As we know, Genghis Khan was a pagan. Then he began to pray to Buddha, Jesus, and Allah, all at once, calling them to be his protectors. He was born and raised in an environment where zealous religiosity, especially fanaticism, never existed and could not exist. The steppe people are generally a calm people in relation to religion: it is obvious that the nomadic way of life is affecting. Secondly, the environment in which he grew up was ethnically and religiously diverse. There were Chinese elements, as well as Paleosibirsk, Mongolian and Turkic-speaking elements. In general, Genghis Khan’s actual Mongolian birth is a big question. At least because not only the name Genghis Khan, but also his original name, from birth, from his father-mother, Temuchin, is, of course, not Mongolian, but Turkic. He was proclaimed Genghis Khan at a general meeting of representatives of steppe clans. Moreover, these were not Mongol clans — the Mongol clans represented a minority there — but a Turkic-Mongolian steppe conglomerate. For example, the genera Kiyat, Merkit, Zhalair, Argyn are mentioned. But these are the most common Kazakh families living here and now. Every Kazakh knows who he is and where he comes from. And that’s why today live kiyats, zhalairs and argyns roam the streets, sit in parliament and eat dumplings in eateries. (The Argyns are the most numerous tribal union among the Kazakhs.) Even those Turkic—Mongols, along with their pagan religions, had elements of Buddhism and especially Christianity. For example, the oldest and largest Kazakh family of Kerey originates its name from the word «keresh» — «cross». The ancient Keres have been Nestorian Christians since the third century AD.
In general, Genghis Khan was a very calm person in relation to religion from birth. But he probably understood that in such an empire, and even with free steppe horsemen, any imposition of one faith or another, any advantage of one faith or another, is like death. And therefore, in Yasa, in his laws, he ordered full religious freedom to be observed.
This is how this empire came to be, in which, however, Christianity was still the predominant religion. The historical proof of this is the crusade to Palestine for the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre, undertaken in 1260 by Hulagu and Kublai. But that predominance was only quantitative, and even a little bit, and it was, again, natural and absolutely equal — no one forced anyone to do anything.
But fifty years later, Uzbek Khan came to power and began to spread Islam with fire and sword. Either renounce your faith, or get your head off your shoulders.
This was the beginning of the fall of the Golden Horde. An element was thrown into the established system, which caused widespread outrage and rejection. The rejection was not in a religious sense — the Muslims in the Horde, like everyone else, were treated calmly. The rejection was caused by violence, the imposition of someone else’s will.
And natural selection began. The weak resigned themselves, renounced the faith of their fathers and grandfathers. But the strong—minded fled. Naturally, to Russia, to his co-religionists. Hundreds of thousands. This is how almost every third noble family originated in Russia. I am talking about noble families only because they can be traced back to the «Common Coat of Arms of noble families,» in which the phrase about an ancestor is constantly found: «He left the Horde for the grand Duke…» I repeat: there was a natural selection in favor of Russia and in weakening the Horde. The weaker ones remained in the Horde, and the strongest, indomitable in spirit, went to Russia. As L.N. wrote. Russian Russians, Gumilev, their children and grandchildren from Russian mothers and grandmothers, who adopted their father’s Horde skill of chopping the enemy to the waist and pulling the bowstring to the ear, then joined the Russian troops at Kulikovo Field and defeated Mamai….
By the way, the same thing happened a little later with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in which the main population was Slavic, Lithuanian and Slavic were officially considered official languages. I’m talking about the great (big) Lithuania, which stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. No, they weren’t ready to fight for the faith here, but nevertheless the offensive of the Catholic Church and faith was very, very tangible. And therefore, the Orthodox knights, again, fled to Russia to their co-religionists. Most noble surnames in Russia are Horde and Lithuanian.
They may object to me: but what about the baptism of Rus? After all, it passed without the destruction of Russia, but, on the contrary, united it into a single state?
Firstly, Russia was originally a simple system: homogeneous in language and pagan in religion. And — most importantly — the introduction of Christianity took place simultaneously with the building of the state. In a simple system, there was a change of only one sign — paganism to Christianity. And it was quite a long process.: with the revolts of the Magi and so on. And the church, it was the church that was able to unite Russia into a single state only by the 14th century, when Metropolitan Alexy became the de facto ruler of Russia. And when the system in Russia became more complicated, even the reform within Christianity caused a centuries-old storm. I am referring to the Nikon reform, which gave rise to the church Schism. It would seem that there is such a turning point here: now it is necessary to be baptized not with two fingers, but with a pinch, to serve not in the way they used to, but according to books. No one is attacking the faith itself, Christianity, so why rebel? But no, they went to the stake, thousands fled the borders of the state… And so far there has been no reconciliation. The Old Believers demand official repentance from the official Orthodox hierarchs, but for some reason they do not agree — in general, the conflict is quietly smoldering…
But in the Horde, people were required to renounce the faith of their fathers and grandfathers. It couldn’t have happened so easily. And it didn’t go away.
After Uzbek Khan, Janibek came to power in the Golden Horde — as they say in Russian chronicles, «the good tsar Chanibek». Everything calmed down. But after Janibek’s death, the «great jam» began, as they say in the chronicles. Mamai, the usurper and rebel, began to claim power there. The Mamaevism began. Which ended in 1380, when Dmitry Donskoy on Kulikovo Field, and then Khan Tokhtamysh on Kalka defeated and expelled Mamai from the country.
Tokhtamysh is the last great ruler of the steppe, he stopped the disintegration of the Golden Horde for several decades. But the process has already started. After his death, the state collapsed as if by itself.
I understand that the collapse of the Golden Horde was inevitable. It’s just that the time has come for something else. The era of horse-steppe civilization was coming to an end, and another one, agricultural and urban, was coming. (A mighty urban and agricultural Russia grew up in the north and west, and the powerful urban and agricultural civilization of Timur arose in the east. Although he is also a native of the steppe, a native of the inner circle of the Genghisids, he is already an urban Muslim branch of this conglomerate.) Nevertheless, I would like to note that the breakdown began precisely with the forcible imposition of Islam as the state’s mandatory religion. Firstly, to impose something on free steppe horsemen is to mortally offend them. After all, from century to century, life there has been based on the rule: a sharp saber, a fast horse, and a large steppe. Secondly, and most importantly, the life of the Golden Horde was an established and complex system. And it was destroyed. Well, imagine that a fool khan comes to today’s multinational and multi-religious Russia and says: «From now on, everyone will pray to Confucius!» Can you imagine what will begin here?!
So it was then. Firstly, the Uzbek encroached on the holy of holies of the Horde — on the Law of Genghis Khan. That is, he himself, with his own hands, destroyed the foundations of the state. Well, isn’t he a fool, God forgive me?! Secondly, the government destroyed with its own hands the invisible and unwritten social contract by which this formation existed — the Golden Horde. From now on, no one owes anyone anything, and nothing binds anyone. If you’re like that, then I’m like that, and you all went there and there…
That’s how it all started.