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Genghis Khan

founder and first khan of the Mongol Empire (1162–1227)

38 dated entries naming Genghis Khan, drawn from 35 separate years between 1161 CE and 1271 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Genghis khan in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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12th century

  • 1161Belgutei, half-brother of Genghis Khan (died 1271)source
  • 1162Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire (died 1227)source
  • 1168Temüge (or Otgon), brother of Genghis Khan (died 1246)source
  • 1171Yesugei (Baghatur), Mongol chieftain, arranges a marriage between his 9-year-old son Temujin (Genghis Khan) and the daughter of the chief of a nearby clan, Börte. He is poisoned by the Tatars while returning home.source
  • 1182Jochi, Mongol general and son of Genghis Khansource
  • 1183Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan, Khan of the Chagatai Khanate (died 1241 or 1242)source
  • 1191Tolui, Mongol general and son of Genghis Khan (died 1232)source
  • 1195Temüjin, in alliance with the Jin dynasty of China, launches his first major campaign against the Tatars. This military action marks a new, formalized phase in Temüjin's rise to power and his ongoing unification of the various steppe tribes.source
  • 1197Genghis Khan (or Temüjin), with help from the Keraites, defeats the Jurchens of the Jin dynasty. The Jin bestow Genghis' blood brother Toghrul with the honorable title of Ong Khan, and Genghis receives the lesser title of j'aut quri. During the winter, Toghrul returns and re-establishes himself as leader of the Keraites.source
  • 1200Temüjin (or Genghis Khan) manages to unite about half the feuding Mongol clans under his leadership. He delegates authority based on skill and loyalty, rather than tribal affiliation or family. The main rivals of the Mongol confederation are the Naimans to the west, the Merkits to the north, the Tanguts to the south and the Jin Dynasty (or Great Jin) to the east.source

13th century

  • 1203Early – Battle of Khalakhaljid Sands: Temüjin, khan of the Mongol tribe and the future Genghis Khan, is comprehensively defeated by the forces of Toghrul, khan of the Kereit.source
  • 1206Temüjin assembles at a Kurultai, a council of chiefs of the Mongol tribes under his rule, and is elected as their leader. He is given the title of Genghis Khan of the Mongol people – founding the Mongol Empire. Genghis takes immediate steps to underpin his military command, starting with a fundamental reordering of tribal loyalties. United under one nomadic nation, under one banner and one authority.source
  • 1207Jochi, eldest son of Genghis Khan, subjugates people of the Siberian forest (taiga); the Uriankhai, the Oirats, the Barga, the Khakas, the Buryats, and the Tuvans, extending the northern border of the Mongol Empire.source
  • 1209Spring – The Mongols led by Genghis Khan begin their first invasion against the Western Xia state (or Xi Xia). They push up along the Yellow River, capturing several garrisons and defeating an imperial army. The Mongols besiege the capital Zhongxing – which holds a well-fortified garrison of some 70,000 men (hastily reinforced with another 50,000). Genghis lacks the proper equipment and experience to take the city. In October, an attempt to flood the city by diverting the Yellow River is disastrous and floods the Mongol camp, forcing the Mongols to withdraw.source
  • 1210Jochi, Mongol leader and eldest son of Genghis Khan, begins a campaign against the Kyrgyz. Meanwhile, Emperor Xiang Zong of Western Xia agrees to submit to Mongol rule, he gives his daughter, Chaka, in marriage to Genghis and pays him a tribute of camels, falcons, and textiles.source
  • 1211Spring – Genghis Khan summons his Mongol chieftains, and prepares to wage war against the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in northern China. He advances across the Gobi Desert with a massive army of 100,000 warriors with 300,000 horses, strung out in perhaps 10–20 groups of 5,000–10,000 men each, each with camel-drawn carts, and all linked by fast-moving messengers. Meanwhile, the Jin Government mobilizes an army of 800,000 men, most of which are untrained peasants with low morale, and some 150,000 highly-trained cavalry. This vast army, however, is spread across the Great Wall, and garrisoned separate fortresses.source
  • 1212Autumn – Genghis Khan invades Jin territory and besieges Datong. During the assault, he is wounded by an arrow in his knee and orders a withdrawal for rest and relaxation.source
  • 1213Jin China is overrun by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, who plunder the countryside and cities, until only Beijing remains free, despite two bloody palace coups and a lengthy siege.source
  • 1214Spring – Emperor Xuan Zong of the Jurchen-led Chinese Jin dynasty surrenders to the Mongols under Genghis khan – who have besieged the capital of Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing) for a year. He is forced to pay tribute (including some 3,000 horses, 10,000 'bolts' of silk and his daughter), along with subjugation to the Mongol Khan. Xuan Zong abandons northern China and moves his court to Kaifeng.source
  • 1215June 1 – Mongol conquest of Jin China: After the long Battle of Zhongdu, the Mongol forces capture Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing). Meanwhile, Genghis Khan has decamped to the edge of the grasslands and is on his way back to the Kherlen River. Without his restraining influence, the Mongols run wild. They devastate and ransack the city, killing thousands. The royal palace goes up in flames, and a part of the capital burns for a month.source
  • 1217The Mongol army under Muqali (or Mukhali) attacks Hebei Province, as well as Shandong Province and Shaanxi Province (controlled by the Jin Dynasty). He returns to Genghis Khan's camp in Mongolia, and receives the hereditary of prince with the title "Grand Preceptor of the Empire", a golden seal, and a white standard with nine tails and a black crescent in the middle. He is appointed as commander-in-chief of operations in North China.source
  • 1218Spring – Genghis Khan dispatches a Mongolian army (some 20,000 cavalry) under Jebe, to deal with the Qara Khitai (or Western Liao) threat. Meanwhile, he sends Subutai with another army on a simultaneous campaign against the Merkits. Jebe defeats a force of 30,000 men led by Prince Kuchlug at the Khitan capital Balasagun. Kuchlug flees south to modern Afghanistan, but is captured by hunters – who hands him over to the Mongols. After Kuchlug is beheaded and paraded through the cities of his new domains, Genghis annexes the entire Khitai empire under Mongol rule.source
  • 1219Winter – Genghis Khan sends a Mongol army (some 20,000 men) under his eldest son Jochi and Jebe to cross the Tian Shan mountains ("Heavenly Mountains") to ravage the fertile Fergana Valley, in the eastern part of the Khwarezm Empire. The Mongols suffer many losses but slip through the defensive lines and confuse the enemy who thinks this is Genghis' main force. Muhammad II dispatches his elite cavalry reserve to protect the fertile regions with force. Meanwhile, another Mongol army under his second and third sons Chagatai and Ögedei passes through the Dzungarian Gate, and immediately start laying siege to the border city of Otrar.source
  • 1220Spring – The Mongol army (some 100,000 men) led by Genghis Khan crosses the Kyzylkum Desert – a freezing sand-and-tussock wilderness of some 450 kilometers – towards Bukhara. Meanwhile, Muhammad II, ruler of the Khwarazmian Empire, prepares a strong defense around his capital Samarkand. In February, Genghis approaches Bukhara, which is defended by a garrison of some 20,000 men, and begins the Siege of Bukhara. The city leaders open the gates to the Mongols, but Turkish forces who defend the city's citadel hold out for another twelve days. In a speech at the city's Friday Mosque, Genghis declares "I am the punishment of God."source
  • 1221Spring – Genghis Khan orders an armed reconnaissance expedition into the Caucasus (consisting of Georgia and Armenia) under the command of Subutai and Jebe ("the Arrow"). The Mongols defeat two Georgian armies around Tbilisi, but lack the will or equipment to besiege the capital city. During the fighting, King George IV of Georgia himself is severely wounded and his elite knights are massacred. Meanwhile in Bamyan, the ruler Genghis Khan leads a Mongol force that besieges and captures the fortified city after fierce resistance; during the fighting, his grandson Mutukan is killed, prompting a brutal massacre of the city’s defenders. The Mongols then return to Azerbaijan and Persia, and burn and pillage a few more cities.source
  • 1222After the invasion and destruction of the Khwarezmian Empire in 1221, Genghis Khan returns to Mongolia, and a rebellion sparks in Helmand, to which the response is a large army led by Ögedei Khan sent into the region to put an end to the rebellion of Muhammad the Marghani, resulting in the killing of every man in Ghazni and Helmand, and the enslavement and selling of most of the women of the region.source
  • 1223The Mongol leaders Subutai and Jebe receive news that Jochi, who camps north of the Caspian Sea, will not be able to provide the expected reinforcements due to Jochi's reported illness or suspected refusal to obey his father Genghis Khan's orders. Subutai sends an embassy to the Russian princes, to offer peace and perhaps attempt to break the Russian alliance with the Polovtsians. But the Mongol ambassadors are executed – a task eagerly carried out by Köten Khan's followers, by the end of April.source
  • 1223February 6 – Dispatched by Genghis Khan, the Mongol General Muqali makes a third and final attempt to capture Fengxiang, but fails again, ending the Mongol attempts.source
  • 1224Spring – The Mongol army led by Subutai and Jochi cross the steppes of modern Kazakhstan, and returns to the horde of Genghis Khan on the Irtysh River. At a great kurultai or gathering of chiefs, Subutai reports on the Western campaign. Jochi submits to Genghis and his supposed 'insubordination' (see 1220) is forgiven. As a result of the Mongol invasion in 1219–1223, Kazakhstan and Central Asia become part of the Mongol Empire.source
  • 1225Autumn – Subutai is assigned a new campaign by Genghis Khan against the Tanguts. He crosses the Gobi Desert with a Mongol army and advances south into the Western Xia (or Xi Xia). Meanwhile, Genghis, in his mid-sixties, becomes wounded during hunting. His injury – a dislocated shoulder, perhaps, or a bruised rib – forces him to take some rest.source
  • 1226Summer – Genghis Khan starts a campaign against the Tanguts, punishing the vassal kingdom of Western Xia (Xi Xia) for not contributing to the Mongol invasions. He assembles a large force (some 100,000 men), and lays siege to Liangzhou, second-largest city in Western Xia, which surrenders without resistance. In the autumn, Genghis crosses the Helan Mountains, and in November he lays siege to Lingwu. Meanwhile, Emperor Xianzong of Western Xia dies and is succeeded by his nephew Mo (or Li Xian).source
  • 1226August – At Xingqing in what is now China's Yinchuan province, Emperor Xianzong of the Western Xia Empire dies after a three-year reign, and is succeeded by his nephew, Li Xian. The Mongols under Genghis Khan force the surrender of Western Xia the following year, bringing an end to the Yinchuan province as a separate nation.source
  • 1227Autumn – Prince Tolui, Mongol regent and youngest son of Genghis Khan, assembles a Kurultai in the homelands of Mongolia. He persuades the chieftains of the clan to carry out Genghis' wishes. Ögedei Khan receives the Great Khanate. Genghis' eldest son, Jochi, dies before him, and his lands are divided between his two sons Batu Khan and Orda Khan, who rule the Western provinces (the Golden Horde and White Horde). Genghis' second son, Chagatai Khan, inherits the former Uigur and Kara-Khanid Khanate (now called the Chagatai Khanate). Tolui receives the Mongol homelands.source
  • 1227August 25 – Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empiresource
  • 1229September 13 – Ögedei Khan, the third son of Genghis Khan is proclaimed "Great Khan" of the Mongol Empire, at a Kurultai council.source
  • 1241Ögedei Khan, 2nd Khagan of the Mongol Empire and successor to Genghis Khan (born c. 1185)source
  • 1242July 1 – Chagatai Khan, son of Genghis Khan (born 1183)source
  • 1271The 17-year-old Marco Polo departs from Venice with his father and uncle Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, to set off for Asia to meet the Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan (the grandson of Genghis Khan) at his court in Beijing, China. They sail across the Mediterranean Sea and travel overland, crossing Armenia, Persia and the Pamir Mountains.source

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