According to the historical chronicles that have reached us, the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan, made incredible conquests around the world. No one before or after him managed to compare with this ruler in the greatness of his conquests. The years of life of Genghis Khan are 1155/1162 to 1227. As you can see, there is no exact date of birth, but the day of death is very well known - August 18.

The years of Genghis Khan's reign: general description

In a short time, he managed to create a huge Mongol Empire, stretching from the shores of the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Wild nomads from Central Asia, armed only with bows and arrows, managed to conquer civilized and much better armed empires. Genghis Khan's conquests were accompanied by unimaginable atrocities and massacres of civilians. Cities that came across the path of the horde of the great Mongol emperor were often leveled to the ground when disobedient. It also happened that, by the will of Genghis Khan, it was necessary to change river beds, flowering gardens turned into piles of ashes, and agricultural lands into pastures for the horses of his warriors.

What is the phenomenal success of the Mongol army? This question continues to concern historians today. In the past, Genghis Khan’s personality was endowed with supernatural powers, and it was believed that he was helped in everything by otherworldly forces with whom he made a deal. But, apparently, he had a very strong character, charisma, remarkable intelligence, as well as incredible cruelty, which helped him subjugate peoples. He was also an excellent strategist and tactician. He, like the Goth Atilla, was called “the scourge of God.”

What the great Genghis Khan looked like. Biography: childhood

Few people knew that the great Mongol ruler had green eyes and red hair. Such appearance features have nothing to do with the Mongoloid race. This suggests that mixed blood flows in his veins. There is a version that he is 50% European.

The year of birth of Genghis Khan, who was named Temujin when he was born, is approximate, since it is marked differently in different sources. It is preferable to believe that he was born in 1155, on the banks of the Onon River, which flows through the territory of Mongolia. Genghis Khan's great-grandfather was called Khabul Khan. He was a noble and wealthy leader and ruled all the Mongol tribes and successfully fought with his neighbors. Temujin's father was Yesugei Bagatur. Unlike his grandfather, he was the leader of not all, but most of the Mongol tribes with a total population of 40 thousand yurts. His people were the complete masters of the fertile valleys between Kerulen and Onon. Yesugei-Bagatur was a magnificent warrior; he fought, subjugating the Tatar tribes.

The story of the cruel tendencies of the Khan

There is a certain tale of cruelty, the main character of which is Genghis Khan. His biography, since childhood, has been a chain of inhuman actions. So, at the age of 9, he returned from a hunt with a lot of prey and killed his brother, who wanted to snatch a piece of his share. He often became furious when someone wanted to treat him unfairly. After this incident, the rest of the family began to be afraid of him. Probably, it was from then on that he realized that he could keep people in fear, but to do this he needed to prove himself cruelly and show everyone his true nature.

Youth

When Temujin was 13 years old, he lost his father, who was poisoned by the Tatars. The leaders of the Mongol tribes did not want to obey the young son of Yesugei Khan and took their peoples under the protection of another ruler. As a result, their large family, headed by the future Genghis Khan, was left completely alone, wandering through forests and fields, feeding on the gifts of nature. Their property consisted of 8 horses. In addition, Temujin sacredly kept the family “bunchuk” - a white banner with the tails of 9 yaks, which symbolized 4 large and 5 small yurts belonging to his family. The banner featured a hawk. After some time, he learned that Targutai had become his father’s successor and that he wanted to find and destroy the son of the deceased Yesugei-Bagatura, since he saw him as a threat to his power. Temujin was forced to hide from persecution by the new leader of the Mongol tribes, but he was captured and taken prisoner. Nevertheless, the brave young man managed to escape from captivity, find his family and hide with her in the forests from his pursuers for another 4 years.

Marriage

When Temujin was 9 years old, his father chose a bride for him - a girl from their tribe named Borte. And so, at the age of 17, he, taking with him one of his friends, Belgutai, came out of hiding and went to the camp of his bride’s father, reminded him of the word given to Yesugei Khan and took the beautiful Borte as his wife. It was she who accompanied him everywhere, bore him 9 children and with her presence graced the years of Genghis Khan’s life. According to information that has reached us, he later had a gigantic harem, which consisted of five hundred wives and concubines, whom he brought from various campaigns. Of these, five were the main wives, but only Borte Fujin bore the title of empress and remained his most respectable and senior wife throughout her life.

The story of Borte's kidnapping

There is information in the chronicles that after Temujin married Borta, she was kidnapped by the Merkits, wanting to take revenge for the theft of the beautiful Hoelun, Genghis Khan’s mother, which was committed by his father 18 years ago. The Merkits kidnapped Borte and gave her to Hoelun's relatives. Temujin was furious, but he had no opportunity to attack the Merkit tribe alone and recapture his beloved. And then he turned to the Kerait Khan Togrul - the sworn brother of his father - with a request to help him. To the joy of the young man, the khan decides to help him and attacks the tribe of kidnappers. Soon Borte returns to her beloved husband.

Growing up

When did Genghis Khan manage to gather the first warriors around him? The biography includes information that his first adherents were from the steppe aristocracy. He was also joined by Christian Keraits and the Chinese government in order to fight against the Tatars who had strengthened their positions from the shores of Lake Buir-nor, and then against the former friend of the Khan Zhamukh, who stood at the head of the democratic movement. In 1201, the khan was defeated. However, after this, a quarrel occurred between Temujin and the Kerait khan, since he began to support their common enemy and attracted some of Temujin’s adherents to his side. Of course, Genghis Khan (at that time he did not yet bear this title) could not leave the traitor unpunished and killed him. After this, he managed to take possession of all of Eastern Mongolia. And when Zhamukha restored the Western Mongols, called Naimans, against Temujin, he defeated them too and united all of Mongolia under his rule.

Coming to absolute power

In 1206, he proclaimed himself emperor of all Mongolia and took the title Genghis Khan. From this date, his biography begins to tell the story of a series of great conquests, brutal and bloody reprisals against rebellious peoples, which led to the expansion of the country’s borders to unprecedented proportions. Soon more than 100 thousand warriors gathered under Temujin’s family banner. The title Chinggis Kha-Khan meant that he was the greatest of rulers, that is, the ruler of everyone and everything. Many years later, historians called the years of Genghis Khan’s reign the bloodiest in the entire history of mankind, and he himself - the great “conqueror of the world” and “conqueror of the Universe,” “king of kings.”

Taking over the whole world

Mongolia has become the most powerful military country in Central Asia. Since then, the word “Mongols” has come to mean “victors.” The remaining peoples who did not want to obey him were mercilessly exterminated. To him they were like weeds. In addition, he believed that the best way to get rich was war and robbery, and he religiously followed this principle. Genghis Khan's conquests indeed increased the country's power significantly. His work was continued by his sons and grandsons, and eventually the Great Mongol Empire began to include the countries of Central Asia, Northern and Southern parts of China, Afghanistan and Iran. Genghis Khan's campaigns were directed towards Rus', Hungary, Poland, Moravia, Syria, Georgia and Armenia, the territory of Azerbaijan, which in those years did not exist as a state. The chroniclers of these countries talk about terrible barbaric plunders, beatings and rapes. Wherever the Mongol army went, Genghis Khan's campaigns brought devastation with them.

Great Reformer

Genghis Khan, after becoming Emperor of Mongolia, first of all carried out military reform. The commanders who participated in the campaigns began to receive awards, the size of which corresponded to their merits, while before him the award was given by right of birth. The soldiers in the army were divided into dozens, which united into hundreds, and those into thousands. Young men and boys from fourteen to seventy years of age were considered liable for military service.

A police guard was created to keep order, consisting of 100,000 soldiers. In addition to her, there was a ten-thousand-strong guard of the emperor’s personal bodyguards “keshiktash” and his yurt. It consisted of noble warriors devoted to Genghis Khan. 1000 Keshiktash were bagaturs - the warriors closest to the khan.

Some of the reforms Genghis Khan made in the Mongol army in the 13th century were later used by all armies of the world even today. In addition, by decree of Genghis Khan, a military charter was created, for violation of which there were two types of punishment: execution and exile to the north of Mongolia. Punishment, by the way, was due to the warrior who did not help a comrade in need.

The laws in the charter were called “Yasa”, and their guardians were the descendants of Genghis Khan. In the horde, the great kagan had two guards - day and night, and the warriors included in them were completely devoted to him and obeyed him exclusively. They stood above the command staff of the Mongol army.

Children and grandchildren of the great kagan

The clan of Genghis Khan is called the Genghisids. These are direct descendants of Genghis Khan. From his first wife, Borte, he had 9 children, of which four were sons, that is, continuers of the family. Their names: Jochi, Ogedei, Chagatai and Tolui. Only these sons and the offspring (male) coming from them had the right to inherit the highest power in the Mongol state and bear the generic title of Genghisids. Besides Borte, Genghis Khan, as already noted, had about 500 wives and concubines, and each of them had children from their lord. This meant that their number could exceed 1000. The most famous of Genghis Khan’s descendants was his great grandson - Batu Khan, or Batu. According to genetic studies, in the modern world several million men are carriers of the genes of the great Mongol Kagan. Some of the government dynasties of Asia descended from Genghis Khan, for example, the Chinese Yuan family, the Kazakh, North Caucasian, South Ukrainian, Persian and even Russian Genghisids.

• They say that at birth, the great kagan had a blood clot in his palm, which, according to Mongolian belief, is a sign of greatness.
• Unlike many Mongols, he was tall, had green eyes and red hair, which indicated that European blood flowed in his veins.
• In the entire history of mankind, the Mongol Empire during the reign of Genghis Khan was the greatest state and had borders from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean.
• He had the largest harem in the world.
• 8% of men of the Asian race are descendants of the Great Kagan.
• Genghis Khan was responsible for the death of more than forty million people.
• The grave of the great ruler of Mongolia is still unknown. There is a version that it was flooded by changing the river bed.
• He was named after his father's enemy, Temujin-Uge, whom he defeated.
• It is believed that his eldest son was not conceived by him, but is a descendant of his wife's abductor.
• The Golden Horde consisted of warriors of the peoples they conquered.
• After the Persians executed his ambassador, Genghis Khan massacred 90% of Iran's population.

The legend of Genghis Khan tells the story of his life in sufficient detail, but not all geographical names in the text can be accurately correlated with modern names on the map. It is difficult to name the exact date of birth of Genghis Khan; most scientists adhere to the date - 1162. According to the history of Rashid ad-Din, the birth date is 1155. On the one hand, the evidence of his history is numerous and varied, on the other hand, it is surprising that most of these stories were discovered far from Mongolia . According to the figurative remark of historian L.N. Gumilyov: “In the history of the rise of Genghis Khan, everything is doubtful, starting with the date of his birth.”

According to the historical chronicles that have come down to us, Genghis Khan carried out conquests of almost the entire world on an unimaginable scale; no one before or after him managed to compare with him in the grandeur of his conquests. In a short time, a huge Mongol Empire was created, stretching from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea. Nomads from Central Asia, armed with bows and arrows, were able to conquer three more civilized empires, which also had much greater military power. Their conquests were accompanied by inhuman atrocities and mass extermination of civilians. Cities along the path of the Mongol hordes were often razed to the ground; by the will of Genghis Khan, rivers changed their course, prosperous areas became devastated, agricultural irrigated lands were destroyed so that arable land again became wild pastures for the horses of his army. For modern historians, the phenomenal success of Genghis Khan's wars remains an inexplicable fact, which can be explained either by a hoax or by the supernatural abilities and military genius of Genghis Khan. Contemporaries of that time considered Genghis Khan “sent from Heaven - the scourge of God.” In the same way, at one time the Goths nicknamed Attila - “God’s scourge.”

“The Secret Legend of the Mongols” (presumably the 13th century, according to the version of the 19th century text) “Genealogy and childhood of Temujin. Genghis Khan's ancestor was Borte-Chino, born by the will of the Higher Heaven. His wife was Goa-Maral. They appeared after swimming across the Tengis (inland sea). They roamed at the sources of the Onon River, on Burkhan-khaldun, and their descendant was Bata-Chigan.”

“White History” (XVI century). “Appearing at the behest of the highest heaven, born in order to rule the whole world, the divine Suuta-bogdo Genghis Khan, starting with the people of the blue Mongols / peoples speaking / in three hundred and sixty-one languages ​​of seven hundred and twenty-one clans of Dzambu-dwipas, five colored and four foreign, sixteen great nations united everyone into a single state."

“Shastra Orunga” (Mongolian composition of the 15th century). “In the happy nomad of Burkhan Khaldun, one wonderful boy was born. At this time, his father Yesugei Bagatur captured the Tatar Temujin Uge and other Tatar people. Due to the coincidence with this event, he was named Temujin. When this boy was three years old, he played every day on Mount Burkhan Khaldun. There, on a towering red stone, one lark with a body one span high and wide, with a white head, with a blue back, with a yellow body, with a red tail, with black legs, embodying all five colors in its body, with a voice as melodious as sound flutes, sang every day: “Chinggis, Chinggis.”

The ancestor of all Mongols, according to the “Secret Legend,” is Alan-Goa, in the eighth generation from Genghis Khan, who, according to legend, conceived children from a sunbeam in a yurt. Genghis Khan's grandfather, Khabul Khan, was a wealthy leader of all the Mongol tribes and successfully waged wars with neighboring tribes. Temujin's father was Yesugey-baatur, the grandson of Khabul Khan, leader of the majority of the Mongol tribes, in which there were 40 thousand yurts . This tribe was the complete owner of the fertile valleys between the Kerulen and Onon rivers. Yesugei-baatur also successfully fought and fought, subjugating the Tatars and many neighboring tribes. From the contents of the “Secret Legend” it is clear that Genghis Khan’s father was the famous khan of the Mongols.

Temujin was born in 1162 on the banks of the Onon River in the Delyun-buldan tract, which researchers localize 230 versts from Nerchinsk (Chita region) and 8 versts from the Chinese border. At the age of 13, Temujin lost his father, who was poisoned by the Tatars. The elders of the Mongol tribes refused to obey the too young and inexperienced Temujin and left along with their tribes to another patron. So young Temujin was left surrounded only by his family - his mother and younger brothers and sisters. Their entire property consisted of eight horses and the family “bunchuk” - a white banner with nine yak tails, symbolizing the four large and five small yurts of his family, with the image of a bird of prey - a gyrfalcon in the center. Soon he was forced to hide from the persecution of Targutai, who became the successor of his father, to whom the Mongol tribes went into submission. The “Secret Legend” tells in detail how Temujin hid alone in a dense forest, then was captured, how he escaped from captivity, found his family and, together with her, several years (4 years) was hiding from persecution.

Having matured, Temujin, at the age of 17, went with his friend Belgutai to the camp of the father of the beautiful Borte; according to the custom of the Mongols, the marriage contract was concluded by their fathers when the girl was nine years old, and took her as his wife. She subsequently became known in history as Borte Fujin, the empress and mother of Genghis Khan's four sons and five daughters. And although the chronicles report that Genghis Khan had about five hundred wives and concubines from different tribes during his life, among the five main wives, the first wife, Borte Fujin, remained the most respectable and eldest for Genghis Khan all his life.

Information about the initial period of Temujin’s life, before the time of his recognition by Genghis Khan, is scanty and contradictory; many details of that time are not known. The story that has come down to us in the “Secret History of the Mongols” in a number of places does not coincide with the description of the same events by Rashid ad-Din.

Both chronicles tell of the capture of Borte, Temujin's wife, by the Merkits, who after 18 years decided to take revenge for the theft from their family of the beautiful Hoelun, Temujin’s mother, by his father Yesugei-baatur. According to the “Secret Legend,” the Merkits handed over Borte to a relative of the man who lost Hoelun. Having no one in his yurt except his brothers, and not having the opportunity to attack the Merkits, Temujin goes to his father’s named brother, the Kerait Khan Togrul (Wan Khan) and asks him for help. He willingly provides military assistance to the lonely Temujin and marches with several thousands of troops against the Merkits and beats his wife back. Rashid ad-Din describes this episode differently: the Merkits sent Borte Toghrul Khan, who voluntarily, as a sign of memory of the sister-city relationship - “ande”, with Temujin’s father, returned it to the future Genghis Khan through one confidant.

The protection and patronage of Toghrul Khan secured him for several years. The chronicles say little about Temujin's early life, but after One day at dawn, many tribes joined Temujin’s nomadic camp at the same time , the Mongols quickly gained strength and already accounted for 13 thousand people . From that time on, the chronicles report that Temujin had military detachments numbering up to 10 thousand people . The first battle that Temujin decisively won according to Rashid ad-Din was the battle with the 30 thousand Tayuchite army led by Zhamukha. Temujin ordered all prisoners to be boiled alive in 70 cauldrons. Frightened by this, the Juryat tribe immediately submitted and submitted to the young khan. In the “Secret Legend” this episode is interpreted differently, Zhamukha wins, and accordingly he boils Temujin’s captured warriors in cauldrons, this atrocity pushes many people away from Zhamukha, and many neighboring tribes go under the banners of the defeated Temujin. According to historians, Rashid ad-Din’s version looks more convincing, and the victory in that historical battle was won by Temujin, to whom, under the protection of the stronger, many people go over. After some time, under the family banner of Temujin there was already 100 thousand yurts . Having concluded an alliance with the Keraits, "a relationship of unshakable friendship with the Kerait leader Toghrul Khan", the united hordes of Temujin and Toghrul Khan defeated the Mongols' old enemies the Tatars. Chronicles report a general massacre of the Tatars.

When the aging Toghrul lost power, his sons, at the head of the Keraits, opposed Temujin and won the battle. To strengthen his position, the retreating Temujin united most of the tribes of the northern Gobi around him over the winter and in the spring attacked the Keraits and Merkits and defeated them. The chronicles report that Temujin decreed that none of the Merkits should be left alive. The surviving Keraits stood under the banner of Temujin. For three years after the battle that made him master of the Gobi, Temujin sent his troops to the lands of the Western Turkic tribes, Naiman and Uyghurs and won victories everywhere. The history of Genghis Khan is described in more detail in the chronicles when he reaches 41 years of age and “until finally, after the mentioned twenty-eight years of disorder, the Almighty Truth granted him strength and help and his work turned to exaltation and increase.”

In 1206, the kurultai - a congress of khans of all Mongol tribes - proclaimed Temujin the great kagan and awarded him the title of Genghis Khan - Genghis Kha-Khan, the Greatest of rulers, Lord of all people. Subsequently, historians called him “Conqueror of the World” and “Conqueror of the Universe.” The Persian chronicles describe this event as follows: “He (shaman Teb-Tengri) gave him the nickname of Genghis Khan, saying: By the command of the Eternal Blue Sky, your name should be Genghis Khan! In Mongolian, “chin” means “strong,” and Chingiz is the plural of it. In the Mongolian language, the nickname Genghis Khan has the same meaning as Gur Khan, but with a more exaggerated meaning, since it is plural, and this word can be generalized, for example, with the Persian “shahanshah” (“King of Kings”).” .

The rule of Genghis Khan strengthened central power and brought Mongolia to the ranks of the most powerful military countries in Central Asia at that time. He went down in history as a ruthless conqueror: “Genghis Khan proclaimed with special valor: to rob, steal or kill a person of another, non-Tatar tribe, that the tribes subordinate to him constitute the only people in the universe chosen by heaven, that they will henceforth bear the name “Mongols”, which means "overcoming" All other peoples on earth must become slaves of the Mongols. Rebellious tribes must be cleared from the plains of the earth, like weeds, harmful grasses, and only the Mongols will remain to live.”

War was proclaimed the most effective means of acquiring material well-being. Thus began the era of the bloody aggressive campaigns of the Mongols. Genghis Khan, his sons and grandsons, having conquered the territories of other states, created the largest empire in terms of size in human history. It included Central Asia, Northern and Southern China, Afghanistan, Iran. The Mongols carried out devastating raids on Rus', Hungary, Moravia, Poland, Syria, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The chronicles of eyewitnesses are replete with descriptions of barbaric plunder and massacres of the civilian population of captured cities. The excessive cruelty of the Mongols was reflected in various chronicles.

Historical chronicles have preserved the statements of the great khan of the Mongols: “Genghis said: Cruelty is the only thing that maintains order - the basis for the prosperity of a power. This means that the more cruelty, the more order, and therefore the more good.” And he also said: “Tengri himself commanded our power to rise, and his will cannot be understood by reason. Cruelty must go beyond the limits of reason, for only this will help the fulfillment of the highest will. One day, the Menkhol tribe of Tatars, by whose name the Chins called all Menkhols in memory of their former primacy over them, killed Chingiz's father; for this all the Tatars were killed, including women and children. And from then on, they called Tatars all those non-menkhols who served them and whom they sent into battle to die in front of them. And these serving Tatars shouted in battle “Tatars! Tatars!”, which meant: “Those who do not obey Menkhol will be exterminated like the Tatars.”

Laurentian Chronicle: “In 1237, the godless Tatars came from the eastern countries to the Ryazan land, and began to conquer the Ryazan land, and captured it as far as Pronsk, and took the entire Ryazan principality, and burned the city, and killed their prince. And some of the captives were crucified, others were shot with arrows, and others had their hands tied behind their backs. They set many holy churches on fire, burned monasteries and villages, and took considerable booty from everywhere. They took Suzdal, plundered the Church of the Holy Mother of God, and burned the princely courtyard with fire, and burned the monastery of St. Dmitry, and plundered others. Old monks, and nuns, and priests, and the blind, and the lame, and the hunchbacked, and the sick, and all the people were killed, and the young monks, and nuns, and priests, and priests, and clerks, and their wives, and daughters, and sons - they all took them to their camps.”

Ibn al-Athir, in his Perfect History, describes the invasion of the Muslim lands by the Mongol armies in these words: “The events I am about to relate are so terrible that for many years I avoided all mention of them. It is not easy to write about the death that has befallen Islam and Muslims. I wish my mother had not given birth to me, or that I had died before witnessing all these misfortunes. If they tell you that the earth has never known such a calamity since God created Adam, believe it, for it is the absolute truth...”

The Persian historian Juvaini, who took part in the war against the Mongols, in his work, as an eyewitness, testifies: “Thirteen days and thirteen nights they counted the people killed by the Mongols in the city of Merv. Counting only those whose bodies were actually found, and not counting those who were killed in grottoes and caves, in villages and desert places, they counted more than 1.3 million killed.” After Merv, the Mongol army received orders from Genghis Khan to take Nishapur: “destroying the city in such a way that you could walk over it with a plow, and for the purpose of revenge not even leaving cats and dogs alive.” “They exterminated all the townspeople of Nishapur, numbering 6 thousand souls, their beating lasted four days. Even dogs and cats were exterminated.”

“The Mongols were enemies of settled life, agriculture and cities. During the conquest of northern China, the Mongol nobility sought from Genghis Khan an order to kill the entire settled population to a single person, and turn the lands into pastures for nomads.” The Mongols adhered to the tactic of completely devastating the captured lands, so that the arable land would once again become a steppe rich in grass and pastures for livestock. Cities were destroyed to the ground, irrigation canals were filled with sand, the entire local population was exterminated, and prisoners were mercilessly destroyed so as not to be fed. And only at the end of his life, in the last campaign against the Tangut state, Genghis Khan began to understand that it was more profitable to preserve the cities in order to take taxes from them.

In addition to Rus', Eastern and Southern Europe, the Mongols conquered Tibet, invaded Japan, Korea, Burma and the island of Java. Their troops were not only land forces: in 1279, in the Gulf of Canton, Mongol ships defeated the fleet of the Chinese Song Empire. During the reign of Kublai Khan, the Chinese fleet achieved brilliant victories at sea. The first attempt to invade Japan was made by Kublai Khan in 1274, for which a flotilla of 900 ships with 40 thousand Mongol, Chinese and Korean soldiers was assembled. The fleet with a military landing left the Korean port of Masan. The Mongols capture the islands of Tsushima and Iki, but a typhoon destroys the squadron. Korean chronicles report that the losses in this naval expedition amounted to 13,000 people and that many of them drowned. Thus ended the first invasion.

In 1281, a second attempt was made to land in Japan. It is believed that this was the largest naval invasion in human history, with 3,400 ships and 142,000 Mongol-Chinese warriors. The typhoon, as with the first attempt to invade the Japanese islands, again destroys the naval squadron. A similar scenario of an unsuccessful invasion occurred in Russian history in 866. 200 Russian longships went to Constantinople, but were scattered by a typhoon; in 906, 2000 Russian longships of 40 soldiers each (80 thousand soldiers) under the leadership of Prince Oleg landed in Constantinople (Constantinople).

The Japanese called the Mongol invasion Genko (Yuan invasion). In Japan, picturesque ancient scrolls “The Tale of the Invasion from the Sea” (1293) have been preserved. The scroll's drawings depict scenes of a naval battle, archers on the decks of small ships. Japanese ships are marked with the Japanese national flag; it is not determined who the enemy ships belong to based on the drawings. The Mongol-Korean invasion by sea is the only time in samurai history that Japan was invaded from outside.

Six years passed after the first attempt at landing from the sea, during which time the Japanese prepared for defense. A stone wall about 25 miles long and about 5 meters high was erected along the coast in Hakata Bay to protect against attackers from the sea, which has survived to this day. On the inside, the wall was inclined, so that it was possible to ride on horseback, and the other side ended with a sheer wall towards the sea. Hojo Tokimuke, the Japanese shogun (1268–1284), led the defense against the Mongol invasion, but the Japanese were unable to resist the armada of invaders. In prayers, the entire Japanese people asked for divine help. On August 15, 1281, in the evening immediately after offering prayers, the heavens responded with a typhoon, later called by the Japanese “kamikaze” - a sacred wind that scattered the attacking squadron and saved Japan from conquest. The Chinese fleet was destroyed and over 100,000 attackers died at sea.

In the early 80s of the twentieth century, the Japanese archaeologist Torao Masai, at the bottom of the island of Takashima, using modern technology, discovered many objects (weapons, iron rods and ingots, stone anchors and cannonballs, the seal of a thousand-man), which confirmed the fact of the death of Kublai Kublai’s fleet.

In 1470, in the Honko-yi monastery, a huge, three-meter-long map of the world was drawn, where all of Eurasia and even North Africa, including the adjacent seas, were considered Mongol possessions. For the first time in history, this unique monastic map and Invasion by Sea scroll was exhibited abroad at the exhibition "The Legacy of Genghis Khan: The Worldwide Empire of the Mongols" in Bonn in 2005.

Estimates of the number of Genghis Khan's troops vary widely, but it is difficult to give an exact figure. From the chronicles of Rashid ad-Din: “In total, Genghis formed 95 detachments of a thousand people. Tului, the youngest son of Genghis Khan, after his death inherited almost all of his troops - 101 thousand out of 129 thousand.” According to historians, Genghis Khan's hordes were not, like the Huns, a migrating mass, but a disciplined invading army. Each warrior had two or three horses and was wrapped in fur clothes, which allowed him to sleep right in the snow. According to the estimate of the English historian G. Howorth, the army of Genghis Khan during his campaign against the Khorezmshah amounted to 230 thousand soldiers and moved separately along two routes. This was the largest army that Genghis Khan assembled. From historical chronicles it is known that Genghis Khan’s army at the time of his death consisted of four corps along with the imperial guard and numbered 129 thousand soldiers. According to authoritative historians, the population of the Mongol people under Genghis Khan was no more than 1 million people. The speed of movement of the Mongolian troops is amazing, having set out from the steppes of Mongolia, a year later they victoriously reach the lands of Armenia. For comparison, the Scythian campaign in 630 BC. from the banks of the Don through the Caucasus mountains to Persia and Asia Minor lasted 28 years, Alexander the Great's campaign to conquer Persia (330) lasted 8 years, Timur's campaign (1398) from Central Asia to Asia Minor lasted 7 years.

Genghis Khan is credited with uniting the nomads and creating a strong Mongol state. He unified Mongolia and expanded its borders, creating the largest empire in human history. His collection of laws “Yasy” remained for a long time the legal basis of the nomadic peoples of Asia.

The old Mongolian code of laws “Jasak”, introduced by Genghis Khan, reads: “Genghis Khan’s Yasa prohibits lying, theft, adultery, prescribes to love one’s neighbor as oneself, not to cause offenses, and to forget them completely, to spare countries and cities that have submitted voluntarily, to free from all tax and respect the temples dedicated to God, as well as his servants.” The significance of “Jasak” for the formation of statehood in the empire of Genghis Khan is noted by all historians. The introduction of a set of military and civil laws made it possible to establish a firm rule of law on the vast territory of the Mongol Empire; non-compliance with its laws was punishable by death. Yasa prescribed tolerance in matters of religion, respect for temples and clergy, prohibited quarrels among the Mongols, disobedience of children to their parents, the theft of horses, regulated military service, rules of conduct in battle, distribution of military spoils, etc.

“Immediately kill whoever sets foot on the threshold of the governor’s headquarters.”

“Whoever urinates in water or on ashes is put to death.”

“It is prohibited to wash a dress while wearing it until it is completely worn out.”

“No one leaves his thousand, hundred or ten. Otherwise, he himself and the commander of the unit who received him will be executed.”

“Respect all faiths, without giving preference to any one.”

Genghis Khan declared shamanism, Christianity and Islam the official religions of his empire.

“Great Jasak” - the legislation of Genghis Khan is most fully preserved in the chronicles of Rashid ad-Din. There in “Bilik” - a collection of parables and sayings of Genghis Khan it is said: “The greatest pleasure and pleasure for a husband is to suppress the indignant and defeat the enemy, uproot him and seize everything that he has; make his married women weep and shed tears, sit on his good ride with the smooth rumps of geldings, turn the bellies of his beautiful-faced spouses into a night dress for sleeping and a bedding, look at their rose-colored cheeks and kiss them, and suck their sweet lips the color of breast berries! » .

In “The History of the Conqueror of the World,” Juvaini notes: “The Almighty singled out Genghis Khan for his intelligence and reason among equals, and in wisdom and power he elevated him above all the kings of the world, therefore everything that is already known about the orders of the powerful Khosroes and recorded about the customs of the pharaohs and Caesars is Genghis Khan , without the tedious study of chronicles and conformity with antiquities, he invented only from the pages of his own mind; and everything that was connected with the methods of conquering countries and related to the crushing of the power of enemies and the elevation of friends was the product of his own wisdom and the consequence of his reflections.

Several novels about Genghis Khan have been published in Russian, among them the most famous are the novels by V. Yang “Genghis Khan”, I. Kalashnikov “The Cruel Age”, Ch. Aitmatov “The White Cloud of Genghis Khan”. Two films are available on video cassettes: the Korean-Mongolian film “Khan of the Great Steppe. Genghis Khan" and the film "Genghis Khan", starring O. Sharif. In Russian only in 1996–2006. eight books have been published about the life of Genghis Khan: Rene Grousset (2000), S. Walker (1998), Michel Hoang (1997), E. Hara-Davan (2002), E.D. Phillips (2003), Juvaini (2004), Jean-Paul Roux (2005), John Maine (2006), from which many historical facts of his deeds can be gleaned.

In historical sources about Siberia there is no mention of the name Tengis in connection with Baikal. In the Turkic and Mongolian languages, “tengis” means sea, but the local Baikal population always called the lake differently - Lamu or Baigaal. Translator of “The Secret Legend” S.A. Kozin expressed two versions of the possible identification of the name Tengis, according to the first version with the Caspian Sea, and according to the second - with Baikal. The fact that the name Tengis means the Caspian Sea, and not Baikal, is supported by the naming of the Caspian Sea in all medieval sources as an inland sea. In the Nart epic and in Persian geographical texts, the Caspian Sea was called Khazar-Tengiz, the Black Sea - Kara-Tengiz. The proper name Tengiz is also widespread among the peoples of the Caucasus. In the distant past, the peoples inhabiting the shores of Baikal each named the lake in their own way. Chinese in ancient chronicles 110 BC it was called “Beihai” - the North Sea, the Buryat-Mongols - “Baigaal-dalai” - “big body of water”, the ancient peoples of Siberia, the Evenks - “Lamu” - the sea. Under the name "Lamu", the lake is often mentioned in Evenki legends, and under this name it first became known to the Russian Cossacks. The Evenk name of the lake, Lamu, was at first more common among Russian explorers of Siberia. After Kurbat Ivanov’s detachment reached the shore of the lake, the Russians switched to the Buryat-Mongolian name “Baygaal” or “Baigaal-dalai. At the same time, they linguistically adapted it to their language, replacing the “g” characteristic of the Buryats with the more familiar “k” for the Russian language - Baikal. The origin of the name “Baikal” is not precisely established. The name Baigal first appears in the Mongolian chronicles of the first half of the 17th century. “Shara Tuji” (“Yellow Chronicle”).

LEGENDARY PEOPLE OF MONGOLIA

GENGISH KHAN
(1162-1227)

Genghis Khan (Mong. Chinggis Khaan proper name - Temujin, Temujin, Mong. Temuuzhin). May 3, 1162 - August 18, 1227) - Mongol khan, founder of the Mongolian state (from 1206), organizer of conquests in Asia and Eastern Europe, great reformer and unifier of Mongolia. The direct descendants of Genghis Khan in the male line are the Genghisids.

The only historical portrait of Genghis Khan from a series of official portraits of rulers was painted under Kublai Khan in the 13th century. (beginning of reign in 1260), several decades after his death (Genghis Khan died in 1227). A portrait of Genghis Khan is kept in the Beijing Historical Museum. The portrait shows a face with Asian features, blue eyes and a gray beard.

early years

According to the “Secret Legend,” the ancestor of all Mongols is Alan-Goa, in the eighth generation from Genghis Khan, who, according to legend, conceived children from a sunbeam in a yurt. Genghis Khan's grandfather, Khabul Khan, was a wealthy leader of all the Mongol tribes and successfully waged wars with neighboring tribes. Temujin's father was Yesugei-baatur, the grandson of Khabul Khan, the leader of most of the Mongol tribes, in which there were 40 thousand yurts. This tribe was the complete owner of the fertile valleys between the Kerulen and Onon rivers. Yesugei-baatur also successfully fought and fought, subjugating the Tatars and many neighboring tribes. From the contents of the “Secret Legend” it is clear that Genghis Khan’s father was the famous khan of the Mongols.

It is difficult to name the exact date of birth of Genghis Khan. According to the Persian historian Rashid ad-din, his date of birth was 1155, modern Mongolian historians adhere to the date - 1162. He was born in the Delyun-Boldok tract on the banks of the Onon River (in the area of ​​Lake Baikal) in the family of one of the Mongolian leaders of the Taichiut tribe Yesugei-bagatura (“bagatur” - hero) from the Borjigin clan, and his wife Hoelun from the Onhirat tribe. It was named in honor of the Tatar leader Temujin, whom Yesugei defeated on the eve of the birth of his son. At the age of 9, Yesugei-Bagatur betrothed his son to a 10-year-old girl from the Khungirat family. Leaving his son with the bride's family until he came of age, so that they could get to know each other better, he went home. On the way back, Yesugei stopped at a Tatar camp, where he was poisoned. When he returned to his native ulus, he became ill and died a few days later.

The elders of the Mongol tribes refused to obey the too young and inexperienced Temujin and left along with their tribes to another patron. So young Temujin remained surrounded by only a few representatives of his family: his mother, younger brothers and sisters. All their remaining property included only eight horses and the family “bunchuk” - a white banner with the image of a bird of prey - a gyrfalcon and with nine yak tails, symbolizing the four large and five small yurts of his family. For several years, widows and children lived in complete poverty, wandering in the steppes, eating roots, game and fish. Even in the summer, the family lived from hand to mouth, making provisions for the winter.

The leader of the Taichiuts, Targultai (a distant relative of Temujin), who declared himself the ruler of the lands once occupied by Yesugei, fearing the revenge of his growing rival, began to pursue Temujin. One day, an armed detachment attacked the camp of the Yesugei family. Temujin managed to escape, but was overtaken and captured. They put a block on it - two wooden boards with a hole for the neck, which were pulled together. The block was a painful punishment: a person did not have the opportunity to eat, drink, or even drive away a fly that had landed on his face. He finally found a way to escape and hide in a small lake, plunging into the water with the block and sticking only his nostrils out of the water. The Taichiuts searched for him in this place, but could not find him; but one Selduz, who was among them, noticed him and decided to save him. He pulled young Temujin out of the water, freed him from the block and took him to his home, where he hid him in a cart with wool. After the Taichiuts left, the Selduz put Temujin on a mare, provided him with weapons and sent him home.

After some time, Temujin found his family. The Borjigins immediately migrated to another place, and the Taichiuts could no longer detect them. Then Temujin married his betrothed Borte. Borte's dowry was a luxurious sable fur coat. Temujin soon went to the most powerful of the then steppe leaders - Togoril, the khan of the Keraits. Togoril was once a friend of Temujin's father, and he managed to enlist the support of the Kerait leader, recalling this friendship and presenting a luxurious gift - Borte's sable fur coat.

Beginning of conquest

With the help of Khan Togoril, Temujin's forces began to gradually grow. Nukers began to flock to him; he raided his neighbors, increasing his possessions and herds.

Temujin's first serious opponents were the Merkits, who acted in alliance with the Taichiuts. In Temujin's absence, they attacked the Borjigin camp and took Borte and Yesugei's second wife, Sochikhel, captive. Temujin, with the help of Khan Togoril and the Keraits, as well as his anda (sworn brother) Jamukha from the Jajirat clan, defeated the Merkits. At the same time, while trying to drive away the herd from Temujin’s possessions, Jamukha’s brother was killed. Under the pretext of revenge, Jamukha and his army moved towards Temujin. But without achieving success in defeating the enemy, the leader of the Jajirat retreated.

Temujin's first major military enterprise was the war against the Tatars, launched jointly with Togoril around 1200. The Tatars at that time had difficulty repelling the attacks of the Jin troops that entered their possessions. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, Temujin and Togoril inflicted a number of strong blows on the Tatars and captured rich booty. The Jin government awarded high titles to the steppe leaders as a reward for the defeat of the Tatars. Temujin received the title "jauthuri" (military commissar), and Togoril - "van" (prince), from that time he became known as Van Khan. In 1202, Temujin independently opposed the Tatars. Before this campaign, he made an attempt to reorganize and discipline the army - he issued an order according to which it was strictly forbidden to capture booty during the battle and pursuit of the enemy: the commanders had to divide the captured property between the soldiers only after the end of the battle.

Temujin's victories caused the consolidation of the forces of his opponents. A whole coalition took shape, including Tatars, Taichiuts, Merkits, Oirats and other tribes, which elected Jamukha as their khan. In the spring of 1203, a battle took place that ended in the complete defeat of the forces of Jamukha. This victory further strengthened the Temujin ulus. In 1202-1203, the Keraits were led by Van Khan's son Nilha, who hated Temujin because Van Khan gave him preference over his son and thought to transfer the Kerait throne to him, bypassing Nilha. In the fall of 1203, Wang Khan's troops were defeated. His ulus ceased to exist. Van Khan himself died while trying to escape to the Naiman.

In 1204, Temujin defeated the Naimans. Their ruler Tayan Khan died, and his son Kuchuluk fled to the territory of Semirechye in the country of the Karakitai (southwest of Lake Balkhash). His ally, the Merkit khan Tokhto-beki, fled with him. There Kuchuluk managed to gather scattered detachments of Naimans and Keraits, gain favor with the Gurkhan and become quite a significant political figure.

Reforms of the Great Khan

At the kurultai in 1206, Temujin was proclaimed the great khan over all tribes - Genghis Khan. Mongolia has been transformed: the scattered and warring Mongolian nomadic tribes have united into a single state.

At the same time, a new law was issued: Yasa. In it, the main place was occupied by articles about mutual assistance in the campaign and the prohibition of deception of those who trusted. Anyone who violated these regulations was executed, and the enemy of the Mongols, who remained loyal to his khan, was spared and accepted into his army. “Good” was considered loyalty and courage, and “evil” was cowardice and betrayal.

After Temujin became the all-Mongol ruler, his policies began to reflect the interests of the Noyon movement even more clearly. The Noyons needed internal and external activities that would help consolidate their dominance and increase their income. New wars of conquest and the robbery of rich countries were supposed to ensure the expansion of the sphere of feudal exploitation and the strengthening of the class positions of the noyons.

The administrative system created under Genghis Khan was adapted to achieve these goals. He divided the entire population into tens, hundreds, thousands and tumens (ten thousand), thereby mixing tribes and clans and appointing specially selected people from his confidants and nukers as commanders over them. All adult and healthy men were considered warriors who ran their households in peacetime and took up arms in wartime. This organization provided Genghis Khan with the opportunity to increase his armed forces to approximately 95 thousand soldiers.

Individual hundreds, thousands and tumens, together with the territory for nomadism, were given into the possession of one or another noyon. The Great Khan, considering himself the owner of all the land in the state, distributed land and arats into the possession of noyons, on the condition that they would regularly perform certain duties in return. The most important duty was military service. Each noyon was obliged, at the first request of the overlord, to field the required number of warriors in the field. Noyon, in his inheritance, could exploit the labor of the arats, distributing his cattle to them for grazing or involving them directly in work on his farm. Small noyons served large ones.

Under Genghis Khan, the enslavement of arats was legalized, and unauthorized movement from one dozen, hundreds, thousands or tumens to others was prohibited. This ban meant the formal attachment of the arats to the land of the noyons - for migrating from their possessions, the arats faced the death penalty.

A specially formed armed detachment of personal bodyguards, the so-called keshik, enjoyed exceptional privileges and was intended mainly to fight against the internal enemies of the khan. The Keshikten were selected from the Noyon youth and were under the personal command of the khan himself, being essentially the khan’s guard. At first, there were 150 Keshikten in the detachment. In addition, a special detachment was created, which was always supposed to be in the vanguard and be the first to engage in battle with the enemy. It was called a detachment of heroes.

Genghis Khan elevated the written law to a cult and was a supporter of strong law and order. He created a network of communication lines in his empire, courier communications on a large scale for military and administrative purposes, and organized intelligence, including economic intelligence.

Genghis Khan divided the country into two “wings”. He placed Boorcha at the head of the right wing, and Mukhali, his two most faithful and experienced associates, at the head of the left. He made the positions and ranks of senior and highest military leaders - centurions, thousanders and temniks - hereditary in the family of those who, with their faithful service, helped him seize the khan's throne.

Conquest of Northern China

In 1207-1211, the Mongols conquered the land of the Yakuts [source?], Kyrgyz and Uyghurs, that is, they subjugated almost all the main tribes and peoples of Siberia, imposing tribute on them. In 1209, Genghis Khan conquered Central Asia and turned his attention to the south.

Before the conquest of China, Genghis Khan decided to secure the eastern border by capturing in 1207 the Tangut state of Xi-Xia, who had previously conquered Northern China from the dynasty of the Chinese Song emperors and created their own state, which was located between his possessions and the Jin state. Having captured several fortified cities, in the summer of 1208 the “True Ruler” retreated to Longjin, waiting out the unbearable heat that fell that year. Meanwhile, news reaches him that his old enemies Tokhta-beki and Kuchluk are preparing for a new war with him. Anticipating their invasion and having carefully prepared, Genghis Khan defeated them completely in a battle on the banks of the Irtysh. Tokhta-beki was among the dead, and Kuchluk escaped and found shelter with the Karakitai.

Satisfied with the victory, Temujin again sends his troops against Xi-Xia. After defeating an army of Chinese Tatars, he captured the fortress and passage in the Great Wall of China and in 1213 invaded the Chinese Empire itself, the state of Jin and advanced as far as Nianxi in Hanshu Province. With increasing persistence, Genghis Khan led his troops, strewing the road with corpses, deep into the continent and established his power even over the province of Liaodong, central to the empire. Several Chinese commanders, seeing that the Mongol conqueror was gaining constant victories, ran over to his side. The garrisons surrendered without a fight.

Having established his position along the entire Great Wall of China, in the fall of 1213 Temujin sent three armies to different parts of the Chinese Empire. One of them, under the command of the three sons of Genghis Khan - Jochi, Chagatai and Ogedei, headed south. Another, led by Temujin's brothers and generals, moved east to the sea. Genghis Khan himself and his youngest son Tolui, at the head of the main forces, set out in a southeastern direction. The First Army advanced as far as Honan and, after capturing twenty-eight cities, joined Genghis Khan on the Great Western Road. The army under the command of Temujin's brothers and generals captured the province of Liao-hsi, and Genghis Khan himself ended his triumphant campaign only after he reached the sea rocky cape in Shandong province. But either fearing civil strife, or due to other reasons, he decides to return to Mongolia in the spring of 1214 and makes peace with the Chinese emperor, leaving Beijing to him. However, before the leader of the Mongols had time to leave the Great Wall of China, the Chinese emperor moved his court further away, to Kaifeng. This step was perceived by Temujin as a manifestation of hostility, and he again sent troops into the empire, now doomed to destruction. The war continued.

The Jurchen troops in China, replenished by the aborigines, fought the Mongols until 1235 on their own initiative, but were defeated and exterminated by Genghis Khan's successor Ogedei.

Fight against the Kara-Khitan Khanate

Following China, Genghis Khan was preparing for a campaign in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. He was especially attracted to the flourishing cities of Southern Kazakhstan and Zhetysu. He decided to implement his plan through the valley of the Ili River, where rich cities were located and ruled by Genghis Khan’s longtime enemy, the Naiman Khan Kuchluk.

While Genghis Khan was conquering more and more cities and provinces of China, the fugitive Naiman Khan Kuchluk asked the gurkhan who had given him refuge to help gather the remnants of the army defeated at the Irtysh. Having gained a fairly strong army under his hand, Kuchluk entered into an alliance against his overlord with the Shah of Khorezm Muhammad, who had previously paid tribute to the Karakitays. After a short but decisive military campaign, the allies were left with a big gain, and the gurkhan was forced to relinquish power in favor of the uninvited guest. In 1213, Gurkhan Zhilugu died, and the Naiman khan became the sovereign ruler of Semirechye. Sairam, Tashkent, and the northern part of Fergana came under his power. Having become an irreconcilable opponent of Khorezm, Kuchluk began persecution of Muslims in his domains, which aroused the hatred of the settled population of Zhetysu. The ruler of Koylyk (in the valley of the Ili River) Arslan Khan, and then the ruler of Almalyk (northwest of modern Gulja) Bu-zar moved away from the Naimans and declared themselves subjects of Genghis Khan.

In 1218, Jebe's troops, together with the troops of the rulers of Koylyk and Almalyk, invaded the lands of the Karakitai. The Mongols conquered Semirechye and Eastern Turkestan, which were owned by Kuchluk. In the first battle, Jebe defeated the Naiman. The Mongols allowed Muslims to perform public worship, which had previously been prohibited by the Naiman, which contributed to the transition of the entire settled population to the side of the Mongols. Kuchluk, unable to organize resistance, fled to Afghanistan, where he was caught and killed. The residents of Balasagun opened the gates to the Mongols, for which the city received the name Gobalyk - “good city”. The road to Khorezm opened before Genghis Khan.

Conquest of Central Asia

After the conquest of China and Khorezm, the supreme ruler of the Mongol clan leaders, Genghis Khan, sent a strong cavalry corps under the command of Jebe and Subedei to explore the “western lands”. They walked along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, then, after the devastation of Northern Iran, they penetrated into Transcaucasia, defeated the Georgian army (1222) and, moving north along the western shore of the Caspian Sea, met a united army of Polovtsians, Lezgins, Circassians and Alans in the North Caucasus. A battle took place, which did not have decisive consequences. Then the conquerors split the ranks of the enemy. They gave gifts to the Polovtsians and promised not to touch them. The latter began to disperse to their nomadic camps. Taking advantage of this, the Mongols easily defeated the Alans, Lezgins and Circassians, and then defeated the Polovtsians piecemeal. At the beginning of 1223, the Mongols invaded Crimea, took the city of Surozh (Sudak) and again moved into the Polovtsian steppes.

The Polovtsians fled to Rus'. Leaving the Mongol army, Khan Kotyan, through his ambassadors, asked not to refuse him the help of his son-in-law Mstislav the Udal, as well as Mstislav III Romanovich, the ruling Grand Duke of Kyiv. At the beginning of 1223, a large princely congress was convened in Kyiv, where it was agreed that the armed forces of the princes of Kyiv, Galicia, Chernigov, Seversk, Smolensk and Volyn principalities, united, should support the Polovtsians. The Dnieper, near the island of Khortitsa, was appointed as the gathering place for the Russian united army. Here envoys from the Mongol camp were met, inviting the Russian military leaders to break the alliance with the Polovtsians and return to Rus'. Taking into account the experience of the Cumans (who in 1222 persuaded the Mongols to break their alliance with the Alans, after which Jebe defeated the Alans and attacked the Cumans), Mstislav executed the envoys. In the battle on the Kalka River, the troops of Daniil Galitsky, Mstislav the Udal and Khan Kotyan, without informing the other princes, decided to “deal with” the Mongols on their own and crossed to the eastern bank, where on May 31, 1223 they were completely defeated while passively contemplating this bloody battle on the part of the main Russian forces led by Mstislav III, located on the elevated opposite bank of the Kalka.

Mstislav III, having fenced himself off with a tyn, held the defense for three days after the battle, and then came to an agreement with Jebe and Subedai to lay down arms and freely retreat to Rus', as he had not participated in the battle. However, he, his army and the princes who trusted him were treacherously captured by the Mongols and cruelly tortured as “traitors to their own army.”

After the victory, the Mongols organized the pursuit of the remnants of the Russian army (only every tenth soldier returned from the Azov region), destroying cities and villages in the Dnieper direction, capturing civilians. However, the disciplined Mongol military leaders had no orders to linger in Rus'. They were soon recalled by Genghis Khan, who considered that the main task of the reconnaissance campaign to the west had been successfully completed. On the way back at the mouth of the Kama, the troops of Jebe and Subedei suffered a serious defeat from the Volga Bulgars, who refused to recognize the power of Genghis Khan over themselves. After this failure, the Mongols went down to Saksin and along the Caspian steppes returned to Asia, where in 1225 they united with the main forces of the Mongol army.

The Mongol forces remaining in China enjoyed the same success as the armies in Western Asia. The Mongol Empire was expanded with several new conquered provinces lying north of the Yellow River, with the exception of one or two cities. After the death of Emperor Xuyin Zong in 1223, the Northern Chinese Empire virtually ceased to exist, and the borders of the Mongol Empire almost coincided with the borders of Central and Southern China, ruled by the imperial Song dynasty.

Death of Genghis Khan

Upon returning from Central Asia, Genghis Khan once again led his army through Western China. In 1225 or early 1226, Genghis launched a campaign against the Tangut country. During this campaign, astrologers informed the Mongol leader that five planets were in unfavorable alignment. The superstitious Mongol believed that he was in danger. Under the power of foreboding, the formidable conqueror went home, but on the way he fell ill and died on August 25, 1227.

Before his death, he wished that the Tangut king would be executed immediately after the capture of the city, and that the city itself would be destroyed to the ground. Different sources give different versions of his death: from an arrow wound in battle; from a long illness, after falling from a horse; from a lightning strike; at the hands of a captive princess on her wedding night.

According to Genghis Khan's dying wish, his body was taken to his homeland and interred in the Burkan-Kaldun area. According to the official version of the “Secret Legend,” on the way to the Tangut state, he fell from his horse and was badly injured while hunting wild kulan horses and fell ill: “Having decided to go to the Tanguts at the end of the winter period of the same year, Genghis Khan carried out a new re-registration of troops and in the fall Year of the Dog (1226) set out on a campaign against the Tanguts. From the Khansha, Yesui Khatun followed the sovereign. Along the way, during a roundup of the Arbukhai wild kulan horses, which are found there in abundance, Genghis Khan sat astride a brown-gray horse. " During the raid of the kulans, his brown-gray climbed to the ground, and the sovereign fell and was badly hurt. Therefore, they made a stop at the Tsoorkhat tract. The night passed, and the next morning Yesui-Khatun said to the princes and noyons: “The sovereign had a strong fever at night. It is necessary to discuss the situation." The "Secret Legend" says that "Genghis Khan, after the final defeat of the Tanguts, returned and ascended to heaven in the year of the Pig" (1227). From the Tangut booty, he especially generously rewarded Yesui-Khatun at his very departure." .

According to the will, Genghis Khan was succeeded by his third son Ogedei. Until the capital of Xi-Xia Zhongxing was taken, the death of the great ruler was to be kept secret. The funeral procession moved from the Great Horde camp to the north, to the Onon River. The “Secret Legend” and the “Golden Chronicle” report that on the route of the caravan with the body of Genghis Khan to the burial place, all living things were killed: people, animals, birds. The chronicles record: “They killed every living creature they saw so that the news of his death would not spread throughout the surrounding areas. His four main hordes mourned and he was buried in the area that he had once deigned to designate as a great reserve.” . His wives carried his body through his native camp, and in the end he was buried in a rich tomb in the Onon Valley. During the burial, mystical rites were performed, which were designed to protect the place where Genghis Khan was buried. His burial place has not yet been found. After the death of Genghis Khan, mourning continued for two years.

According to legend, Genghis Khan was buried in a deep tomb, sitting on a golden throne, in the family cemetery "Ikh Khorig" near Mount Burkhan Khaldun, at the source of the Urgun River. He sat on the golden throne of Muhammad, which he brought from captured Samarkand. To prevent the grave from being found and desecrated in subsequent times, after the burial of the Great Khan, a herd of thousands of horses was driven across the steppe several times, destroying all traces of the grave. According to another version, the tomb was built in a riverbed, for which the river was temporarily blocked and the water was directed along a different channel. After the burial, the dam was destroyed and the water returned to its natural course, forever hiding the burial site. Everyone who participated in the burial and could remember this place was subsequently killed, and those who carried out this order were subsequently killed too. Thus, the mystery of Genghis Khan’s burial remains unsolved to this day.

So far, attempts to find the tomb of Genghis Khan have not been successful. Geographical names from the times of the Mongol Empire have completely changed over many centuries, and no one today can say with accuracy where Mount Burkhan-Khaldun is located. According to the version of academician G. Miller, based on the stories of the Siberian “Mongols”, Mount Burkhan-Khaldun in translation can mean “God’s mountain”, “Mountain where deities are placed”, “Mountain - God scorches or God penetrates everywhere” - “sacred mountain Chinggis and his ancestors, the deliverer mountain, to which Chinggis, in memory of his salvation in the forests of this mountain from fierce enemies, bequeathed to sacrifice forever and ever, was located in the places of the original nomads of Chingis and his ancestors along the Onon River."

RESULTS OF GENGIGI KHAN'S REIGN

During the conquest of the Naimans, Genghis Khan became acquainted with the beginnings of written records; some of the Naimans entered the service of Genghis Khan and were the first officials in the Mongolian state and the first teachers of the Mongols. Apparently, Genghis Khan hoped to subsequently replace the Naiman with ethnic Mongols, since he ordered noble Mongolian youths, including his sons, to learn the Naiman language and writing. After the spread of Mongol rule, during the lifetime of Genghis Khan, the Mongols also used the services of Chinese and Persian officials.

In the field of foreign policy, Genghis Khan sought to maximize the expansion of the territory under his control. Genghis Khan's strategy and tactics were characterized by careful reconnaissance, surprise attacks, the desire to dismember enemy forces, setting up ambushes using special units to lure the enemy, maneuvering large masses of cavalry, etc.

The ruler of the Mongols created the greatest empire in history, which in the 13th century subjugated vast expanses of Eurasia from the Sea of ​​Japan to the Black Sea. He and his descendants swept away great and ancient states from the face of the earth: the state of the Khorezmshahs, the Chinese Empire, the Baghdad Caliphate, and most of the Russian principalities were conquered. Vast territories were placed under the control of the Yasa steppe law.

The old Mongolian code of laws "Jasak", introduced by Genghis Khan, reads: "Genghis Khan's Yasa prohibits lying, theft, adultery, prescribes to love one's neighbor as oneself, not to cause offenses, and to forget them completely, to spare countries and cities that have submitted voluntarily, to free from all tax and respect the temples dedicated to God, as well as his servants." The significance of "Jasak" for the formation of statehood in the empire of Genghis Khan is noted by all historians. The introduction of a set of military and civil laws made it possible to establish a firm rule of law on the vast territory of the Mongol Empire; non-compliance with its laws was punishable by death. Yasa prescribed tolerance in matters of religion, respect for temples and clergy, prohibited quarrels among the Mongols, disobedience of children to their parents, the theft of horses, regulated military service, rules of conduct in battle, distribution of military spoils, etc.
“Immediately kill whoever steps on the threshold of the governor’s headquarters.”
“Whoever urinates in water or on ashes is put to death.”
“It is prohibited to wash the dress while wearing it until it is completely worn out.”
“Let no one leave his thousand, hundred or ten. Otherwise, let him and the commander of the unit who received him be executed.”
"Respect all faiths, without giving preference to any one."
Genghis Khan declared shamanism, Christianity and Islam the official religions of his empire.

Unlike other conquerors who dominated Eurasia for hundreds of years before the Mongols, only Genghis Khan was able to organize a stable state system and make Asia appear to Europe not just as an unexplored steppe and mountainous space, but as a consolidated civilization. It was within its borders that the Turkic revival of the Islamic world then began, which with its second onslaught (after the Arabs) almost finished off Europe.

In 1220, Genghis Khan founded Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire.

The Mongols revere Genghis Khan as their greatest hero and reformer, almost as an incarnation of a deity. In European (including Russian) memory, he remained something like a pre-storm crimson cloud that appears before a terrible, all-purifying storm.

DESCENDANTS OF GENGISH KHAN

Temujin and his beloved wife Borte had four sons:

• son Jochi
• son Çağatay
• son Ogedei
• son Tolu y.

Only they and their descendants could claim supreme power in the state. Temujin and Borte also had daughters:

• daughter Hodgin bags, wife of Butu-gurgen from the Ikires clan;
• daughter Tsetseihen (Chichigan), wife of Inalchi, the youngest son of the head of the Oirats, Khudukha-beki;
• daughter Alangaa (Alagai, Alakha), who married the Ongut noyon Buyanbald (in 1219, when Genghis Khan went to war with Khorezm, he entrusted her with state affairs in his absence, therefore she is also called Tor zasagch gunj (ruler-princess);
• daughter Temulen, wife of Shiku-gurgen, son of Alchi-noyon from the Khongirads, the tribe of her mother Borte;
• daughter Alduun (Altalun), who married Zavtar-setsen, noyon of the Khongirads.

Temujin and his second wife, Merkit Khulan-Khatun, daughter of Dair-usun, had sons

• son Kulhan (Hulugen, Kulkan)
• son Kharachar;

From the Tatar Yesugen (Esukat), daughter of Charu-noyon

• son Chakhur (Jaur)
• son Harkhad.

The sons of Genghis Khan continued the work of the Golden Dynasty and ruled the Mongols, as well as the conquered lands, based on the Great Yasa of Genghis Khan until the 20s of the 20th century. Even the Manchu emperors, who ruled Mongolia and China from the 16th to the 19th centuries, were descendants of Genghis Khan, as for their legitimacy they married Mongol princesses from Genghis Khan's golden family dynasty. The first prime minister of Mongolia of the 20th century, Chin Van Handdorj (1911-1919), as well as the rulers of Inner Mongolia (until 1954) were direct descendants of Genghis Khan.

The family record of Genghis Khan dates back to the 20th century; in 1918, the religious head of Mongolia, Bogdo Gegen, issued an order to preserve the Urgiin bichig (family list) of Mongol princes, called shastir. This shastir is kept in the museum and is called “Shastir of the State of Mongolia” (Mongol Ulsyn shastir). Many direct descendants of Genghis Khan from his golden family still live in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia.

ADDITIONAL LITERATURE

Vladimirtsov B.Ya. Genghis Khan. Publishing house Z.I. Grzhebina. Berlin. Petersburg. Moscow. 1922. Cultural and historical sketch of the Mongol Empire of the XII-XIV centuries. In two parts with applications and illustrations. 180 pages. Russian language.

The Mongol Empire and the nomadic world. Bazarov B.V., Kradin N.N. Skrynnikova T.D. Book 1. Ulan-Ude. 2004. Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tebetology SB RAS.

The Mongol Empire and the nomadic world. Bazarov B.V., Kradin N.N. Skrynnikova T.D. Book 3. Ulan-Ude. 2008. Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tebetology SB RAS.

On the art of war and the conquests of the Mongols. Essay by Lieutenant Colonel of the General Staff M. Ivanin. St. Petersburg, Publishing house: printed in a military printing house. Year of publication: 1846. Pages: 66. Language: Russian.

The hidden legend of the Mongols. Translation from Mongolian. 1941.

One of the original centers of world civilization in the XIV–XV centuries. was the empire of Genghis Khan. Initially, it was a medieval early feudal state, which arose as a result of wars of conquest and included a great variety of nationalities and regions. The main principle underlying its existence was administrative coercion. Almost the entire time the empire existed, there was a struggle for power among many khans. Personal ambitions, pride, selfishness, unbridled character, and self-will are intertwined into a single ball. This greatly weakened public harmony, causing protests and discontent among the peoples who inhabited the vast territory. At the same time, this civilization was an example of one of the large and powerful centers that achieved significant success in urban planning, cattle breeding and agriculture. The achievements of Genghis Khan's empire in the field of statehood and culture were especially high.

By the beginning of the 13th century. Temujin, the head of one of the Mongol tribes, conquered other Mongol and Turkic tribes, as well as the Tatars. In 1206, he formed a state and, becoming its ruler, took the name Genghis Khan. The state is spread over a vast territory. These were the steppes of Central Asia (north of China and south of Lake Baikal). In less than 18 years (from 1206 to 1220 with short breaks), Genghis Khan conquered Northern China and Central Asia, Iran and Baghdad. Then Genghis Khan annexed Transcaucasia to his possessions and in 1223 came close to the territory of the North Caucasus, where the Cumans from the Kipchak tribes lived. Facing the danger of Mongol enslavement, the Polovtsian khans entered into a military alliance with the Russian princes. But the decisive battle on the Kalka River on May 5, 1223 again showed the invincible power of the Mongols. After this battle, the territory of the Mongol Empire began to stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea.

The ruler of the empire, Genghis Khan, was an outstanding statesman and skilled military leader. His code of laws - the “Great Yasa” - was known not only in Mongolia, but also beyond its borders.

Another nation, the Tatars, also took part in the creation of the great empire, along with the Mongols. The attitude of the Mongols towards the Tatars was ambiguous. On the one hand, they were allies of the Mongols in their campaigns of conquest, on the other hand, Genghis Khan himself accused them of taking part in the poisoning of Yesugei-Baghatur, his father. Genghis Khan even ordered to exterminate them, but this was unrealistic due to their large numbers. At the same time, Genghis Khan himself had two wives of Tatar origin and an adopted Tatar son. Finally, a high post and an important position in the country (supreme judge and military leader) was also occupied by the Tatar Shiki-Khutuku.

The Mongols used the Tatars in the vanguard of the advancing forces and imposed on other peoples in their army the name Tatars, which were odious to them.

Birth of an Empire

Genghis Khan died in 1227 when he was 72 years old. Before his death, he divided the empire between his sons. Mongolia itself and Northern China received Udege, Central Asia (Maverannahr) and Southern Kazakhstan (Semirechye) - Chagatai. Iranian possessions went to Tuluy, and Jochi's eldest son received Khorezm, the Kipchak steppe and lands that still needed to be conquered - Rus', Finno-Ugric lands and Volga Bulgaria.

The territories conquered by the Mongols were called uluses, and the Mongol rulers from the family of Genghis Khan were called Genghisids. As fate would have it, Jochi died before Genghis Khan, and his ulus passed to his son Batu, but the name Jochiev was assigned to the ulus.

Batu's two attempts to conquer the territory of the Volga Bulgars were unsuccessful (in 1229 and 1232). In 1235, at his request, the All-Mongol Kurultai helped him gather a huge army of 140,000 soldiers. And in the fall of 1236, Batu’s army conquered Volga Bulgaria. Cities such as Dzhuketau, Bulgar, Sulyar and others could not resist the power of the Mongol army.

The Laurentian Chronicle says that “in the summer of 6744 (1236) the same autumn, the godless Tatars came from the eastern countries to the Bulgarian land of godlessness and took the glorious great city of Bulgaria, and beat with weapons from the old man to the old man and to the mere baby, taking a lot of goods , and burned their city with fire and took all their land into captivity.”

Inspired by the victory, Batu without respite in the same year launched an offensive on the Kipchak lands; the conquest of Desht-i-Kipchak continued until 1238. In 1237, the Mongol army invaded Russian territory. The first on her path was the Ryazan principality. In 1240, all of Rus' found itself under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars, and Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich (Alexander Nevsky) entered into an alliance with Batu, recognizing his power over himself.

After Rus', the Mongols conquered Hungary and, perhaps, would have advanced further into Europe, but at that time Khan Ugede died in Karakorum. All the rulers of the house of Genghis Khan gathered at the kurultai to elect a new head of the empire. Guyuk became the Great Khan. Batu, having erected a golden tent on the Akhtuba River (Lower Volga), became the ruler of a new state - the Golden Horde. His possessions extended in the west from the Carpathian Mountains to the Danube and in the east - from the Irtysh to the Altai Mountains. The rulers of the conquered countries came to the Golden Horde and received labels from Batu, certifying their right to rule the lands on behalf of the khan.

Juvaini in his book “The History of the Conqueror of the World” wrote: “Batu, at his headquarters, which he had within Itil, outlined a place and built a city, and called it Sarai... Merchants from all sides brought him goods; He took everything, whatever it was, and for each thing he gave a price several times more than what it was worth.” Another contemporary, Guillaume Rubruk, described his impression of an audience with Batu: “He himself sat on a long throne, wide as a bed, and entirely gilded, next to Batu sat one lady... A bench with kumis and large gold and silver bowls , decorated with precious stones, stood at the entrance."

Batu ruled the Golden Horde until 1255. He died at the age of 47, and the throne was taken first by his son Sartak, and then (in 1256–1266) by his brother Berke.

The concept of “Golden Horde” (in Turkic – Altyn-Urda) meant the gilded residence of the ruler of the state. At first it was a tent embroidered with gold, later it was a luxurious palace covered with gilding.

During Berke's reign, the development of the state continued, the foundations of which were laid by Batu (an effective management system was created, which consisted, in particular, of collecting taxes, duties and tribute; for this purpose, the entire population was registered from household to house). At the same time, Berke seceded from the Mongol Empire, ceasing to pay tribute to the Great Khan Kublai, and converted to Islam. The Egyptian historian an-Nuwairi (beginning of the 14th century) testified that “Berke was the first of the descendants of Genghis Khan to accept the religion of Islam; (at least) we were not told that any of them became Muslims before him. When he became a Muslim, most of his people accepted Islam."

So the Golden Horde became an independent power, and its capital was the city of Sarai. After Berke, Batu’s grandson Mengu-Timur began to rule the state. He actively collaborated (economically) with Dutch, German, Italian and Central Asian cities; At this time, gold coins began to be minted in the Golden Horde.

After the death of Mengu-Timur, a period of internecine struggle for the throne began. The main intriguer of the palace coups was Nogai, a major feudal lord of Turkic-Tatar origin. Due to his belonging to the Tatar nationality, Nogai himself could not apply for the position of ruler of the state. Therefore, he consistently promoted his proteges to this post - the weak-willed Tuda-Mengu (younger brother of Mengu-Timur), Tula-Bug, Toktai (son of Mengu-Timur). An acute military conflict soon arose between Toktay and Nogai. Nogai's army suffered a crushing defeat from Toktai's troops. In 1300, Nogai was killed in the Black Sea steppes, and his severed head was solemnly presented to Toktai. Thus, the ambitions of the local feudal nobility were suppressed and the supreme power of the khan was strengthened.

At the peak of power

After Toktai's death, the political situation in the Golden Horde became tense again. Despite the fact that according to the will, Toktai’s eldest son, Ilbasar, was supposed to rule the country (he was supported by nomadic feudal lords), as a result of political intrigues, the throne was taken by Mengu-Timur’s grandson, Uzbek Khan, who ruled the country from 1312 to 1342. And this period was the most productive. The Golden Horde entered the time of its political, economic and cultural prosperity. To a large extent, this was due to the personality of Uzbekhan himself, his undeniable talent as a politician and outstanding organizer.

Many of his contemporaries wrote about Uzbek and gave him the highest praise. For example: “He is one of those seven kings who are the greatest and most powerful kings of the world” (Arabic writer Ibn Battuta); “He (Uzbek) was a brave and courageous man, religious and pious, revered jurists, loved scientists, listened to their (advice), trusted them, was merciful to them, visited the sheikhs and showed them kindness” (Arab geographer and historian al-Aini ); “This is a young man of handsome appearance, excellent character, a wonderful Muslim, brave and energetic” (Arab historian and chronicler al-Mufaddal).

Secretary of the Egyptian Sultanate, famous Arab scholar-encyclopedist of the 14th century. And al-Omari wrote that “from the affairs of his state, he (Uzbek) pays attention only to the essence of the matter, without going into the details of the circumstances, and is content with what is reported to him, but does not seek out details regarding the collection (of taxes) and expenditure.”

Under Uzbek Khan, the Golden Horde became a powerful centralized state, which the countries of Eurasia reckoned with. The policy of Uzbek Khan was continued by his son Janibek, during whose reign lands in the Eastern Caucasus (currently the territory of Azerbaijan) were conquered, the role of Islam strengthened, and science and artistic creativity were further developed.

In 1357, Janibek’s son Berdibek, an angry and vindictive man, became the ruler. A year later they plotted against him and killed him. Berdibek was the last descendant of Batu Khan.

The dynasty of Genghis Khan ruled the entire Mongol Empire, the dynasty of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi, led the Golden Horde. Just as someone who did not belong to the Chinggisids could not claim the post of ruler of the empire, so any khan who was not a Juchid had no right to rule the Golden Horde. When in the 1260s. The Mongol Empire broke up into independent states; they were still considered uluses of the great empire of Genghis Khan. It is characteristic that the system of political governance, the foundations of which Genghis Khan laid, has remained virtually unchanged throughout the existence of the states he conquered. This applies to a greater extent to the Golden Horde. Moreover, after its collapse, the system of power remained unchanged in the newly formed Tatar principalities.

State structure

The supreme ruler of the empire was the khan. He relied on the State Council - a divan consisting of relatives (husbands, sons, brothers), as well as large feudal lords, military leaders and the highest clergy.

Power in the empire was divided into military and civil. The first was carried out by the Grand Duke - Bekleri-Bek. He commanded the Khan's army. The second was in the hands of the vizier, whose jurisdiction also included control over the state treasury. Under the State Council there was a position of a scribe - bitikchi. Essentially, he acted as Secretary of State and had considerable political weight. Between the khan and the elite and people around him there existed a wide layer of middle and small feudal lords. Many of them were at the same time government employees, thanks to which they were exempt from taxes and duties.

In the Golden Horde, for example, government officials received tarkhan labels. The label of Khan Timur-Kutluk has been preserved with the following content: “My Timur-Kutluk word: the right wing and the left wing to the lancers, thousand, sotsky, ten, beks led by temnik Edigei; internal villages to darugs, qazis, muftis, sheikhs, sufis, scribes of chambers, customs officers, tax collectors; passers-by, passing ambassadors and envoys, patrols and outposts, coachmen and feeders, falconers and leopard workers, boatmen and bridge builders, market people ... "

There was also a position for carrying out particularly important government assignments. The official in this position (necessarily of a noble family) had a tablet - paiza, which was issued by the khan. Paiza was made of silver, gold, bronze, cast iron, and could also be made of wood. The official who presented the paizu was provided with everything necessary on his trips - food, lodging, guides, means of transportation.

In the military department there was a position of bukaul. It was so important that even the rulers of the uluses obeyed the bukaul. His responsibilities included the distribution, quartering and dispatch of troops, provision of provisions and much more.

Courts in the empire were administered by both Muslim judges (qadis) and civilians (arguchi). The former were guided by Sharia, the latter by the laws of the “Great Yasa”. Control over the collection of tribute was exercised by the Baskaks (military representatives of the authorities) and the Daruhachs (civilians who ruled a certain area). Thus, the empire had a well-developed system of central and local government, a customs service, a strong army, judicial and tax authorities.

Economic life

In different states that were part of the Mongol Empire, certain sectors of the economy developed. In the Golden Horde, for example, agriculture and cattle breeding were dominant. The agricultural regions were Volga Bulgaria and Crimea, as well as Transnistria.

Cattle breeding prevailed in the southern steppe and semi-desert territories. Almost all travelers noted a large number of cattle both in the Golden Horde and throughout the Mongol Empire. Thus, the Italian Plano Carpini wrote: “They are very rich in livestock: camels, bulls, sheep, goats and horses. They have such a large quantity of all kinds of livestock, which in our time is not found in the whole world.”

As for agriculture, it was more developed in the Crimea, Volga Bulgaria and Khorezm. Even before the Mongol Empire was formed, these lands produced large harvests of wheat, millet, legumes and barley. Subsequently, fruits such as peaches, apricots, apples, pears, quinces, pomegranates, and grapes began to be grown here.

The most popular vegetables are cabbage, rutabaga and turnip. A contemporary noted that “the lands there are fertile and produce a wheat harvest of about ten... And the millet harvest is about a hundred. Sometimes the harvest is so abundant that they leave it in the steppe.”

Ibn-Batuta testified that, in particular, there were extremely many horses in the empire and they cost nothing, they, the Turks, feed on them... One Turk sometimes has (several) thousand of them.” His compatriot Josephat Barboro confirmed: “I happened to meet merchants on the way who drove horses in such numbers that they covered the space of entire steppes.”

Fishing was widespread in the Golden Horde. There were especially many sturgeon in the waters of the Caspian Sea and in the Yaik River. As for hunting, it was mainly falconry and leopard hunting and was considered the privilege of the khans and their entourage.

There was brisk trade between the states of the Mongol Empire. The most important trade caravan routes passed through the Golden Horde. In particular, it was the Great Silk Road, along which goods from China were delivered to Central and Western Asia. And cities such as the capital of the Golden Horde (Sarai), Khadzhitarkhan (now Astrakhan), Urgench (the central city of Khorezm), Bulgar, Solkhat (Crimea) and Saraichik (in the lower reaches of Yaik) were the most important transit points for international trade. The caravans consisted of camels and horses.

Often the horses themselves became objects of trade. Thus, Josephat Barboro wrote that the Tatars supplied 4,000 horses per shipment to Persia, and large bulls to Italy, Romania, Poland and Germany. As for other goods that the states of the empire traded, these were bread, wine, honey, valuable fish, salt, furs, leather, silk, paints, pearls, porcelain, silverware and much more.

In addition to land trade, there was sea and river trade. Through the ports of Soldaya (now Sudak), Kafa (Feodosia), Chembalo (Balaklava) located on the southern coast of Crimea, goods were sent to Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. Finally, in the cities of the empire themselves, local trade flourished in numerous bazaars.

Almost all merchants and travelers noted that the route to China through the Golden Horde was convenient and safe at any time of the day. The historian Ibn-Arabshah described part of the journey this way: “Caravans used to leave Khorezm and travel on carts, without fear or danger, right up to (the) Crimea, and this transition (takes) about three months.”

The cities of the empire, in addition to serving as trading hubs, were centers of crafts and culture.

Of the cities listed above, contemporaries especially singled out Saray. As already mentioned, Batu Khan built Sarai, the capital of his domains, and his brother Berke built a city several tens of kilometers above Sarai-Batu. This city was named Saray al-Jadid (translated from Arabic as “New Saray”).

Al-Omari wrote about the city built by Berke: “The city of Sarai was built by Berke Khan on the banks of the Turanian River (Itil). It (stands) on salt marsh land, without any walls. The Khan's place of residence is a large palace, on the top of which is a golden new moon (weighing) two Egyptian kintars. The palace is surrounded by walls, towers and houses in which its emirs live. This palace is their winter quarters. This is a river the size of the Nile, large ships sail on it and travel to the Russians and Slavs. The beginning of this river is also in the land of the Slavs. He, that is, Sarai, is a great city, containing markets, baths and institutions of piety, a place where goods are sent. The city of Sarai is one of the most beautiful cities, having reached extraordinary size, on flat ground, crowded with people, with beautiful bazaars and wide streets... It has thirteen mosques for Friday services... In addition, there are still an extremely large number of other mosques.”

The states of the empire were famous for their highly developed crafts, and there was often an exchange of craftsmen. Thus, craftsmen from Volga Bulgaria, Iran, and the Caucasus came to the Golden Horde. Often national artisan settlements arose in one city.

Eyewitnesses were amazed by the beauty of the rulers' palaces, mosques, mausoleums, caravanserais and other buildings. The buildings in the cities of the Golden Horde were especially beautiful. Their main decoration is white and blue tiles with floral and geometric patterns and ornate Arabic writing, quoting the Koran and oriental poetry. Often the tiles were covered with gold leaf and glass glaze. The interior decoration consisted of mosaic and majolica panels with gilding and multi-colored tiled bricks. The original style of Golden Horde ceramics is demonstrated by red clay vessels found during excavations with geometric, plant and animal images, decorated with glaze against a background of shiny thick glaze.

Jewelry art was also highly developed. The craftsmen used techniques such as filigree, filigree, granulation, and engraving. Intricate ornaments covered jugs, bowls, cups, weapons, lamps, as well as necklaces, bracelets, rings and medallions.

The minting of coins from silver, copper and gold reached considerable proportions. The most common were gold Indian dinars, copper pools and silver dirhems (in the Jochi ulus).

Culture and science

In the states of the empire, science, education and culture reached a high level of development. Often scientists and cultural figures from one state, visiting other countries of the empire, remained to live and work there. It is known that foreign doctors lived in Sarai; sciences such as astronomy and geodesy were also developed in the city (this fact is confirmed by archaeological excavations, during which parts of astrolabes and quadrants were found). Ibn Arabshah wrote: “The barn became a center of science and a mine of blessings, and in a short time it accumulated (such) a good and healthy share of scientists and celebrities, literary scholars and artists, and all sorts of distinguished people, such as had never been found in the populous cities of Egypt, not in its villages." Sarai was also the most populous city: more than 100,000 people lived in it (while, for example, in Rome the number of inhabitants was 35,000, in Paris - 58,000).

The fate of the poet Saif al-Sarai is indicative, who was born, lived, studied and worked first in Sarai, and then moved to Egypt, where he died in 1396. In Egypt, he created his famous poems “Gulistan Bit-Turki” and “Suhail and Guldursun."

Arabic writing and literature became widespread in the countries of the empire. The immortal works of Firduosi, Rudaki, al-Maari, Omar Khayyam are vivid examples of eloquence and poetic inspiration. The works glorify such qualities as kindness, generosity, justice, and modesty. Especially many poems are dedicated to love and fidelity. These feelings are displayed as the most noble and sublime. Moral purity and spirituality are the main features of the heroes of their works of art.

Decline of the Empire

As already noted, in the second half of the 13th century. As a result of the people's liberation movement, the great empire of Genghis Khan disintegrated into independent states. The weakening of the central government was facilitated by natural disasters (for example, severe drought), the plague epidemic that arose in China and then spread to other lands, and the internecine struggle for power among the rulers. But, perhaps, one of the main reasons for the collapse of the empire was the consolidation of forces in the conquered lands to fight for independence. This process was especially clearly manifested in the form of a conflict between the Russian prince Dmitry Ivanovich and the Golden Horde.

At the end of the 14th century. Prince Dmitry openly challenged the Golden Horde Khan by stopping paying tribute. On the Kulikovo field on September 8, 1380, Prince Dmitry defeated the army of Emir Mamai. However, the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh, marched on Moscow in 1382, and Dmitry Donskoy again had to recognize the power of the Golden Horde.

The Egyptian historian al-Makrizi wrote: “In 833 (1429–1430) and the years preceding it, in the lands of Sarai and Desht and in the Kipchak steppes there was a severe drought and an extremely large pestilence, from which many people died, so that those who survived (Tatars) with herds only a few clans.”

Meanwhile, riots and protests continued across a vast territory. Many of them were brutally suppressed, but the reprisals could not eliminate the trend that was the growth of the political forces of the vassal states. In the first half of the 15th century. In the same Golden Horde, the economic situation again sharply deteriorated due to the epidemic and drought.

In the 1430-1440s. The internecine struggle in the Golden Horde reached its greatest strength. In addition, the political power of Moscow strengthened: Prince Vasily II contributed to the discord between the Golden Horde khans by supporting the grandson of Tokhtamysh (Seyid-Akhmed) in the fight against the former ruler, Ulu-Mukhamed. And finally, at this time there was a strong outflow of population from the Golden Horde. Tired of endless wars, disease and hunger, hundreds of thousands of cattle breeders and farmers went to neighboring states - to Rus', Lithuania, Romania, Poland.

Even noble Golden Horde princes went into the service of the Grand Duke of Moscow, exchanging Islam for Orthodoxy.

It is known that one of the last rulers of the Golden Horde, Ulu-Mukhamed, in 1438, fleeing from his enemies, was forced to flee to the Russian city of Belev, located on the Oka. Vasily II sent an army against him, but the khan resisted.

Prince Vitovt wrote in a letter to the Livonian Order: “Countless numbers of Tatars have come to us from the borders of Kyiv, who are tired of the war... And they ask for a friendly welcome from you.”

Gradually, individual territories began to fall away from the Golden Horde. The eastern regions of the Jochi ulus ceased to submit to the Golden Horde, Crimea took the path of secession, and the left bank steppe territory of the Volga, led by the descendants of Udege, took shape as an independent state. Speaking about the collapse of Genghis Khan's empire, it should be emphasized that it was an objective natural historical process. Almost all feudal states suffered economic fragmentation and collapse. The Great Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan was no exception. A society built on violence caused protest and discontent; the government lost the support of the bulk of the population.

On the ruins of former greatness

The great empire of Genghis Khan broke up into separate states, such as China, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. The Golden Horde was transformed into the Astrakhan, Kazan, Kasimov, Crimean and Siberian khanates and the Nogai Horde (the latter existed until 1502). The Kazan and Crimean khanates left the greatest mark on history. These were strong and influential states, especially the Kazan Khanate. It was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552.

The centuries-long existence of the great empire influenced the subsequent course of history. Many components of its system of power and administration were used by other states, in particular by Ivan IV, when at the end of the 15th century. laid the foundations of the Russian state. The spiritual as well as material values ​​of Genghis Khan’s empire turned out to be no less important.

The German diplomat Sigismund Herberstein wrote in his book “Notes on Muscovite Affairs”: “The Kingdom of Kazan, the city and fortress of the same name, are located on the Volga, on the far bank of the river, almost seventy miles below Nizhny Novgorod; from the east and south along the Volga, this kingdom borders on desert steppes, while from the summer east the Tatars, called Sheyban (Siberian) are adjacent to it... After the Kazan Tatars, first of all we meet the Tatars with the nickname Nogai, living beyond the Volga, near the Caspian Sea, along the Yaik River … Astrakhan, a rich city and a great Tatar market place, from which the entire surrounding country received its name, is located ten days’ journey below Kazan...”

UDC 94 (4); 94(517) 73

BBK 63.3 (0)4(5Mon)

G.G. Pikov

13TH CENTURY EUROPEANS ABOUT THE MONGOL EMPIRE AND GENGIGI KHAN

The views of European authors of the 13th century are analyzed. on the history and culture of the Mongols who created the Eurasian empire. The focus is on the reasons for the strengthening of the Mongols, cultural features, and the results of conquests. Europeans paid special attention to the Mongolian phenomenon as a whole and the image of Genghis Khan.

Keywords:

culture, Mongol conquests, civilization, Genghis Khan.

The formation of the Mongol Empire made a huge impression on contemporaries. Already in the 13th century. Specific images of the Mongols and their leader Genghis Khan, the “Shaker of the Universe” (East Asian, Mongol-Siberian, Islamic, European) emerged, largely contradicting each other. Among the sources on the topic of interest to us, a number of works stand out in which attempts are made to create a kind of encyclopedic codes about the Mongols and relationships with them - Giovanni Plano del Carpini, Willem de Rubruck, Roger Bacon, Marco Polo. The “Book” of Marco Polo has been studied for a long time and thoroughly: .

European sources are also interesting because the continent retained freedom and reacted to the newcomers not so much emotionally as logically, paying attention to the place of these events in “sacred history”, i.e. their connection with the general civilizational paradigm. For the first time, perhaps, an attempt was made to see events as a fact of universal human or “world” history. The meeting of two civilizations always gives rise to the need, comprehending the unexpected appearance of “strangers,” to connect them with one’s own history, to find them a “niche” in the chain of significant events consecrated by traditions and religion.

Throughout its history, Europe has experienced a very strong cultural and information siege. Muslim culture presented its original interpretation of the Greco-Roman “ancient” ideas traditional for the Christian world and the Judeo-Christian religious tradition, which repeatedly sharply strengthened the “heretical” sentiments within European culture. The Mongols, this, from the Christian point of view, “unclean people” (gens immunda), were able to

to do overnight what Europeans could not achieve for a millennium, namely, to subjugate all of Asia. They did this with the help of force, and not “words,” because the Europeans did not see “culture” among the nomads at all.

This reflected the hostility inherent in the initially sedentary agricultural peoples towards the pastoral nomadic communities. The history of the study of nomads passed through numerous worldview and ideological “filters” of sedentary civilizations. Almost all Latin authors emphasized the inconsistency of nomads with all conceivable criteria of civilization. It is no coincidence that P. Carpini wrote about the Mongols as people who, by European standards, existed on the brink of survival. But there, as they already knew in the Middle Ages, there was also a powerful Qin Empire, ruled by Qin Shi Huangdi, and “Catay,” whose ruler was the Great Khan. This frightened medieval Europe, which did not yet clearly understand what to expect from trans-Islamic Asia - a military blow or a cultural attack.

It is worth noting that the first reaction of Europeans to the Mongols testifies to the Europeans’ understanding of the centuries-old connection between external challenges and internal problems and a vision of the systemic nature of the crisis that has engulfed the entire Christian world. Examples of such an understanding can already be found in the Bible, where the idea is clearly conveyed that the enemy will not come to the country that is “strong”, where there is “faith”, that is, there is ethnic and cultural cohesion. Latin authors actively use the Bible to identify the Mongols with any of the already known peoples. The first in this series were Gog and Magog.

Plano Carpini did not understand the reason for the incomprehensible and unacceptable religious tolerance of the Mongols for medieval Catholics. For a European this is evidence

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the existence of “paganism”, with which Christians have struggled throughout their history. Paganism is not just polytheism, but, in fact, a situation of a clash of many cultures (“pandemonium of the gods”) and information chaos. It periodically arises in the history of any civilization and is ultimately perceived as an intolerable crisis and a manifestation of anti-civilizational development. The religious tolerance of the Mongols will become for Europeans the main evidence of their lack of the possibility of development in a civilized way. The collapse of the Mongol Empire, from the point of view of Latin authors, is decisive proof of its artificial rather than divine origin. Hence, in many respects, also the idea of ​​​​the fundamental difference between nomads and sedentary peoples, the perception of them as bandits.

The Mongols violate, first of all, criminal law, but since the time of Moses it has been one of the foundations of civilization. Europe sees in Genghis Khan not just an “alien,” but an “other.” Europeans begin to write their works when conquests have actually ceased and a new geopolitical situation has been established. The young Catholic civilization was defeated in its desire to establish its dominance even over the Abrahamic space, which remained under Muslim rule. In addition, both traditional worlds, Christian and Muslim, must adapt to the new Asian “masters” - the Turks and Mongols. The Catholic “revolution” was victorious only within the European subcontinent; as a result, Europe was forced to abandon the extensive (“feudal”) development option and try to choose new methods and means of solving a complex of problems of the transition period.

If we take into account the Renaissance ideas that were emerging in Europe at that time with their cult of the hero, then the very appearance of the figure of Genghis Khan was a serious information challenge for European culture. Another paradox was that, perhaps for the first time, Europe recognized a hero who did not come from the Mediterranean or Christian zones.

Already in the 13th century. The main body of works about Genghis Khan was formed. The common thing that unites all these works is the image of a great conqueror with an emphasis on organizational abilities, psychological characteristics, biography, and struggle. Europeans are willing to use information

Latin travelers, but ultimately the image of Genghis Khan in the European consciousness went from Hero to Bandit.

It is worth noting the variety of genres and perspectives used to describe the Mongols. These are reports of ambassadors (Rubruk, Carpini), scholastic “sums” (R. Bacon) and even a kind of “novel” (“book” by M. Polo), the latter became a kind of encyclopedia about nomads and a program of attitude towards them. It contained all the knowledge about nomadic peoples that Christians should have. European rulers (the king, the pope) and even ordinary people are interested in the history and geography of the new empire, if we recall the extraordinary popularity of the notes of the Italian M. Polo.

This means that the new world is of interest to many, it is incomprehensible, and European culture is undertaking a powerful intellectual assault on the new phenomenon, trying to compile some kind of encyclopedic essay about it. The papal ambassador P. Carpini is interested, first of all, in church and religious problems and the interests of the Roman Curia, the royal ambassador G. Rubruk is interested in political nuances, and the half-merchant, half-scout M. Polo is interested in economic problems. These are three “answers” ​​that seem to synthesize information on these aspects. The basis for this already existed - work with the “revived” antiquity and its different interpretation by Muslims, respectively, the ideological struggle against Islam and, of course, an orientation towards new values ​​- rationalism, democracy, humanism, individualism, economic interests.

The “barbarians” did not have culture in the sense that was in all settled worlds, but the scale of their amazing deeds clearly exceeded anything that civilizations had hitherto known. The ancient wisdom, in particular, the curious historiosophical observations of Plato, had not yet “worked,” and the Bible was no longer enough to answer many questions. Other analytical forms were needed, which would be developed by the Age of Enlightenment, when a more complex and in some ways even more objective attitude towards the Mongols themselves and those created in the 13th century would be formed. texts about them.

It must be taken into account that in Europe a wealth of experience has been accumulated in the study of history in general and the history of the “barbarians” in particular, historical, philological, comparative methods have been developed, and a certain nomenclature has been developed

concepts and historical schemes, which still enjoys considerable success in other civilizations. This strictly scientific approach brought the history of the study of nomads to a higher level of analysis, but also significantly strengthened the historical stereotypes and cliches that had developed in the West and East.

If the Turks represented a very real double danger for Christians, carrying out territorial expansion and making claims to European “antiquity” and the Judeo-Christian-Muslim tradition, then the Mongols became for them just a “hurricane” that suddenly swept over the whole of Eurasia and disappeared.

The Europeans actually defeated the nomads with a word - they took them out of the cultural brackets, declaring the creation of an empire the result of force, robbery, destruction, and a satanic act. This attitude was later strengthened by the understanding of the Middle Ages as a dark, barbaric period. If Muslims nevertheless partially accepted elements of the culture of the nomads (suffice it to recall the widespread cult of Genghis Khan in Siberia and Central Asia), then two imperial societies (European and Chinese) denied the nomads the presence of culture as a whole.

Religion and language were considered the main things in culture. For Latin authors, the Mongols are completely “uncultured”, because they have an “underdeveloped” language and no literature. Wisdom is alien to them - they have no philosophical schools, they take Buddhism or Christianity more in practice rather than theory. They do not have a single culture; each tribe adheres to its own traditions. In addition, the conquests of Genghis Khan opened the way to Mongolia for various cultures, the bearers of which were often forcibly resettled there. As a result, the Mongol “conquerors” often dissolved, and Mongolia did not become the political and cultural center of all zones.

The Mongols placed more importance on ethnicity. If in Europe religion was a culture-forming factor, then among the Mongols this role was played, in fact, by ethnicity as the “chosen people.” Europe, on the other hand, had already reached the macro-regional level, formed a trans-state approach and worked with enormous material both on its own history and on the history of other world religions.

The lack of “culture” among the Mongols (in the understanding of the Latins) was also due to the fact that

that the empire was a geopolitical core with a weak presence of all other components of the “classical” civilization (trade, a fairly tough and militant paradigm, a program for building and broadcasting “peace,” a developed economy). Hence, power relations, rather than economic or cultural processes, acquired special significance in the empire.

The Europeans quickly noted the uniqueness of the Mongols, that is, they sensed the arrival of not just strangers or “barbarians,” but “others” - people with a new mentality. These “aliens” actually created a different world order. The arrival of people with a different mentality has always had serious consequences; just remember how the situation changed with the appearance of the Persians, Romans in the Mediterranean, Russians in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia, Europeans in America and Africa.

In this regard, we can talk about a kind of Eurasian revolution, which, naturally, had as its components not only ethnic changes associated with the Mongols, but also a transition to a capitalist development option and the settlement of Europeans outside the mainland. A new “East” was taking shape, and Europe was beginning not only to visit it, but also to study it. A new “knowledge” of the East, similar to the biblical or Roman in degree of understanding, has not yet developed in some ways. Europeans knew the Persian, Egyptian and Arab East well, but much less the Turkic-Mongolian one. These “others” brought not only a different mentality, but also a different culture, economy, and political system. This East is both more dynamic and less predictable; the situation there is constantly changing.

Genghis Khan also solved the problems of Asia, but Europe has other problems and it will solve them in the form of a transition to “capitalism”, the fight against “paganism” and “barbarism”, the “Renaissance” will begin as a negation of “barbarism” and the “Middle Ages” " The new civilization will begin to develop a new cultural paradigm associated with the rethinking of Christianity and the active use of the Greco-Roman heritage with an emphasis on the legal and individualistic component.

To summarize, we can say that the Latin authors of the 13th century. created a medieval image of Genghis Khan. It has actually become archetypal, basic. Genghis Khan in Europe was never associated with the figure of the Antichrist, because he did not come

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76 with a different “word”, nor with distortion the destruction he had already caused was perceived

famous "word". Genghis Khan did not become one of the last signs of the approaching

Antichrist, but his “robbery”, the force of the pressing “end of the world”.

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