16 Facts About Jochi

Jochi's life was marked by controversy over the circumstances of his birth and culminated in his estrangement from his family.

Jochi was nevertheless a prominent military commander and the progenitor of the family who ruled over the khanate of the Golden Horde.

Jochi was the son of Borte, the first wife of the Mongol leader Temujin, now Genghis Khan.

Many Mongols, most prominently Borte's next son Chagatai, disagreed; these tensions eventually led to both Chagatai and Jochi being excluded from the line of succession to the Mongol throne.

Jochi was a prominent commander during the invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire, during which he subdued cities and tribes to the north.

Jochi's mother, Borte, was born into the Onggirat tribe, who lived along the Greater Khingan mountain range south of the Ergune river, in modern-day Inner Mongolia.

Jochi was forcibly married to Chilger-Boko, the younger brother of Ho'elun's original husband.

Jochi married other women: Borte's niece Oki; her relative Sorghan; and several less powerful women, namely Qutlugh Khatun, Sultan Khatun, Nubqus, Shir, Qarajin, and Kul.

Jochi began to reorder his new nation, dividing it between members of his ruling dynasty.

Jochi secured a marriage alliance with the Oirats, whose leader Qutuqa Beki guided the Mongols to the Yenisei Kyrgyz and other Hoi-yin Irgen.

Jochi subsequently reinforced Subutai's army before it defeated the renegade Merkits at the battle of the Irtysh River in late 1208 or early 1209.

Alongside his brothers Chagatai and Ogedei, Jochi commanded the right wing in the 1211 invasion of the Chinese Jin dynasty.

Regardless of the narrative discrepancies, Jochi lost the favour of his father following the siege.

Genghis likely considered it a military failure on account of its length and destruction; Jochi erred by not sending his father his rightful share of the loot.

On his return home, Genghis ordered Jochi to join him, but the latter claimed he was too ill to do so.

One account, likely fabricated, states that Jochi had been so offended by the destruction at Gurganj that he had made a secret alliance with the Khwarazmians, and that having found out, Genghis ordered that Jochi be poisoned.