The Greatest Conqueror in the World

Book Review
Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World by Leo de Hartog
Published in 1999 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

I picked this book up at the most recent Seattle Public Library Book Fair. I can't say that this is a great book about the life of Genghis Khan: the maps are second class, the descriptions of the various regions and tribes are often not presented in terms of today's geography, and the author's focus on the position and status of dozens Genghis Khan's family members and associates is hard to grasp at times.

Nevertheless, this book is a good a primer on the history of the most successful military commander the world has ever known. There are a number of aspects to this man that were both very intriguing and at the same time quite terrifying. For example, through the Mongols' contacts with other cultures, they began to doubt that their God (Tengri) was the only one; as a result they were religiously tolerant. At the same time, Genghis Khan and the Mongols became known for their slaughter and destruction wherever they fought (China, Central Asia, Middle East, and Europe):

"For Genghis Khan and his Mongols human life had no value, and they did not understand the worth of a static civilization or of an agricultural population. They had no interest in anything that could not be adapted to their native steppes. Undoubtedly the Mongols did not kill, ravage and plunder out of sadism: they did not know any better. Their action conformed with the practice of warfare current at that time. As shown earlier, any chance of an effective rising against the Mongols was quashed by killing all the able-bodied members of the population or by removing them as prisoners."

The success of the Mongols was, of course, due to one man: Genghis Khan. Not only was he a great military general, but he also had an ability to judge human nature very well, in the words of the author, Leo de Hartog. He picked the best people and put them in the right positions, even his ex-enemies he judged he could trust. Those he couldn't trust, especially deserters from the opposing army, he killed. Genghis Khan also was influenced by the much more educated Chinese and Muslims, and used them extensively to administer his empire.

As to the military strategy and tactics of Genghis Khan and the Mongol army--this is where the book gets interesting. They included: careful planning prior to campaigns, including the use of spies; bidding his time when not in an optimal position to attack; protecting a threatened flank at all times, including going on the attack; moving with lightning speed, sometimes covering over 75 kilometers per day; the extensive use of terror tactics, especially using the enemies' able-bodied men as cannon-fodder; use of prisoners, fake dummies, and torches to make army appear larger in size.

In essence, Genghis Khan made sure that the battle was won before it was fought, making one wonder how extensively he was influenced by Sun Tzu.

Finally, what really stands out in the book, and justifiably so, are the vivid descriptions of slaughter he and his army caused. Undoubtedly, such mass-scale slaughter had happened before (but hopefully will never happen again?), but the speed and the terror of the campaigns were probably only matched by the Germans in WWII. In the end, this is what Genghis Khan will forever be known for.

"The next large town to be approached by the Mongols was Nishapur. In the summer of 1220 it had offered no resistance to Jebe and Subedei, but later it adopted a more hostile attitude. In November 1220 an assault by Toquachar's tumen was repulsed, and Toquchar was killed. When they saw Tolui's great army the inhabitants wished to parley about surrender, but Tolui refused to have anything to do with their spokesmen. The assault began on 7 April 1221. After three days the Mongols forced their way in. As in Merv, the townspoeple were drive nout to be massacred. To avenge the death of his brother-in-law Toquchar, Tolui gave orders to raze the town to the ground so thoroughly that the land on which it stood could be ploughed. Even the cats and dogs were killed. Toquchar's widow demanded a share in the massacre of the townspeople. Pyramids were made of the heads which had been cut off. The head of the men, women and children were kept in separate rows.
...
It is noteworthy that the Mongols had less difficulty in taking town in Transoxiana and Khurasan than in north China. In addition to the use of siege engines in the Khwarazm empire, terrorist techniques [mainly the removal of a town's men of military age and using them as cannon-fodder] had great success there. Terror had less effect on the Chinese, because in the course of the centuries they had become accustomed to the methods of the barbarians."

"In K'ai-fend the situation became steadily more hopeless. In 1223 the Emperor Ngai-tsung managed to escape from his beleaguered captial to a town in the east surrounded by water. There he tried without success to urge the Sung to change their plans. In the spring of 1233 K'ai-fend surrendered to Subedei, a step hastened by the treachery of Ts'ui-li, a Chin general. Subedei executed all the male members of the Chin dynasty, as well as the entire family of Wan-yen Yi. The women of the imperial dynasty he sent to Qaraqorum. Subedei also proposed to wipe out the whole population in the capital, but thanks to the energetic intervention of Yeh-lu Ch'u-ts'ai, this massacre was not carried out. plundering, robbery, violence and arson could not be avoided after such a long siege however. The Sung troops also joined in these activities."