In the 13th and 14 centuries, the Mongols established the largest land empire in human history. At its furthest extent, the Mongolian Empire stretched from the coast of China along the northern border of the Himalayas, encompassing much of today's Middle East from Persia to the Black Sea, much of south-central Russia and Ukraine and Europe to the gates of Vienna. This was done on foot, wagon, and most famously, on horseback. By the time the Mongols reached the eastern borders of Ukraine in the late 1200s, some of their armies numbered 100,000, but it was not their numbers that were the Mongols' primary weapon – terror was. That policy of terror started with their first great leader, the infamous Genghis Khan. He is not infamous everywhere. “The Great Khan”, as he is also known, is still a national hero in Mongolia today.

Many stories about this episode have it that Genghis' older half-brother Behter stole a fish that Temujin killed for the night's meal, and ate it all himself, refusing to share with his family. Soon after, Temujin secretly followed Behter, waited for him to be alone, and then shot him with one of the famous Mongol re-curved bows. Another version of the story adds that Behter, as the oldest brother, began to order people around, and this caused resentment on the part of Temujin and his younger full-brother Qa'sar. There may or may not have been food involved, but in this version, Temujin simply used Behter's greed as an excuse to kill him and move to take control of the the clan himself.

Genghis, whose real name was “Temujin”, which means “of iron”.