Subutai conquered more territory than any other commander in history
A blacksmith's son who joined Temujin's army at 14, Subutai became the chief strategist of Genghis Khan and Ogedei. Across more than 20 campaigns he took more land than any general before or since, often steering separate armies hundreds of kilometres apart so they struck together.
Historians place his birth around 1175, most likely near the headwaters of the Onon, on its western side, in what is now Mongolia. An older story made him a reindeer herder from the Uriankhai clan, an outsider who had to learn the horsemanship other Mongols absorbed from birth. Recent scholars Stephen Pow and Jingjing Liao reject this, noting that the image of a reindeer-herding genius simply appeals to modern writers' love of irony.
In reality his family had been tied to Temujin's for generations. His father Jarchigudai reportedly fed Temujin's band when it was desperate at Lake Baljuna, and his older brother Jelme became a general and close companion, once rescuing the future khan after he was badly wounded by an arrow. The Yuan dynastic history tells how Subutai and another brother drove off robbers who had seized their father while he was taking sheep to Genghis. Even so, many see his rise from commoner to the highest rank open to a non-relative as proof that Mongol promotion rewarded merit.
As a teenager he guarded the door of Genghis Khan's ger, reportedly promising to shield him from enemies the way felt blocks the wind. That post let him overhear strategy sessions and later join them. Within a decade of enlisting he commanded one of four vanguard tumens. The Secret History of the Mongols names him among the khan's four dogs of war, alongside Jebe, Jelme and Qubilai Barlas.
His apprenticeship was long. When the Mongols invaded northern China in 1211 he was paired with the senior general Jebe, a partnership that lasted until Jebe died in 1223. In 1212 he stormed the city of Huan, the first independent feat the sources credit to him, and he served on detached missions under Muqali and Genghis himself. He is counted the greatest commander in Mongolian history and helped build the largest contiguous empire ever. He died in 1248.
Source: Subutai
