"Chinggis Khan" by Nominlkham Oyunbaatar

Every country has their heroes and heroines. They can be political, religious, military leaders, and actors. They serve as decent leaders by whose examples we can follow in our quest to live lives of excellence. My country’s hero is definitely the great Chinggis Khan, but foreigners call him Genghis Khan, don’t know why.

He was born in 1162 in Khentii aimag. His real name was Temujin, Genghis Khan was his title of honor and respect. His father, the great warrior, Esuhei was assassinated by Tatars. His death left Temujin’s family in a vulnerable condition, but his mother was a savior, and she is considered as heroine. She kept her family together, even most of her slaves left, after her husband died. She was the one, who taught Chinggis the basic skills of survival in desert. After all those years, he became a powerful tribal chief.

After rising to power in 1185, Chinggis experienced many victories and also some setbacks. He was successful because of the alliance with his father’s brother. He was the king of the Keraits, which were another powerful tribe. With his help, Temujin became so powerful. By 1206, Temujin dominated Mongolia, and taken the title Chinggis Khan, which means a “universal ruler”. The years between 1185-1206 were the toughest years of our king. Even he had vast areas of lands, he didn’t stop there. After that, he conquered and founded an empire, which concluded in itself parts of China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He was known as the one conqueror, invaded more territory than any other conquerors during his lifetime. He was strong-willed, brave and fully motivated to reach his goals.

Chinggis Khan also had a reputation as a brutal monster. I think it is one of the false thoughts about him. He always fought without any fear. His military was strong and organized. In his lifetime he killed thousands of men, but it was all for his desire to build a great empire. Even he had this reputation, he was a kind man. Once, he loved the beautiful princess, named Burte. Due to countless wars, he made a lot of enemies. The enemies from Tatar tribe took away his loved wife. At that moment, he didn’t have enough strength to stand against the enemy, but he fought with them for his queen, and won.

In 1227 after his battle with some tribe, he was returning home. He was quite old, he was in bad condition. Despite this, he went to fight. After returning home his body couldn’t move. Chinggis Khan was exhausted and ill. Eventually, he died in front of his children and wives.

Even today, after all those years, he still remains impressive for us, Mongolians. As an organized genius, he created the most highly organized effective armies in history. Also, he introduced writing system based on the Uighur script. He had many victories, but the priceless gift he gave to us was a presence of Mongol nation and our culture. We, Mongolians are proud of him and always will be. He is like our father, who founded our beautiful country, Mongolia.