Post by Tamrin on Aug 18, 2009 6:26:27 GMT 10
Genghis Khan
Father of Mongolian Democracy
[Excerpt - Article by Paula L.W. Sabloff, Mongolia Attractions - Linked Above]
Father of Mongolian Democracy
[Excerpt - Article by Paula L.W. Sabloff, Mongolia Attractions - Linked Above]
Many Westerners think of Genghis Khan as a marauder who burned and pillaged Europe, Asia, and Persia. He was born in 1162 CE along the Onon River in present-day Hentii (Khentei) Aimag. By 1189, when he was only twenty-seven years old, he had united the Mongol peoples into an independent nation instead of separate clans and tribes. Between 1189 and 1206, he expanded Mongol territory to roughly the territory of Mongolia today. At that point, he was elected Genghis Khan of All Mongols.
Genghis Khan’s soldiers were famous for their fierceness and skill in riding and shooting arrows. Their armor and stirrups were constructed to allow maximum freedom of movement on a horse, and this enabled them to shoot arrows with deadly accuracy while riding at full gallop. They could even hit their targets when shooting backwards from a galloping horse. The range of their composite bows–made of wood, sinew, and antler horn –exceeded that of European bows of the time. Genghis Khan built a military organization that enabled him to incorporate whole units of foreign soldiers, thus assuring himself a limitless number of troops for further conquest. But his real secret weapon may have been that they were eating a high-protein diet of meat, milk, and cheese while China and Europe were falling asleep on their diet of rice, pasta, and porridge! Of course these pasta-eaters were easy prey for the meat-eating Mongols!
By the time of his death in 1227, Genghis Khan had captured and controlled the Silk Road. He had conquered all the way west through Central Asia and Russia to the Caspian Sea, south past Beijing to the Yellow River, and southwest to Persia. It is still the largest empire ever conquered under one man’s rule ...
Westerners evaluating outstanding achievement during the last millennium are only now recognizing his incredible accomplishment in a positive light. Some have even awarded Genghis Khan first prize for Greatest Achievement in the Category of Conqueror. Despite this revisionist view, most Westerners still see him as a terror. But Genghis Khan has a different reputation among his descendants, the people of modern Mongolia. To them, his greatness lies in the fact that he gave his people the gifts of independence and the basic principles from which they could eventually build a modern democratic state.
Genghis Khan’s soldiers were famous for their fierceness and skill in riding and shooting arrows. Their armor and stirrups were constructed to allow maximum freedom of movement on a horse, and this enabled them to shoot arrows with deadly accuracy while riding at full gallop. They could even hit their targets when shooting backwards from a galloping horse. The range of their composite bows–made of wood, sinew, and antler horn –exceeded that of European bows of the time. Genghis Khan built a military organization that enabled him to incorporate whole units of foreign soldiers, thus assuring himself a limitless number of troops for further conquest. But his real secret weapon may have been that they were eating a high-protein diet of meat, milk, and cheese while China and Europe were falling asleep on their diet of rice, pasta, and porridge! Of course these pasta-eaters were easy prey for the meat-eating Mongols!
By the time of his death in 1227, Genghis Khan had captured and controlled the Silk Road. He had conquered all the way west through Central Asia and Russia to the Caspian Sea, south past Beijing to the Yellow River, and southwest to Persia. It is still the largest empire ever conquered under one man’s rule ...
Westerners evaluating outstanding achievement during the last millennium are only now recognizing his incredible accomplishment in a positive light. Some have even awarded Genghis Khan first prize for Greatest Achievement in the Category of Conqueror. Despite this revisionist view, most Westerners still see him as a terror. But Genghis Khan has a different reputation among his descendants, the people of modern Mongolia. To them, his greatness lies in the fact that he gave his people the gifts of independence and the basic principles from which they could eventually build a modern democratic state.
Genghis Khan
(Died this day 1227)