3. The birth of a Mongolian empire

During the following years, he began his conquests over the areas around his realm. In the year 1215 CE, Beijing was conquered and other areas fell quickly under Chingis Khan's ravaging. Chingis Khan created from nothingness the vastest empire during the lifetime of any man that is known to history. Questions arise on how it was at all possible that a triumphal procession like Chingis Khan could be so successful. One reason was that he was a military genius and an important administrator and legislator who within his realms border created order and unity from chaos. Another reason can be that he just happened to be on the right place in the right point of time in the history of mankind.

One of the principal reasons for his success is the size and unity of his armies, which basically was founded on compulsory military service among all men over the age of 14. The only exceptions were doctors, gravediggers and priests or shamans. The men that were liable for military service spent most of their lives on the back of their horses. They could move over the half known world in just a few months while their women tended the herds on the pastures of their homeland. When they were summoned, it was expected of them to leave their herds, bring 4-5 horses and go wherever their army was. Wives and children also accompanied the men, if the army was beyond the borders of their realm; the families remained behind with the herds instead.

During the time the new soldiers rode in to the ordu (military camp), they expected to find the camp set in a pre decided pattern, this made it possible for them to know exactly where they would go if they needed to see a physician or have their weapons given by the armourer. There after they could join with their arban - a unit of 10 men; or a jagun - 10 arbans or 100 men; a minghan - a regiment of 10 jaguns or 1,000 men; or a tümen, a division consisting of 10 minghans or 10000 men. The ordu was run by jurtchis (quartermasters), these made sure that there were enough supplies and that everything went smoothly in the camp.

A soldier had his own responsibility for his equipment and the officers often inspected them. If they neglected their equipment, it often meant that they were sent home from the regiment. A soldier's equipment began with an undershirt of silk, an idea that the Mongolians had taken up from the Chinese. If the soldier had the misfortune to be hit by an arrow and if it went through the armor, it was highly unlikely that the arrow would penetrate the densely woven silk shirt, the usual thing that happened was that the silk went with the arrowhead into the wound. The removal of an arrow causes a larger wound than when the arrow enters, but with the silk around the arrowhead in the wound, it became easier to remove the arrow. What they did was to pull gently in the silk around the wound; in this manner, they could rotate the arrowhead and thus get a smaller removal wound.

Over the silk shirt, the soldier wore a tunic and if he was in the heavy cavalry, he wore a coat of mail and a cuirass of leather-covered iron discs. Each soldier carried a leather-covered shield and a helmet of either leather or iron, which depended on the soldier's rank. The soldier was armed with two composite bows; these had a range of about 200-300 meters and a quiver with at least 60 arrows. The light cavalry had short swords and two or three throwing spears while the heavy cavalry were armed with a scimitar, a battleaxe or battle-mace and a four-meter long lance. The soldiers were also equipped for travels. It was expected from them to have clothes, cooking utensils, dried meat, water flask, files to sharpen arrowheads, needle and thread and other useful objects which they had in a saddle bag made of a cow's stomach, which was waterproof, inflatable and it could also be used as floating devices at river crossings. Qualitatively speaking and perhaps quantitatively, the Mongolian cavalry were quite superior when it came to military strength. A well-oiled cavalry had a devastating advantage before the era of firearms.

By the year 1221 CE, Chingis had conquered Central Asia and the Afghanistan of today, two of his generals reached as far as the Crimea Peninsula. During travel back to Mongolia to take care of a rebellion in Northwestern China, Chingis suddenly became ill and died in August 1227 CE. His body was transported to Northeastern Mongolia where he was buried in the side of a mountain, which at the time was known as Burkhan Khaldun (Mountain of God). This mountain lies in a mountain chain where the river Onon, Tola and Kerulen originates, about 480 kilometers east of Karakorum and about 145 kilometers east of Ulan Bator of today. Forty young women and at least as many horses were sacrificed at Chingis tomb.

A unit of 1,000 men from the Urian tribe was stationed at the foot of the mountain and was ordered to watch Chingis Khans tomb forever. The soil on the mountain was so fertile that the tomb soon was covered with plenty of undergrowth so completely that the guards could not find the tomb again and despite that Tolui, Möngke and Khubilai was buried here, the mountain too has been forgotten and no one longer knows which mountain they were buried at.

Chingis Khans Empire at his death was practically all of Central Asia. In the east most of Northern China was subdued, in the southwest the border went far south of Amu-darya and in the northwest the Mongolians had penetrated as far as to Volga. This expansion was of course not without destruction, carnage and pillaging. In almost all literature are the Mongolians presented as terribly cruel and bloodthirsty barbarians. Their way through Asia and Eastern Europe was marked by meaningless massacres on all citizens in the cities that the Mongolians had conquered and total destruction and devastation of all the land. The ravaging by the Mongolians is supposed to have been of such a disastrous nature, that the lands of Western Asia did not recover until our time.

These judgments of the Mongolians are based upon a non-critical view of Islamic sources of relatively late origin, like Rashid al-Dins chronicle, which is written almost a hundred years after the events took place. Those more contemporary sources with Christian origin (European travelers, Armenians and so on.) are more positive in their judgment. You cannot deny the fact that the Mongolians warfare was "cruel", with ravaging and mass-executions of citizens in cities that put up resistance against the Mongolians. However, it was hardly different from the contemporary methods of that era. Chingis Khan left more than just a vast empire to his heirs. In the year of 1204 CE, he gave an order to arrange a written language for the Mongolians. He had good connections with the religious leaders in the conquered areas so that he in this way could build a good foundation to the people that these leaders were leading. He even let the priests be tax relieved so that he in this manner could get their support. Another more permanent part of his legacy was the use of foreigners scribes, interpreters, teachers, advisors, merchants and also soldiers - this was something that was picked up by Chingis Khans successors, especially by Khubilai Khan.

He also started with the Jasagh (prohibition, rule, law), a collection of rules that can be similar to the Ten Commandments and that is often called the first Mongolian law, and the Jasagh controlled the different classes of the tribes and their relationships and obligations to each other. Unfortunately, the Jasagh have not been preserved but some rules of law are referred to in various narrative sources. The Jasagh can be divided in five main parts.

1. Rules for civil service. Here the Khans supreme power and his family’s superior position were established.

Religious tolerance was decreed. Taxes were validated and so were the postal and transportation services.

2. Military organization. Here you meet among other things the so-called decimal system, i.e. the classification of the armies in groupings of 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000. Here are also about duties, responsibilities and discipline.

3. Criminal law. Severe punishments characterize the Jasagh. These punishments would warrant that the Khans orders were carried out, that military orders were followed and also that the law and common law was respected.

Of individual crimes, the law took actions against murder, theft, infidelity, sodomy, perjury and other things. The death penalty was established for a number of cases, and perhaps in our eyes for proportionately trivial offences.

4. Civil law. Here the family life was especially regulated. Polygamy and concubines were allowed. Children with concubines were regarded as legitimate. The sons right to dispose of a dead father wives were established. Also wives and children’s right of inheritance was established.

5. Life on the Steppe. Old customary rules were confirmed with the Khans authority behind it. It was for example to be forbidden to eat before another persons presence without invite the person to participate in the meal, or cross over a cooking fire, to use water to wash clothes with and much more.

Chingis created this Jasagh as a combination of his own will and the most suitable customs of the tribe. He made it very clear that he especially disliked theft and fornication, which would be punished with death. For a horse-theft, the punishment was death. He did not want to hear about a child that was disobedient against its parents, a younger brother who did not obey his older brother, a man who did not have confidence for his wife, a wife that was not obedient to her husband, rich who did not help the poor and inferiors who did not show respect for their superiors.

When it came to the improper use with alcohol, which was a besetting sin with the Mongolians, he said: "A man who is drunk is like if you had hit him in the head. His wisdom and skill are for him without use. Drink until you are drunk three times only per month. It would be better to be not drunk at all. But who can deny it all together?"

Here are some excerpts from the Jasagh that I have found:

1. Whoever intentionally lies or practices sorcery, or spies upon the behavior of others, or intervenes between the two parties in a quarrel to help the one against the other is to be put to death.

2. Whoever urinates into water or ashes will be executed.

3. Whoever takes goods (on credit) and becomes bankrupt, then again takes goods and again becomes bankrupt, then takes goods again and yet again becomes bankrupt is to be executed after the third time.

4. Whoever gives food or clothing to a captive without the permission of his captor is to be put to death.

5. Whoever finds a runaway slave or captive and does not return him to the person to whom he belongs is to be executed.

6. The person in whose possession a stolen horse is found must return it to its owner and add nine horses of the same kind; if he is unable to pay this fine, his children must be taken instead of the horses, and if he have no children, he himself shall be slaughtered like a sheep.

The Jasagh reflected the nomadic tribes manners and customs, there it demanded great modifications when the Mongolians wanted to rule over the domiciled civilizations, it also showed that there was a need of written laws and rules as the Mongolian empire grew. The Jasagh aimed for three things: to engrave obedience against Chingis Khan, to unite the nomadic tribes and to punish crimes without mercy. The Jasagh was about people, not property. One other thing that can be mentioned is that no one was to be assumed guilty - unless he was caught in the act or if he confessed. One has to remember that the Mongolians, which were an illiterate people at the time, attached great importance to a mans given word.