The rise of Genghis Khan to supreme power in the Mongol world was the result of a long, complicated process that took more than two decades to complete, from the late 1180s, when Temüjin was a young man in his twenties, to the spring of 1206, when he was proclaimed as Genghis Khan at the kurultai of 1206. The process was not a single dramatic event but a long series of campaigns, alliances, betrayals, and reforms that gradually built the foundations of the Mongol state.
The story of Genghis Khan’s rise to power is told in greatest detail in the Secret History of the Mongols, the thirteenth-century Mongolian text that is the only major historical source for the events of the period. The Secret History is a literary text as well as a historical one, full of heroic songs, genealogical poetry, and dramatic dialogue, but it is also a remarkably detailed and in many ways reliable account of the events it describes.
The Foundations: Family, Tribe, and Personal Talent
The first foundation of Genghis Khan’s rise was his family. Temüjin was the eldest son of the Kiyat chieftain Yesugei and his wife Hoelun, and the Kiyat belonged to the Borjigin clan, which claimed descent from a legendary common ancestor called Bodonchar. The Borjigin pedigree gave Temüjin a claim to rule that no amount of personal ability could have created on its own. The Mongol political tradition recognized the right of the Borjigin to rule, and any candidate for the supreme chieftainship of the Mongol people had to be able to claim Borjigin descent.
The second foundation was the early alliances that Temüjin forged with other powerful Mongol nobles. The most important of these was the anda, or blood-brother, relationship with a young Mongol nobleman named Jamukha. The anda relationship was a particularly sacred form of alliance in steppe society, in which two unrelated men bound themselves together in a relationship of mutual loyalty that was considered stronger than kinship. The relationship between Temüjin and Jamukha was, in its early years, a key source of support for the young Temüjin, and the two men operated as a kind of junior ruling pair for several years.
The third foundation was Temüjin’s relationship with the Keraite prince Toghrul. Toghrul was a Christian, a Nestorian, and the overlord of a substantial Keraite population in the upper Orkhon basin. Toghrul was bound to Yesugei by an old friendship, and he had helped the Kiyat in their early struggles. The relationship between Temüjin and Toghrul was, for many years, a key source of military support for Temüjin, and Toghrul’s forces were decisive in several of the early campaigns.
The fourth foundation was Temüjin’s personal talent. The Secret History portrays Temüjin as a man of extraordinary ability: physically tough, militarily skilled, politically cunning, and personally charismatic. The Secret History also emphasizes Temüjin’s willingness to break with the conventions of the steppe, particularly his willingness to promote men of low birth to positions of command. This willingness was, in the long run, the most important foundation of his rise, because it allowed him to build a loyal following that was not based on the old aristocratic hierarchies.
The Wars of Unification: 1186-1204
The wars of unification were the central process of Temüjin’s rise to power. The wars were a series of campaigns against the various tribes of the steppe, fought in a carefully chosen sequence to prevent the enemies from forming a coalition.
The first enemy was the Merkit, the tribe that had kidnapped Temüjin’s mother Hoelun in her youth. The Merkit were defeated in 1186 with the help of Toghrul and Jamukha, and the survivors were scattered. The second enemy was the Tayichiud, the clan that had captured Temüjin in his youth. The Tayichiud were defeated in 1187, and their leaders were scattered. The third enemy was the Tartar (Tatar) confederation, which was the dominant power in the eastern steppe. The Tatars were defeated in a series of campaigns in 1196, 1200, and 1202, and the survivors were absorbed into Temüjin’s following.
The fourth and most dangerous enemy was the Keraite prince Toghrul himself. Toghrul had been a faithful ally of Temüjin for many years, but in 1203 the relationship broke down. The Battle of the Qalaqaljid Sands in the summer of 1203 was a near-run thing: Temüjin was defeated and forced to retreat. Temüjin slowly rebuilt his strength, however, and in the autumn of 1203 he caught Toghrul on the march and defeated him. Toghrul was killed, and the Keraite state was dissolved.
The fifth and final enemy was Jamukha. The two former blood-brothers had been at odds since 1186, but the decisive confrontation came in 1204, when Jamukha raised a coalition of tribes opposed to Temüjin’s expansion. The Battle of the Chakirmaut in 1204 was Temüjin’s greatest victory to date. Jamukha’s coalition was broken, and the Naiman, who had been his last major allies, were defeated the following year. The way was now clear for the unification of the Mongol tribes.
The Kurultai of 1206: The Founding of the Empire
The unification of the Mongol tribes was complete. In the spring of 1206, a great assembly of tribal leaders proclaimed Temüjin as “Genghis Khan,” a title whose meaning has been debated but which is generally taken to mean something like “oceanic ruler” or “universal sovereign.” The proclamation marked the foundation of the Mongol Empire, and the date — 1206 — is conventionally used to mark the beginning of Mongol imperial history.
The kurultai of 1206 was the culmination of a long process, and the events that led to it were a complex mixture of personal talent, political alliance, military victory, and historical accident. Genghis Khan was not the inevitable consequence of steppe history; he was a remarkable individual who, through a combination of skill, luck, and determination, transformed a small, divided, and threatened people into the ruling class of the largest empire the world had ever seen.
Sources
- David Morgan, The Mongols (2nd ed., Oxford, 2007).
- Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410 (London, 2005).
- Timothy May, The Mongol Conquests in World History (London, 2012).