Temujin begins uniting the Mongol tribes

1190

In his late twenties, after years of wandering and with a few loyal companions, the future Genghis Khan began forming alliances and making war on neighboring clans, attracting followers by his unusual practice of distributing plunder by merit rather than birth. His meritocratic approach to leadership shattered the steppe tradition of aristocratic privilege and built a coalition of warriors whose loyalty was personal rather than tribal.