(3 of 4)
The new emperor proceeded to break apart traditional tribal connections, convert his subjects to a feudal system and above all organize a rigidly disciplined, well-supplied army. Like all Mongol warriors, Genghis' troops were superb horsemen, equipped with sturdy mounts that were obedient, even tempered and ideal for winter fighting. A soldier might stay in the saddle for days, slitting a vein in the neck of his horse to drink its blood so he would not have to stop for meals.
The warriors relied primarily on bows, arrows and hand axes to slay their foes and may have protected themselves with weatherproofed leather armor. To attack fortified cities, they hired Chinese and Middle Eastern engineers who knew how to use siege catapults and other mechanical innovations. After capturing a city, these relentless troops would pretend to withdraw, as a way of determining whether a surrender was genuine; if the Mongol representatives left behind were killed, the soldiers would return to massacre the entire population. They rarely took prisoners, unless they needed men to use as shields in the front lines during the next siege.
Despite the ruthlessness, says Kessler, "Genghis Khan was a very intelligent man and not at all impulsive. He avoided war if he could subjugate another tribe with diplomacy. If he had to fight, he would use spies to gather all the available information and then send in agents to unsettle the situation before attacking."
This combination of cruelty and craftiness was powerfully effective. Genghis first took control of the major Mongolian tribes to the west and then tried to conquer China. He managed to seize power in the northern states but failed to vanquish the entire country. (That goal would be accomplished by Kubilai Khan, the ruler who founded Beijing, received Marco Polo in his court and inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem.) In 1217 Genghis gave up and instead turned his attention back to central Asia, sweeping westward through Bukhara and Samarkand, Azerbaijan and Georgia, eventually reaching the Dnieper River in what today is Ukraine.
Most signs of these conquests are gone from the outer reaches of Genghis Khan's empire, except for lingering impressions of barbarian terrorists sweeping in from the east. But that is far from the case in Inner Mongolia and in independent Mongolia, the ex-Soviet satellite next door, where the great conqueror is revered as a folk hero. Every year thousands of Mongols visit a shrine in the Ordos region where Genghis is said to have dropped a horsewhip during his final campaign and where he reportedly wanted to be buried. His actual burial spot is unknown (see box). In Ulan Bator, Mongolia's capital, there are hotels, streets and even a brand of vodka named for him. His image, says Christopher Atwood, professor of Mongolian studies at Indiana University, "has become kind of tacky."