The rise of Timujin later known as “Genghis (Chinggis) Khan” was one of the most dramatic in history. Perhaps no other person has risen from lowly origins, as part of a family eating roots and rats for survival, to become a great world conqueror. Genghis Khan’s founding of the Mongol Empire was one of the most significant events in medieval history. In this page and several others, you will study the key factors that led to Genghis Khan’s early rise and success.

Bust of Gengis Khan from Mongolia

Below are some of the factors that led to the rise of young Timujin (Genghis Khan) and his success in unifying the Mongol people to be finally selected as supreme Mongol ruler in the kuriltai of 1206:

1. Elimination tactics: this involved removing any rivalry for supremacy. He was able to eliminate his best friend Jamuka as a competitor as well as other tribal leaders one by one through superior leadership skills, tactical ingenuity and perseverance.

2. Alliances: (i) Genghis Khan tied bonds with Jamuka who was a son of a Taiychiud noble - the very family that abandoned Genghis's family after his father's assassination by Merkids. (ii) Genghis Khan received an extremely valuable sable coat given by his wife Borte which he later traded to Torghil - leader (Ong[/Wang] Khan) of the central Mongolian Kereyid tribal federation and anda to Genghis Khan's father Yesugei - for full protection. Torghil acted as a patron and early ally of Genghis Khan. It was this very alliance that enabled Genghis to recapture his kidnapped wife from the Merkids using the Kereyid forces. 

3. Assimilation: the tribes Genghis Khan defeated in inter-tribal rivalry were on occasions made his own. He absorbed these various tribes into a greater structure and leadership - of which he was head - and made them conform to his outlook and vision. This eradicated tribal discrimination that previously plagued the steppe. Although he still acknowledged kinship as a bond, he now looked towards formulating a supra-tribal identity - a trans-steppe nation. Such a formulation would mean expanding the circle of inclusion from just a narrow tribal group. 

4. Adaptation: For Genghis Khan, pragmatism was a principle he often abided by. If something worked, he had no objections in embracing it - even if it meant departing from steppe custom or inherited tribal practices. It was customary practice for example that tribal leaders put their family members or nobles in positions of leadership and influence. Genghis Khan, however, would put loyal and obedient people in such positions. Thus, he would favour meritocracy over tribal loyalty.

5. Leadership: [see the section handout below].

2.2. Early Years

In The Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire, ed. by Buell, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2003, pp.7-8, it states about Genghis Khan's early life:

Buell: Genghis's Early Life

History Alive 8, pp.224-225 states:

2.2.1. Name

According to the Arab historian Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Nuwayri (d. 733/1333), an administrator and historian in the reign of the Bahri Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun (r. 693–94/1293–94, 698–708/1299–1309, 709–41/1310–41), in his monumental encyclopedia of history entitled Nihayat al-'Arab fi Funun al-Adab (Cairo, 1975), 27:301, the word "timujin" means "blacksmith" (haddad):

al-Nuwayri also cites an alternative origin for Genghis Khan's name, 27:301:

2.2.2. The concepts of quda, anda and Nokor

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines "nokor" as:

The term "anda" is defined as follows in the Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire, s.v. p.105:

The importance of the both these notions for the rise of Genghis Khan is highlighted in the The Encyclopedia Britannica entry:

The importance of male/male bonding for securing power is explained by Zhao in Marriage as Political Strategy and Cultural Expression, pp.35-36:

By the time he was in his twenties, Temujin had built important alliances with a number of other Mongol clans. He quickly gained a reputation as a furious and relentless warrior and a man of great influence, leading to his being given the position of tribal chief in 1189.

In 1206 — the Mongolian year of the leopard — Timujin's greatness was formally recognised when he was elected as the khan over all his fellow tribal chieftains.

Temujin now took on the new title of "Chinggis Khan", meaning ‘the universal ruler’. To strengthen the bond between the Mongolian tribes, Genghis Khan relied upon three ties that were familiar to the nomadic tribes:

1. quda — which is a tie of marriage. A very skilled politician, Genghis Khan used marriage as a tie to bind together his old enemies, even marrying one of his daughters to a rival tribe after they submitted to him without a fight.

2. anda — which is a tie of sworn brotherhood. As a child, Temujin had made this tie with a friend named Jamukha by exchanging knuckle bones and a bow and arrow. As a man, Genghis Khan exchanged valuable items such as sable coats with other warriors to create ties that were considered stronger than the tie between real blood brothers.

3. nökör — which is the tie of friendship. This was a bond similar to that of a European lord and liegeman, in the sense that a follower promises to obey and defend his leader, leaving his family behind to travel with his leader.

[Adapted from History Alive 8, p.225].

Genghis Khan exploited not only the affiliations outlined above, but he sought to weaken tribal allegiances and loyalty. He wanted to do this by forging a supra-tribal Mongol identity under his supervision and leadership that transcended feelings of tribal solidarity. One of the objectives for this was to control the disparate tribal factions and groups and manage their loyalty by transferring it to him: 

2.4. Jamuka and the Kuriltai of 1206 

2.4.1. Jamukha

Below is a summary of one of Genghis Khan's closest friends, Jamukha:

Jamukha c.1160-1220

Jamukha was the childhood companion of Temüjin (Genghis Khan) who became his chief political and military rival for power in the unification of the steppe tribes during the late 12^th century and early 13^th century.

He was born into the Jadaran, an affiliated tribe of the Khamag Mongol Confederation; a tribe originating from the Mongolian Plateau in the early 12^th century.

Jamukha first met Temüjin when Temüjin was living with his mother away from the protection of the Taichud. The two young boys became best friends and cemented their friendship and mutual loyalty by becoming blood brothers through the anda. Jamukha joined Temüjin and his adopted father Toghrul Ong (Wang) Khan in the operation to rescue Genghis’s bride Borte from the Merkit. After this the two friends joined forces and renewed their brotherhood bond and loyalty. Genghis presented Jamukha with a golden belt.

Eighteen months after their successful campaign against the Merkit, the two blood-brothers broke camp and went their separate ways. Jamukha, became the legitimate ruler of the Jadarat tribe, and garnered support from the more conservative and traditionalist Mongol elements who upheld the solidarity of the nobility and the constitution of the tribe. Whereas Temüjin, whose noble lineage had been effectively severed by the defection of his own tribe following his father’s death, began relying on personal loyalty and on those who would question the traditional tribal hierarchy or who sought refuge from the claims and strictures of clan and bondage.

In 1187, Jamukha launched an attack on Genghis. There are no accounts of the resulting Battle of Dalan Balzhut but Genghis was defeated. After the battle Jamukha murdered several of Genghis’s followers by boiling them in cauldrons. The Secret History reports that this drove many to join Genghis.

In 1201 the leaders of tribes opposed to Genghis, including the Merkit and Naiman, elected Jamukha as their Ger Khan or "universal Khan". This led to a conflict between the two. Jamukha was defeated at a battle in the autumn of that year but escaped with a portion of his forces. In 1204 Jamukha joined Ong (Wang) Khan in battle against Genghis. He was again defeated and fled the battlefield. After hiding out for some time several of his followers handed him to Genghis. He was executed by Genghis after apparently refusing an offer to renew their brotherhood.

The Kuriltai was extremely important to Mongol polity or unity. It was unthinkable not to attend one if summoned to a kuriltai. In fact, it was this commitment to them that probably saved mainland Europe from Mongol destruction:

[see J. R. S. Phillips, The Medieval Expansion of Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, pp.67-68].

In The Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire, p.229, it has in its entry:

The meaning of kuriltai given by Koon San in Dynastic China: An Elementary History, Malaysia: The Other Press, 2014, p.297, fn.77 is:

Another meaning of Kuriltai is given Szczepanski:

Wikipedia has this in its entry:

The important functional aspects of the kuriltai included the following:

1] A leader (khan) is elected by those tribal clan members present in the assembly.

2] A military vision and objective is set out by the new Khan involving strategies and campaign planning.

3] Law was enacted or decreed in the kuriltai. Genghis Khan is said to have decreed the Yasa in order to present a unified Mongolian code.

4] Through the kuriltai, a sense of tribal/clan collegiality could be established and maintained.

5] The kuriltai offered a means to make law and custom flexible, i.e. a forum to propose, change and innovate.

The kuriltai was thus a kind of quasi-legal institution: Hodous explains its legal nature:

[Jami' al-Tawarikh, Rashid al-Din]

When a new camp was established, the khan’s tent was the first to be erected. The new khan would also be surrounded by his court officials and entourage. In the trees outside, the yak tails hang as a symbol of the presence of the khan.

2.5. The Chinese Campaigns