Genghis Khan: The Emperor of All Men by Harold Lamb (PDF)

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⭐Temüjin, who later became known as Genghis Khan after the campaigns that took place in the few years before 1206 and left him master of the steppes , was the most powerful and ruthless Mongolian warrior in history. The title, Genghis Khan, meant Universal Ruler. Genghis Khan was master of the largest contiguous empire in history, extending from China’s Pacific coast all the way to the Adriatic Sea. His Empire also lasted three generations.The Mongols were a scattered nation of tribesmen. Even before the time of Genghis Khan, there were ruthless Mongol leaders who attacked other nations, but none did it with the scale and strategy of Genghis Khan. The Great Wall of China was in fact built to prevent the Mongols from invading China. Having always feared the Mongols, the Chinese often played the Mongol tribesmen as pawns, making them wage wars against each other, and thus weakening them. They were also often bribed with gifts to keep them from invading China.The author first relates to us the harsh conditions in which the Mongols lived, setting the stage for Genghis Khan’s barbarism. Life in the Gobi desert was an everyday struggle. Food and water were scarce. Hunting was not a sport, but a thin line between survival and death. Food was not easily shared between individuals. If a hunter did not fare well, his family would suffer. Kids had to fight for their milk, and only the lucky ones would get any. The Milk was however slightly fermented, so kids who drank it eventually felt tipsy. There were often skirmishes between the tribes, and killing one another was the way of life. The Gobi desert made Genghis Khan into a ruthless and unstoppable killer. He was orphaned in his teens; his family fell on bad times, and power among the Mongols passed to other clans. He became a warrior, and history views him as one of the greatest rulers, but he was a killer nevertheless.Let’s stop here for a second. History tends to glamorize Kings, Emperors, Rulers, and warriors of the past. Napoleon is seen as a genius. So is Genghis Khan. Was Charles Manson a genius? How about Jack the Ripper? How about the countless serial killers in our streets, should we glamorize them too? Genghis Khan killed hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children. So did Napoleon–so did many if not all of the emperors of the past. If today a serial killer, recruiting all the killers in a city, succeeds in taking over a whole city, and eventually takes over all adjacent States by terrorizing and murdering the inhabitants, would we glamorize him and call him a genius? What if he succeeds in taking over all of America, and names himself as the Emperor of the United States of America? Would he no longer become a serial killer in our eyes but a warrior and a genius? Is a crime forgiven and seen in a new light by the number of victims? Is a serial killer a murderer for killing a few dozens, but a genius and a great historical figure if he kills hundreds of thousands?Genghis Khan killed hundreds of thousands because he wanted to be great; because he wanted the selfish glory of ruling the world. Today we allow him to bath in this glory, but at what price? How many children will grow up wanting to firmly place their name in the annals of history, and instead of following the footsteps of Einstein and other great scientists, they decide to follow the footsteps of such criminals as Genghis Khan? Does the world need more wars?Okay back to the book, which by the way is a very well written historical biography of this lunatic mass murderer. Genghis Khan grew up believing in one God. He was religiously minded, carried along by his sense of a divine mission, and in moments of crisis he would reverently worship the Eternal Blue Heaven, the supreme deity of the Mongols. He believed that conquering the world was his divine mission. If his god is the same as ours, then God allowed such atrocities to take place. Not only did God allow them, but sent a Messiah to carry them through. Bush also believes he talks to God and that he has a divine mission. Bin Laden also has the same belief. Saddam Hussein believed that he had a divine mission to free Palestine. I must therefore conclude that either there is more than one god, or these people are hallucinating. I’ll stick with the latter.The weakness of the Mongols was the independence of each tribe from another. Genghis Khan managed to unite all the tribes together by basically killing their chieftains. He believed there could be only one ruler, and by that he meant world ruler as well, and he made himself the self-proclaimed one. He eventually managed to invade China, despite its Great Wall. Chinese Sympathizers opened one of the gates of the Great Wall for him. What was the use of the Great Wall of China if all it took was to open one gate and the enemy was in? Genghis Khan was thus able to invade and pillage the Chinese towns.The author tells us that Genghis Khan was a genius in military strategy, and a tactful warrior. According to the author, it would be mistaken to see the Mongol campaigns as haphazard incursions by bands of marauding savages. Organization, discipline, mobility, and ruthlessness of purpose were the fundamental factors in his military successes. In one situation, seeing that one Chinese town offered unusually strong resistance to his invasion, he faked a withdrawal. The townspeople, thinking Genghis Khan had withdrawn, and that they had won, brought their guards down and went through their business as usual, expecting Genghis Khan to have retreated for good. Khan however hastily turned back in the middle of the night and charged the now unguarded city and pillaged it. Furthermore, on his campaigns he took all the leaders of the Mongol tribes with him so they wouldn’t conspire or revolt against him during his absence.Genghis Khan had greater selfish ambitions–China was not enough. He now wanted to conquer the world. He heard of greater powers to the West, and he wanted to put them down on their knees. He met the Muslims first. At first he forged an alliance with them for the sake of trade. But soon thereafter, after only one year, a Muslim leader kills some of Genghis Khan’s traders, believing them to be spies. When Genghis Khan sends envoys to ask for justice, the Muslims kill the envoys as well. Seeking revenge, Genghis Khan attacks the Muslims and eventually wins. Their lands are conquered, and many are put to death.Genghis’ army was like a plague–unstoppable. Initially his troops were exclusively cavalry, riding the hardy grass-fed Mongol pony. With such an army, other nomads could be defeated, but cities could not be taken. Yet before long the Mongols were able to undertake the siege of large cities, using catapults, ladders, and burning oil, and even diverting rivers, which has baffled historians till this day. It was only gradually, through contact with men from the more settled states, that Genghis Khan came to realize that there were more sophisticated ways of enjoying power than simply raiding, destroying, and plundering. For example, it was only after the war against the Muslim empire of Khwârezm, in late 1222, that Genghis Khan learned from Muslim advisers the meaning and importance of towns. And it was another adviser, formerly in the service of the Jin emperor, who explained to him the uses of peasants and craftsmen as producers of taxable goods. He had intended to turn the cultivated fields of northern China into grazing land for his horses.Massacres of defeated populations, with the resultant terror, were weapons he regularly used. His practice of summoning cities to surrender and of organizing the methodical slaughter of those who did not submit has been described as psychological warfare. But massacre was also mainly used for its own sake. Almost all writers, even those who were in the Mongol service, have dwelt on the enormous destruction wrought by the Mongol invasions. One Arab historian openly expressed his horror at the recollection of them. The 13th-century chronicler Matthew Paris called them a “detestable nation of Satan that poured out like devils from Tartarus so that they are rightly called Tartars.” He was making a play on words with the classical word Tartarus (Hell) and the ancient tribal name of Tatar borne by some of the nomads.The author tells us that later in life Genghis Khan laments over all the bloodshed he has caused, and asks whether it was all worth it. Was this his guilty subconscious speaking?Genghis Khan is known today as a great historical figure because out of nothing, and with unifying uncivilized, uneducated, and illiterate nomads, he managed to rule over the largest empire in history with numerically inferior armies. He made his own laws and his own code of behavior that had to be followed by all his subjects. Adultery, for example, was punished by death. He chose his successor, his son Ögödei, with great care, ensured that his other sons would obey Ögödei, and passed on to him an army and a state in full vigor.Genghis Khan died from heavy drinking. His successors would extend their power over the whole of China, Persia, and most of Russia.A little known historical fact is that one of Genghis Khan’s grandsons visited Jerusalem.No deed goes unpunished. Eventually, the Mongols were defeated by the Europeans, and the cycle of horror and injustice repeated itself in the New World.

⭐I read this book for pleasure and as part of my goal to read biographies of significant people in history.

⭐He is the scourge of god, sent here to cleanse all christians

⭐I didnt know that i was ordering a 1927 print. I was really amazed. I have started reading it, the more I read it, the more I am stuck/glued to the book. The leather cover has cracked , but thats totally okay. What more you can expect out of a 93 years old book. I love it.

⭐This is one of those POD (at least it appears so) books which reproduces an old edition of a book (a 1936 edition in this case). Physically it looks good, BUT I’m about 1/3 of the way through the book and already have found two pages of text that were definitely not copied to this edition, and a third page of text which appears to be missing — page 99 ends mid-sentence and page 100 takes up with a totally different subject. And parts of two lines on another page are obliterated by a library or some other stamp across the text. Plus the illustrations are copied by some means which makes them pretty much indecipherable. What is there is high very acceptable, but the missing pages and text and poor illustration-repros are very frustrating.

⭐Unfortunately both copies are missing part of the prologue

⭐I’m really not sure about the other reviewers of this book: perhaps one or two of them were actually literate. As Harold Lamb’s works go, this one solidly occupies the bottom of the barrel: it can’t hold a candle to, say, “March of Muscovy.” It is written as for a child, witness the following dialogue: “Genghis happened upon a strange youth. The strange youth was grooming a white horse. Genghis asked the strange youth about his stolen herd. The strange youth said he had seen it. Then, the strange youth mounted his white horse and rode off with Genghis.” Mr. Lamb, you must be joking.Not only that, but the history is doled out in bits and pieces that don’t begin to do justice to the khan’s biography, whether from a purely chronologic perspective or some other that hasn’t yet occurred to me. The book is, in a word, empty. Readers would do much better to consult R. P. Lister, who offers a literate, highly readable, and fast-paced history that is based directly upon the “Secret History of the Mongols,” one of the original 12th-century (13th?) source documents. I’ve also ordered the original Secret History, which should arrive soon, and hope to glean even more local color and authentic anecdote from that document. Time will tell.I have written as above with my own hand.

⭐WOW! This book brings to life the achievements of a man who had his heart set to conquer! The next time you’re driving on a highway on your daily commute to work, look forward into the distance and try to picture how it would’ve been for an entire army to cross the distance from China to Europe on foot, through deserts and mountains! Forget all about the quick conclusions on “the cruelty of the horde.” That may have been the norm for the dark ages and for times of war. Perhaps Temujin (Genghis Khan) was a greater soul than he oftentimes is portrayed to be. This book is about a leader. It depicts an extraordinary man who had vision, acted on his convictions, inspired his people and led them to victory.

⭐I love this book – has aged really well. Very enjoyable read!

⭐good price good delivery good condition ( this book was bought to replace a copy that I had read and reread since childhood till I wore it out)

⭐had this book as a boy and always loved it, got lost when I was a young man and finally got it online, worn but very readable

⭐great book

⭐Excellent story how people lived and died during that perlod.

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