WEBVTT - Selects: Genghis Khan: Madman or Genius? 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:03.400 Hey, everybody, it's me Joshum. For this week's select, I've 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:07.160 chosen our really great episode on Genghis Khan from back 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.400 in June of twenty eighteen. He's maybe one of the 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:14.200 more misunderstood characters in all of history. He's certainly one 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.040 of the most significant. I mean, how many individuals can 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:20.400 you trace a portion of the global population to? Not many, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:27.520 I can assure you anyway. I hope you like this episode. Enjoy. 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:35.240 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.559 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:48.280 sitting across from me, it's Charles w. Chuckis Chinkis Bryant. 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:53.320 And sitting to your right is ghost producer Casper Nobody. 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:56.560 It was Ramsey, guest producer Ramsey. We've got like all 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:58.960 these new guest producers coming on, hot and heavy. 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:03.640 Jerry, she had to leave today and I think everyone's busy, 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:05.920 and so someone came in. 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.840 There's also a distinct lack of interest I picked up on. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.240 Boy, remember the days when people used to jump at 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:12.119 a chance to sit in here. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.639 Oh yeah, Now they're like I've got to mail something. 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:16.920 I know. It used to be like, oh, my gosh, 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:18.760 Jerry's gone, let me do it, let me do it. 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.959 Then they grew up, Yeah, and then they grew up 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:26.520 in Now we have our little uh dunking bird to 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.959 peck the key, Yeah, the r record button. 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:32.960 Just going back and forth thinking about where its life 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:37.960 went wrong. Just us, just Us, Chuck and a guy 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:44.039 named ginghis Dingus Cohn, Do you pronounce it Dingis or 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:45.839 ginghis or Chingis? 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:47.360 Are you being serious? 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.880 I know it's not Dingus, but I've also seen it 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:55.880 spelled in a way that would suggest you pronounced it Chingus. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.720 Oh really, I think I have heard that, But we're. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:02.280 Going to go with the unerual Genghis pronunciation. 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.200 Okay, right, although his uh what was his birth name? 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:10.880 Timujin h doesn't even Ging's kind isn't even his real name, everybody, 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:14.440 so calm down. It's temujin or temujin. 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:16.799 Man. Did you see that statue? 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:19.160 I've seen it before. Yes, it's enormous. 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:20.040 Have you seen in person? 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.840 No, I've not yet been to Mongolia. 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.040 It's something else, man, Well one day though. 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.120 Yeah, I know it's it's the world's biggest equestrian statue, 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.000 and with good reason. It's like forty meters or one 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.480 hundred and thirty feet tall. Yeah, that's an enormous statue. 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:36.880 It's pretty impressive whether whether you're on a horse or not. 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.520 That's a big old statue, right, sure, I almost didn't 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.799 say old. And I think it's made of like two 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.120 hundred and fifty tons of stainless steel, which means it 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:47.799 rinses clean really well. 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.760 And it looks like I saw the wide shot, it 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.680 doesn't look like one of those. It's you know, surrounded 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:55.640 by burger kings. 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:57.799 Oh good, looks like. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.040 There's a lot of land around it. 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.800 Well, Mongolia has a lot of land, a lot of 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:03.560 undeveloped plan from what I understand. 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.960 Yeah, this was an interesting one because depending on what 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.960 kind of historian you are, he is a either a 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:17.760 revered mastermind or scorned butcher. 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:22.600 Butcher, yeah, I know, he's actually I think both well 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.720 of course. But yeah, there are definite camps for sure, 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.320 Like like a lot of people i've seen him called 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:34.240 the pro ginghist camp, the pro g Yeah, yeah, that 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.520 they're they're all about like all the cultural transmission that 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.680 happened under his his rule, yeah, or all of the 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.880 all the new innovative laws or religious religious tolerance was 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.880 another one. Yeah, and yes, you like all that stuff happened. 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.680 It's not in dispute, Like there are a lot of 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.960 things that we'll talk about that were really positive. But 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:02.920 he's also directly response for the deaths of about thirty 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.440 five million people the antig over a twenty five million, 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:12.240 twenty five year period. That's a ridiculous amount of death 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:16.040 of people who had Genghis Khan not been born and 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:21.640 you know, decided to lead a conquest, would probably otherwise 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.919 not have died violently. That's a big mark in his 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.200 favor or against him. Well, my morality just switched off 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:29.960 there for a second. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.760 So you got the pro G, the anti G, and 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:34.839 the ally G. Right, it's the third camp. 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:41.880 Yeah I missed that. Oh it's good stuff, it is. 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.840 But they tried to bring it back, remember, and it 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:45.360 was like, oh. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.960 Really, was there a part two two point zero? 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.719 That's that's the problem. They didn't do new stuff. It 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.400 was just him introducing old stuff, and it was like, 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.000 we want more new stuff. We've all seen this old 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.039 stuff a bunch. It was like for a month on FX. 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.760 But they shot new hosting segments. 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.400 Yes, that were like fifteen seconds long. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.960 So basically they said, Hey, Sasha Barrit Cohen, how'd you 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:10.520 like to make another x amount of dollars by showing 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:11.200 up for a day. 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.120 How would you like to do the ALIG version of 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:15.400 sysk selects. 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.720 Ooh, yeah, all right, I'm not gonna examine that one 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:21.279 too closely. 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.120 All right, so we're talking about Alig, I mean Genghis Khan. 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:29.279 Right, yeah, and just some large statistics right off the 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:35.040 bat as far as his his influence, well, not his influence, 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.360 but his rule in sheer numbers. 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:39.720 Yeah, this is the reason we're still talking about him, 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:41.560 not just because he killed so many people. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.440 Yeah, agreed. By the time, you know, of course, everyone 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:50.000 knows he was a great conqueror who just kept branching 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.720 out further and further. And this is how far he reached. Eventually, 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.719 in modern day terms, he would reach Austria. 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.359 Austria, he banged on the door of Austria. Yeah, his 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:00.880 son did. 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:02.520 Just get out a world map and look at where 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:09.960 Mongolia is, So Austria, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Vietnam, Burma, Japan, 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:15.599 and Indonesia twelve million contiguous square miles, which is the 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:22.240 size of Africa. Again, amazing Yeah. And then to put 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.400 that in context, you know, the great Roman Empire that 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.200 was about half the size of the United States. 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:31.000 Yeah, the Roman Empire was half the size of the 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:31.599 United States. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:32.080 Yeah. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:34.880 It took them four hundred years to amass that. Yeah, 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.080 in twenty five years, Genghis Khan had an empire the 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:39.160 size of Africa. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.440 Yeah. And then at the time, the population in the 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.960 world was about seven billion people and the Mongolian Empire 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:50.080 was about three billion of that. So it's just astounding. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.559 It is astounding. And to put it in like true 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:56.840 cultural or true historic context at the time and say, 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.880 like the early early thirteenth century, the mongol were the Mongols, 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.400 a bunch of nomadic tribes, tribes on the steps of Mongolia. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:10.160 China was a well established and fairly advanced patchwork of dynasties. 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.000 You had like Europe growing in the they were in 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.400 the Middle Ages, but they were like the Renaissance is 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:20.840 coming not too long. You had the Native Americans over 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.800 in America doing their thing, Africa doing their thing. So 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:25.680 there's all these different things going on in the world, 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.480 and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:33.440 tiny little bunch of people who aren't even in agriculture, 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:40.680 take over Eurasia in twenty five years out of nowhere 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.280 and kill thirty five million people out of nowhere. It'd 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:48.720 be like if Polynesia suddenly rose up and took over 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.240 the Americas in twenty five years. They just assembled and 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.920 said we're taken over, and they were just so ferocious 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.000 that America just didn't even know what to do and 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:00.240 was overrun by them. 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:04.320 Yeah, and there their rule was not long lasting for 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.480 a lot of the reasons that there's a lot of ironies, 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:09.080 you know, a lot of the reasons that they were 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.720 able to spread so fast ended up being their undoing. 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.320 But this is all just set up fodder. 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.840 Yeah, we haven't even gotten into it yet, So let's 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.680 let's let's do start, Okay, sure back in uh people 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.800 think the best guess is probably I think eleven eighty five. 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:31.800 I saw there was a kid named Temujin eleven sixty two, 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:37.120 I'm sorry, and he was born in a place called 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.920 well along the Onon River near Ulla Batar, which is 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.119 a great name, but that's the capital of Mongolia. 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.040 There's five a's in that. That's a lot of a 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:49.480 that's a lot of a's. 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.440 And this this kid this Temujin who would grow up 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.720 to be ginghis Khan was not Genghis khm material from 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:57.320 the outset. 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.480 No, he was. Well, he was a middle brother, and 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.640 apparently both younger and older brother out shown him. 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.920 Yeah, he was very much the jam Brady of his family. 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.760 He was because apparently little brother was a much better 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:14.000 athlete and a better you know, arrow shooter or I 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.880 guess you would call them archers, kind of better at everything, 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.000 and then his older brother picked on him. He was not. 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:25.200 He was illiterate. He wasn't like formally schooled or super smart. 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.120 Right right, But I mean, in his defense, neither were 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.360 most of the people he knew or sure lived on 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:30.840 the steps. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.520 Yeah, it's not like his two brothers like got their doctorates. 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.199 Their PhDs and kicking butt. 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:43.200 Well that's true, but he was there. I mean, reading 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:45.560 I wish I knew more about this, this whole era, 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:49.520 because it sounds like it was just a crazy time, 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.280 especially over there, where people would be like, if I 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.719 want something, I'm just gonna go take it. Yeah. If 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:56.600 I want that tribe gone, I'm gonna go kill them. 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.160 If I want those ladies and her children, I'm going 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.839 to kidnap them, and that was just sort of how 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.280 the land was ruled. Yeah, it was kind of not chaos, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.040 but just brute force. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:08.360 Lawless. 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:09.920 Yeah, pretty lawless. 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.640 And you were you were loyal to your tribe or 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:17.480 your clan, and your tribe or clan was nomadic and 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.199 you live by the horse, and yeah, you you There 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:26.520 was a lot of war between these tribes on the steps, 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.120 like like you said, kidnapping, like you would kidnap your wife. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.160 That's how you got your wife? Was you go kidnapper 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:32.920 from another tribe and be like you're my wife. 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.720 Now that's how his mother came about, right. 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.480 Yes, that's how he came about. Well, his father kidnapped 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:44.240 his mother. His father was the chief of his tribe. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.559 Oh what's his father's name? Ya Sugi nice? And Yesugi 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.560 kidnapped hou Hulun. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:53.280 Yeah, there's a lot of umlauts in there. I don't 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.720 know how the umlaut represents Mongolian dialect. 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.600 Well, we're going to do a German style. So her 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:00.560 name is Loon. 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.120 Is that pretty German merty crue? 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.320 So she was kidnapped and this is the thing, like 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.960 I have no context to put this in. If this 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:15.400 was a common thing, was she like, I'm being kidnapped, Okay, 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:18.880 Like I guess I'm eighteen now or something like. This 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.040 is just a normal course of events for so it 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.520 didn't impact her, I don't know, or is that just 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.000 a ridiculous thing to even think? And like, yes, if 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.080 you were kidnapped and taken from your tribe and made 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.320 to be some dude's wife unwillingly, it doesn't matter where 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.600 it happened or when it happened. It was a horrific experience. 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.480 I think it was. I mean, I think it was 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.400 that and just sort of the way it was. Women 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:45.360 were just had no recourse or say in anything at 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:45.760 the time. 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:46.480 So it was both. 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.200 But like I think I know what you're saying though, 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.360 Like you know, she had these children and they were 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:54.120 a quote family, but what does you know, what does 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:55.440 that mean in that context? 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:57.840 Yeah? Is it a family if mom's like looking for 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.920 an escape route, right the whole life? 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.840 Right? Yeah, either way, it was not like people recording 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:05.880 one another back then. 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:11.959 Right, So yes, Sugi right, that's what we decided on. Yes, Yes, 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.200 Sugi was the chief, like I said, of the clan 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.319 of the tribe, very powerful dude, and he was poison 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:23.640 Actually he died by poisoning when Temujin was nine, and 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.679 that was bad news for Timogen, his mom and his 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:27.440 two brothers. 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:29.640 Yeah, they were just sort of kicked out of this 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.640 new tribe. And I'm not sure why. I guess because 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:33.880 he was the son. 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.920 Of Yeah, they didn't want anybody being like, oh, by 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.640 the way, I'm the rightful heir, right, I should really 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.560 be the chief of this tribe. I'm very surprised that 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:44.880 they didn't just kill all of. 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.120 Them, yeah, because that's kind of the way it usually went. 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:47.840 Yeah. 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.480 So, yeah, they were kicked out, So he had a 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.000 rough childhood. They were not They had to scavenge for food. 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:58.040 I reckon it toughened him up a little bit, but 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:03.480 as our article points out, that it kind of gave 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:08.720 him a will to and probably ticked him off. So 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.600 he had anger and will, vengeance and vengeance all rolled 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:14.800 up into one, which says a lot about like the 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:16.000 man that he would become. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:20.760 I think for sure. So he and his family make 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.120 it so, not all of his family. There's a story 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.600 called the Secret History of the Mongols, and it was 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.280 written in about twelve forty, so, shortly after Genghis Khan's death. 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.760 We don't know who the author was, but that's the 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.960 primary source for most of the auto or the biography 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.040 of Genghis Khan. They know a lot, a lot because 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.160 somebody sat down and wrote this. We'll see eventually why, 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:50.520 but that's where we're getting all of this information, which 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.679 is also why if you listen to the history of 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.360 Genghis Khan, a lot of it sounds like a string 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:59.200 of fables and tails wrapped, for sure, but historians tend 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.320 to think that there's some some kernel of truth or 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.000 just outright truth to most of it. 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.120 Should we take a break, Yeah, all right, we'll take 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:11.360 a break and we'll talk about what young Timojin was like. 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.520 All right, So we said that he was a bit 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.560 of a cry baby, got picked on, wasn't very athletic 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:48.280 or strong, but he had charm, he had chutzpah, he 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:49.640 had charisma. 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.560 And a little bit of moxie. 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.080 And definitely you gotta throw in some moxie. And apparently 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.680 he was able through his charisma to talk people into 0:14:57.720 --> 0:14:59.800 helping him out, and that became sort of a trade 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.600 through his life. And they give a couple of examples. 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.240 One time he was going after a horse thief and 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.520 he just ran upon a stranger and kind of convinced 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.360 the guide to not only give him a horse, but 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:12.160 to help him out. 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.440 Yeah, he really attracted people into his orbit from what 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:23.080 I understand. Yeah, he was like like Gilbert Godfrey. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:25.800 It's funny because I knew I was trying to think 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.680 of someone legitimately, and I knew that you were headed 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:34.600 down a different what else. There was another time that 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.560 he had a bride to be or maybe I think 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.840 he was married and she was kidnapped, because that's how 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.760 it went, And so he went to the leader of 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.600 another tribe and said, hey, take this sable skin. It 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.840 was one of my wedding gifts. Yeah, he was pretty 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.200 impressed apparently because he helped him rescue the wife and 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.280 then pledged his allegiance to him as an ally for life. 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.320 Yes, he said, not only am I going to help 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.840 you get your wife, You're going to go on to 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.080 do great things and I want to be there with you. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:09.760 Love me. So there's just tons of stories like that, 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.080 like early stories where like he was held prisoner by 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.640 he was kidnapped himself and escape by beating the guy 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.160 watching him with a wooden collar that he had fastened 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.920 around his neck. There's just tons of stories like that. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:23.800 If you put it together, you can kind of see 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.640 this guy develop over time, right, sure, but eventually you 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:34.320 probably right, yeahs. As he grows up and develops, and 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.400 more and more people kind of come into his orbit 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:38.760 and want to help him out, he starts putting that 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:44.960 that charisma and that vengeance to I guess productive use, 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:49.120 and he assembles like his own tribe and other tribes. 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.800 He starts align with other tribes, and the tribes that 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:56.240 don't go along with it, he slaughters in war, and 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.800 he would he was known for having like an eye 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:04.159 for other talent, which would aid him tremendously throughout his 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.920 years as a conqueror. But for example, if you were 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.760 a good enemy soldier, and he noted that in battle, 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:14.720 there was a good chance that you were going to 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.800 end up a field commander on his side. After the 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.359 battle was over and he beat your your guys. And 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.160 there's actually a story where his horse was shot out 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.959 from under him, and after his group won the battle, 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:30.560 the Mongols won the battle, he wanted to know who 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.600 shot that arrow, and the guy on the other side 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.359 stood up and said it was me. And he said, 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:39.359 you your name is Jebbe now, which means arrow, and 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.480 you're going to become a field commander for me. And 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:42.800 he went on to be one of the best he 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:43.280 ever had. 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.800 I think I was like, is he messing with me? 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.680 Yeah, but that was pretty par for the course with him. 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.720 And so through these actions he started assembling like an 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.640 army and became the leader of the steps. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.399 Yeah, and people like you said, if they challenged him, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.360 they were squad. He had a surrender or die policy, 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:08.439 which apparently if you literally did not fight and you 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:12.159 were just like, okay, we're all yours, apparently he was 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.720 okay to you. He wasn't known for torturing people. I 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.560 don't know if he you know, I don't know. I 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:21.639 don't want to say he was kind to them, but 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.320 I think he kind of wanted his subjects to be 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.240 happy and productive. So if they didn't fight him, he 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:28.960 was like, all right, you're you're part of the big 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:30.639 extended Khan family. 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.280 Come here, come here, you thank you for your kingdom. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.879 Although he isn't con at this point. Still. 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.159 No, that didn't take place until I believe twelve six. 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.679 Yeah, that's when they the Mongol tribes all got together. 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:49.920 They had a great assembly called Kurilai, and they said, 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.520 you know what, you're the man, You're Genghis Khan. Now 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.199 we are all on your team because quite frankly, we're 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:57.720 scared of you. 0:18:58.000 --> 0:18:58.160 Right. 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:02.440 So he was like, hey, that's fine. 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:07.320 Yeah, so ginghis khan. They think the khan means ruler. Yeah, 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.679 indisputably Genghis. They're not one hundred percent sure what they 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.000 meant by it, because it can mean ocean or just 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.879 so they think. They were saying, like supreme, like the 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.480 leader all the way to the ocean, sure, and then 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.960 then you run into to Triton. You don't want to 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.679 mess with him, right, but up to Triton's area, this 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.439 guy is the leader. So that's what they meant by 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:30.600 like ocean leader. 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:37.159 He wasn't Aquaman. No, So they're unified now, and he 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:39.720 said I have to, like, I have to assemble a 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.399 nation here. I've got all these tribes. I want a 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:43.680 unified people. Yeah. 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:44.600 That was a big move. 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.679 It was, and it was a smart move. And all 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:52.159 these old clans got together, people that were enemies joined forces. 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:53.960 I don't know if they became you know, best buds 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:54.439 or anything. 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:56.800 Well, one of the things they did is they renounced 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:58.159 these old rivalries. 0:19:58.320 --> 0:19:58.720 Yeah. 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.359 They they stopped warring with each other, they stopped robbing 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.160 one another. Yeah, and they started identifying not as these 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:08.080 individual clans but as Mongols. 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:11.800 Yeah, and like strengthen numbers. I think they realized this 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.320 could benefit us, all right, if we're one big, powerful group. 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:19.040 Right, But numbers is relative though, man like Sure, from 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.120 what I saw at its peak, the army of Genghis 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.920 Khan had about one hundred thousand men. 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:27.480 Yeah, which is peanuts. 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.359 It is pea nuts. So why were they Should we 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.320 get into why they were successful yet or this? Yeah, okay, 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:36.320 why were they successful? 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:42.760 Well? A few reasons. Probably one of the biggest is 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:48.560 is these dudes could ride horses and shoot arrows like 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:55.040 nobody's business. Yeah, they were incredible. They had an incredible cavalry. 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:57.359 He was one of the first that whoever wrote that 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.960 article you sent that one historian he was great. 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:01.600 Yeah. 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:06.159 So he pointed out that he he realized that that 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.439 the cavalry didn't need to be followed by an infantry, 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:11.960 which was a huge advantage. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.800 I guess in battle you needed far fewer guys. 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:17.399 Yeah, and just get everyone up on a horse. 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:17.680 Yep. 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.240 They were incredible archers. They could their accuracy was unmatched. 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.600 They could fire an arrow apparently like over three hundred 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:31.640 yards accurately. These horses were awesome. They were grass fed, 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.000 they could live off the land. They had this armor 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.000 that was really lightweight and flexible. So you know, at 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:41.960 the time they were fighting people and much heavily armored apparel. 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:46.359 So they they were they could move around better, you know, 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:48.720 on their horses. They were firing arrows, and they had 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:51.880 these little short swords, and they had this thing called 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.520