Chinggis Khan and the Idea of World Domination

Abstract

The article proposes a solution to the question of Temujin/ Chinggis Khan’s plans for world domination. Based on reports of a number of medieval sources, the author comes to the conclusion that his military campaigns pursued specific goals mostly to take revenge on numerous enemies and were not a part of a common aggressive plan. After uniting nomadic tribes and pacifying borderlands, Chinggis Khan usually reacted severely to external challenges, and his first campaignto Xi Xia and Jin were predatory. At the same time, the war did not always imply seizure of foreign territories, or the Mongols at first limited themselves to their partial annexation. In process of revealing Chinggis Khan’s motivations, his testament to descendants is of great importance. Sources refute an idea that the dying khan bequeathed to complete his world conquests. In fact, his political testament is boiled down to the following: he approved Ogedei as his successor, ordered his sons to obey the new ruler and to do away with Tanguts, Jurchens, and Kipchaks. All these points were subsequently fulfilled. Chinggis Khan’s deathbed speeches do not contain words about the need to seize the whole earth. Plano Carpini was one of the first to attribute him such a will, but the source of his information is unknown. Most likely, the idea of world domination was formed by the Mongols during the reign of Ogedei, and then it began to be ascribed to the founder of the Mongol Empire, which probably arose in spite of his desire.