Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

by Jack Weatherford

In twenty-five years, the Mongol army subjugated more lands and people than the Romans had conquered in four hundred years.

Genghis Khan, together with his sons and grandsons, conquered the most densely populated civilizations of the thirteenth century. Whether measured by the total number of people defeated, the sum of the countries annexed, or by the total area occupied, Genghis Khan conquered more than twice as much as any other man in history.

“it is the great ones among you who have committed these sins. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.”

Genghis Khan recognized that warfare was not a sporting contest or a mere match between rivals; it was a total commitment of one people against another. Victory did not come to the one who played by the rules; it came to the one who made the rules and imposed them on his enemy.

He never fought the same war twice.

“Let us be companions. Now, we are joined together once again, we should remind each other of things we have forgotten. Wake each other from our sleep. Even when you went away and were apart from me, you were still my lucky, blessed sworn brother. Surely, in the days of killing and being killed, the pit of your stomach and your heart pained for me. Surely, in the days of slaying and being slain, your breast and your heart pained for me.”

In probably the first law of its kind anywhere in the world, Genghis Khan decreed complete and total religious freedom for everyone.

“Our empire is like the sea; yours is but a handful of sand,”

You may conquer an army with superior tactics and men, but you can conquer a nation only by conquering the hearts of the people.