KMarzalen

Chapter 1: The Blood Clot**
 * Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World**  by Jack Weatherford
 * Part 1 : The Reign of Terror on the Steppe

Temujin who later becomes Genghis Khan is born into a poor family. His mother was a stolen bride from another clan and his father had two other wives before her. Hoelun, Temujin's mother, gave birth to Temujin and in his hand was a blood clot. Hoelun did not know what to make of this. She wondered what the blood clot represented. There are very few details about Temujin's early childhood. Temujin was not highly valued by his father. His father accidentally left him behind when the family moved to another camp. The Tayichiud clan found him and their leader, Fat Khan, took him into his own household for some time. He eventually returned to his family. His father died and left behind two wives and seven young children all under the age of ten. His whole family became part of the Tayichiud clan, but the Tayichiud had little use for nine people that could not hunt. The family survived because Hoelun learned to hunt, saving them all. Then Temujin met his first true friend, Jamuka. The two became //andas,// a bond that was supposed to be stronger even than that between biological brothers. Jamuka was his only //andas// in his life. At his home, Temujin was bullied by his older brother Begter who had become the head of the family. Then Temujin and his younger full brother, Khaser, killed Begter. Temujin fled because the Tayichiud were going to punish him for his sin. He was captured and had a cangue put on him. A cangue is a device something like an ox yoke. While in the cangue, he found that families that had no kinship to him treated him better than the families that had kinship to him. This revolution would prove useful later in life. He then escaped and made and offer to the Christian Ong Khan for protection for him and his family. This offer was accepted.


 * Chapter 2: Tale of Three Rivers**

Early in the morning the Merkids, the clan Hoelun was abducted from, came to abduct Temujin's new wife, Borte. The family fled, but Borte was captured. Temujin went up into the hills to hide and found the Burkhan Khaldun, which means "God Mountain". He prayed here for three days for supernatural powers. But before he could achieve those powers, he first had to be tested to see if he was worthy of such power. There were three rivers, each one with a different route; one to his wife, one to where he was born and the other back home. He chose to go help his wife, and went in search for the Ong Khan his close ally. The Ong Khan told him to find another ally, his //anda,// Jamuka. They resuced his wife, and Temujin's family joined Jamuka's clan. At first Temujin was treated as a rank below Jamuka, but then Jamuka saw that Temuijn was gathering followers and one night put Temujin on shepard duty, which was a great insult. Temujin and his family left and Temujin went off to become the Khan of all Mongols. Then a few years later, Temujin's clan and Jamuka's clan battled and Jamuka's clan won, pushing Temujin and his clan into the desert making sure they would never regroup. But in doing so, Jamuka did terrible things that lost him loads of followers. They then went to help out Temujin. Temujin made many raids over years against varies enemies. Temujin made many changes that people liked, such as loyalty over family, and anyone who acknowledged him as their leader would have his protection, but if they would not acknowledge him as leader, then they were made examples of for others that would disobey him. He also commanded that all the looting be done after the battle and only when he was there to oversee, to make sure everyone got a fair cut. I think that Temujin's changes were good ideas. I like how he made sure that everyone got a fair cut of the treasure they claimed.


 * Chapter 3: War of the Khans**

Temujin requested a marriage between his older son and the Ong Khan's daughter. The Ong Khan first refused, but shortly after sent a messager to tell Temujin that he had changed his mind and told Temujin a date and place for the marriage. Temujin learned that this was a trick to kill him and his family. He then ordered his family and men to scatter in all directions. Temujin and nineteen followers then made the Baljuna Covenant. In which Temujin swore eternal allegiance to his men and the men did the same to Temujin. This event would later form the Mongolian Empire. Then Temujin counterattacked the Ong Khan and swallowed up the Ong Khan's army into his. The Ong Khan escaped and ran to the Naiman tribe, and legend has it he died there shortly after arriving. Temujin then attacked the Naiman. He used advance military tatics to instill fear into the Naiman and eventually overpower their army with his own. Jamuka had been hiding in the Niaman empire. Jamuka's followers than turn over Jamuka to Temujin and Temujin hating treachery killed the followers. He asked Jamuka to join him, but Jamuka asked to be killed and Temujin killed him. Temujin killed all those who opposed him of becoming Khan of all Mongols. He the started setting up and government with many new changes. He took the the name Genghis Khan. He gave the most loyal people high postitions in the government. He made freedom of religion. He made a book that kept all records of the law in it. He had six years of peace and prosperity. Genghis Khan was looking to expand his empire north, but the Uighur Khan had many goods and products that Genghis Khan wanted and this would be one of the first battles Genghis Khan's new empire would have to face. I liked that Genghis Khan created his empire on the basis of loyality. If people are loyal to you they should get the most important postitions in your empire.

Chapter 4: Spitting on the Golden Khan**
 * Part 2: The Mongol World War

Genghis Khan needed trade goods from the south and asked the Jurched for peace. The Jurched only would be peaceful if Genghis Khan would say that he was a Mongol slave to the Jurched. He would not become a slave to any man. Then Genghis Khan launched a campaign against the Jurched. The Mongols traveled across the Gobi desert and attacked any villages they came across. Genghis Khan employed earlier tatics to win the battle before the first arrow was shot. He used these tatics because he did not have the weapons to destory city walls. During his campaign Genghis Khan collected all the Chinese engineers and had them build catapults and other devices used to take down city walls. After the first year of the Jurched campaign the Mongols realized that the climate was the most dangerous thing to them. The climate was much different than they were use to and it affected their ability to travel and fight. The Golden Khan, leader of the Jurched, recognized himself as a vassel to Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan then left, not needing to destory the capital of the Jurched because they already bowed down to him. But on the return home the Golden Khan fled the capital and Genghis Khan saw this as a rebellion against his rule. He then march his army all the way back and took the city of Zhongdu, the capital of the Jurched empire. Now all sorts of goods flowed out of China into the Mongol Empire. Then a few years later the Muslisms of Khitan wished to overthrown their Buddist leaders and join the Mongol empire under Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan then attacked the Khitan and freed the Muslims. He had everything he wanted and more so he sent a peace treaty to the sultan of Khwarizm. The sultan refused and Genghis Khan made ready for war once again. I liked that Genghis Khan always offered peace before attacking.


 * Chapter 5: Sultan versus Khan**

Genghis Khan sent out to destory the Sultan's empire. Within one year Genghis Khan had taken over every major city in the Empire. The Sultan's land included Arabic, Turkic, and Persain civilizations and the people within the empire were the most sophisticated in all of the world. Genghis Khan used their knowledge of writing to record the Mongols history and the events that were taking place. Word traveled throughout the world about the Mongol empire and their leader becasue of the writings. The scholars were not restricted as of what to write about. They could write about how horrible Genghis Khan was or how great he was. The Mongols were not like other civilizations in history beacuse they did not make public games for killing prisoners. Genghis Khan at this time started to look for the one son that would become the Great Khan and the others that would command different parts of the empire. There were three sons and the two oldest were always fighting about everything and the youngest was mellow, good-natured, and a hard-drinker. The two oldest once broke into a fist fight during a seige on a city. Genghis Khan then decided to gave the title of Great Khan to his youngest son, Ogodei. Genghis Khan tried to teach his sons everything he knew all at once becuase the sons lacked a good education. Genghis Khan then wanted to take over the Chinese Empire, but aborted that campaign so that he may go home and rest. The rest was not for long because he had to still conquer the Tatgut, the tribe that refused to help him in the Khwarizm campaign. He died only a few days before the end of the campaign and Ogodei took over and started fulfilling his fathers wishes, to take over the Chinese Empire.


 * Chapter 6: The Discovery and Conquest of Europe**

The new Great Khan, Ogodei, opened his father's treasury and passed out all the treasures that were in it to the Mongol people. The news that Genghis Khan had died spread across the Mongol Empire and several cities stop sending their tribute to the Mongols. Ogodei notice this and sent his army to collect the tribute, but the tributes of all the cities had decrease significantly because Genghis Khan was no longer alive. Ogodei Khan introduced a paper money system to easily carry around all the money his people had because coins were to heavy. Ogodei began to realize that the Mongol Empire needed war if it was going to survive. He then consulted his generals as to which people his army should attack. He could attack the unknown Europe, his allies the Sung, the fable cities of Baghdad and Damascus, or India as his father wanted. He wanted to attack the Sung because he can gain the most from it, he would get their land and his brother's that was in between him and the Sung. With his family wanting to attack Europe, Ogodei decided to push out in all directions and attack the Sung and Europe. The Mongols were the first to use "lightning" warfare, which the Germans would later call //Blitzkrieg.// Within a few years the Mongols had conquered Russia, Ukraine, Poland, central Asia, and Hungary, but where the pastures ended the Mongols stopped. With five horses per warrior, they needed pastures to function. Then the sons of Genghis Khan started dying including Ogodei and in fourteen years all four sons of Genghis Khan had died. Genghis Khan grandsons, then raced home to continue their quests to become the next Great Khan and the struggle would continue for ten years.


 * Chapter 7: Warring Queens**

While the Mongol men were on the battlefield conquering countries, women managed the empire. The women that ruled the empire were never Mongol born, but they were related to the Golden family (Genghis Khan's descandants) in some way. Ogodei's wife, Toregene, was the most important Mongol women ever, but she began the empires downwardspiral by electing her son, Guyuk to rule the empire. He broke many rules that Genghis Khan had made law. The most frequently used one was public torturing many people, which was totally violating the practices of Genghis Khan, who killed many, but he never inflicted any unnecessary pain. His reign was short and then the battling of the queens resumed. Then Mongke became Great Khan. He then started a grand purge of anyone how seemed disloyal to him or the Mongol empire. Mongke was not like Guyuk or Ogodei he followed the rules set down by Genghis Khan. He began religious trials in 1254 where great leaders of the known religions debated against each other. Mongke during this trials, sent his armies out to conquer the rest of Eurasia. To conquer the Arab capital of Baghdad, he would have to face the strongholds of the Nizari Ismailis, more commonly known to the West as the Assassins. After conquering them, the Mongols had a direct route to Baghdad. They conquered Baghdad and the Crusaders saw a possible alliance with the Mongols help take over the city of Damascus and for the second time the Mongol warriors were on the Mediterranean Sea. The first time was through Europe and this time was via Asia. Khubilai who was leading the campaign against the Sung was not advancing because of corruption within his administration. Mongke summoned Khubilai to Karakorum. Mongke spared his brother's life and sent him to end the strife between the warring factions of Taoists and Buddhists, while Mongke took control of the campaign against the Sung. Mongke died iin the campaign and Khubilai took over and split the empire into four primary zones of political admimistration. Khubilai then looted and destoryed the city of Karakorum.

Chapter 8: Khubilai Khan and the New Mongol Empire**
 * Part 3: The Global Awakening

Khubilai knew that he could not conquer China by mere force. He won China by appearing more Chinese then the Chinese. Khubilai built an ancestral temple for his family. This broke Mongol rule about death so he had the Chinese build it and the Mongols never actually visited the site. He had a new capital built called Khanbalik, meaning the City of the Khan. The Chinese called it Dadu, the Great Capital, and it grew into the modern city of Beijing. At the center of the city, Khubilai had The Forbidden City built, which only Mongols were allowed to enter. The Forbidden City was a miniature steppe created in the middle of the Mongol capital.Outside the Forbidden City's walls Khubilai acted as a Chinese emperor, but inside the walls he live as a Mongol steppe warrior. Khubilai created a strong legal code, by mixing the Chinese and Mongol laws together to produce a hybrid. Khubilai had many public schools built because he realized the importance for the common people to be educated. He later made a universal language for the empire, but rather than forced it on anyone he allowed everyone to use their own language in hopes that everyone would eventually use the universal language. Khubilai having conquered almost all of asia except India he looked to expand his empire into Japan and the surrounding islands. But Khubilai could not take the land tatics that Genghis Khan had used to created the empire, and use them on the sea. Khubilai gave up in trying to expand his empire East to Japan. Only three generations after the empires founding, it had lost its way. The Spirit Banner of Genghis Khan no longer meant anything to his descendants and the people who claimed to be his follower.


 * Chapter 9: Their Golden Light**

The Mongols stopped sending their warriors and siege engines, and adopted a new way to conquer and unite all people under the Eternal Blue Sky. They sent priests, scholars, and ambassadors to do their bidding. The commercial influence of teh Mongols spread much farther than their army, and the transition from the Mongol Empire to the Mongol Corporation occured during the reign of Khubilai Khan. Khubilai Khan brought all the best people in every field of work and had their knowledge written down so that even the farmer could have a basic understanding of surgery or metal workings. He even created huge hospitals all over his empire. He had calendars and almanacs mass produced. Khubilai Khan had scribes write the history of everyone the Mongols conquered, the Europeans, and anyone else that was still out there. Europe gained the most from all of this because they had been cut off from the mainstream of civilization since the fall of the Romans. Europe also gained all the benefitsof the Global Awakening without the cost of Mongol conquest. Overall the Mongols passed the knowledge of the world through its arteries, or trade routes, stimulating every culture in the world.


 * Chapter 10: The Empire of Illusion**

From 1328 to 1332 the office of Great Khan passed from brother to brother snd father to son in a flurry of assassinations, disappearances, and inexplicable deaths. The whole Empire became under attack and not from foreigners or rebels, but something far more sinister and mysterious the plague. This disease most likely originated in China. The plague bacterium lives in fleas, which traveled through the trade routes of the Empire. Because the Mongol Empire depended on trade to survive the plague could easily travel from China to Europe in the matter of days and infect every town or city on the way. More than 75 million people died because of the plague. Every country blamed foreigners for the plague. The Christians massacred over a thousand Jews on Valentine's Day in 1349, in a mass burning that took six days to complete. Then the Empire started to crumble, the Mongols of the Persian Ilkhanate disappeared, the Mongols that ruled China were overthrown, the Russain Mongols went back to living in tribes, the Mongols the ruled Mongolia saw the boundaries shrink to nothing. The Mongols then turned into the hated people of Eurasia every country blamed Mongols for every little problem. Then Christopher Columbus sent sailed to find a sea route to trade with the Mongols, but the Europeans did not know that the Mongol Empire had collasped because all land trade routes were blocked between Europe and Asia. Overall the Mongol Empire proved to be the best thing ever to happen to Eurasia.


 * The End**