Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Genghis Khan has been portrayed by the world

as being barbarian and savage who killed millions of people. However, Jack Weatherford, in his book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, balances Genghis Khans portrayal of a barbarian. Weatherford, a professor of anthropology at Macalester College, studied the Mongols soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union in Mongolia. His book narrates the rise, the fall, and the impact Genghis and his successors have had on the modern world. Weatherford uses The Secret History of the Mongols as one of his sources, which was written a few years after Genghiss death. Weatherford argues that Genghis Khan had numerous reforms that were ahead of his time. For one, Genghis established religious freedom, state funded public education, and abolished the use of slavery. He also helped disseminate many new innovations that helped establish the Renaissance in Europe. Weatherford throughout the book portrays Genghis in a positive light. He explains to the reader that he did more than just murder millions of people from different civilizations. Genghis Khan learned valuable lessons very early in his life that helped mold his personality and character. Weatherford mentions that Genghis Khans father, Yesugei, was poisoned by Tartars and died. The tribe soon saw them as a burden and decided to leave them behind. An elderly man stood up for them and Genghis Khan witnessed his death. Weatherford acknowledges this incident to be a critical component of Genghiss character, and in turn, his rise to power.1 Having to go through all these tragedies very early on in life only made him stronger, and instilled in him a profound determination to defy the strict caste structure of the steppes, to take charge of his fate, and to rely on alliances with trusted associates, rather than his

Jack Weatherford. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004), 21.

family or tribe, as his primary base of support.2 Weatherford also attributes this as an explanation as to why Genghis Khan would eventually manage his life and acquaintances based on loyalty and their ability rather than lineage. Despite the fact that Genghis Khan came to be the ruler of the Mongols and achieved far more than any ruler had ever done so, Weatherford mentions how Genghis Khan never really wanted any of this at the beginning. When offered to rule as a local leader by Ong Khan, he declined. It was only with the kidnapping of Borte, his wife, that proved [to be] the decisive contest that would set him on his path to greatness.3 Khan attributes his victories to God, and this was the explanation he gave many of the conquered nations. Many of the people he conquered would not question his rise to power. They believed just as the Mongols that if they had reached greatness it was because God was behind them. Genghis acknowledged his power and soon envision a great imperial nation that would extend from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. As he conquered tribe after tribe, Genghis was able to establish many new reforms under his kingdom. He was able to establish The Great Law of Genghis Khan. This law would help unite the tribes and bring them closer to stop intertribal warfare. One of the reforms under this law was religious toleration. There were many tribes that he had conquered, and they all had different religions. Based on this, Genghis tried to avoid religions from competing amongst each other and thus, decreed complete and total religious freedom for everyone.4 Book critic Aldo Matteucci explains that Genghis applied [the law] equally to everyone, and to himself. This policy allowed him to amalgamate the various defeated clans into one nation.5 According to

2 3

Ibid., 21. Ibid., 30. 4 Ibid., 69. 5 Aldo Mattecuni. Review of Weatherford, Jack, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. ,

Weatherford, this was what really distinguished Genghis from other contemporaries of his time. He did not impose his worldviews on others, he simply believed that what helped him achieve his greatness in conquering a vast amount of people was letting them be who they were. Another reform he was able to use was against counterattacks. He would take in the defeated clan and absorb them, not slaves as it was the norm, but as members of the tribe in good standing.6 Also ahead of their time was the idea of providing the peasants with an education system. At the time, education was only for the wealthy. With this new institution, Genghis descendants, especially during Khubilai Khans reign, set the bar for public education, something that would take another five hundred years for other nations to undertake.7 Weatherford tries to show the reader that the Mongols, an illiterate tribe of nomads, really set the stage for future institutions. The Mongol Empire throughout their conquests acquired many innovations. They also helped spread them throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The Mongols were no innovators; they simply adopted many of the technologies they saw from the different places they conquered. Weatherford believes that the spread of these innovations helped spark the Renaissance later on throughout Europe. Among many of the innovations, according to Francis Bacon, printing, gunpowder, and the compass were the main technological innovations among which the modern world was built.8 Weatherford believes the Mongols influence in many areas helped spread technological innovations that otherwise would have taken other nations longer to get. He also states that Europeans experienced a Renaissance[that] was not the ancient world of Greece and Rome being reborn: It was the Mongol Empire, picked up, transferred, and

Diplo Reviews. March, 2005. Weatherford, Genghis, 44. 7 Ibid., 206. 8 Ibid., 236.
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adapted by the Europeans to their own needs and culture.9 Book critic Timothy May, agrees and mentions that Weatherford states his case very eloquently and with an abundance of evidence demonstrating not only the indirect influence of the Mongols in Europe but also the transformation of the Mongols from agents of innovation in the Renaissance.10 As May mentions, it is easy to visualize the role and impact the Mongols had on European history by the evidence Weatherford provides in his book. Weatherford tries to remove some of the negativity that has lingered among the Mongols for centuries. He emphasizes that even though they did use death as a policy of creating terror, the Mongols did not torture, mutilate, or maim.11 To provide proof that other nations did use torture, Weatherford provides some examples. For instance, he explains that in a battle against Jalal al-Din, four hundred prisoners were draggedthrough the streetsto entertain the citys residents.12 Weatherford also makes reference to more forms of torture that other nations used such as the Muslim and Europeans that used methods such as stretching on the rack, being crushed by a great wheel, being impaled on spikes, or various forms of burning.13 Weatherford explains that most of the negativity around the Mongols was based on the way they would attack an enemy. The type of propaganda that Genghis would use to terrorize the enemy, as Weatherford mentions, would later hurt the image of the Great Khan. The rise of the Mongols and the impact they had on the modern world has been significant. They influenced major historical events like the Renaissance and the Enlightenment periods in Europe and have had other reformations in society that were truly ahead of their time.

Ibid., 237. Timothy May. Review of Weatherford, Jack, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. HWorld, H-Net Reviews. March, 2005. 11 Weatherford, Genghis,115. 12 Ibid., 115 13 Ibid., 201.
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However, the Mongols have been portrayed as barbarians and savages. Revisionist historians, like Jack Weatherford, are challenging notions that have portrayed the Mongols as brutes, and are shedding light upon them as human beings, their beliefs, and the impact they had on the world. His book is a very easy read, and very interesting. However, one of the weaknesses of Weatherfords book is that he puts too much trust and faith in the accuracy of his source, The Secret History of the Mongols. It is after all a historical document written by the Mongols. However, he does a great job narrating Genghis Khans life and accomplishments. Weatherfords account on Genghis Khans early life, his rise to power, and how he influenced the modern world has made many people rethink the idea that he was only a savage and barbarian. Overall, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is a great book to read for anyone interested in the history of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire.

Bibliography Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. New York: Three
Rivers Press, 2004. Mattecuni, Aldo. Review of Weatherford, Jack, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Diplo Reviews. September, 2005. http://www.diplomacy.edu/resources/books/reviews/genghiskhan-and-making-modern-world. May Timothy. Review of Weatherford, Jack, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. HWorld, H-Net Reviews. March, 2005. http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10378.