The reforms that Genghis Khan instituted in Mongol society were a means to an end and not an end in themselves. His goal was to create an army so powerful that no force it encountered could stand in its way. By basing his reorganization on the system of tens, he effectively mobilized the entire nation for war. Since the leaders of the arbans, jaghuns, and minghans were also military officers, every Mongol man, woman, and child was a member of a disciplined military machine and each had a role to play in their emperor's military campaigns.

The hundreds of thousands who fell victim to the Mongol sword during Genghis's reign are silent witnesses to the magnitude of his success and his reputation as history's most ruthless master of the art of warfare.

"The history of the Mongol armies is a catalogue of...