“In twenty-five years, the Mongol army subjugated more lands and people than the Romans had conquered in four hundred years.”

“In American terms, the accomplishment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, instead of being created by a group of educated merchants or wealthy planters, had been founded by one of its illiterate slaves, who, by the sheer force of personality, charisma, and determination, liberated America from foreign rule, united the people, created an alphabet, wrote the constitution, established universal religious freedom, invented a new system of warfare, marched an army from Canada to Brazil, and opened roads of commerce in a free-trade zone that stretched across the continents. On every level and from any perspective, the scale and scope of Genghis Khan’s accomplishments challenge the limits of imagination and tax the resources of scholarly explanation.”

On a modern map Kahn’s conquests include 30 countries and over 3 billion people 

Entire Mongol tribe numbered around 1 million, with 100,000 warriors 

Born in 1162 into Old World of regional civilizations without knowledge of the others; by death in 1227 had connected them with diplomatically and commercially

Last ruling descendant was emir Alim Khan of Uzbekistan until deposed in 1920 by Soviet revolution 

Buried secretly in unmarked grave per Mongol tradition; soldiers sealed off area for several hundred square miles and guarded area for 800 years 

During Soviet rule, area kept highly secure to prevent nationalist movement coalescing 

“The Mongols made no technological breakthroughs, founded no new religions, wrote few books or dramas, and gave the world no new crops or methods of agriculture. Their own craftsmen could not weave cloth, cast metal, make pottery, or even bake bread. They manufactured neither porcelain nor pottery, painted no pictures, and built no buildings. Yet, as their army conquered culture after culture, they collected and passed all of these skills from one civilization to the next.”

Probably built more bridges than any ruler in history, spurning castles, forts, etc, to move armies and goods quicker

“The Mongols swept across the globe as conquerors, but also as civilization’s unrivaled cultural carriers.”

In Europe Mongols “slaughtered the aristocratic knighthood of the continent” but didn’t bother conquering the cities or expanding the empire due to the poverty compared to Chinese or Muslim countries

Once Soviets left, Highly Restricted Area surrounded by technological and military wasteland but internally was pristine forest and mountains 

Mongol army traveled without supply train, instead bringing engineering corps to fashion available material into needed tools

When invading citadel of Bukhara, used siege weapons like catapults and trebuchets in conjunction with miners digging under walls 

People who surrendered treated with leniency and protection, while defiant were brutally killed

“Genghis Khan’s ability to manipulate people and technology represented the experienced knowledge of more than four decades of nearly constant warfare. At no single, crucial moment in his life did he suddenly acquire his genius at warfare, his ability to inspire the loyalty of his followers, or his unprecedented skill for organizing on a global scale. These derived not from epiphanic enlightenment or formal schooling but from a persistent cycle of pragmatic learning, experimental adaptation, and constant revision driven by his uniquely disciplined mind and focused will.”

“For the Mongols, fighting functioned as more of a cyclical system of raiding than of true warfare or even sustained feuding.” Only raided goods mattered, not the kills 

Hunting, trading, herding, and fighting the subsistence activities of early Mongol tribes