Genghis Khan
A unified steppe produces the largest contiguous land empire in history.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 21 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Post-Classical, Holocene
Temujin unites the Mongol tribes and is proclaimed Genghis Khan in 1206, then turns an entire society into an army organised by decimal units that cut across tribal loyalty, with promotion by merit, a written law code and a relay messenger system. His campaigns against the Jin, Khwarazm and others involve massacres on a scale that emptied cities. By his death in 1227 the empire runs from the Pacific to the Caspian.