Victory Following Defeat

Despite their differences, all of history’s greatest achievers shared a common ability to believe in themselves and bounce back from setbacks. To name only one, Genghis Khan was among them. His life and his teachings have much to teach us.

Temujin, born in Mongolia in 1162, was recognized as a future great warrior because he clung to a blood clot at birth. In spite of his early failures, Temujin was encouraged by signs like these to believe in his own abilities. The same is true for us; we must have faith in our own competence, authority, and ultimate success.

Temujin eventually ascended to the throne of the world’s largest terrestrial empire. It had twice the extent of the Roman Empire and four times that of Alexander the Great’s empire. However, victory was not achieved until many setbacks later.

Genghis Khan was born Temujin, the son of a tribal warrior leader in Mongolia. His father was killed by poison when he was nine years old, at the hands of an enemy tribe. Temujin said, “I knew then that I would never again be a child.”

His people were little more than a large family. Without establishing alliances with neighboring tribes, they were vulnerable. Temujin married Borte in order to increase his tribe’s size, which was a prudent move on his part.

Although making peace with Borte’s family helped, it did not guarantee him absolute security. The Mongolian tribes were caught in a never-ending cycle of resentment. On the steppes, there was only one rule: “Take what you want.”

There was some bad blood between Temujin’s father and the Merkit tribe. His new wife, Temujin, was especially at risk now. Everything was in place for his initial setback.

During a raid, the Merkit family kidnapped Temujin’s wife. Temujin was unable to protect his wife from being taken by her captors. He had to decide between conceding defeat and running away or staying and dying. The fugitive Temujin managed to get away.

“My wife had been kidnapped. The next step seemed clear to me. “A fool is someone who continues to fight a losing battle.”

Also, his wife was forced to give in to her kidnapper or perish. She gave in. Temujin may have lost a skirmish to the Merkit, but he was not ultimately defeated. He plotted a way to win back his wife and exact his vengeance.

Jamuka, his biological sibling, was the one person he could rely on. In fact, he needs even more encouragement. Jamuka and he went to a khan who was a blood relative of Temujin’s dad for help. “He was like a father figure to me,” I told him. “Men who aspire to leadership positions benefit from surrounding themselves with influential people.”

The khan took him in and treated him well. Temujin exclaimed with delight, “My might has been expanded by heaven and earth.” The future world conqueror understood the value of backing from the elite.

Now he proceeded to the Merkit camp to find his wife, save her, and exact his revenge. “The Merkits got what they deserved for their crime, though. “We wiped out their communities and suckled their mothers dry.”

Temujin was only 20 years old when he turned his first defeat into a triumph by wiping out one of Mongolia’s greatest tribes, saving his wife in the process. He was also establishing a foundation for future success.

Borta finally had a child nine months later. Though it was unclear who the father was, Temujin decided to adopt the child and raise him as his own. His lifelong success can be attributed to his pragmatic, practical outlook.

But there was conflict between Temujin and Jamuka, who at first took turns leading the tribe. The value of a man was a point of contention between them. Both of them came from aristocratic families. To be sure, Temujin was the only one of us who had ever been through anything truly difficult.

In the wake of his father’s murder, Temujin faced betrayal from within his own community. “All of our kin have abandoned us.” Men will only show loyalty to a formidable chief. Nothing was left for us when they abandoned us. Neither our own shadows nor any others were there to help us. We fought through it like wolves and emerged stronger for it. In the present, all that mattered to me was a man’s inner fortitude. “The birth of a warrior does not guarantee victory.”

Talent and dedication were the only factors in determining a person’s worth in Temujin’s society. Subuday, one of his most promising fighters, came from a family of herdsmen. Contrarily, Jamuka thought that nobility should be granted only to the wealthy. And now even his own brother is abandoning tradition. There was now a wider chasm between them.

Jamuka made the decision to leave their hometown after hearing a shaman predict that Temujin and his sons would one day dominate the entire planet. It was obvious to Temujin that division would ensue. It did.

When Temujin’s clan returned two years later, they were ambushed by Jamuka’s soldiers. As a matter of fact, it was a devastating loss. The world conqueror of the future has been defeated once again.

The ground was saturated with the blood of my men; my force was unprepared, outnumbered, and outwitted. Temujin was able to confront the facts and take responsibility, but the worst was yet to come.

Jamuka lined up his blood brother’s generals and dunked them alive into a pot of boiling water.

Temujin made a solemn oath after hearing of the atrocity: “I made a solemn oath under divine auspices to exact retribution.” “Never again will my devoted men and I suffer defeat.”

Amid his army, he issued the following order: “The Mongols are supposedly canine descendants.” “We are known for our fierceness and bravery, much like the wolf, yet we must fight together as a unit if we are to prevail.”

Temujin rigorously prepared his army of warriors and set out for the west in 1204 to find his blood brother and his army.

An army that would go on to capture much of the planet’s surface first confronted Jamuka. Temujin’s troops moved forward stealthily, conserving their battle cries until the final moments. He defeated Jamuka via discipline, teamwork, and controlled tactics.

My cavalry charged without mercy as archers fired. Every strategy was well thought out and executed. Jamuka’s troops were lured into a trap by a fleeing squadron.

Upon witnessing the destruction of his troops, Jamuka fled. Like “felled logs in the forest,” his troops were lying lifeless. Through the 1204 winter, he remained in hiding. The following spring, accompanied by two of his generals who were hoping for a reward, he resurfaced.

Temujin allowed Jamuka to return to him and killed the two generals as punishment for their treason against their khan.Jamuka, though, was aware that there could be only one monarch, so he merely requested a heroic end in which no innocent blood would be spilled. Temujin honored the dying request of his brother. A couple of warriors broke his back by bending him over a pile of logs. This was payback for both of their early missteps. A loss turned into a victory.

In 1206, at the age of 44, Temujin was anointed emperor of the entire world. In his honor, the name Genghis Khan, which translates to “ruler of all men,” was coined. To paraphrase the proclamation: “All who hear him shall obey him.”