Genghis Khan

MILITARY (1162–1227); KHENTII MOUNTAINS, KHAMAG MONGOL

Of account ’s many colourful tyrant , few have captured modern-day imaginations quite like the Mongol warlord recognize as Genghis Khan . assemble disparate tribes to form the Earth ’s largest conterminous United States Army , Khan ’s conglomerate finally dominated nearly 12 million square mile . For more on the man who helped mold the modern world , insure out some fact about his death toll , his empire , and his many , many descendants .

1. Genghis Khan’s empire map was vast.

Genghis Khanwas remarkable for his time forbuildingarmies without gaze for spiritual affiliation and choosing capable leadership for his empire rather than congenator . Once his force was in club , Khan go on a fling of hostile takeovers . Among the landsconqueredby Khan and his descendants over a brief , bestial 25 - class point :

2. Genghis Khan’s childhood was extremely unpleasant.

Thanks to book of account like Jack Weatherford’sGenghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World(2004 ) andThe secluded History of the Mongols(circa 13th century ) , certain facet of Khan ’s living have number into sharp focus . hold Temujin near the border class Mongolia and Siberia in 1162 , Khan had adifficultchildhood . His father was poison by an foe clan , at which point his class ’s own clan abandoned Temujin , his mother , and his six siblings . After bolt down his half - brother , Temujin took over . Once he achieved infamy , he became know as Genghis Khan , or “ universal swayer . ”

3. Legend says Genghis Khan and his armies killed more than 40 million people.

Thanks to decades of barnstorm across continents , Khantallieda considerable body count . His armies are believed to have slaughtered upward of 40 million people , though that number comes with an star , as Khan may have exaggerated figures recorded by historian so as to intimidate his opposition . Khan ’s soldier utilized a number oftacticsthat led to their field of honor mastery , include feigning a retreat and then return , catapult stones and diseased animals over wall , and cutting off water and food supplies to towns .

4. Genghis Khan’s death was anticlimactic.

While suppressing a gyration in the Chinese realm of Xi Xia in 1227 , Khan died in a military refugee camp . The exact cause is not known but may have beenrelatedto injuries he support falling off his horse the previous year . If the hoi polloi of Xi Xia thought they might be granted a respite owing to his death , they were improper . Before his death , Khan ordered his man to charm the realm completely , resulting in widespread end and destruction .

5. No one knows the location of Genghis Khan’s burial site or tomb.

As secretive in death as he was in life history , Khan ’s concluding resting piazza was never enter . After his death , his heirshelda secret funeral procession back to his home of Karakorum and killed anyone who accidentally witnessed it . Khan was then placed in an unnoted grave , which was trampled upon by over 1000 horses toeraseany hint of fray . Despite historic interestingness in its positioning , no one has ever found the site . With Mongolian usance of the clip putting the great unwashed of Xiongnu descent — as Khan potentially was—65 foot below solid ground in logarithm bedchamber , no one likely ever will .

6. Thanks to DNA, we know Genghis Khan has a lot of descendants.

The direct inheritor of Khan can be unmanageable to see , but what historiographer do know about Khan ’s descendants often leaves people dismayed . Because Khan force himself upon women follow his territorial conquest , it ’s beenestimatedthat more than 20,000 parturition were a result of his descent in the century following his life-time . In 2003 , research worker discover that 16 million men in central Asia divvy up the same male yttrium chromosome . While not conclusive proof they ’re descended from Khan , it ’s inviolable circumstantial evidence .

7. Genghis Khan’s son and grandson, Kublai Khan, were highly reproductive, as well.

Khan sired a numeral of children , who in turn take reward of conquered lands in their own right field . His sure-enough , Tushi , may have had asmanyas 40 sons of his own . Khan ’s grandson , Kublai Khan , was known to have 22 sons .

8. Genghis Khan probably would have hated the Genghis Khan statue.

Khan was infamouslyreluctantto have his image beguile in any way . While he was alert , he never accept to receive anyone paint or sculpt his likeness , nor did he desire to appear on any currency , making thing like his facial feature or stature firmly to substantiate . Today , he ’s represented in a number of monument , but the most famous might be the onelocatednear Ulaanbaatar , the capital of Mongolia . Standing 131 infantry tall , the carving depicts Khan on horseback and symbolically lording over Europe .