GENGHIS KHAN, j'en'es khan, or JEN GHIS KHAN, Mongol conqueror: b. near the Onon River, Mongolia, 1162; d. 24 Aug. 1227. His father was chief over 30 or 40 clans, but paid tribute to the Tartar Khan. He succeeded his father when only 14 years of age, and made himself master of the neighboring tribes. A great number of tribes now com bined their forces against him and he found himself hard pressed. He found a powerful protector in the great Khan of the Karaite Mongols, Oung, or Ung, who gave him his daughter in marriage; but who ultimately be came jealous of his military talents and ordered his assassination, but Genghis made his escape to his own country. Subsequently after much intestine warfare with various Tartar tribes Genghis was proclaimed Khan of the United Mongol and Tartar tribes.
He now professed to have a divine call to conquer the world, and the idea so animated the spirit of his soldiers that they were easily led on to new wars. The country of the Uigurs, in the centre of Tartary, was easily subdued, and Genghis Khan was now master of the greatest part of Tartary. In 1209 he passed the great wall of China, the conquest of which country occupied him more than six years; the capital, Yenking, now Peking, was taken by storm in 1215 and plundered. The murder of the ambas sadors whom Genghis Khan had sent to the king of Kharism (now Khiva) occasioned the invasion of Turkestan in 1218 with an army of 700,000 men; and the two cities of Bokhara and Samarcand were stormed, pillaged and burned. Seven years in succession was the conqueror busy in the work of destruction, pillage and subjugation, and extended his ravages to the banks of the Dnieper. In 1225, though more
than 60 years old, he marched in person at the head of his whole army against the king of Tangut (northwestern China), who had given shelter to two of his enemies. A great battle was fought, in which the king of Tangut was totally defeated with the loss of 300,000 men. The victor remained some time in his newly subdued provinces, from which he also sent two of his sons to complete the conquest of northern China. At his death which took place in Mongolia, his immense dominions were di vided among three of his sons. A great part of the empire, however, came into the hands of Kublai, who is considered as the founder of the Mongol dynasty in China. The only me morial of the conqueror now known to exist is a granite tablet discovered among the ruins of Nertschinsk. The inscription in Mongol has been deciphered by Schmidt of Saint Peters burg. It had been erected by Genghis Khan in commemoration of his conquest of the king dom of Saratoga! (better known as Karakitai). His armies owed their success to their admir able discipline and organization, and to the celerity with which, being mainly horsemen, they moved. Merciless as a conqueror, he nevertheless showed high qualities of statesman ship, and it is said so organized his vast em pire that one could travel from one end of it to the other without fear of molestation. Con sult Douglas, 'Life of Genghis Khan' (London 1877) ; Howorth, 'History of the Mongols' (London 1876438) ; Johnston, 'Famous Cavalry Leaders' (Boston 1908).