe" or "arrow" in honor of their first meeting on the battlefield. Along with the famous General Subutai, Jebe eventually became one of the greatest field commanders of the Mongols during their conquests in Asia and Europe.

5. Revenge

Genghis Khan often gave other states the opportunity to submit peacefully to Mongol rule, but was not at all shy about drawing his sword if he was resisted. One of his most famous revenge campaigns was carried out in 1219, after the Shah of the Khwarezmid Empire broke his treaty with the Mongols. Genghis Khan offered the Shah a valuable trade agreement to exchange goods along the Silk Road, but when his first emissaries were killed, the enraged Khan responded by unleashing the full force of his Mongol hordes on Khwarezmid territory in Persia.

The ensuing war resulted in millions of deaths and the fall of the Shah's empire, but Genghis Khan did not stop there. He continued his victorious march by returning to the east and waging war against the Xi Xia Tanguts, a group of Mongol subjects who refused to obey orders to provide troops for the Great Khan's invasion of Khorezm.

6. Death of 40 million

Although it is no longer possible to know exactly how many people died during the Mongol conquests, many historians believe that there were about 40 million. Censuses taken during the Middle Ages show that China's population plummeted by tens of millions during the Khan's lifetime, and scholars estimate that he may have killed about three-quarters of the population of modern Iran during its war with the Khwarazmid Empire. As a result, the Mongol invasion may have reduced the world population by as much as 11 percent.

7. Tolerance

Unlike many empire builders, Genghis Khan was loyal to the cultural and religious diversity of the conquered territories. He passed laws for religious freedom for all, and even provided tax incentives for ceremonial places of various cults. This tolerance had a political background - the khan knew that happy people were less prone to rebellion, and the Mongols themselves had an extremely liberal attitude towards religion.

While Genghis Khan and many others believed in a shamanic belief system, honoring the spirits of the sky, winds and mountains, Nestorian Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and other animist cults were found among the steppe peoples. The Great Khan also took a personal interest in spirituality. He was known to pray in his tent several days before important military campaigns, and he often met with various religious leaders to discuss the details of their faith. In his old age, the khan even summoned the Taoist leader Qiu Chuji to his camp, and they allegedly had a long conversation about immortality and philosophy.

8. International postal system

Along with bows and horses, the Mongols' most powerful weapon was perhaps their extensive communications network. One of Genghis Khan's early decrees was the creation of an organized courier service known as Yam. This medieval express service consisted of a well-organized network of post houses and way stations located throughout the empire. Stopping to rest or change horses every 10 kilometers or so, official couriers could often travel up to 300 kilometers a day.

The system allowed for unimpeded travel with goods and information, but also acted as the Khan's "eyes and ears." Thanks to Yam, he could easily keep abreast of military and political events and maintain contact with his vast network of spies and intelligence officers. "Yam" also helped protect foreign dignitaries and traders during their travels.

9. Grave

Of all the mysteries surrounding the life of Genghis Khan, perhaps the most famous is the circumstances of his death. The traditional account says he died in 1227 from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse, but other sources list causes ranging from malaria to a knee wound. However, being near death, the khan did everything possible to keep his final resting place a secret.

According to legend, his funeral procession killed everyone they saw on the way to the burial site, and then pranced on horseback for a long time around Genghis Khan's grave to hide even the slightest trace that someone was buried in this place. The tomb is most likely located on or near a Mongolian mountain called Burkhan Khaldun, but to this day its exact location is unknown.

10. Memory

Genghis Khan is today considered a national hero and the founding father of Mongolia, but during the Soviet era in the 20th century, even the mere mention of his name was prohibited. Hoping to eradicate all traces of Mongol nationalism, the USSR tried to destroy the memory of the khan by removing the slightest mention of him from school textbooks and banning people from making pilgrimages to the conqueror's homeland in Khentii. Genghis Khan was "restored" into Mongolia's history after the country gained independence in the early 1990s.

Another conqueror also went down in history: .

Based on materials from: history.com