Even in the 13th century, travelers from Central Asia and India brought the news that a new state had formed in the east - the Mongol Empire, which very soon came to the Russian borders.
In those days, the territory from China to Baikal was inhabited by Mongolian tribes. The Tatars, who lived there at first, were sworn enemies of the Mongols, but they had to come to terms with the fact that the Mongols conquered them. Thus, both of these tribes of Western Europe and Russia began to be called simply Tatars.
From the second half of the 12th century, tribal relations began to die out among the Mongols, and with the advent of private property, separate families were formed. At that time, Russia was a more developed state than the Mongols, who were nomads.
The richest among the Mongols was the one who had more cattle and horses. To do this, they needed large areas of land. The Mongols had their own leaders, who were called khans. The khans were subordinate to the noyons, who were the leaders of the tribes. It was they who seized the best grazing land for their livestock. The khans with noyons kept fighting squads, which consisted of arats, who were simply poor fellow tribesmen. Major khans couldafford to have a select guard in which the nukers served.
The Mongols in those days began to emerge feudal relations, which can be called statehood. The Mongol Empire did not build cities, and we alth was measured by the number of pastures and livestock. It was believed that the Mongols are a backward civilization. They were a very warlike people. In order to capture new pastures, they without hesitation destroyed those to whom these pastures previously belonged.
The Mongols put their children in the saddle from childhood, and therefore each of them was an excellent rider and masterfully owned a lasso, a bow and arrows. Their horses were hairy, short, and had amazing endurance.
Toward the 13th century, the Mongol khans began to fight for supremacy. The victorious subordinated the vanquished, and they became subjects of a stronger khan and fought on his side. And the disobedient became slaves. The Mongol Empire went through its formation by incessant wars of tribes, and later by their unions. The leaders ex alted themselves with internecine wars, they did not know how to act differently in those days.
In the early sixties of the XII century, the Mongol leader Yesugei united a large number of tribes under his command. His eldest son was Temuchen, whom we all know as Genghis Khan. After some time, Yesugei was poisoned, and his army fled.
The widow lived in poverty for a long time until Temuchen grew up and gathered his squad, with whom hefought with other khans. He managed, having subjugated several Mongol tribes, to win the throne of Khamag Mongol Ulus for himself, which means that all the Mongols had to obey only him. In these times he was young, brave, reckless and merciless warrior. But he knew how, under certain circumstances, to retreat.
It was Temuchen who carried out the reforms, in which the decimal system of organization of the army was introduced. He created a personal guard with huge privileges for noyons and nukers, who were exempted from taxes. At the same time, he conquered other tribes. The last tribe conquered by him were the great Tatars. At this time, the area of Mongolia reached 22% of the Earth's territory. In 1204-1205, Temuchen was proclaimed Genghis Khan - the Great Khan. It was from these times that the Mongol Empire began to exist.
