Genghis Khan: The Secret History of the Mongols (2025) s01e02 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: A noble prince
called Temujin is born
on the vast plains
of Mongolia.
His story is told in a
mysterious book called
The Secret History
of the Mongols.
After the murder of
his father,
his family are reduced
to a life of poverty.
PROF SNEATH: It would have
been a terribly harsh
and miserable existence.
NARRATOR: As Temujin
matures into a young man,
he displays bravery
and intelligence.
DR DASHDONDOG: He learns
survival instincts.
PROF SNEATH: He had
fire in his eyes.
He obviously did have
a commanding presence.
So all of these qualities were
parts of his amazing character.
NARRATOR: When his wife,
Börte, is kidnapped
by a rival house,
the Merkits.
Temujin forms his first
political alliance
to rescue her.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: They
conquer the Merkit.
They destroy the Merkit.
There are lots of
suffering happening
for the Merkit families.
JOHN: The couple find each other
and fall into each other's arms.
NARRATOR: Now, Temujin will
build unstoppable armies
to reclaim his lost legacy.
He has a thirst for power,
and he will conquer
and control all who
stand in his way
as he rises to become
Chinggis Khan.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin, with
Jamuqa, his Anda, ally,
and To'oril Khan, the
ruler of the Kerait,
basically defeat The Merkit,
one of the other
rival noble houses.
We've got different
accounts of the massacres
that were sometimes carried
out by Mongol armies.
Common practice was to
what they called measure
against the lynch pin.
That is, when they
eliminated the nobility,
they often judged
how tall they were.
If they were taller than the
sort of axle of the wagons,
they killed them, and if
they were shorter than that,
they were so young that
it didn't really matter,
and they could still be
adopted and brought up
and they loot the area. And
both Temujin and Jamuqa
must have enriched themselves
considerably from that,
gaining, certainly livestock,
other sorts of wealth.
Commoner subjects might
have also been captured
and brought back.
NARRATOR: A decade earlier,
Temujin and his family
were exiled on the
Mongolian steppes,
But now the young warrior
will begin to forge
powerful alliances and build
a mighty army raised
from defeated rival houses.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin's
career has really taken off.
He now seems to be in command
of the Tümen 10,000 unit,
and he's successfully defeated
some rivals in battle.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: After Börte
and Temujin are United
Börte was pregnant.
PROF SNEATH: Later she gives
birth to Temujin's first son,
Jochi. And questions
were later raised
as to the paternity of Jochi.
Was he actually the son of the
minor nobleman of the Merkit
whose house Börte was
living in when eventually
Temujin rescued her.
NARRATOR: According to The
Secret History of the Mongols,
the nobleman rumored to
be Jochi's real father
fled the Merkit camp
never to be seen again.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Temujin
himself always regarded
Jochi as his own first son.
Always mentioned
him as my first son,
so he gives his
full love to Jochi.
PROF SNEATH: And the question
as to why he treated Jochi
his first son without
apparently caring
if he was the true father
himself, I think the answer
is that, you know,
he was a Dynast.
Amongst everything
else, he's a ruler,
and so first born male issues
have always been important
for rulers. If you
don't have one,
your dynasty is not
all that secure.
So I think actually, whatever
his personal opinions,
he was pleased to
have an elder son,
and these kinds of questions
were just much less important
to Temujin than the idea of
securing the succession
of his dynasty.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Temujin had
several sons and daughters,
but Secret History usually
mentions the boys.
The eldest son was Jochi,
second son is Chaghadai,
and third son is Ogodei
and fourth son is Tolui.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin
also had daughters,
but we don't know
so much about them,
and they don't become these
sort of prime political players
in the way that his sons
did, because it was indeed
a Patriarchal age, and these
kinds of royal courts,
women were often part of
diplomatic marriages,
which actually Temujin made
Very good use to secure
and expand his empire.
NARRATOR: Almost 10
years pass,
and Temujin matures
into a bold leader.
He is determined to rebuild
the kingdom of his ancestors
and unite the dynasties
of the steppes
to achieve this grand vision,
he tightens His bond
with his blood brother, Jamuqa.
DR MAY: And Jamuqa is, I think,
one of the most fascinating
figures in the Mongol Empire.
JOHN: His childhood friends,
Temujin and Jamuqa
got on extremely well. They
exchanged arrow heads
and they played
together on the ice
and they did hunting
together.
PROF URADYN: Temujin doesn't
have any other friends
other than Jamuqa.
They were sworn brothers.
They admire each other.
It's a sworn friendship. You
have to take oath, right?
You have to swear to
certain spiritual beings
that he will never betray
you or will promise you.
DR DASHDONDOG: Jamuqa was
clever. He was grown up
also in a noble family,
and he had the same
education as Temujin.
DR MAY: He was somewhat
aristocratic,
but he wasn't from the
high level of aristocrats
such as Temujin's family was.
he was not of the
main elite lines.
He was from a
secondary branch,
so he was not at the same
level, but he wanted to be.
He was an immensely
talented general,
unfortunately for him, he
was also very arrogant.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Jamuqa and
Temujin became inseparable
neighbors, actually, Jamuqa
kind of adopts Temujin
to his camp, and Temujin
lives with Börte
and entire family
with Jamuqa's camp.
PROF SNEATH: so both Temujin
and Jamuqa have emerged
as sort of prime
political candidates
for a reunited
Mongol Khanate.
And Jamuqa and Temujin are
partners and close allies.
The Secret History describes a
very, very close friendship.
PROF URADYN: You
have two leaders.
They were equally good,
equally brave, equally smart.
But in a society in which
there is only one hierarchy,
there couldn't be two leaders
without fighting each other,
and yet here we have
such situation.
NARRATOR: Bound by
blood and ambition.
Temujin and Jamuqa
begin their ascent,
gathering wealth and power
as they wage brutal battles
against their enemies,
but there can only be one
supreme ruler
on the Mongolian steppes,
and soon their alliance
will be stretched
to its very limit.
PROF SNEATH: At some stage this
apparently kind of insoluble,
super secure and loyal
partnership breaks up
the passages that describe
this in the Lost text.
The Secret History of the
Mongols are quite odd.
It's not easy to interpret.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: At
some point, Jamuqa says,
let's have a separate camps.
Those who have sheep can
stay in the open step,
and those who have horses
should camp in the mountains,
but Temujin just didn't
comprehend those who are
occupying the biggest steppe
has a potential to bring
more families to
his own circle.
And those who is staying in the
mountain has limited pasture,
and fewer families
will be following him.
Of course, the person who
is occupying this step
would be bigger leader.
Jamuqa wanted to say
that I have more sheep
and I need to camp
in this steppe.
Why don't you go
to the mountain?
Because if you have horses and
you should go to mountain.
PROF SNEATH: And it's said
that Temujin consulted
his wife, Börte
JOHN: Börte, I would imagine,
saw Jamuqa as a threat
to her husband's claims
to authority.
And she said, Well, perhaps
he's not to be trusted.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Börte says,
I heard that Jamuqa is a very
unstable friend, and Jamuqa
probably got fed up from us,
and he doesn't want to
be neighbor with us.
Why don't we not
settle in the mountain.
Let's not accept this
small proposal instead,
let's just go find
the next big steppe.
That's what Temujin did.
Temujin followed Börte's
words and just didn't stop.
Just kept moving.
DR MAY: What they find out
is that many Mongols who had
formerly been with Jamuqa
Leave Jamuqa to join Temujin
because they view him as a
better overall leader.
Jamuqa was a great military
leader, but in dealing with,
you know, the day to day
issues of being a leader,
he was selfish, he was
arrogant, and overall,
not someone who really
appreciated those below him,
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: those
who followed Temujin
in that fateful night, in
that migration together,
convened and announced,
Temujin, as their Khan.
NARRATOR: Both Temujin and
Jamuqa are crowned Khan.
They are now kings
to their followers.
With these two rulers
now in opposition,
conflict is inevitable
and war beckons.
PROF SNEATH: So these two
become the prime candidates
for the throne that might
be created now.
So in that sense,
they become rivals.
The rivalry that
emerges is kind of,
then a matter of appealing
to the other nobles.
How many other important
families can one get to back
and support you in
your bid to reunite
this bigger Mongolian kingdom.
So at this stage it's not clear
quite what Temujin rules.
I should think
we're talking about
maybe 10 or 20,000
households, perhaps
and Jamuqa seems to have
something of a comparable size.
So one of the leading
characters who attaches himself
to Temujin is called Subutai.
He's clearly a noble,
and he turns out to be a really
brilliant tactical thinker
and ends up being Temujin's
most celebrated
and brilliant General.
He's one of the supporters
within the old Mongolian royal
family, and other people begin
to support Temujin in his
Candidacy for the top job of
ruler of all the Mongols.
In addition, he is immediately
recognized and supported
by his old patron, To'oril
Khan of the Kerait.
And this is enormously
significant.
NARRATOR: The support of the
powerful ruler, To'oril,
gives Temujin much
needed strength,
but his rise to power
will not be easy,
as Jamuqa stands in his way.
Even though they were
once bound by blood,
Temujin and Jamuqa are
now bitter enemies.
As they build their armies,
their rivalry deepens
with every follower
that joins their cause.
PROF SNEATH: Tensions between
Jamuqa and Temujin grow.
There's actually some noble
relatives of both of them
kind of raid each other's
horses at first,
and then Jamuqa's
relative is killed,
and that's finally the kind
of spark that sets off
the war between the
two rival claimants.
They clash at the
Battle of Dalan Baljut.
NARRATOR: For the first time,
Temujin and Jamuqa lock eyes
on the battlefield.
Jamuqa commands a fearsome
army of up to 30,000 warriors.
And although Temujin has raised
an army of a similar size,
he faces an expert
on the battlefield.
PROF SNEATH: This time, a full
army was raised by recruiting
one's subjects on the steppes.
They'd all be herders.
The steppe lands had for
centuries, for millennia,
produced really high
quality cavalry.
That is, horsemen with a
range of different skills,
but it was really the horse
Archer that was the sort of
most powerful troop type
that originated and emerged
from the steppe lands, and
they were able to control
one's horse well enough to
simultaneously take both
Hands off the reins and
use them for archery.
The combination of these
really sophisticated,
high powered, efficient bows
and really top horsemanship
skills meant that the basic
soldier that could be recruited
from the steppe was a very
formidable advantage.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Jamuqa,
at the time, was already
experienced battle leader.
Temujin wasn't experienced
enough leader,
and his people were new.
He didn't have time to
organize strong army.
DR MAY: His first real battle
where he's in command.
He loses.
This is going to be one
of maybe two defeats
in his lifetime, and he flees.
PROF SNEATH: In a way, it looks
like Jamuqa is now winning.
The problem is he seems to maybe
have won on the battlefield,
but lost diplomatically.
After the battle Jamuqa is
described as having boiled
17 nobles of the losing side.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: According
to The Secret History,
he burnt a fire,
decapitated them,
and tossed them
into boiling water.
PROF SNEATH: It looks like a
very cruel and brutal act
of vengeance of some sort.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Jamuqa
was a cruel person,
and Jamuqa proved how
cruel person he was.
PROF SNEATH: And this seems to
really lost Jamuqa support.
He's probably seen
as being too harsh,
and it's part of a passage in
the history which describes
the reasons for his political
support ebbing away
so several nobles
and top aristocrats
leave jamuqa's entourage.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Every nomadic
family close to Jamuqa felt
that they might one day
participate in that kind of
cruelty or be a victim
of that kind of cruelty,
so they just left.
NARRATOR: Although
support for Jamuqa fades,
Temujin must seek refuge.
His forces devastated
in battle.
He escapes to the land
of a powerful rival,
the Empire of the Jin.
PROF SNEATH: the following
years intelligence life,
not a lot is recorded
about them.
DR MAY: The sources go
silent on him and the
in The Secret History,
it just picks up,
right up after even though
there's a 10 year gap.
NARRATOR: Although
this period is omitted
from The Secret History,
other historical texts
say he moved south into the
vast lands of the Jin Empire,
one of the Most Powerful
dynasties in the world.
DR MAY: The Jin Empire
is a vast empire.
It had an army that numbered,
allegedly, 600,000 men.
PROF SNEATH: The Jin Dynasty
is a major player to the south
and the east, that rules
northern China and Manchuria.
DR MAY: We know he was
in the Jin empire
from a Chinese source.
We don't know what
he was doing there.
Was he a slave?
Was he a captive?
Was he a mercenary?
I tend to conclude that he
was there in some capacity
of status that the Jin
thought to themselves,
let's keep him on the payroll.
He might be useful
down the road.
The Jin have this practice
of using proxies for their
influence in the steppe
to prevent one tribe
from getting more
powerful than the other.
PROF SNEATH: The influence
of the Jin is kind of
underestimated, but we know
from other accounts during
that time, To'oril and many
of the other regional lords,
they're engaged in some kind
of diplomacy and political
relations with the Jin Dynasty.
NARRATOR: In 1196,
after a decade away,
Temujin returned to his
homeland on the Mongolian
steps, supported by the Jin.
He learns that many of the
powerful nobles who supported
Jamuqa have been repelled
by his savage cruelty
and are ready to join
Temujin's cause.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin seems to
actually increase his following,
although he must have
obviously suffered a setback
in military terms.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: So even
though Temujin was defeated
in the war. He became
the accepted leader.
NARRATOR: As his
following grows,
Temujin hosts a lavish banquet,
inviting the important noble
house of the Jurkin to
join the festivities.
PROF SNEATH: The House of
the Jurkin were actually
a kind of elite principality
created by Kabhul Khan,
Temujin's great grandfather.
So the Jurkin are very proud.
They were proud of being this
elite kind of principality.
Apparently, this feast
turns into a chaotic fight,
and their nobles clashed
with relatives of Temujin.
People are clearly
beaten up and brawling.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: One of
these Jurkin people sliced
Temujin's half brother, that
is a big challenge to Temujin,
because we can do
anything, you know,
we can do something
to your brother.
It was quite an incident.
It wasn't forgotten.
NARRATOR: To restore peace,
Temujin promises an alliance
with the Jurkin, but soon
after they betray Temujin
launching a surprise raid on
his camp while he's away
engaged in a military
campaign.
PROF SNEATH: The Jurkin seem
to stab him in the back,
and as a result, Temujin
eliminates them.
They killed the nobles and
then took the subject peoples,
the commoners, into
their own establishment.
In fact, the Jurkin elite
principality of old
becomes Temujin's
own principality.
NARRATOR: One Jurkin nobleman
is kept alive by Temujin,
the same man who fought his
half brother in the brawl.
PROF SNEATH: So these old
grievances from earlier clashes
and brawls were remembered, and
so this character called Buri,
the brawny, who was
this champion wrestler,
Temujin said, Okay, now, why
don't you go and wrestle
my half brother, Belgutei.
Let's see who wins now.
JOHN: Temujin's half brother
Belgutei was a famous wrestler.
He was called Belgutei,
the strong.
JOHN: The two wrestlers
lock themselves together
and try to throw the other
person to the ground.
You're allowed to put
your hand on the ground,
but if you put any other
part of your body other than
your feet on the ground,
you lose bouts can go on
for a very long time,
sometimes hours.
PROF SNEATH: The Jurkit
wrestler doesn't want to offend
the new masters who are in
charge of his life now.
So he takes the fall, he kind
of allows himself to be thrown
but Temujin is not going
to let him off with that.
JOHN: And he has this idea,
because he's a significant
figure of having him killed
in a way which seems
maybe not quite murder.
PROF SNEATH: Apparently,
Temujin makes a signal.
JOHN: Belgutei grabs
hold of his jacket.
PROF SNEATH: and sits on his
back and then wrenches Boris
a neck right up until
he breaks his spine
and kills him anyway,
throwing the fight
to please Temujin, it didn't
work out, if you're on
the list for execution, then
they were going to get you
one way or another.
One of the most important things
to remember about the rise
of Temujin as it was not
happening in a vacuum.
This was a region where there
was a powerful political
strategy used by the Jin empire
to the south to try to manage
the rulers of the steppe by
pitting them against each
other to counterbalance
them so they wouldn't unite
and pose a real threat to
northern China.
NARRATOR: Temujin,
now in his 30s,
continues to fight enemies
on the Mongolian steppes,
alongside his ally, To'oril,
ruler of the Kerait.
Aligning with the Jin empire,
Temujin and To'oril turned
their sights on shared enemies,
neighboring people known
as the Tatars.
PROF SNEATH: This was another
moment in Temujin's career where
he really began to enter
the big time between them,
with To'oril, the Kerait ruler,
and Temujin on one side,
and the Jin generals on the
other attacked the Tatar,
and of course, gained a
lot of loot from that.
In addition, they also received
noble titles from the Jin court.
He's becoming increasingly
significant as one of
the petty warlords or rulers
in this borderland between
the Jin Empire and the
Kerait Khanate.
NARRATOR: Temujin
grows in strength,
but his former friend Jamuqa
remains a daunting adversary
whose power threatens
his ambitions.
PROF SNEATH: In his career,
Temujin's already began to make
quite a lot of enemies, and
they've tended to join Jamuqa.
So increasingly, then we've
got two confederations
opposing each other.
On the one hand, Jamuqa and the
enemies, and on the other side,
Ong Khan of the Kerait and any
friends that Temujin has been
able to mobilize and these
two rival factions now,
who increasingly are
clashing in order to control
this part of the
Eastern steppe.
NARRATOR: With Jamuqa
power on the rise,
Temujin knows that one day he
will again have to face him
on the battlefield.
But before he
confronts his enemy,
he destroys the smaller
powers who pose a threat.
PROF SNEATH: He turns to his
old enemies, the Tayichiud.
Now this is the noble house who
at one point had arrested him,
probably in connection with the
killing of his half-brother
and these Tayichiud he decides
to eliminate completely.
So he fights a series of
battles to destroy them.
NARRATOR: As combat rages on,
danger lurks at every turn
at one savage battle.
Temujin's horse is shot
in the neck with an arrow,
but the death of his steed
leads to the forging
of an important and
unexpected bond.
PROF SNEATH: Afterwards,
he wins the battle,
and then the prisoners
are there, and he says,
Who was it?
Who shot my horse?
And one person bravely pipes
up and says, it was me.
PROF URADYN: Many would have
sort of hide themselves,
hide that they
committed that crime.
But he was a brave
and he admitted it
and he was honored.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin rewards
his bravery by recruiting him.
PROF URADYN: And for his
honesty, he gave this new name,
and he was Jebe.
And Jebe means Arrow head.
PROF SNEATH: And he becomes one
of Temujin's main generals.
So that's part of
Temujin's conquests.
He's eliminating
his rival nobility,
but he's taking on and often
employing the subjects of
those other ruling groups and
incorporating them in his
realm and also into his
military establishment.
At this time on the Mongolian
steppe in the far west,
going into Mongolia and
what's now Kazakhstan,
is the large Naiman khanate
in central Mongolia.
There's the Kerait,
ruled by Ong Khan.
And to the east, mow,
increasingly,
Temujin is becoming the
most important ruler,
having defeated
all sorts of rivals.
NARRATOR: As Temujin conquers
rival, leader after leader,
unease rises among
his own allies,
fearful of his rising
dominance.
PROF SNEATH: as Temujin
is expanding his power
and influence in the east.
Ong Khan is facing a kind
of more and more difficult
and tricky public opinion
in his own court,
in particular, his own son,
Senggum is getting really
unhappy with the amount of
power and influence Temujin
and his family are having in
the court of the Kerait Khan,
and he even begins to worry
that the throne of The Kerait
might pass to Temujin
rather than coming to him,
Senggum, Ong Khan begins to
listen to these kinds of rumors
that Temujin is really
after your throne.
Shouldn't you turn
against him?
Eventually, Ong Khan, in the
end, is sort of talked round
by those bad advisors
and the sort of poison
of his son Senggum.
NARRATOR: Although Ong Khan
has become a father figure
to Temujin, he turns his
back on the young ruler
for the first time, they
will meet on the battlefield
as enemies.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin's
army finally clashes
with that of Ong Khan's
at the Qalqajit Sands.
And in this battle, Temujin
is soundly defeated.
His son Ogodei is
very badly wounded.
His forces are scattered,
and he has to retreat.
He flees with quite a
small portion of his army.
It's not clear how many
subjects Temujin now has.
He's probably down
to a few 1000.
This is the kind of lowest
point he's been properly,
soundly defeated militarily.
It looks really as if his
political career might be over
NARRATOR: Temujin's armies
have been decimated
by Ong Khan's troops.
He is forced to retreat.
To recover from this
crushing defeat,
he must urgently gather new
allies and rebuild his forces
or risk being lost to history.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin somehow
begins to sort of lick his
wounds and recuperate.
He actually manages to assemble
a remarkably diverse set of
followers, and this is a die
hard set of Temujin's loyalists
who are prepared to back him
even at this lowest ebb of
his fortunes, when it looks
like he's really defeated.
NARRATOR: Temujin rebuilds
his depleted forces,
winning new followers
to his cause.
He must confront Ong Khan
before he grows too powerful.
Temujin leads his new army into
battle, vastly outnumbered,
he will have to take
his enemy by surprise.
PROF SNEATH: It's probably
fought over several days.
Temujin created different
ranks of horse archers
and shock cavalry.
The horse Archer remained
the kind of distinctive ace
in the hand of any
steppe general.
They would be able to
outmaneuver, outflank,
and use their mobility
to draw out the enemy.
One of the prime tactics
that step armies used was
the feigned retreat, that
is to appear to run away
and to draw out your enemy.
In the end, Temujin assembled
army defeat span of Ong Khan
of the Kerait, and eventually
Ong Khan himself is killed,
and his son, Senggum
has to flee.
Temujin's defeat of Ong Khan,
the king of the Kerait is
a huge step up because we
get a sense of the skill
and competence of the military
leadership of not just
Temujin, but also his
generals around him.
Temujin is now the ruler
of the old Kerait khanate.
This is a meteoric rise from
the low point of defeat up to
the heights now of ruling,
not just the territories
that he'd won himself,
but now this entire
large khanate as well.
NARRATOR: Temujin has only one
true rival on the steppes,
Jamuqa, former blood brother,
now allied with a powerful
Naiman Khanate,
outnumbered once more,
Temujin must out think
and outmaneuver them
on the battlefield.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin and
Jamuqa clash at Naqu Qun,
and here, the secret history
records some of the tricks
that Temujin used to confuse
and misdirect the enemy,
lighting fires so that it looked
like the forces were larger
than they actually were,
moving in such a way as
to confuse the enemy, buying
time for Temujin to be able
to assemble a large
enough force.
NARRATOR: The clash
is ferocious.
Temujin finally
gains the upper hand.
Jamuqa survives the battle, but
flees and lives as a bandit,
hiding in the wilderness
to avoid capture.
PROF SNEATH: After the battle,
Jamuqa himself flees,
but eventually as an exile,
he's caught by his own troops,
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: so his
followers brought
Jamuqa to Temujin.
But little did they know that
Temujin valued loyalty
above everything
PROF SNEATH: He has the
retainers who turned on
their master and brought
Jamuqa to him executed
because Temujin wants to
really show that you don't get
any rewards for betraying your
master, even if it's very
convenient to me at
that particular moment.
So he takes that sort of
point of principle step,
and then he's left with
Jamuqa as a prisoner.
And this is a difficult
and interesting moment,
because so much of the support
that Temujin has built was
for a long time in
partnership with Jamuqa.
JOHN: The Secret History makes
it all very poetic insofar
as Chinggis offers Jamuqa
the chance to come aboard
and become an ally.
PROF URADYN: but as a
great hero, he declined.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Jamuqa said,
one hand should be in
the Mongolian steppe, and
if I am still alive,
I will be burdened to you.
PROF SNEATH: I would be
forever attracting rivals.
We wouldn't have a stable
dynasty just kill me.
DR DASHDONDOG: So he fulfilled
the wish of Jamuqa,
and he killed him without
spilling his noble blood.
JOHN: What that meant in terms
of his death is anybody's guess.
It perhaps meant having
his back broken,
but nobody's quite sure.
NARRATOR: With Jamuqa
and Ong Khan defeated,
Temujin moves swiftly to
bring any remaining rival
households under his command.
He now stands on the verge of
uniting all of the Mongolian
steppe beneath one banner.
JOHN: The area that he
commanded was Eastern
and Central Mongolia,
which reached down into
what is now Inner Mongolia.
PROF SNEATH: It's certainly
a force to be reckoned with
a ruler who commands most
of the steppe lands.
And, of course, controls
hundreds of 1000s of families
living on the steppe who
make excellent soldiers.
He divides up his new realm
into different administrative
districts, he awards titles,
and he reshapes the governance
of the steppe into the new
machinery of his new dynasty.
NARRATOR: In 1206, a grand
meeting is held on the banks
of the river Onon, a Kurultai.
It is here that Temujin will
realize his true destiny
and create the great
Mongolian state.
PROF SNEATH: Temujin rings
together all the major nobles
and commanders from this big
new empire that he's conquered,
and they raise him with his new
reign name of Chinggis Khan.
There's this strange thing
where the name ended up
as Genghis Khan.
We think that the way the
word got written in Persian,
the pronunciation changed.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA:
The word Chinggis
is probably combination of
important words of that time.
Qing, in Mongolian language,
is also the most heart
will sing if we want to
combine these two words.
It's like a true leader.
PROF SNEATH: Already, Temujin
is taking a slightly unusual
name, perhaps he wanted to
be a bit distinctive,
a little bit special.
So in 1206 we finally get the
kind of conqueror figure,
the Chinggis Khan that
we're familiar with
from the rest of world history.
He's established as
the undisputed ruler
of this entire region.
NARRATOR: The man born Temujin
now carries a new title
that will echo
across the ages.
Chinggis Khan, despite losing
everything after the death
of his father, he now
controls more
than he could have
ever imagined.
His ambition awakened,
he sets his sights
beyond the Steppes.