“Genghis Khan was the coldest and most calculating leader in the history of the modern world. His reign and that of his parents were a time of oppression, vengeance, and expansion without regard for those who lived in the lands of the Mongols. When people hear the name Genghis Khan, they think of the Mongols, barbaric, cruel, harsh, heroes, intelligent and warriors. Most often he is presented as a barbarian leader who only cared about himself, his land and who wreaked havoc on others, I disagree. Genghis was a fierce ruler, determined to succeed and bring his empire to glory. It is true that he is barbaric and cruel to a certain extent, but he was not that character that he is perceived to be all the time. Everything Genghis did was for his empire and for success. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Many opinions about Genghis have been skewed because of his rivals. Europeans often distorted the facts about Genghis. Anything Europeans write about him would of course classify him as a cruel ruler. Before the Age of Enlightenment, Genghis was considered by Europeans to be a humble, noble and honorable king. At the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment, they described him as a cruel and monstrous ruler. Genghis's advancing army was the cause. Genghis was a fierce warlord who was a genius when it came to war tactics. Nowhere was Mongol ingenuity shown greater than in their ability to turn their greatest asset, their large population, into a liability. Before attacking a city, the Mongols cleaned all the surrounding villages (92). Genghis was a militaristic genius and no one was able to stand in his way when he was at his peak. Genghis' military strategies consisted of espionage networks, military coordination, rapid communication, use of catapults, isolation of cities, and diversion of dams. Spy networks were a system of scouts who scoured areas before the war to scout them and see if they could find information such as defenses, paths on roads, and escape routes. Military coordination consisted of the Mongols launching ambushes, hit-and-runs, and huge waves of rushes. Catapults, isolation, and diversion of roadblocks were tactics used to kill the enemy without entering the city themselves. Genghis' success came primarily from his army and his ability to be a great strategist and warrior. The Europeans exaggerated the actions of the Mongols through propaganda. Even in Soviet times, they tried to hide Genghis from history. They would remove it from textbooks and prevent students from learning about it until the Soviet states gained independence. This military form caused Europeans to view him as barbaric simply because he could not be beaten or arrested. Genghis spread cultural diversity across Asia and Europe. In twenty-five years, the Mongol army subjugated more land and people than the Romans had conquered in a hundred years (xvii Intro). Genghis expanded his empire to 12 million square miles. Wherever he went, he allowed these villages to retain their religion, which allowed interaction between different religions within the empire. This added a lot of cultural diversity within the Mongol Empire itself. This opened the way for many new ideas within the empire, such as new ideologies, wars, and beliefs. The empire spanning a vast expanse of land, the diversity.