Genghis Khan was the savage and ruthless military leader who is credited with unifying much of Eurasia and having founded the world’s largest empire in the thirteenth century. To do so, he led many military campaigns conquering one land after another, and, after the conquering, he declared his rule over the vanquished. Genghis Khan’s image as a ruthless and determined conqueror has often painted the Mongolians he led as being harsh and bloodthirsty. However, he and his armies were also willing to show much mercy.
His oldest but not directly related son was Jochi Khan. Genghis Khan’s wife was kidnapped, and when he rescued her, she had become pregnant with Jochi.1 Despite this fact, however, Genghis Khan never saw him as anything other than his own. Even on his deathbed, he contemplated appointing Jochi as a successor, as it was customary to pick the eldest son. One of Jochi’s step brother’s did not agree to this, being that Jochi wasn’t actually related by blood; Jochi replied to his step brother with, “‘I have never been told by my father the Qan that I was different from my brothers. How can you discriminate against me?”2
As he was treated like one of his father’s own, Jochi was given his own army at the age of twenty-six. This was popular among his family as his father was keen on delegating several military positions to family and friends; this further allowed his sons to develop their leadership skills.3 However, they would still take orders from their father, and Jochi was assigned to take over several villages, cities, and towns. On one of his assignments, Jochi was ordered to take over the town of Saganak around the year 1220.4 Jochi, being a smart man, knowing that he would indeed own the town afterwards, sent a local countryman to ask for the town’s surrender. Surely, he thought, they must receive the message much better coming from one of their own. He even made an agreement with the governor that the messenger would not be harmed nor would his people. This triggered an emotional response of the opposite desired result, in which the townspeople were insulted and killed the messenger despite the agreement. Jochi was very unhappy about the turn of events, and he decided to attack the town, killing all of its soldiers and half of its citizens. His message was clear: surrender or be destroyed.5
However, Jochi was still a sympathetic leader and would treat the people of towns with mercy, usually depending on the town surrendering immediately when requested to do so. He felt that there was no need for additional violence, and that he would ultimately end up being in charge of the town. There are accounts of towns going out of their way to surrender before any possible violence came to them, or after they knew they had lost. On one such occasion, both of Jochi’s strategic styles came into play. A small town with a weak military but a large wall surrounding it refused to surrender until after a three-day siege, and only when seeing that defeat was imminent. Jochi refused their surrender, since it was not made before he had exhausted his forces, and he took the town by force. He then ordered all the inhabitants to the outside of the wall. Instead of killing them, however, he merely got them out of the way, so that his army could loot their homes without any problems.6
Jochi went on to lead larger conquests with his family’s armies and his own, although he started growing farther away from his family and military duties.7 : A Historical Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2017), 162-163.] This version of peaceful conquest, coupled with several benefits of being under Khan’s rule (such as the unification of the silk road and the building of an infrastructure for the entire empire) meant that while a Mongolian invasion was always a looming threat, simply submitting to the superior Khan rule was not a terrible alternative.
- Berkshire Encyclopedia of China: Modern and Historic Views of the World’s Newest and Oldest Global Power, 2009, s.v. “Chinggis Khan,” by Timothy M. May. ↵
- Igor de Rachewiltz, The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century (The Australian National University, 2015), 172. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Mongol Empire’s military history,” by Michael Siler. ↵
- Jacob Abbott, Makers of History: Genghis Khan (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1901), 264. ↵
- Jacob Abbott, Makers of History: Genghis Khan (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1901), 265-266. ↵
- Jacob Abbott, Makers of History: Genghis Khan (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1901), 266-268. ↵
- Timothy May, The Mongol Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 Volumes ↵
33 comments
Valeria Hernandez
Ryann Cervantes tells the story of Jochi Khan a merciful leader who was patient and forgiving with people of villages was a righteous leader. Cervantes dissects the life of Khan and briefly paints a timeline for readers giving us an idea of why he was the way he was. However, the article seems more like an encyclopedia to me. Cervantes picked an interesting an uncommon leader.
Brianda Gomez
The very first words in this article really caught my attention. It all ties together on how Ghengis was a savage and ruthless man. It is interesting how his wife was kidnapped then after she was saved she had her son Jochi. In my opinion it was good that Jochi was not mean like his dad. He was the complete opposite, Feeling that there was “no need for violence”. I really enjoyed about him and his family.
Deanna Lummus
This article is very interesting because this is a topic I have some prior knowledge on. However, I am being proved wrong. I didn’t know the Mongols could be merciful at all. I was under the impression that the whole idea was never to show mercy. I think this article shows how mercy can be seen as a sign of weakness. I also understand this to be a learning technique for future military strategies.
Andrea Chavez
This was such an eye opening article, I always so the Mongolians in those times as savages always attacking. But now with this article I see how different the actual thing was. His stagey was a really good and compassionate one. Now I am really curious as to if he really become the leader and if not; then who did and how did it all end.
Andrew Rodriguez
In the Mongolian empire I only knew of Genghis Khan and his ruthlessness on the battle field. It is pretty shocking to know that he had a much different son in the style of ruling. This article was very well directed in it’s information. I liked the research put into this article, very insightful on the process. I didn’t know that Khan took in a step son and raised him as his own. I believe that was very telling of his character as a human being. Even leaving his empire to him, he didn’t see the difference in the blood but in the mindset he established with him.
Alexis Soto
The Mongol Empire is a personal favorite historical topic of mine. That was one of the reasons I read this article. It was an interesting story that was new to me. I had known that the Great Khan had a child who was not of blood relation. I had no idea Genghis Khan had to rescue his wife who had become pregnant.
Michael Mandujano
This article was very interesting, I am familiar with Genghis Khan, and the Mongolian army being ruthless. However, I was unaware that Genghis Khan had a son or step son. After reading this article I gained greater knowledge of Jochi Khan. I enjoyed how this article went into depth on Jochi Khan’s military experience, and I also enjoyed the images that were presented throughout the article.
Samman Tyata
I really liked the way how you have managed your article. Well, I am hearing the name Jochi Khan for the first time; however, I have heard about Genghis Khan. It’s interesting to know that Jochi was a sympathetic leader and treated the people with mercy. Also, it good to read that Genghis Khan never saw Jochi as anything other than his own son. To sum it up, it was a good read.
Mark Martinez
A extremely well written and put together article that kept me interested the entire time. With all the terrible stories, you hear about the Mongolians being so ruthless it seems a little strange that mercy was still an option for them. To hear how Genghis Khan loved Jochi like a son even if it he wasn’t blood, or how Jochi showed mercy to people he was concurring reveals how there is always for to the story.
Thomas Fraire
When I thought of the Mongols, I thought of like these powerful group of warriors with people who only cared about gaining land and taking others land. I had never heard of Jochi Khan, its intreating how he didn’t hurt people physically. I would argue he was merciful for a Mongol but not human. He still stole all there things and conquered there land. But it was a really good article over all.