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Genghis Khan: History's Greatest Empire Builder (Military Profiles)

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Peter Lococo, Jr, writes in the preface to "Genghis Khan: History's Greatest Empire Builder" that "This is not a full biography of the world conqueror, but instead focuses on his early struggles to survive, his unification of the Mongolian tribes, and finally his campaigns of conquest." This was my first experience learning about Genghis Khan. From my perspective, Lococo succeeded quite brilliantly.

Lococo begins with a quick lesson in Mongolian sociology. In addition to the expected explanations of geographic hardships & clan and subclan relationships, Lococo briefly touches on the Mongol tribes' practice of a form of shamanism. This first mention of the influence of shamanism is is very brief, however, this tribal value will have major implications on the life of Temujin, the man who would become Genghis Khan. Lococo quickly supports this point by describing an omen from Temujin's birth. "Temujin was born in 1165 with a clot of blood in his small fist. This according to Mongol legend, presaged his glorious future."

Lococo asserts that "[Genghis Khan] ruthlessly crushed challenges to his authority, and no Mongol custom or tradition would be allowed to stand in his way". He supports this with the story of the young Temujin, whose father had died years before. "One time Temujin shot a lark, which was forcibly taken by his two half-brothers. A few days later, Temujin and his brother Qasar caught a fish in the stream, which was also promptly taken by their half-brothers... Temujin and Qasar ambushed one of their half-brothers and killed him with arrows."

The personal prestige played heavily in the Mongol culture. After being enslaved by another tribe, Temujin escaped which greatly enhanced his reputation. With this hard fought increase in prestige he went to claim his bride. Shortly thereafter, another tribal raid stole his wife. Temujin immediately went to her father to form an army to claim her back. With the successful attack behind him, he was now on the path to become the greatest emperor of Asia.

The book does an outstanding job of describing Temujin's rise to power, culminating with him being proclaimed "Genghis Khan" by the Kuriltay, the assembly of elders and other tribal leaders.

Lococo asserts that Genghis Khan's was largely responsible for a revolution in military organization. Genghis Khan used a decimal base (i.e. units of 10) for the size of the army, which was not a revolution. Genghis Khan's revolutionary ideas were applied in his selection of commanders and into how he apportioned soldiers in his army.

This was my first experience learning about Genghis Khan. The book is very well-written, and is laid out in a logical and concise manner. I felt the maps included in the book could have been better. In some instances, the campaigns mentioned in the book referred to prominent cities, which were not identified on the maps. This is the only minor detraction to this great book.

I am a huge fan of "Potomac's Military Profiles". The series is written to give readers an understanding of the major points for the featured military leader. The books also include bibliographical references allowing readers to discover more on their own. Lococo took this a step further and actually opines on which books are the best references available.