In almost any book on the era we are considering, you will find the word exceptional, applied to the Mongol conquests. The Mongols could not have conquered anything in any way, but they showed exceptional qualities. No horse can cover huge distances so quickly, and after the race, invariably win battles, but the Mongols were extremely lucky. No leader could unite the Mongols so dashingly that they captured half of the planet, except for the exceptional leader - Genghis Khan.
It is interesting that the “exceptionalism” of Mongolian history in the east is balanced by one similar miracle in the west: as an exception, the crusaders of Europe, having spent their march to the east since the end of the 11th century, bypassed Russia, according to traditional history.
And Genghis Khan is really an exceptional person. He has at least a dozen biographies and appearances!
Monk Rubruk, from whose book, in fact, all ideas about the "Mongol-Tatars" began, this is how he paints the local order and the biography of the leader himself, Genghis Khan:
This is the description of events made by the monk Rubruk, who seemed to hang out in those parts himself and was an eyewitness to the events. Scientists consider the Onan-Kerule River to be the Onon River, a tributary of the Amur in Transbaikalia, so, as we see, they believe that Rubruk knows what he is talking about and is telling the truth. But is the monk Rubruk telling the truth?..
Now let's see what Genghis Khan looks like.
The History of the Peoples of East and Central Asia, published in Moscow in 1986, says:
It looks like Temuchin was a European, and "Genghis Khan" is a title. Why has no one ever inherited it? And what about the other stories that tell us about Temuchin's grandfather, also a famous khan? And the word "ocean" in Mongolian speech sounds, you see, a little strange.
In 1829 in St. Petersburg the History of the First Four Khans from the House of Genghis was published in translation from Chinese. Again, it turns out that Chingis is a family name. But in the manuscript, meanwhile, it is not, and a certain Di is acting, which in Chinese simply means "lord." And the name Temuchin suddenly acquires a concrete meaning: Tkhe-Mu-Zhen, the best iron, steel. The history of this "next" Genghis Khan is as follows (as presented by the Sinologist monk Iakinf Bichurin):
Now it turns out that Genghis Khan's father was not only not a Tatar, but conquered the Tatars. He named his son Temujin in honor of a Tartar who was defeated and captured by him, nicknamed Steel. [46] However, it would be absurd for the winner to name his firstborn after the defeated enemy! This was observed only among primitive tribes in the Philippines, where you cannot give a baby a new name until someone is killed.
It is clear that the entire genealogy of the Iron Knight Temuchin given here is pure fantasy, starting from the virgin conception of his ancestor and the subsequent listing of the dynasty. This is a simple imitation of the biblical and other enumerations like "Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat …" and so on.
And if that were the end of the inventions about the mythical leader of the mythical Mongol armies!.. Here is an excerpt from the "testimony" of the monk Magakia:
All this is very shaky, because the records first began to be kept since 1240, according to the official history.
According to N. M. Karamzin, the picture of his life is as follows:
Historians are often too uncritical about words. “Hordes of Mongols roamed the steppes,” writes N. M. Karamzin. What is a horde? The encyclopedic dictionary assures that at first this word was used to describe the military-administrative organization among the Mongols, and then - the camp of nomadic pastoralists. Then the headquarters of the ruler of the state was called horde. At the same time, the horde is a term (apparently scientific), meaning a primitive human herd, and in its everyday meaning - a large unorganized gathering of people. What hordes roamed in the steppes of Karamzin?..
In 1227, during a campaign against the Tanguts, Genghis Khan dies. Until the end of his life, he remained illiterate and, in general, was a typical nomadic herder in his habits and outlook. “A brilliant savage”, this is how historians who do not doubt the reality of the khan summarize his life.
Not possessing such powerful abilities as Genghis Khan, you and I, the reader, have something else that he did not have: we have geographical maps. Now we ask you, put a map in front of you, and follow it along the path of Genghis across the planet:
The small prince, who roamed on the outskirts of the Gobi Desert, united the Mongol tribes under his rule. He personally conquered the vast kingdom of the Khorezm Shah, stretching from India to the Caspian Sea, conquered the Uighurs, now considered to be Bukharian Uzbeks, defeated the Tanguts in Tibet, broke into China, and captured Beijing. At the same time, he personally defeated the strong and flourishing Muslim cities of Bukhara, Samarkand, Merv, Herat and a number of others, and through his commanders also conquered Persia, invaded the Russian southern steppes, his troops defeated the Russian allied princes on the Kalka River and thereby laid the foundation for the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
Only one who did not follow the message just given on the geographical map can not consider him a simple ghost. All this kingdom, erected by the force of arms under the leadership of one person, is possible only in a fairy tale or in the writings of tendentious historians.
From the book: “Another history of Russia. From Europe to Mongolia”. Authors: Kalyuzhny Dmitry, Valyansky Sergey