Under the shadow of the growing prosperity of the Song Dynasty in the early 13th century, a man was on his way to creating the largest land-based empire in the histo

Under the shadow of the growing prosperity of the Song Dynasty in the early 13th century, a man was on his way to creating the largest land-based empire in the history of humankind. A man whose brutal conquest reduced the global population by 40 million people.  

The previously cultivated lands that were once populated stood admonished by the brutality of his wars and reeked of thousands of dead bodies laid down to rot and act as a natural compost heap for the forests to regrow, eventually decreasing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 0.1 part per million. A man whose DNA is shared by almost 16 million male population or 0.5% of the current world’s population. 

The man who almost conquered the world, Genghis Khan.

A Persian scholar in the 13th century writes "With one stroke a world which billowed with fertility was laid desolate, and the regions thereof became a desert, and the greater part of the living, dead, and their skin and bones crumbling dust, and the mighty were humbled and immersed in the calamities of perdition."

Emerging as the leader of an army created by the consolidation of various tribes within Mongolia, Genghis Khan launched his first strike in 1209 to capture western Xia, the capital city of Tangust, a Tibetan-speaking kingdom in the northwest frontier. For this, the army had to cross the Gobi Desert and later collided with the Tangust army at a mountain pass. 

Rather than bringing it completely under the control of the Mongol empire, western Xia was turned into a vassal state through which the Silk Road tax revenues were collected by the Mongol empire. The revenue and later tributes offered by the emperor of western Xia were used for building the capital city of Karakorum in current-day Mongolia. 

By this time, a Mongolian proverb emerged "When you are eating, your appetite grows" as the Mongolian conquest reached all over the Eurasian landmass. 

In 1211, Genghis Khan declared war against the Jin dynasty. By the time his army emerged victorious as they had already developed advanced methods of fortifications and sieging tactics learnt from other campaigns. 

He also learnt the Han way of life by observing the state-building done by the captured Jin with over 20 million people consisting of civil servants, peasants, and merchants who were humbled by the Mongol army. 

By this time, the fissiparousness in the frontiers of Northern and Southern Song was increasing. Seeking this opportunity slowly and steadily, the Mongolian army captured smaller areas and salami sliced their way to the centres of Southern Song not only through military conquests but also through nation-building. 

However, by 1227 as Genghis Khan was heading back to Mongolia he died en route while his descendants continued their conquests worldwide at different fronts with Mongolia at the centre.

Genghis Khan - Nightmare for the Chinese

0 Comments