war

Genghis Khan

From a boy on the Onon to the Caspian, c. 1162–1227

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A boy whose father was poisoned and whose family was left to eat roots ends as the master of the largest contiguous land empire yet seen. The armies march, the empire spreads behind them, and two generals ride eight thousand kilometres around the Caspian to a river in Ukraine and back. Dates before 1206 are approximate — the sources give a year, and sometimes only an age — and are stored here as bare years rather than invented days. Everything from the kurultai onward is firm.

How this is made →
68events
22routes
1 January 1162 – 31 December 1227span
Wars & Empirescategory
Mongol EmpireThe riseCampaignsThe great raid

What is on the map

  • 20 The rise
  • 41 Campaigns
  • 7 The great raid

Chronology

  1. Born at Delüün Boldog on the Onon, clutching a clot of blood, the story saysbirth▸
  2. Yesügei is poisoned by Tatars who recognise him at their tabledeath▸
  3. The Tayichiud abandon the family: a widow and seven children live on roots and marmotsexile▸
  4. Temüjin and Qasar kill their half-brother Behter over a fish and a larkdeath▸
  5. Taken by the Tayichiud in a cangue, he escapes by lying all night in the Ononescape▸
  6. He rides to claim Börte, betrothed to him at nine years oldmarriage▸
  7. The Merkits carry Börte off in revenge for a bride stolen a generation earlierraid▸
  8. With Toghrul and Jamukha, twenty thousand each, he takes her back. Jochi is born on the roadbattle▸
  9. A camp and a few hundred men, c. 1180territory▸
  10. Eighteen months camped as brothers with Jamukha, then a cryptic remark and they partsplit▸
  11. Dalan Baljut: Jamukha wins, and boils prisoners alive in seventy cauldronsbattle▸
  12. A decade the sources leave blank. He was probably serving the Jinexile▸
  13. He fights the Tatars alongside a Jin army and is given a title for itcampaign▸
  14. A following again, c. 1196territory▸
  15. A coalition of tribes proclaims Jamukha Gür Khan against himproclamation▸
  16. Dalan Nemurges: the Tatars destroyed, every male taller than a cart linchpin killedmassacre▸
  17. Qalaqaljid Sands: Toghrul turns on him and beats him badlybattle▸
  18. The Baljuna Covenant: nineteen men drink the muddy water with him and swearoath▸
  19. Jejer Undur: three days of fighting end the Kereit. Toghrul is killed by a border guard who does not know himbattle▸
  20. The Kereit destroyed, 1203territory▸
  21. Jamukha is handed over by his own men. He asks to die without his blood being spiltdeath▸
  22. Chakirmaut: the Naiman broken and Tayang Khan killed. The steppe has one masterbattle▸
  23. The steppe under one man, 1204territory▸
  24. The last Merkit are hunted down and Toqto'a Beki killedcampaign▸
  25. At the source of the Onon, Temüjin is proclaimed Genghis Khanproclamation▸
  26. The Mongol heartland, 1206territory▸
  27. The Yassa, the decimal army and a guard of ten thousand: a nation built out of shattered tribeslaw▸
  28. Jochi takes the forest peoples of the Yenisei without a battlecampaign▸
  29. A first probe into the Western Xia, to see what walls doraid▸
  30. Wulahai fortress falls: the Western Xia campaign openssiege▸
  31. Zhongxing besieged — the Yellow River dykes are cutsiege▸
  32. The Western Xia submit and become a vassaltreaty▸
  33. The Western Xia made vassal, 1210territory▸
  34. The Great Wall crossed: war on the Jin dynastycampaign▸
  35. Huan'erzhui: the Jin field army is destroyedbattle▸
  36. Liaoyang falls; the Khitan of Manchuria change sidessiege▸
  37. Jebe forces the Juyong Passbattle▸
  38. Through the Wall, across the plain, 1213territory▸
  39. Three armies fan out across the North China plain, sacking ninety citiescampaign▸
  40. The Jin buy peace with a princess, five hundred youths and three thousand horsestreaty▸
  41. The Jin court abandons Zhongdu for Kaifeng, and the Khan takes it as a broken oathflight▸
  42. Zhongdu falls after a year of famine and blockadesiege▸
  43. North China to the Yellow River, 1215territory▸
  44. Subutai destroys the last Merkit on the Chu riverbattle▸
  45. On the Irghiz, a Mongol column and a Khwarazmian army meet by accident and fight to nightfallbattle▸
  46. Jebe annexes Qara Khitai without a siegeconquest▸
  47. Qara Khitai absorbed, 1218territory▸
  48. Otrar: the governor seizes the caravan and kills the merchantsincident▸
  49. The envoys sent to demand justice come back with their beards burnt; the ambassador does not come back at allincident▸
  50. The army rides west: the Khwarazmian Empire is invadedcampaign▸
  51. Otrar falls after five months; Inalchuq is executedsiege▸
  52. Bukhara, reached across the Kyzylkum, falls almost unopposedsiege▸
  53. In the Friday mosque of Bukhara: "I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, He would not have sent me"sermon▸
  54. Samarkand surrenders on the fifth daysiege▸
  55. Transoxiana taken, 1220territory▸
  56. Gurganj invested — the siege that will take five months and drown the citysiege▸
  57. Shah Muhammad II dies a fugitive on a Caspian islanddeath▸
  58. Merv surrenders to Tolui, then is put to the swordsiege▸
  59. Termez stormed; a woman is cut open for having swallowed pearlssiege▸
  60. Gurganj: the hardest fight of the war, the city floodedsiege▸
  61. Nishapur stormed in three days; 400 craftsmen sparedsiege▸
  62. Balkh, the mother of cities, surrenders and is levelled anywaymassacre▸
  63. Herat taken after eight days — it will rebel and be razedsiege▸
  64. Bamiyan, where a grandson of the Khan is killedsiege▸
  65. Parwan: Jalal al-Din beats a Mongol detachmentbattle▸
  66. The Indus: Jalal al-Din spurs his horse off the cliff and escapesbattle▸
  67. From the Caspian to the Yellow Sea, 1221territory▸
  68. Khunan: the Georgian army broken, King George IV mortally hurtbattle▸
  69. The Taoist Changchun reaches the Khan in the Hindu Kush, and is asked for the elixir of immortalityencounter▸
  70. Herat rebels and is given a week: the killing is said to have lasted seven daysmassacre▸
  71. Derbent: guides taken by force for the mountain crossingcrossing▸
  72. Alans and Cumans split by envoys, then destroyed one by onebattle▸
  73. The Kalka: the princes of the Rus’ annihilatedbattle▸
  74. Samara Bend: the Volga Bulgars rout the raidersbattle▸
  75. Jebe and Subutai rejoin the Khan on the Irtysh; Jebe diesreturn▸
  76. The Western Xia rebel: the last campaign beginscampaign▸
  77. The Xia cities of the Gobi taken one by one through the wintersiege▸
  78. Genghis Khan dies at Xingqing; the Xia are eraseddeath▸
  79. The empire at his death, 1227territory▸
  80. Xingqing surrenders to a dead man. The Xia are struck from the recordmassacre▸

Routes and campaigns

  • After Börte: the ride against the Merkits
  • Beaten at Dalan Baljut, and gone from the sources
  • East with a Jin army against the Tatars
  • Against the Kereit, and beaten
  • Out of Baljuna to finish Toghrul
  • West to the Altai against the Naiman
  • Back to the source of the Onon
  • South to the Western Xia
  • Across the Gobi against the Jin
  • Jebe rides into Qara Khitai
  • The Irtysh to Otrar
  • The Kyzylkum crossing to Bukhara
  • Hunting the Shah round the Caspian
  • Tolui through Khorasan
  • Into Persia and the Mugan steppe
  • The pursuit of Jalal al-Din to the Indus
  • Georgia, twice
  • Over the Caucasus by Derbent
  • West across the Cuman steppe
  • North to the Volga, and a beating
  • Home along the Kazakh steppe
  • Back to finish the Western Xia

Background reading: the parent article.

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