The Beginnings of Genghis Khan — The Wrath of the Khans Podcast
For those who haven’t tuned into Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, The Wrath of the Khans should convince you to listen. The first episode sets the stage to learn about one of the greatest conquerors and by Dan Carlin’s view also shared by many military historians, as one of the greatest military strategists as well.
The Ancient Mongols of the Steppe
His birth was no ordinary one. It was claimed that he born with a knife in hand. Is this true? No, but this does highlight the living conditions of the Mongolians on the Steppe and foreshadows his life as a conqueror.
Genghis Khan — his birth name being Temujin and Genghis being a name given once declared ruler — was born on the Mongolian Steppe. This area — much like current Mongolia — is a vast region of prairie like environments. He is born into a tribe which during this time — around the 12thh to 13th century — is populated with much Steppe nomadic tribes. Undoubtedly competition was fierce with numerous tribes cramped in one area. This may be a causal factor in why Mongols of this time were bred for war.
Kids by the age of two would start riding horses to become just as good as walking then riding on horseback. They would learn to shoot arrows young and this was learnt by both sexes alike. In fact, it was the women who taught all children how to ride and shoot — their technique shooting on horseback was perfected to firing arrows only once during the gallop the horse had all 4 hoofs off the ground, preventing all animal inhibiting their shots.
The strength of the Mongols tribes of the Steppe laid in their use of horses. Humans and horses developed bonds like man and dog. Usually one person would have a horse that would follow this person everywhere as if it were a trained dog. Notably, this one horse would attract other horses thus each Mongol had a little fleet of horses to him or herself. And here lied the military strength of their horse caring society: in battle a Mongol would ride with this herd of horses and could live off them. All of their horses when campaigning in wars were mares, thus allowing them to drink milk and at times when in need, would draw little incisions and drink the blood of the horse. This gave Mongols of the Steppe great military advantages because they didn’t need supply lines: they were the most mobile forces ever until the invention of mechanical transport and air warfare.
The Rise of Genghis Khan
How Genghis Khan was able to rise and gain power was defeating the Chinese strategy against the Mongols. Knowing the Mongols of the Steppe were fierce warriors, the key to the Chinese strategy to protect themselves with these tribes at their borders was to keep them divided. They would offer benefits to tribes or had them feud amongst each other and Genghis Khan knew this. By uniting the tribes of the Steppe — as he successfully accomplished — he was able to create the beginning stages of his empire. This started with uniting the Mongol tribes and invading China. The rest is history, or is it?
