One of the most lasting impressions of Genghis Khan was one where a certain very large city entreated with his ambassadors by beheading them. Genghis responded by sending an army to destroy the city and brutally slaughtered its' inhabitants. All of them. Then their skulls were piled up where the city once stood as a reminder of what happens when you resist his demands. It was not then surprising that many communities immediately acquiesced.
He used terror to deter resistance, aggression, treachery and disloyalty. He realised as with other leaders before and after that fear instils respect, submission and obedience.
Genghis Khan’s original army in 40 years conquered the biggest contiguous empire in history, over twice the size of Rome’s. And by doing so it killed armies, enslaved people, and raped women…by the tens of millions. At least 40,000,000 dead in fact.
They are given credit for 40,000,000 people dead from war, starvation, cold, wounds, disease…
Figures currently point to 10% of the world population died directly by the Mongols.
“If these calculations are accurate, this would make the events the deadliest acts of mass killings in human history.”-WIKI
40,000,000 people dead in the 13th century…
This would be an adjusted death toll of approximately 650,000,000 dead equivalent in 2018: enough to kill every man woman and child in America twice over.
From the Pacific ocean to almost the Mediteranin Sea, from Siberia to Afghanistan, from Mongolia to Austria, his army reigned supreme. Nothing before or after has been so successful and deadly. Alexander’s army reigned for 12 years, the Mongols for over 40.
“The Mongol invasions of Islamic lands in the 13th century resulted in the massacre of 1.3 million people in the city of Merv alone, and another 800,000 residents of Baghdad.
“ A few days after the massacre, troops were sent back into the ruined city to search for any poor wretches who might be hiding in holes or cellars; these were dragged out and slain".
“The Mongols’ first leader, Genghis Khan, offered this reflection on the pleasures of life: “The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him. To ride their horses and take away their possessions. To see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears, and to clasp their wives and daughters in his arms.”-Stephen Pinker, “The Better Angels of Our Nature.
For 40 years the greatest soldier in history: a horseman of Genghis Khan’s original great Army, the greatest army in history, (tied with Phillip’s Macedonian army,) led by the greatest general in history, Subutai, (tied with Alexander.)
Technically and tactically centuries ahead of any thing/army/defense any nation could field, the Mongol army of Genghis Khan became a “Machine” of death, destroying every army it faced, and then utterly destroying the nations it conquered.
Genghis Khan was a true military and organizational genius, but with a genius for death and terror.
“The Machine” killed so many people and enslaved, chased away, died of disease and starved so many others that it induced population displacement on a scale never seen before, especially in Central Asia and even in Eastern Europe. As much as 30–40% of Hungary was destroyed when “The Machine” blitzed through.
The Mongol army of Genghis Khan massacred enemies through China, Afghanistan, Central Asian, Persian, Europe. They beat them all, and with an almost ease.
‘The Machine” enslaved the people and those slaves would often be sent to Mongolia or else would plod slowly after the fast moving, never resting “Machine.” If sent to Mongolia or other Mongol cities they were put to work at manual labor and the women became the playthings of the local Mongol soldiers.
If the women were young and attractive they were sent to Genghis Khan himself who was the most terrible serial rapist in history with over 60,000 modern descendants in Mongolia/China/Siberia/Central Asia alone. No one knows how many girls he raped and impregnated but it must have been many thousands as he demanded a new girl every night. The girls had to be the youngest, most beautiful and virgins, and if he didn’t think the girls met his standards he gave them as “toys” to his officers.
Millions (with an “M”) of women were forced into sexual slavery by “The machine.” Women at that time (any time) were treated terribly, as property, but at the hands of “The Machine,” they faced cruelty, subjugation, slavery, rape, suffering on a scale they could never have imagined.
The women, again, were raped by the army, and the slaves were used to do everything from manual labor to filling enemy moats and ditches with their still living bodies. They were used as arrow/crossbow fodder. The were marched in front of attacking soldiers as shields in attacks on castles and forts.
