Universal Ruler

"The Mongols were marching once again-and they were marching toward Kracow. The news made even the strongest weep, for the Poles knew the Golden Horde to be a fierce and unfeeling people. It was never difficult to follow their path. You knew the direction they were heading by the hordes of refugees fleeing from them. And the charred earth and desolate houses always signified where they had been."1

"As Pax Romano was the height of peace and prosperity for the Ancient World, Pax Mongolia was an age of wealth and peace for the Medieval World."2

The two views expressed in the above quotes demonstrate the duality of the Mongolian Horde.
On one hand, the Mongols were the masters of war,utilizing systematic dread tactics to further their occupation. On the other hand, the Mongols ushered in a state that used freedom of religion(until the ascension of Timur the Lame),encouraged economies,and was extremely efficient in all administration functions. The truth of the matter is that you can not study the Mongolian Empire without both acknowledging their use of exorbitant(and deplorable)
tactics, and their mastery of the administration in peace.

Many have debated how a tribal sprawl of horseman could conquer an empire that has never been exceeded in size. There a many factors that contributed to the rise of the Mongols, but their is perhaps one in particular that aided them the most in their conquests, their cohesive unity. This unity allowed the tribes to participate in massive hunts known as "Great Hunts", and work in unison over vast amounts of territory. The unity also made it easier for a commanding person to use the reigns of power if they could rise to that height.
The 'commanding person' that accomplished the task of rising to the pinnacle of the Mongol's hierarchical power structure was a virtually unknown man named Temujin. This man,Temujin, was a rather obscure figure in Mongolian politics. He attempted to take command of his tribe when his father was murdered by poisoned food by a neighboring tribe,but the tribe refused to be led by someone so young. Temujin first showed his amazing reserves for patience during this time as he waited for the right opportunity to regain his tribe. The time came,after years of coalescing a small party of warriors,when his fathers old ally Togrhul gave the young Temujin his full patronage,allowing him to retake control of his tribe and begin his ascent to the leadership. Temujin was able to sway the support of another Khan to his and Togrhul's cause, thereby creating a three-way confederation that he used to conquer an imposing number of tribes. Although the alliance of three tribes had benefited Temujin in his consolidation of the Mongolian tribes, the other two khans,namely Togrhul, were beginning to become an impediment to the ambitious Temujin's aims of supreme control. Torgrhul knew that his erstwhile allies were awaiting any weakness on his part to attack his tribe,with that in mind he drew the Mongol confederation into a war with the rival power of that area the Naimans. This strategy would have been fruitful,but it was flawed in the fact that Togrhul's tribe was not readily prepared for the war,and began to splinter under the burden of the war. Knowing his days were numbered,Togrhul fled to the Naimans,but was killed before he could get asylum.
Temujin now reigned supreme in the Mongol tribes,as he had added the late Togrhul's tribe to his own resulting in the creation of a massive tribe that dwarfed all others. It was at this time that Temujin led the Mongols in the subjugation of their nomadic neighbors,and after the Mongols victory over all the other tribes Temujin renamed himself Genghis Khan(Universal Ruler).
Genghis Khan reformed many of the Mongols defunct practices and expanded their good ones.
He created a codified set of laws known as the Great Yasa, which although draconian in nature (every infraction was punished by death) was fair and kept discipline. The great Khan came very close to creating a meritocracy(but I say he did not because his own sons were given parts of his empire even though they had none of his ability.)Loyalty was extolled. But perhaps the most valuable reform he created was the institution of ranks and an organized army.

Armed with such an army,the Mongols began their string of conquests in the northern Chinese

Dynasty of Xia. Genghis Khan used his talent for superior strategic thinking when he stole and assimilated the use of Chinese gunpowder from a Chinese caravan, and used it to defeat all fortifications that they came against. In fact, the Mongols might have conquered all of East Asia at that time if it had not been for an old enemy taking control of a rebel tribe to the western side of the Mongol control.(The exact opposite side of the Mongol's current invasion course.)In essence we can thank a rebellious tribe for turning Genghis Khan's sights toward Europe.
Thus after the destruction of the rebel tribe, The Mongolian horde was sent to deal with the Islamic empire of the Khwarezm,who had greatly offended Genghis Khan by rebuffing even the slightest recognition of the Great Khan. Russia was soon overrun by the Mongols, and when the Mongol leadership heard of green fields to be conquered in Hungary and Poland(by the Russian princes who were only to eager for the Mongol's attentions to be elsewhere.)they prepared to ride into Poland. The hordes descended like a plague and conquered far into the Polish interior.
But suddenly the unthinkable occurred;The Great Khan was dead! There are many vague details not known about the Khan's death,one of the reasons for this was that the Generals of the Army kept his death a secret until his body could be shipped from his camp in south China to his home in Mongolia.All the generals and leaders were recalled to the Mongol camp of Karakoum (or the Black camp) for the coronation of the new Khan of the Mongols.But for all his great reforms, Genghis Khan did not apply them to his family.He divided the empire into Khanates each to be ruled by a son of Genghis Khan,and to be in submission to the Great Khan who would rule the The Great Khanate(most of China and Mongolia).The truth of the matter was that none of Genghis Khans sons had the vision or ability of their father,and the Empire soon began to show cracks in both their leadership and organization. It was not long before all of the glory of the original Empire had been either dissolved,destroyed,or assimilated.Despite any failings that it showed under his heirs,the empire of Temujin has never been surpassed in size or military reputation.

(sorry it has taken me so long to write this everyone.4th of July complicates blogs:)

1.excerpt from The Trumpeter of Krakow

2.excerpt from BJU World History