mongol horses were small,but their riders were lightly cladand they moved with greater speed.these were hardy men who grew up on horses and hunting,making them better warriors than those who grew up in agricultural societies and cities.their main weapon was the bow and arrow.and the mongols of the early 1200,s were highly disciplined,superbly coordinated and brilliant in tactics.in the late 1100,s and early 1200,s a mongol military leader named temujin was creating a confederation of tribes,mongol and non-mongol but which would be called mongol.he was a good manager,collecting under him people of talent.and,when necessary,he warred.in 1202 his forces fought and defeated the tatars to his immediate east.he had no hope of them,so he put the surviving men to the sword and distributed the women and children among other tribes.with temujin,s defeat of the tatars,the aging mongol khan,ong,declared temujin as his adoptive son and heir.ong,s natural son,senggum,had been expecting to succeed his father,and he organized an assassination of temujin.someone leaked the plans to temujin,whose forces defeated forces loyal to senggum,and temujin became ruler over the mongols.in 1206,at the age of 42,temujin took the title universal ruler,which translates to genghis khan,and he addressed his joyous supporters thanking them for their help and their loyalty.like others,genghis khan,s subjects saw themselves at the center of the universe and the greatest of people-favored,of course,by the gods.and they justified genghis khan,s conquests in previous years by claiming that he was the rightful master not only over the peoples of the felt tent,but the entire world.
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