While you probably know he was a prolific warlord, there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to the father of military mayhem. These are 25 insane things you didn’t know about Genghis Khan.
25
According to legend Genghis was born with a blood clot in his clenched fist which foretold that he would be a great ruler
24
He grew to be tall, he had a long beard, and most likely had red hair with green eyes.
23
His look came from the fact that Mongolia had experienced a lot of mixing between European and Asian genes
22
He founded the Mongol Empire by uniting the various tribes between Russia and China
21
This empire became the largest contiguous empire in history. It stretched all the way from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe
20
He believed that a man could be measured by the number of children he fathered. His harem included thousands of women and he had children with many of them
19
In fact, due to his sexual exploits, geneticists have found that roughly 8% of men in Asia carry his genetic legacy in their Y-chromosome
18
Some of his campaigns involved killing all members of a society - men, women, and children
17
Some scholars believe that he is responsible for up to 40 million deaths
16
He wanted the location of his grave to be unknown (somewhere in present day Mongolia) so his funeral escort killed everyone they met along the way
15
Apparently he even demanded that a river be diverted to run across his grave. This way he would never be disturbed
14
His birth name was Temujin, the name of a warlord his father had defeated
13
At the age of 10 he killed one of his half brothers while fighting over the game they had just killed on a hunt
12
At 15 he was enslaved by another tribe. He escaped though, which ended up winning him a lot of respect
11
He met his future wife, Börte, when he was only 9 (arranged by his father)
10
When he was 16 they were married and their tribes were united.
9
Although he would go on to sleep with numerous women, his empress was always Börte
8
After his wife was kidnapped by another tribe, Temujin (Genghis) basically went on a rampage and began to conquer his enemies
7
Many tribes pledged loyalty and Temujin became their ruler, or Khan. It was at this point that he changed his name to Genghis, meaning "right" or "just".
6
He allowed his conquered enemies to fight for him so his army would keep growing
5
He used numerous "dirty" techniques and revolutionized espionage and military tactics
4
When the Persians beheaded the Mongolian envoy, Genghis released his wrath and destroyed nearly 90% of their population.
3
In fact, according to some estimates, Iran's population didn't reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-1900s.
2
Some see him as the father of "scorched earth" military techniques which involve destroying pretty much any and every sign of civilization.
1
If a town or city disobeyed while under his rule, then everybody in the city would be executed
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