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Chinggis Khan’s Last Campaign as Seen by the Tanguts

All so far known sources on Genghis (Chinggis) Khan, irrespective of the language they had been written in, were meticulously studied and today it seems we know everything about Genghis Khan's life and his military success and hardly anything new may be added. The only exception is the last period of Genghis Khan's life – his last campaign (1226-1227) and his death in course of this campaign – which still appears to be rather obscure. This period in Genghis Khan's life is inseparable from the Tangut Empire (982-1227) – "The Great State of White and Lofty" (= The Great State of Yab-Yum) 1, since the aim of Genghis Khan's last campaign was the Tangut state itself and the mystery of his death which seemingly occurred on the territory of the Tangut state, is closely associated with the mystery of the fall of the Tangut empire. But never before a single Tangut written source has been used to reconstruct the last Genghis Khan's march, and this was and still is taken for granted, since it is widely held that all Tangut historical records have perished in flames of Mongol invasion. However, there are some Tangut indigenous texts (see Appendix) which though not representing historical records, show how the Tanguts themselves saw the dramatic events which had preceded the 1226-1227 campaign. On the grounds of information extracted from these Tangut texts I would like to focus on the events of 1225, the year which preceded the beginning of the last Genghis Khan's march.

But first of all let us look at what is written on this subject in Chinese and other languages' sources...

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