What have I learned from Chinghis Khan?
I realize that most people spell his name “Genghis Khan,” however, I prefer to use his phonetically derived name, "Chinghis Khan" to which I got accustomed as a child. Whatever we call him does not matter, we are talking about the same big guy.
Both my wife and I, are history buffs with the particular fondness for biographies. We went thru a period when we have read everything possible written on Mongol empire.
It would be a great material for a separate article to explain why you should study history, especially biographies. Let's just say that "If you do not study history you ought to repeat it." Also, I do not want to re-learn everything from my own mistakes; rather I prefer to "stand on the shoulders of the giants."
Last week, I had a pleasure to re-read a book "Genghis Khan and Making of the Modern Word by Jack Waetherford.
As the title implies, Mongol Empire had a great influence on the history of both Asia and European Renesaince, but let's not jump too much ahead.
There is much unfortunate ignorance surrounding the history of the Mongol Empire both in Europe and elsewhere.
I have grown in Poland, which was a buffer zone between the Mongol Empire and the Western Europe. The history of the Mongols is an integral part of our daily lives and culture. Even today, you cannot visit Cracow, the old capital of Poland, without hearing the legends of Mongol attacks, which happened almost every year for much of the medieval history since the XII century.
This history, however, is one-sided and misinterpreted by the fact that we have seen the Mongols only as the enemy. We have never been under the administrative laws of the empire, never experienced their protection and benefits of the trade it has brought. We have learned that Mongols were savages from the East that came to rob the civilized Europe every spring when the steppe grass allowed to feed their horses. Even the name "Tatars" we used is a misnomer as we should have called them Mongols. The communist regime of Russia did everything possible to tarnish the role of Chinghis Khan and Mongol Empire, too.
There is much I had to unlearn.
It is not my goal to repeat the history in this short article; I recommend reading the books. I will try only to point out why it is interesting.
First, for me, it is a guy thing. Chingis Khan grew up in the mountains, near Burkhan Khaldun, that looked very much like the hills around my home. I share Mongol's passion for bow shooting; I have quite a collection of bows including a replica of a Mongol bow with 100 lbs of pull. Mongols were able to shoot dozens of arrows from the bows that required 120 to 160 lbs of draw. For people who know, this is a fit that almost no modern man can match. I also come from the family that loved horses; my grand-grandfather had a couple that he used for riding into the mountains.
Chinghis Khan was a self-made man, which story, also has a big appeal to me. His strategy and tactics, administrative wisdom and ability to lead and attract people were, without a doubt, signs of a genius.
If we forget for a moment what we think about Mongols, the savage barbarians, then we might realize that after Chinghis Khan came to power Central Asia became a stable region. Previously, all the tribes were fighting, and kidnapping brides was a way of life. Women in Mongol Empire were some of the most prominent administrators; the laws were most progressive in the World, and there was a complete religious tolerance. Chinghis Khan has been actively inviting religious leaders and attracting trade. At the same time in Europe in, we were burning women as witches for any reason imaginable; we were eradicating Jewish populations in the same way by thousands, not to mention the Crusades the Holy Land against Muslim. In Europe, the torture and slavery (feudalism) were a way of life. The Mongol rule was simple, submit and prosper, or fight and die. This rule was a hard to accept, but in comparison, it was not cruel. Surprisingly, Mongols would deal a quick death to enemies, but they had laws against torture and bodily mutilation so favored by Christians of that time.
Mongols actively created and protected trade and postal routes across whole Asia; they were actively seeking artisans, engineers, scribes, mathematicians and astronomers in every city they conquered. If you had good skills and submitted to the Great Khan you prospered. The Mongols, however, had no mercy for the local aristocracy which they tried to eradicate wherever possible, this, of course, caused bad publicity in aristocratic Europe.
In the end, the trade routes have introduced both Europe and China to the Muslim mathematical sciences and to the art and crafts. The early Renessaince art has obvious oriental influences. The Italian banking system was a necessity for the trade.
If the Oriental trade was to continue we might live now in much more enlightened society, however with this worldwide trade also came the "Black Death," the Bubonic Plague which wiped out most of the Europe, Asia, and Africa. The trade routes were severed, and the Mongol empire collapsed.
There is no question that the Mongol expansion, not unlike Roman Empire, or even the USA, brought much grief and destruction to the local population, but nevertheless, it is essential to study and understand it.
