Was Genghis Khan good or evil?

Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire that united many tribes of Northeast Asia that went on to conquer Eurasia.
In his conquests, he perpetrated some of the worst atrocities against the people he fought, which included massacres of entire civilian populations. His campaigns were marked by an extreme brutality that resulted in millions of deaths and the displacement of large groups of people.
However, he remained a meritocratic ruler and studied different religions. He allowed people to practice their religions and allowed diversity within his administration. His leadership ensured the continued growth of the Mongol Empire. He is also credited with the unity he forged among the different North Asian tribes. His efforts ensured stability in the religion and helped secure the Silk Road, which was essential for trade and communication.
Use these facts to evaluate whether you think Genghis Khan was good or evil.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Genghis-Khan

Genghis Khan like so many rulers of the past can be see an either good or evil depending on who is writing history. Was he a conqueror? Yes, and to many that would label him evil considering how many treated those they conquered. To gain territory Genghis Khan, like Julius Caesar, killed hundreds and yet only those to which he took life, and land from would have called him evil. His followers would have sung his praises as they were gaining what they didn't have, land. 
The real question is, is anyone truly good or evil or do we all have the ability to be both? To Khan's people he was good just as Caesar was, yet when you become to powerful or rather are liked by the many and draw on power that others covet is when 'power hungry' warlord labels get placed on the heads of men who may not be evil. 
Another issue to consider is that our present day ideas of good vs. evil are completely different from those during the 1200's. Two more crusades start and end during Khan's campaign, as does the children's crusade. The English and French are in yet another war over English occupied territory in France. Pope Innocent the III calls for a Crusade against the Cathars for heresy. (Wheeler) These are just a few of the bigger issues happening at the same time as Khan's charge on China. Can we honestly say Genghis is any more evil then the kings, generals, or Pope ordering these other invasions? War is always ugly and bloody there's no way around those facts. There will always be a winner and a loser and as we've seen throughout history the victor is the one who gets to write history. This doesn't mean the victor is better then the loser morally, it just means their strategy was better. 
Source:
Wheleler, Dr. L. Kip  1998-2017.  https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/timeline_1200.html

Whether Genghis Khan was good or evil depends on your societal outlook. If you were anything but Mongolian, I would have to say that he was evil. His soldiers were able to travel for days with only supplies they could carry on their horses (which was kept to a minimum to expedite travel) and extra horses so they could switch out when their current horses tired out. The majority of any supplies they used came from conquered towns and villages along the way. There is also the prevalent theory that because of the Mongol tribe Europe was exposed to the Bubonic Plague which wiped out an estimated one fourth of the population. 
If you were Mongolian, Genghis Khan was a hero like figure. He expanded the Mongolian empire beyond what they ever thought possible as well as conquering the longest known society to date. China was an empire in which many attempted and failed at conquering. Genghis Khan was also the reason that the Great Wall of China was built (in pieces and not finished for 100 years). 

Genghis Khan is best known in history as the leader of the Mongols. As a leader of an army, he did both good and evil things, depending on whose point of view you view history from.
Arguments for evil
Genghis Khan has a reputation for being a ruthless conqueror. Under his leadership, numerous massacres of civilian populations took place. One brutal example is the overthrow of the Western Xia dynasty. In a series of campaigns from 1209 to 1227, the Western Xia dynasty was obliterated. One example of such destruction is the Battle of Yellow River in 1226. According to Mongol accounts, 300,000 Xia soldiers were killed. Genghis Khan's army then proceeded to kill the civilian population over the next year. Authors and historians such as John Man state that "there is a case to be made that this was the first ever recorded example of attempted genocide."
Rebuttal
During the late 12th century (1100s), it was very common for these northeast Asian nomadic tribes to attack, plunder and raid, so Genghis Khan's actions were not unusual for his time.
The Western Xia state bordered Mongol Territory, which made it a tempting target for a culture that regularly raided neighboring states and saw them as potential vassals.
Argument for Good
There were many things Genghis Khan did that his predecessors did not do that were innovative for their time. He was able to unite the tribes of Northeast Asia into a cohesive unit, ending struggles for power within the region. Regions he conquered had stability; for example, the Silk Road became a safer place, which then encouraged trade between China and Europe. He promoted religious tolerance - people of many different religions, such as Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and Judaism co-existed in the empire. However, there were some caveats to the tolerance - he forbade certain religious practices such as halal and kosher slaughter, and forbade circumcision, driving the practices underground.
Conclusion
Whether Genghis Khan was good or evil depends on whose point of view you are looking at. For the neighboring Xia and Jin dynasties, who were brutally overthrown, Genghis Khan would be a terrifying figure of evil. For those who benefited from religious tolerance and political stability, such as traders, Genghis Khan would have been seen as good. However, history is rarely black and white - many great leaders have both good and evil sides, and Genghis Khan is no different from many other famous military leaders in this regard.
Sources:Wikipedia. "Genghis Khan." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan Accessed October 26, 2017.Wikipedia. "Mongol Conquest of Western Xia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_conquest_of_Western_Xia Accessed October 26, 2017.

The question of whether Gengis Khan (various spellings) was good or evil is a personal choice of little importance. He was a marauder in his day, but most "successful" men were marauders in those days. His DNA can be found in one quarter of the central Asian population, but we can only presume how he treated women. 
One thing is for sure - Gengis Khan stands out as the most successful warlord to leave an imprint on Central Asia. His empire stretched from China to the eastern border of modern Europe, and from Russia down to Persia. That area is the center of the largest landmass in the world. 
On one hand, Gengis Khan's army killed many people during his reign, which can be called a "reign of terror". On the other hand, his arrival in the Central Asian plain "opened up" that section of the globe to more trade and travel, and introduced the local inhabitants to what was then the modern world. Whether Gengis Khan was good or bad probably depends on whether you were killed by his troops or benefited from the new trade and travel. 
Many centuries later, Karl Marx would state that while the European colonization of the world led to much suffering, it also brought vast and isolated sections of the globe into contact for the first time. This is the general effect of human expansion and exploration, and Gengis Khan was part of that activity, although he was an especially violent example.