The Genghis Khan imprinted in the memory of the west bears little relation to the Chinggis Khaan (alternative spellings are Cengiz Han, Chengez Khan, Chinggis Khan, Chinggis Xaan, Chingis Khan, Jenghis Khan, Chinggis Qan, Djingis Kahn) revered by Mongolians. Not only is the spelling different: to Europeans, his name lives on as the epitome of mercilessness and ravaging war; to the Mongolians, he embodies strength, unity, law and order. He is the young king who united the warring clans, stamped out feuds and gave Mongolians a sense of direction. This is what post-communist Mongolia looks for today, and Chinggis epitomizes the historic ability to rise above confusion and uncertainty.Until the end of the 12th century, the Mongols were little more than a loose confederation of rival clans. A Mongol named Temujin was born in 1162 (although the exact date is open to debate) His father was a leader of the Kiyat-Borjigin tribe, while the ethnic origins of his mother are subject to conjecture. As a teenager, he killed his half-brother in cold blood, and at the age of 20, he emerged from a power struggle to become the leader of the Kiyat-Borjigins. Within a few years, he managed to unite most of the Mongol tribes, and in 1189, he was given the honorary name of Chinggis Khaan, meaning ‘universal (or oceanic) king’. No Mongolian leader before or since has held the Mongolians together.
Chinggis set up his capital at Karakorum, in present-day Kharkhorin (Avarga, in Delgerkhaan district of the Khentii province, also claims to be Chinggis’ capital), gathered a loyal army (possibly up to 200,000 men from many ethnic groups) and went on to create the largest empire the world has ever seen By the time of his death in 1227 (from injuries sustained after falling off his horse), the Mongol empire extended from Beijing to the Caspian Sea.
Mongolians, and some historians, have agreed that the birthplace of Chinggis Khaan is at Deluun Boldog, in northern Khentii. But where was he buried?

Chinggis’ grave is probably in Khentii province, and not too far from his birthplace, but the exact location is not known. According to diaries kept by Marco Polo, the Mongols at the time wanted to keep the location a secret – which they have managed to do to this day. According to legend, the 2000 or so people who attended Chinggis’ funeral were killed by 800 soldiers, who were in turn slaughtered themselves – so total secrecy was insured.

Various expeditions, often with Japanese and US assistance and technology, have failed to shed any light on the mystery. His tomb may contain millions, if not billions, of dollars worth of gold, silver, precious stones and other priceless religious artifacts (which obviously weren’t destroyed during the Stalinist purges), so the search is sure to continue.

However, the vast amount of money spent so far, which could be better used to assist regional development, and the fact that discovery of the grave is against the obvious wishes of Chinggis Khaan himself, also causes resentment among many Mongolians.

Chinggis’ grandson, Kublai Khan (circa 1216-1294), completed the subjugation of China, effectively ending the Song Dynasty (960-1279). He became the emperor of China’s Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Kublai established his winter capital in Tatu (‘great capital’), today’s Beijing. (So thoroughly have the Chinese erased the traces of the Mongol conquest that only two major monuments in Beijing remain: the Lama Temple and the giant white stupa in Beihai Park.)

Kublai soon realized that the Mongol empire had reached the limits of expansion. In 1260 the Mongols lost a major battle to the Egyptian Mamluks. An attack on Java briefly succeeded, but the Mongol troops were finally expelled. Two attempts to invade Japan (in 1274 and 1281) ended in failure; the second was thwarted when a typhoon destroyed the Mongol fleet. The Japanese claimed this was divine intervention – the Mongols said it was bad weather.

Instead of looking for more wars to fight, Kublai concentrated his efforts on keeping the vast empire together. This was the height of the Mongols’ glory: the empire stretched from Korea to Hungary, and as far south as Vietnam, making it the largest empire the world has ever known. The Mongols improved the road system linking China with Russia and promoted trade throughout the empire and with Europe. Tens of thousands of horses were on standby to enable pony express riders to cross the empire with important messages at great speed.

In China, the Yuan dynasty instituted a famine relief scheme and expanded the canal system, which brought food from the countryside to the cities. It was the first to enforce paper money as the sole form of currency. This was the China that Marco Polo and other travelers visited and described in their journals to an amazed Europe.

It won’t take long before you wonder who Sukhbaatar is – his statue astride a horse dominates the square named after him in Ulaanbaatar, his face is on many currency notes, and there is a provincial capital and aimag called Sukhbaatar. Ulaanbaatar was also named after him, literally meaning 'red hero'.
Born in 1893, probably in what is now Ulaanbaatar, Sukh (which means ‘axe’), as he was originally named, joined the Mongolian army in 1911. He soon became famous for his horsemanship, but was forced to leave the army because of insubordination. In 1917, he joined another army, found against the Chinese, and picked up the added moniker of baatar, or ‘hero’.
The Chinese republic reinstated its claim to Mongolia by an invasion in 1919, and the Bogd Khan was forced to recognize Chinese control of his country. Sukhbaatar traveled to Russia as part of a delegation from the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party sent, with the approval of the Bogd Khan, to ask for aid from the Bolsheviks. Sukhbaatar carried the letter bearing the Khan's stamp hidden in his riding crop.
By 1921, Sukhbaatar was made commander-in-chief of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Army. The army was in actual fact a Soviet division with some Mongolian elements, Sukhbaatar was little more than a Soviet puppet. This Soviet/Mongolian army then defeated the meagre Chinese forces, and, later, the White Russians led by Baron Ungern Von Stennberg (also know as the 'Mad Baron'). In July of that year, he declared Mongolia’s independence from China and Mongolia's servitude to Russia at what is now known as Sukhbaatar Square. The Bogdh Khan (the religious leader and Mongolian Emperor) was deposed and a Socialist state was established. This state continued until early-1991, when democracy took over.
He packed a lot in a short life; he died in 1923, at the age of 30. The exact cause of his death has never been known, and he did not live to see Mongolia proclaimed a Socialist Republic.
Today, the legend of Sukhbaatar and his role in Mongolian history is still taught but not yet critically analysed. The history taught is still that manufactured by the Soviet leadership. This is still the case for many of the main actors of the Great Socialist Tragedy such as Choibalsan.

Born in 1635, Zanabazar is Mongolia’s earliest Buddhist leader and first high reincarnated lama, as well as a politician, diplomat and renowned sculptor. Said to be descended from Chinggis Khaan and from a Bodhisattva, he was deemed a possible gegeen, or saint, at the age of three, enthroned at the age of five, and studied Buddhism with the Dalai Lama in Tibet. Zanabazar returned to Mongolia to spread Tibetan Buddhism and created many famous bronze statues of Buddha.

After a long confrontation with the Oirad Mongols, the Khalkha Mongols under his religious and political leadership opted for an alliance with the Manchu rulers of China in 1691. Zanabazar was murdered in 1723 during a visit to Peking soon after the Manchu emperor died, according to a biography published in 1995.

Many Mongolians refer to the time of Zanabazar’s life as Mongolia’s Renaissance period. His most enduring legacy is the sensuous statues of the incarnation of compassion, the deity Tara. His creations can be seen in many monasteries and museums in Mongolia, such as at the Gandan Khiid, the Erdene Zuu Khiid and the Winter Palace of Bogd Khaan. A museum of fine arts in Ulaanbaatar is also named after him.

A great hero of the 1921 revolution, Khorloogiyn Choibalsan became Mongolia’s leader in 1928, probably purging or assassinating rivals in the process. Like his Russian mentor, Joseph Stalin, Choibalsan was ruthless. Following Stalin’s lead, Choibalsan ordered the seizure of land and herds which were then redistributed to peasants. In 1932, more than 700 people – mostly monks – were imprisoned or murdered, their property seized and collectivized. Farmers were forced to join cooperatives and private business was banned, Chinese and other foreign traders were expelled, and all transport was nationalized. The destruction of private enterprise without sufficient time to build up a working state sector had the same result in Mongolia as it did in the Soviet Union – famine.

While Choibalsan moderated his economic policy during the 1930s, his campaign against religion was without mercy. In 1937, Choibalsan launched a reign of terror against the monasteries in which thousands of monks were arrested and executed. The antireligion campaign coincided with a bloody purge to eliminate ‘rightist elements’. It is believed that by 1939, some 27,000 people had been executed (3% of Mongolia’s population at that time), of whom 17,000 were monks.

Although Choibalsan’s regime has been heavily criticized by modern Mongolians, statues of him remain, and his name is still used for streets, cities and sums. Some Mongolians admire him for defending Mongolia’s independence.

Sanjaasuregiin Zorig was the leader of a successful democratic movement in Mongolia in 1990. On October 2, 1998, at the age of thirty-six, he was stabbed and axed to death in his apartment in Ulan Bator.

At the time of his death, the Mongolian government was in a deadlock. For the past four months, the president and Parliament had been attempting to appoint a new prime minister. It had been over three months since the last prime minister, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdor, had been forced to resign. Four potential candidates had already been advanced since Elbegdorj's July resignation, but none had garnered support from both the Parliament and the president.

The Parliament was controlled by the Democratic Union Coalition (DUC). The president belonged to the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), a group of (former) communists. It seemed that Zorig, despite his efforts to overthrow communism in 1990, was well-like by members of both parties. Word surfaced at the beginning of October that Zorig was going to be the next nominee for the prime minister opening. Moreover, despite his DUC affiliation, he had apparently secure the president's approval.

These rumors surfaced on October 2. Later that night, Zorig was murdered. Neither parties will address whether the crime was politically motivated. Nobody has been arrested in the stabbing. No surprises there then.

Ogedei was the third son of Genghis Khan, and was considered to be his father's favorite son, ever since his childhood. As an adult, Ögedei was a known for his ability to sway doubters in any debate he was involved, simply by the force of his personality. He was a physically big, jovial and very charismatic man, who seemed mostly to be interested in enjoying good times. He was intelligent and steady in character. His charisma was partially credited for his success in keeping the Mongol Empire on the path that his father had set.

Ogedei was also known to be a humble man, who knew his human limitations, did not believe himself to be a genius, and was willing to listen and use the great generals that his father left him, as well asthose he himself found to be most capable. Like all Mongols at his time, he was raised and educated as a warrior from childhood, and as the son of Genghis Khan he was a part of his father's plan to establish a world empire. His military experience was notable for his willingness to listen to his generals, and adapt to the circumstances. He was an extremely pragmatic person, much like his father, and looked at the end, rather than the means. His steadiness of character and dependability were the traits that his father most valued, and that gained him the role of successor to his father, despite his two older brothers.

He continued the programme of military conquest. His generals pushed as far west as Hungary and were all set to invade Western Europe when Ogedei died. Mongol custom dictated that all noble descendants of Chinggis had to return to Mongolia to democratically elect a new khaan (king). This forced the abandonment of the European campaign.

Ögedei's death in 1241, brought the Mongol invasion of Europe to a premature end. The commanders heard the news as they were advancing on Vienna, and withdrew for the Ikh kuriltai in Mongolia, never again to return so far west.

His son Guyuk eventually succeeded him after the five-year regency of his widow Toregene Khatun. But Batu Khan, Khan of the Kipchak Khanate in Russia, never accepted Guyuk, who died on the way to confront him. It was not until 1255, well into the reign of Mongke Khan, that Batu felt secure enough to again prepare to invade Europe. Fortunately for the Europeans, he died before his plans could be implemented. His son intended to carry them out, but he also died, and in 1258, Batu's brother Berke, ascended to the Kipchak Khanate. A Muslim, he was more interested in stopping his cousin Hulagu from doing any more damage to the Holy Land than invading Europe. Historians mark the decline of the united Mongol Empire from Ogedei's death, though Mongke's ascension halted the interfamilial fighting for a time.

Subedei was Chingis Khan's incomparably most brilliant general. During the life of Chingis Khan, he was his master's chief of staff, and his high expertise impelled the military historian B.H. Liddel Hart to devote the first chapter of his "Great Captains Unveiled" to "Jenghiz Khan and Sabutai." The succesful execution of more than sixty Mongol campaigns can be attributed to his considerable talents.

Subedei was, although he lacked Temuchin's persuasive powers and psychosocial prowess, a man of great and highly disciplined intelligence. As mentioned elsewhere, Subedei and his collaborator, Yeh-lu Chu'tsai, played big roles in the continuation of the principles of statesmanship introduced by Chingis (and Yeh-lu).
Subutai was removed from commanding the European invasions by Guyuk Khan after his ascension to the Khanate, but placed in charge of the campaign against the Song in 1246, at 70 years old. Most historians believe this transfer was not to deinerate the generalship of Subutai during the European campaigns - indeed, it was the opposite. Guyuk had no love for Batu, and wanted the best of the Mongol Generals elsewhere, and not available to Batu if the feud between the two came to open war. Subutai campaigned against the Song in 1246-1247. He then returned to Mongolia where he died in 1248.
These two next additions to the Top Ten Mongolians are indeed, not Mongolian. However, we feel that they both should be included as they have contributed significantly to the history and development of Mongolia. A mention of them should definitely be made.

An honourary Mongolian, Roy Chapman Andrews (1884-1960) was an American palaeontologist from New York who explored the Gobi in the 1920s and found the first dinosaur eggs, jaws and skulls in Central Asia. Andrews’ first expedition was based at Bayanzag, which he renamed the ‘flaming cliffs’. For political reasons, he abandoned his incomplete expeditions after about five years.
From 1909 to 1910, Andrews sailed on the USS Albatross to the East Indies, collecting snakes and lizards and observing marine mammals. He married Yvette Borup in 1914. From 1916 to 1917, Andrews and his wife led the Asiatic Zoological Expedition of the museum through much of western and southern Yunnan, as well as other provinces of China. The book Camps and Trails in China records their experiences.

In 1920, Andrews began planning for expeditions to Mongolia and drove a fleet of Dodge cars westward from Peking. In 1922, the party discovered a fossil of Indricotherium (then named "Baluchitherium"), a gigantic hornless rhinoceros, which was sent back to the museum, arriving on December 19.

On July 13, 1923, the party was the first in the world to discover dinosaur eggs. Initially thought to belong to the ceratopsian Protoceratops, they were determined in 1995 to actually belong to the theropod Oviraptor [1]. Walter W. Granger discovered a skull from the Cretaceous period. In 1925, the museum sent a letter back informing the party that the skull was that of a mammal, and therefore rare and valuable; more were uncovered. Expeditions in the area stopped during 1926 and 1927. In 1928, the expedition's finds were seized by Chinese authorities but were eventually returned. The 1929 expedition was cancelled. In 1930, he made one final trip and discovered some mastodon fossils. (Sixty years after Andrews' initial expedition, the American Museum of Natural History returned to Mongolia on the invitation of its government to continue exploration.) Later that year, Andrews returned to the United States and divorced his wife, with whom he had two sons.

In 1934, Andrews became the director of the museum. In his 1935 book The Business of Exploring, he wrote "I was born to be an explorer...There was never any decision to make. I couldn't do anything else and be happy." In 1942, Andrews retired to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where he wrote about his life and died in 1960. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in his hometown of Beloit.

According to his books and biographies, he was a real-life adventurer who took the ambushes, raids and rebellions during the expeditions in his stride. He worked for US intelligence during WWI and also explored Alaska, Borneo, Burma and China. He wrote such Boys’ Own classics as Whale Hunting with Gun and Camera (1916), Across Mongolian Plains (1921) and On the Trail of Ancient Man. Not surprisingly, Andrews is widely regarded as the model on which the screen character Indiana Jones is based.

Ungern von Sternberg was born in Graz, Austria to a Baltic German family, and raised in Tallinn (Reval), Estonia (then part of the Russian Empire) by his stepfather Oskar von Hoyningen-Huene. After graduating from Pavlovsk Military School in Saint Petersburg, he served in Siberia where he was enthralled with the life-style of nomadic peoples such as the Mongols and Buryats.

Since 1919, Mongolia had been occupied by Chinese republican forces. In late 1920-early 1921 Ungern von Sternberg's troops entered Mongolia at the invitation of the displaced Bogd Khan, Mongolia's civil and religious ruler. In January 1921, Ungern von Sternberg's army assaulted the capital town, Urga (now Ulaanbaatar), several times, but were repelled with heavy losses. Ungern von Sternberg ordered his troops to burn a large number of camp fires in the hills around Urga, making an appearance that the town was surrounded by an overwhelming force. In February 1921, without fighting a battle, he drove the Chinese out of town.

On March 13, 1921, Mongolia was proclaimed an independent monarchy, under Ungern von Sternberg as a dictator. A mystic who was fascinated by beliefs and religions of the Far East such as Buddhism and who believed himself to be a reincarnation of Genghis Khan, Ungern von Sternberg's philosophy was an exceptionally muddled mixture of Russian nationalism with Chinese and Mongol beliefs. His brief rule of Mongolia was characterised by looting and a reign of terror by his army.

A Red Army force sent to deal with Ungern von Sternberg (Pro-Soviet Mongolian leader Damdin Sühbaatar) defeated Ungern von Sternberg's forces in Mongolia. In May, Ungern von Sternberg attempted to invade Soviet territory near Troitskosavsk (now Kyakhta, Buryatia). After initial successes in May and June, Ungern von Sternberg was defeated in a July-August counteroffensive, captured by his own soldiers, and handed over to the Red Army on August 21, 1921.

After a quick military tribunal held by a Cheka troika, Ungern von Sternberg was executed by a firing squad in Novonikolayevsk (now Novosibirsk, Russia). Before his execution, Ungern von Sternberg was said to have chewed up his Cross of St. George medal in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the sacrilegious communists.[citation needed]

Ungern von Sternberg was declared to be a Mahakala incarnation by the Dalai Lama XIII.