The name Genghis Khan brings up images of the Mongol hordes raiding and pillaging their way across Central Asia, unstoppable and unbeatable. Although he is mostly associated with villainy and mass murders, it takes a particularly formidable badass to rise from nothing and singlehandedly conquer Central Asia, most of Russia, and Eastern Europe. Genghis Khan is the only person in history to have ruled and held the largest contiguous empire that stretched from the Pacific Ocean in the east to Eastern Europe in the west. He unified warring tribes of Mongolia to march under his banner, strengthening and fortifying his army. At the time of the unification of Mongolia, he held 4,000,000 sq/km, and at the time of his death, he ruled over 13,500,000 sq/km of land. Here are 11 more surprising facts about the Mongolian emperor who, in every way, totally ruled.

1 In 1218, when Genghis Khan sent a trade caravan to the Khwarezmid Empire, the governor of the town of Otrar seized it and killed the traders. Genghis Khan retaliated by invading the empire with 200,000 men killing the governor by pouring molten silver down his eyes and mouth.

Now we know where George R.R. Martin got some of his Dothraki inspiration from! When the governor of Otrar refused to pay compensation for destroying the caravan and killing his men, three more people were sent to meet the Shah of Khwarazmia who shaved two of them and beheaded the third, a Muslim. Not one to back down from this slight, Genghis Khan launched an all-out invasion of the cities of Bukhara, Gurganj, and the capital Samarkand with 200,000 soldiers and proceeded to kill or enslave the whole population. The war, which went on from 1219 to 1221, killed 1.25 million people. The Shah managed to escape, leading the Khan to deploy generals Subutai and Jebe and 20,000 men to go after him. He later perished “under mysterious circumstances” on a tiny island.(source)

2 Genghis Khan was responsible for one of the earliest instances of biological warfare where the Mongols would catapult the dead bodies of soldiers infected by the bubonic plague over city walls during sieges.

In 1346, the Tatar army used plague-ridden bodies of Mongol soldiers as weapons in the siege of Kafa (present-day Feodosia, Crimea). Once the plague spread, the defending army withdrew its forces leaving the path clear for conquest by the Mongolian army. Bubonic plague was and is prevalent in small rodents in the steppes of Mongolia. The army somehow managed to carry it to their enemies without breaking the chain of infection. They were then infected along with the rodents. It is believed that this could have been ground zero of the Black Death that killed almost one-third of Europe’s population in the ensuing years. In all fairness though, they probably thought it was the smell killing them, not the disease.(source)

3 He was captured and enslaved in 1177 but eventually managed to escape after befriending one of his captors. His reputation grew manifold after his escape.

When Genghis Khan’s father was poisoned, Genghis was just nine and living with the tribe of the girl he was supposed to marry. When he heard the news, he went back to his tribe to take his father’s place as their chief. However, they refused to harbor the family and turned them out refusing them any protection. In 1177, during a raid, Genghis Khan was captured by that same tribe, called the Tayichi’ud. They tied him to a cangue (something like a yoke) which prevented him from moving his head or arms but left his legs free. He escaped with the help of one of the guards which earned him a fearsome reputation. He later appointed the guard’s son, Chilaun, as one of his generals.(source)

4 Genghis Khan may have prevented an early global warming, making him an eco-friendly warrior, if nothing else. He killed about 40 million people, erasing 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere.

On the one hand, the death of 40 million people is staggering! However, it is believed his killings resulted in a man-made climate change and basically cooled the planet. Thus, the land that was previously occupied by human settlements and farmland was reclaimed by forests which in turn absorbed more carbon. Today, the global petroleum consumption generates approximately 700 million tons of carbon in a year, the same amount that Genghis Khan wiped out.(source)

5 He not only forgave the man who shot an arrow into his neck in battle but also raised him to be one of his best and most trusted generals.

One account of this story says that Genghis Khan was shot in the neck in 1201 in the Battle of the Thirteen Sides. After the battle was won, he demanded to meet the man who shot his horse in order to mask his real injury. The man, Zurgadai, confessed, but also vowed to serve the Khan with utmost loyalty so he was allowed to live. Since Genghis Khan valued merit over everything else, he forgave him and renamed him Jebe meaning “arrow” and “weapon” in Mongolian. Another account states that Jebe escaped and was recaptured by a group of soldiers but managed to kill Genghis Khan’s horse. He then pleaded for his life and also promised to bring him more horses in exchange for the one he killed.(source)