WI: Jamukha as Genghis Khan

[Night Gaul]

What many people forget is that "Genghis Khan" was not a name, but a title, and a title that could very well have been claimed by a different man. Jamukha was an ally and blood brother to Temujin, and they waged a campaign against the Merkits together. However, their differences and ambitions caused the two to drift apart, culminating in a war between the two, a war Temujin eventually won.

What if it had been Jamukha who had come out on top in this power struggle and become "Genghis Khan"?

 

[alexmilman]

What many people forget is that "Genghis Khan" was not a name, but a title, and a title that could very well have been claimed by a different man. Jamukha was an ally and blood brother to Temujin, and they waged a campaign against the Merkits together. However, their differences and ambitions caused the two to drift apart, culminating in a war between the two, a war Temujin eventually won.

What if it had been Jamukha who had come out on top in this power struggle and become "Genghis Khan"?

From what is known it does not look like Jamukha had what it takes to become unifier of the steppe and creator of an innovative military system. So if Temujin is killed, Jamukha becomes for a while an influential figure but without a solid loyal base of his own, which was something Temujin kept systematically building up. Notice that he started losing support after victory over Temuchin.

Sooner rather than later he is going to be disposed of by the Keraits or somebody else.

 

[Alarik Von Erstien]

From what is known it does not look like Jamukha had what it takes to become unifier of the steppe and creator of an innovative military system. So if Temujin is killed, Jamukha becomes for a while an influential figure but without a solid loyal base of his own, which was something Temujin kept systematically building up. Notice that he started losing support after victory over Temuchin.

Sooner rather than later he is going to be disposed of by the Keraits or somebody else.

Which would mean no big ass Mongolian empire, no Mongolian emperors of China, most likely no Black Death, and the Islamic golden ages continues for a while longer. Byzantium would also hold out much much longer since if the Black Death never hits then they have the manpower to stop any ottoman Turks from getting any funny ideas.

 

[Silver01]

Jammuka could have unified mongolia for a while the 13 tribes declared him as Gur Khan so if Jamukha defeats chinigs at the battle of the 13 sides he could rule mongolia of course one must question with out temujin would some of his old allies break away from him,also his base was the aristocracy it was one of the reasons as why temujin was able to recover from his defeats.
Jamukha could be ousted or just make a smaller mongol empire if he consolidates like the one of the size of the khitan empire

 

[alexmilman]

Which would mean no big ass Mongolian empire, no Mongolian emperors of China, most likely no Black Death, and the Islamic golden ages continues for a while longer. Byzantium would also hold out much much longer since if the Black Death never hits then they have the manpower to stop any ottoman Turks from getting any funny ideas.

Well, there can be, sooner or later, some kind of a smaller steppe empire, they had been appearing and disintegrating on a regular basis and by the time of Genghis Northern China had been ruled by the former nomads or semi-nomads. But a complete conquest on OTL scale seems unlikely.

The Black Death is anybody’s guess: the epidemics had been happening and the caravan routes did exist prior to the Mongolian conquests.

Islamic golden age was, AFAIK, already on a decline prior to Genghis. Seljuk state was already disintegrating so appearance of the Ottomans as a major factor is a non-zero probability. In OTL the restored Byzantine Empire had for a while mutually beneficial relations with Nogay so, again, we can speculate about the net balance.