A little-known Mongol general conquered 32 nations.
The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in human history. It encompassed 9 million square miles at its peak, with some estimates placing its population as high as 100 million people — about 25% of the world at the time. And while Genghis Khan tends to receive most of the credit for that, he didn’t do it alone. There was also Subutai, a Mongol general who conquered 32 nations. Indeed, many sources claim Subutai conquered more land than anyone else in history, including such famed generals as Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Julius Caesar.
Believed to have been born in 1175, Subutai was notable for being a commoner with no blood relation to Genghis Khan (birth name Temujin), whose army he joined at the age of 14. “Like the felt blanket that protects your tent from the wind,” he reportedly said during his oath of allegiance, “I will gather great armies to shelter your tent.”
Subutai quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to general in 1204. In the following decades, he led successful campaigns against the Khwarazmian Empire, Turks, Chinese, Russians, Circassians, Cumans, Alans, and several other groups that no longer exist — in part due to his military prowess. He won a total of 65 battles as part of 20 different wars, helping expand Mongol territory into parts of present-day China, Russia, Georgia, Poland, and Hungary. One such victory was the legendary Great Raid of 1220-1223, during which Mongol forces traveled 5,500 miles through modern-day Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Caucasuses, and around the Caspian Sea, before returning to Iran, fighting and conquering along the way. Subutai retired in 1247, at which point he was in his early 70s, and he died the following year.
