WEBVTT - Genghis Khan: Madman or Genius? 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:05.400 Hey, Phoenix, Arizona and surrounding Desert Mesa. We have some 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:08.680 big news. You guys bought so many tickets. We have 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:13.120 actually changed theaters to a bigger theater. Yeah. We moved 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.120 from the Van Buren, which is very beautiful right around 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:19.520 the block to the amazing Orpheum Theater so that more 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.680 of you Phoenix Scitians can show up and see us, 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:26.720 because we want to see as many of you as possible. Yeah. Otherwise, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.120 everything is the same. So if you have tickets to 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:31.800 uh that Van Buren show, then they count for the 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.639 Orpheum show obviously. And now there are a whole lot 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.080 more tickets for you desert dwellers. And I can't wait 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.159 to see you all in your lovely tans and your 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.000 scorpions and your tarantulas and your rattlesnakes yep. So we'll 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.520 be there on Wednesday, October twenty four at the Orpheum Theater. 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:48.960 And if you haven't gotten tickets yet, you can get 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.640 them by going to s y s K Live dot com, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:56.520 our clearinghouse for Stuff you Should Know Live. Welcome to 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:06.319 Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.200 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and sitting 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:16.959 across from me Charles W. Chuckis Chinks Bryant, And sitting 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.800 to your right is ghost producer Casper Nobody. It was 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.280 Ramsey guests producer Ramsey. We've got like all these new 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.120 guest producers coming on hot and he now Jerry had 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.959 she had to leave today, and I think everyone's busy, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.880 and so someone came in. There's also a distinct lack 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.600 of interest I've picked up on. Boy, remember the days 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:39.119 when people used to jump out a chance to sit 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.240 in here? Oh yeah, Now they're like, I've got a 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:43.520 mail something. I know. You used to be like, oh 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.800 my gosh, Jerry's gone, let me do it, Let me 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:49.120 do it. They grew up, Yeah, and then they grew 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.720 up in um. Now we have our little dunking bird 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:58.360 to pick the key that our record button. Just going 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.200 back and forth thinking about where life went wrong. Just us, 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:08.600 just us Chuck and a guy named Genghis Dinghis Khan. 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.919 Do you pronounce it Dinghis or Genghis or Chingis? Are 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.320 you being serious? I know it's not Dinghis, but I've 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.440 also seen it spelled in a way that would suggest 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:24.320 you you pronounced it chingis Oh really, I think I 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.920 have heard that, but we're gonna go with the the 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:32.000 general Genghis pronunciation. Okay, right, although his what was his 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:37.240 birth name, Timujin doesn't even Genghis Khan isn't even his 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:42.520 real name. Everybody, so calm down. It's Temujin or Temujin. Man. 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.760 Did you see that statue. I've seen it before. Yes, 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.800 it's enormous. Have you seen in person? Now, I've not 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.520 yet been to Mongolia. That's something else, man, I will 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:53.760 one day though. Yeah, I know it's it's the world's 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.639 biggest equestrian statue, and with good reason. It's like forty 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:02.280 or thirty ft tall. That's an enormous statue. It's pretty 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.480 impressive whether whether you're on a horse or not. That's 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.320 a big old statue, right, I almost didn't say old. 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.280 And I think it's made of like fifty tons of 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:16.880 stainless steel, which means it rinses clean really well. And 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.440 it looks like I saw the wide shot. It doesn't 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.120 look like one of those. It's you know, surrounded by 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.560 burger kings. Oh good, looks like there's a lot of 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.560 land around it. Well, Mongolia has a lot of land, 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.200 a lot of undeveloped land from what I understand. Yeah, 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.639 this was an interesting one because depending on what kind 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.800 of historian you are, he is a either a revered 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:48.040 mastermind or scorned butcher. Butcher, yeah, I know, he's actually 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:52.600 I think both well of Yeah, there are definite camps 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.600 for sure, Like like a lot of people, um I've 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:01.360 seen him called the pro Genghis camp um approach. Yeah, 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.720 that they're they're all about like all the cultural transmission 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:09.440 that happened under his his rule, um or all of them. 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.160 All the new innovative laws of religious religious tolerance was 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:18.159 another one. And yes, you like all that stuff happen, 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.000 it's not in dispute, Like there are a lot of 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.479 things that we'll talk about that we're really positive. But 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:30.240 he's also directly responsible for the deaths of about thirty 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:36.040 five million people over twenty million twenty five year period. 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.280 That's a ridiculous amount of death of people who had 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:46.000 Genghis Khan not been born and you know, decided to 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.520 lead a conquest, would probably otherwise not have died violently. 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:53.760 That's a big mark in his favor or against him. 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.760 My morality just switched off there for so you got 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.560 the pro g the anti G and the alleg it's 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:09.200 the third camp I missed that. It's good stuff. It is, 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.040 but they tried to bring it back, remember and it 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.920 is there a part two or two point. They that's 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.159 that's the problem. They didn't do new stuff. It was 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.919 just him introducing old stuff, and it was like, we 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.080 want more new stuff. We've all seen this stuff bunch. 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.720 It was like for a month on FX. But they 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.520 shot new hosting segments, yes, that were like fifteen seconds long. 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.279 So basically they said, hey, Slasha bart Cohen, how'd you 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.840 like to make another X amount of dollars by showing 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:39.880 up for a day. How would you like to do that? 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.680 The Ali G version of S Y s K selects, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:49.640 Oh yeah, alright, I'm not gonna examine that one too quickly. Alright, 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.479 So we're talking about Ali G, I mean Genghis Khan, right, yeah, 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.240 and just some large statistics right off the bat, as 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:02.400 far as his um, his his influence, well not his influence, 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.599 but his rule and sheer numbers. Yeah, this is the 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.680 reason we're still talking about I'm not just because he 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:12.480 killed so many people, yeah, agreed. Um. By the time, 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.040 you know, of course, everyone knows he was a great 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.600 conqueror who just kept branching out further and further, and 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.279 this is how far he reached. Eventually, in modern day terms, 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.120 he would reach Austria. Austria, he banged on the door 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.760 of Austria, his his son did. Just get out of 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:37.280 world map and look at where Mongolia is. So Austria, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Vietnam, Burma, Japan, 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:42.919 and Indonesia twelve million contiguous square miles, which is the 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:49.520 size of Africa. Again amazing. Yeah, and then to put 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.719 that in context, you know the great Roman Empire that 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.080 was about half the size of the United States. Yeah, 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.320 the Roman Empire was half the size of the United States. Yeah, 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.279 it took them four hundred years to amass that. In 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.719 twenty five years, Genghas Khan had an empire the size 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.640 of Africa. Yeah. And then at the time, the population 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.840 in the the world was about seven billion people. The Mongolian 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:17.400 empire was about three billion of that. So it's just astounding. 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:19.880 It is astounding. And to put it in like true 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:24.160 cultural or true historic context at the time and say, 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.680 like the early early thirteenth century, the Mongols were the 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.040 Mongols a bunch of nomadic tribes, tribes on the steps 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:35.160 of Mongolia. China was a well established and um fairly 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:40.320 advanced patchwork of dynasties. Um, you had like Europe growing 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.440 in the they were in the Middle Ages, but they 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:46.280 were like the Renaissance is coming not too long. Um. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.560 You had the Native Americans over in America doing their thing, 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.280 Africa doing their things. So there's all these different things 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.000 going on in the world, and then all of a sudden, 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:58.840 out of nowhere, this tiny little bunch of people who 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:05.720 aren't even in agriculture take over Eurasia in twenty five 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.960 years out of nowhere and kill thirty five million people 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.280 out of nowhere. It would be like if if Polynesia 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.760 suddenly rose up and took over the America's in twenty 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.680 five years. They just assembled and said we're taken over. 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:25.480 And they were just so ferocious that America just didn't 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.080 even know what to do and was overrun by them. Yeah, 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.960 and their their rule was not long lasting for a 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.760 lot of the reasons that there's a lot of ironies, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:36.400 you know, a lot of the reasons that they were 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.040 able to spread so fast ended up being their undoing. 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:43.120 But um, this is all just set up fodder. Yeah, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.559 we haven't even gotten into it yet, so let's let's 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:50.360 let's do start, Okay, sure back in. Uh, people think 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.120 the best guess is probably I think eleven eighty five. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:58.560 I saw there was a kid named Timmy Jin eleven 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.680 sixty two. I'm sorry, and uh he was born uh 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:07.920 in a place called well along the Onon River near 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.400 La Batar, which is a great name, but that's the 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:15.160 capital of Mongolia. There's five a's in that's a lot. 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.559 And uh, this this kid, this Temujin, who would grow 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:24.000 up to be Genghas Khan was not genghaskm material from 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.600 the outset. No, he was Um. Well, he was a 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:32.560 middle brother, and apparently both younger and older brother outshone him. Yeah, 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.240 he was very much the jam Brady of his family. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.080 He was because apparently little brother was a much better 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:41.360 athletes and a better you know, arrow shooter or I 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.680 guess you would call them archers. Um, kind of better 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.239 at everything, and then his older brother picked on him. 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.440 Um he was not. He was illiterate. He wasn't like 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.400 formally schooled or super smart, right right, But I mean, 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.320 in his defense, neither were most of the people he 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:58.760 knew or lived on the steps. Yeah, it's not like 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:03.560 his two brothers like got their doctorates, their PhDs and 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:09.840 kicking butt. Uh that's true. Um, but he was there was. 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.120 I mean, reading I wish I knew more about this, 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.080 this whole era, because it sounds like it was just 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.840 a crazy time, especially over there, where people would be 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.320 like if I want something, I'm just gonna go take it. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:23.960 If I want that tribe gone, I'm gonna go kill them. 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.640 If I want those ladies and your children, I'm gonna 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.240 kidnap them. And that was just sort of how the 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.840 land was ruled. It was kind of not chaos, but 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:38.400 just brute force. Lawless. Yeah, pretty lawless. And you were 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.240 you were loyal to your tribe or your clan um 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.640 and your tribe or clan was nomadic and you live 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.760 by the horse and yeah you you There was a 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.319 lot of war between these tribes on the steps and 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.280 tiny wars like like like you said, kidnapping, like you 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.520 would kidnap your wife. That's how you got your wife, 0:10:57.559 --> 0:10:59.480 was you go kidnapper from another tribe and be like 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:04.160 you're my life. Now. That's how his mother came about, right, Yes, 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.160 that's how he came about. Was his father kidnapped his mother. 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:12.040 His father was the chief of his tribe. Um oh, 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:19.280 what's his father's name? And Yessugi kidnapped who lou who loon. Yeah, 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:20.600 there's a lot of m louts in there. I don't 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:25.319 know how the oom out represents Mongolian dialect, but we're 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.840 gonna do a German style. So her name is Hulon? 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:33.199 Is that pretty German mert crew? So she was kidnapped, 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.719 and this is the thing, Like I have no context 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.360 to put this in if this was a common thing, 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:44.280 was she like I'm being kidnapped, Okay, Like I guess 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.600 I'm eighteen now or something like this is just a 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:49.520 normal course of events for so it didn't impact her 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.360 or is that just a ridiculous thing to even think? 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:55.400 And like, yes, if you were kidnapped and take him 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.520 from your tribe and made to be some dude's wife unwillingly, 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.160 it doesn't matter where it happened or when it happened. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.000 It was a horrific experience. I think it was. I 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:06.640 mean I think it was that and just sort of 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.880 the way it was. Women were just had no recourse 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:15.439 or say in anything at the time. But like I 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:16.960 think I know what you're saying though, Like you know, 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:19.520 she had these children and they were a quote family, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:21.920 but what does you know, what does that mean in 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.560 that context? Yeah? Is it a family if mom's like 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:29.480 looking for an escape route? Right, the whole life? Right? Um? 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.640 Either way, it was not like people recording one another 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:37.400 back then. So, um, yes, Sugi right, that's what we 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.960 decided on. Yes, Uh, yes, Suggi was the chief, like 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.160 I said, of the clan of the tribe. Very powerful dude. 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.560 And he was poisoned. Actually, he died by poisoning when 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.760 Timudgin was nine, and that was bad news for Timidgen, 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.559 his mom and his two brothers. Yeah, they were just 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.960 sort of kicked out of this new tribe. And I'm 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:00.920 not sure why. I guess because he was the son 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:05.040 of of Yeah, they didn't want anybody being like, oh, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.640 by the way, I'm the rightful heir, I I should 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.760 really be the chief of this tribe. I'm very surprised 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.280 that they didn't just kill all of them, yeah, because 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.800 that's kind of the way he usually went. So, yeah, 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.720 they were kicked out. Uh. So he had a rough childhood. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.480 They were not They had a scavenge for food. Um, 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.239 I reckon it toughened him up a little bit. But um, 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:30.240 as our article points out that he uh, it kind 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:34.760 of gave him a will too, and probably picked him off. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.600 So he had anger and will, vengeance and vengeance all 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:41.960 rolled up into one, which says a lot about like 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:45.240 the man that he would become. I think, um so 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.360 he and his family make it so, not all of 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:54.000 his family. There's there's a story called the Secret History 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.680 of the Mongols, and it was written in about twelve forties, 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.640 so shortly after Genghis Khan's death. We don't know who 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.559 the author was, but that's the primary source for most 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.439 of the auto or the biography of Genghis Khan. They 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.320 know a lot, a lot because somebody sat down and 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:14.559 wrote this, and we'll see eventually why Um but them, 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.920 that's where we're getting all of this information, which is 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.600 also why if you listen to the history of Genghis Khan, 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.479 a lot of it sounds like a string of fables 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.880 and tales wrapped together. But historians tend to think that 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.480 there's some some kernel of truth or just outright truth 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.640 to most of it. Should we take a break, Yeah, 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:35.520 all right, We'll take a break and we'll talk about 0:14:35.640 --> 0:15:06.160 what young Timogen was like. All right, So we said 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.120 that he was a bit of a cry baby, got 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:14.040 picked on, wasn't very athletic or strong, but he had charm, 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.600 he had chutzpah, he had charisma and a little bit 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.400 of moxie and definitely you gotta throw in some moxie. 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.040 And apparently he was able, through his charisma too, to 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.680 talk people into helping him out, and that became sort 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.880 of a trait through his life. And they give a 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.960 couple of examples. Um, one time he was going after 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.960 a horse thief and he just ran upon a stranger 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.920 and kind of convinced the guide to not only give 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.440 him a horse, but to help him out. Yeah, he 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.880 really attracted people into his orbit from what I understand. Yeah, 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:51.520 he was like h like gil like Gilbert Godfrey. It's 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:53.240 funny because I knew I was trying to think of 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.200 someone legitimately, and I knew that you were headed down 0:15:56.240 --> 0:16:01.960 to different Uh what I There was another time that 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.840 he had a bride to be or maybe I think 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.840 he was married, I think, and she was kidnapped because 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.720 that's how it went. And so he went to the 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.720 leader of another tribe and said, hey, take this sable skin. 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:16.840 It was one of my wedding gifts. Yeah, he was 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.440 pretty impressed apparently because he helped him rescue the wife 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.200 and then pledged his allegiance to him as an ally 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.360 for life. He said, not only am I going to 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.120 help you get your wife, You're gonna go on to 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.400 do great things and I want to be there with you. 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:37.080 Love me so um. There's just tons of stories like that, 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:40.440 like early stories where like he was held prisoner by 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.920 he was kidnapped himself and escaped by beating the guy 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.520 watching him with the wooden caller that he had fastened 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.280 around his neck. There's just tons of stories like that. 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.080 If you put it together, you can kind of see 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:55.320 this guy develop over time, right, But eventually he probably 0:16:55.400 --> 0:17:00.160 hit the weights eventually, right. Yeah. As um, as he 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.680 grows up and develops, and more and more people kind 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.760 of come into his orbit and want to help him out, 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:09.560 he starts putting that that charisma and that vengeance too, 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:15.000 I guess productive use. And he he assembles like his 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.080 own tribe and other tribes. He starts alying with other tribes, 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.440 and the tribes that don't go along with it, he 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:25.440 slaughters in war um, and he would. He was known 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:29.440 for having like an eye for other talent, which would 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:34.639 aid him tremendously throughout his years as a conqueror. But 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.800 for example, if you were a good enemy soldier, and 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.440 he noted that in battle, there was a good chance 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:43.600 that you were gonna end up a field commander on 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.359 his side after the battle was over, and he beat 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.600 your your guys. And there's actually a story where his 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.960 horse was shot out from under him. And after his 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.640 his group won the battle, the Mongols won the battle. Um. 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.800 He wanted to know who shot that arrow and the 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:01.800 I on the other side stood up and said it 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.960 was me. And he said you your name is Jebe now, 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.080 which means arrow, and you're going to become a field 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:09.600 commander for me. And he went on to be one 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:10.959 of the best to you ever had. I think. I 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:15.720 was like, is he messing with me? Yeah? But that 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.000 was that was pretty par for the course with him. 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.040 And so through these actions he started assembling like an 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.919 army and became the leader of the steps. Yeah, and 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.639 people like you said, if they challenged him, they were squashed. 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.040 He um. He had a surrender or die policy, which 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.960 apparently if you literally did not fight, and you were 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.879 just like, okay, we're all yours. Apparently he was okay 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.080 to you. He wasn't known for torturing people. Um, I 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.879 don't know if he you know, I don't know. I 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.080 don't want to say he was kind to them, but 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.600 I think he kind of wanted his subjects to be 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.639 happy and productive. So if they didn't fight him, he 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.240 was like, all right, you're you're part of the big 0:18:56.280 --> 0:19:00.879 extended family. Come here, come here, you thank you for 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.639 your kingdom. Although he isn't khan at this point. Still. No, 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:09.399 that didn't take place until I believe twelve oh six. Yeah, 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.239 that's when they the Mongol tribes all got together. They 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:17.200 had a great assembly called cure Lie and they said, 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.800 you know what, you're the man, You're Genghis Khan. Now 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.520 we are all on your team because quite frankly, we're 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:29.199 scared of your where scared so scared. So he was like, hey, 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:33.240 that's fine. Yeah, So Genghis Khan. They think their khan 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:38.000 means ruler, indisputably Genghis. They're not acent sure what they 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.280 meant by it because it can mean ocean or just 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.239 so they think they were saying like supreme like the 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:47.760 leader all the way to the ocean. Sure, and then 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.280 then you run into t Triton. You don't want to 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:54.000 mess with him, right, But up to Triton's area, this 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.760 guy is the leader. So that's what they meant by 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:02.080 like ocean leader. He was an aqua man. No, So 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.119 they're unified now. And he said, I have to, like 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:08.080 I have to assemble a nation here. I've got all 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.200 these tribes. I want a unified people. Yeah. That was 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.680 a big move, it was, and it was a smart move. Um. 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.360 And all these old clans got together, people that were 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.359 enemies UM, joined forces. I don't know if they became 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:22.560 you know, best buds or anything. Well, one of the 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.080 things they did is they renounced these old rivalries. Yeah. 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.679 They they stopped warring with each other, they stopped robbing 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.480 one another. Um. And they started identifying not as these 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.960 individual clans but as Mongols. Yeah. And like strengthened numbers. 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:40.200 I think they realized this, this could benefit us all 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.600 if we're one big, powerful group. Right. But numbers is 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:48.040 relative though, man, Like from what I saw at its peak, 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:53.880 the army of Genghis Khan had about a hundred thousand men, Yeah, 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:58.240 which is peanuts. It is peanuts. So why were they 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:00.600 should we get into why they were sick cessible yet 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:06.320 or this? Yeah, so why were this successful? Well? Uh, 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.040 a few reasons. Probably the one of the biggest is 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.880 is these dudes could ride horses and shoot arrows like 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:22.280 nobody's business. They were incredible. Uh. They had an incredible cavalry. 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:24.720 He was one of the first that whoever wrote that 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.280 article you sent um that one historian he was great. 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:32.920 So he pointed out that he uh, he realized that 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:37.280 that the cavalry didn't need to be followed by an infantry, 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:40.439 which was a huge advantage. I guess in battle you 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:44.199 needed far fewer guys. Yeah, and just get everyone up 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.560 on a horse. Uh. They were incredible archers. They could 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:51.800 their accuracy was unmatched. They could fire an arrow apparently 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:57.760 like over three hundred yards accurately. Um. These horses were awesome. 0:21:58.080 --> 0:21:59.960 They were grass fed, they could live off the land, 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.000 and they had this armor that was really lightweight and flexible. 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:06.320 So you know, at the time they were fighting people 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:11.720 when much heavily armored apparel, so they they were they 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.680 could move around better. You know, on their horses. They 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.720 were firing arrows and they had these little short swords, 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:20.600 and they had this thing called a hooked lance, and 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:22.680 they're like, a lance is all right, it's it's cool, 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:25.199 I guess to poke someone off a horse, But what 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:27.879 if you can poke them or grab them? So they 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:30.000 added a hook to the lance, a very simple feature, 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:32.680 and it really changed things. It was like a modern 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:37.920 uh evolution and weaponry. So these are just a few 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:40.800 of the reasons. One of uh. One of the others 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:45.719 is tactics and strategy. Uh. He would scout out before 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:49.679 battles for weeks. Sometimes he wouldn't just go as like 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.360 as brutish as they were. They would spend a lot 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.960 of time doing research and spying and really kind of 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:58.439 figuring out a game plan, like like if they were 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:00.440 going to sack a city, like they you where the 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:05.400 trade lte or the supply lines were, escape routes, um, 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:07.720 you know all that kind of stuff, all the stuff 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:10.280 you need to notice sack a city one of the 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:16.880 other things. So so part one I saw it called 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:23.439 the quantum leap in military strategy and technology. Okay, that 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:26.159 was the first thing. The other thing is something you 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.400 touched on earlier there, surrender or die policy. Right, so 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:35.679 their military prowess combined with their tactics and the their 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:39.960 policy of if you don't just say yes, that's fine, 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:44.119 we don't want to fight, we're gonna kill everybody, just 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:47.120 about everybody. And they were actually pretty smart about it too. 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.280 They'd find like the skilled craftsmen in some cities and 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.320 we're gonna spare your life because you're now a Mongol. 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:56.679 You gotta move to Mongolia, by the way. Um. But 0:23:56.760 --> 0:24:00.880 they would just kill so many people that a lot 0:24:00.920 --> 0:24:03.000 of historians have tried to figure out why were they 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:06.520 so ferocious, and they've actually been a number of theories 0:24:06.520 --> 0:24:09.640 that have been put up. One is so apparently so 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:13.480 Genghis Khan was a he was into shamanism. That was 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:17.399 his religion. But he was like fervently religious about shamanism. 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:19.720 And there was like a great god of the sky 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:26.520 who um I think is analogous to Vishnu maybe in Hinduism. 0:24:26.560 --> 0:24:31.479 And this this god supposedly gave him a vision that 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:35.160