- When I think of Genghis Khan,
I think of the biggest
conquer in history,
like just took over everything.
- Mainly m*rder comes to mind
when I think of Genghis Khan.
- I think most of us
are related to him.
- He really did
numbers, you know?
He has a lot of kids.
(numbers rattling)
- There are a lot of
conflicting stories
about Chinggis Khan.
- He is depicted, especially
in Western media, as a villain.
(warriors shouting)
- Or that Chinggis Khan
was so busy having sex
that he practically
did nothing else.
- He did things that many
people would consider horrific.
(people screaming)
- The extreme numbers
of mass m*rder
and reprisal was sensational.
- And on the other
hand, he did many things
that make him a hero.
- [Narrator] In only 25 years,
he rises from nobody to emperor.
He and his Mongol Army
of less than 300,000 men
conquer a massive empire,
the likes of which the
world has never seen.
- And so the myth becomes
greater than the man.
The sun sets on him at an angle,
and he casts a
long, long shadow.
- [Narrator] So who was the
Genghis Khan of 800 years ago?
And what do the numbers reveal
about his breathtaking
achievements?
This is the story of one
really tough childhood,
the power of the number
10 to conquer the world,
40 million deaths,
and a lot of people today
who could carry his DNA.
(dramatic music)
(reporter speaking indistinctly)
(numbers rattling)
(dramatic music)
Genghis Khan's gotten
a pretty bad rap
over the past 800 years, but
maybe we're all just jealous
because at its height,
his Mongol Empire
was the greatest united
land empire ever seen.
Stretching from the Pacific
to the Mediterranean,
it covered 12
million square miles,
about one fifth of the
planet's entire land mass.
That's six times the size
of both the Roman Empire
and that of Alexander
are the Great.
- If we're ranking
empires by size,
Genghis Khan is the
greatest conqueror ever.
- [Narrator] And yet the
English speaking world
can't even get his name right.
- The most commonly used
name for him is Genghis Khan.
That is actually a European
misreading of his name.
Technically we should be
calling him Chinggis Khan.
- Ching meaning as something
truthful and powerful and real.
- [Narrator] Khan being the
central Asian equivalent
to king or emperor,
and ironically, we can't seem
to get his name straight,
even though there are 16
million reasons to do so.
In 2003, a study made
headlines when it claimed
that more than 16 million
men in the world today
may carry the Y chromosome
linked to Chinggis Khan.
That means that Chinggis
could be the distant father
of at least one in every
200 men alive today.
- That story just exploded and
infiltrated popular culture.
- But we can't be certain
because we don't have
his DNA precisely.
- The idea that so many
people are descended
from him, maybe.
- We do know that he
had a lot of wives.
- The Mongols were a
polygamous culture.
It was normal for a Mongol
to have multiple wives,
and Genghis Khan was
certainly no exception.
- On top of it, he
had so many conquests
that he would
typically take a wife
from each tribe
that he conquered.
These were quite
literally trophy wives,
little different meaning
from what we have today.
- But that wasn't
enough for him.
He also had many,
many concubines.
- [Narrator] In total, it
is thought that Genghis Khan
had at least six official wives,
as well as over 500 concubines.
(dramatic music)
But until we have more evidence,
his genetic imprint
falls somewhere
between myth and reality.
- That's just a
part of his legacy,
and there are many other aspects
that needs to be looked at.
- [Narrator] Like how in
the world a powerless nobody
grew into one of the most
fearsome conquerors of all time?
The answer, one omen, two
murders, and one kidnapping.
(numbers rattling)
(dramatic music)
Chinggis' story
starts in Mongolia,
a country now wedged between
modern-day Russia and China.
Over 600,000 square miles,
it is the world's second-biggest
landlocked country,
and the most sparsely populated,
with a density of five
people per square mile.
Not much grows in this
harsh environment,
so the medieval Mongols must
be constantly on the move.
- Nomadic families
who have to move
at least four times a
year, changing pastures
in order to feed the animals.
- [Narrator] Even today,
over 25% of Mongolians
still follow a
nomadic way of life.
- I don't think I would do
well moving in the seasons.
I'm very lazy.
- I don't like moving
because it involves packing,
and also the moving part.
- I don't know if you can tell,
I don't have the most
muscles in the world,
so finding someone
to carry my bed frame
is usually my biggest obstacle.
- If I was moving around
just to chase summer
everywhere was going,
I could totally do that.
I'm not moving anywhere
for the winter.
Like, I'm not doing that.
(clock ticking)
(suspenseful music)
- [Narrator]
Mongolia is his home,
but what do we know
of Chinggis himself?
There are clues hidden
in the 12 chapters
of "The Secret History
of the Mongols,"
a 13th-century chronicle
of Chinggis' life,
and where better to
start than chapter one?
(gentle music)
The story begins in 1162 AD,
when a baby boy is born on
the banks of the Onon river.
As the baby's mother coos
over her new bundle of joy,
she notices something odd.
(horn blaring)
In his tiny fist, he clutches
a knuckle-sized clot of blood,
an omen, but of what exactly?
- In Asian folkloric
or mythic ways,
this is an indication
of future greatness.
- But it can also be interpreted
as Chinggis being someone
who is going to be a
blood-thirsty conqueror,
so it depends on who
is telling the story.
- [Narrator] A lot is
riding on this one omen.
Will he turn out
to be one great guy
or one mass m*rder*r with 40
million deaths to his name?
He's a long way from
being Chinggis Khan,
so his father calls
his baby Temujin,
after the chief of a rival
tribe he's recently captured.
- And by naming him Temujin,
basically the ideas
you're you're taking
some of that power.
- [Narrator] The
chief is then m*rder*d
to ensure the
transfer to the baby.
(tense music)
So far, we've got one
omen, and one m*rder,
but m*rder number two
won't be far behind.
(numbers rattling)
(suspenseful music)
Temujin learns early on
that he must be as merciless
as the steppe,
an empty and endless plateau
spanning Central Asia,
if he hopes to survive.
(dramatic music)
When Temujin is nine years
old, his father dies,
leaving behind two widows
and seven children.
- The family now had no
status and were cast out,
and were living off scraps.
- By Mongolian standards,
this is abject poverty.
- [Narrator] Five years
after his father's death,
Temujin decides to act.
- The story goes, they
were out scavenging,
and Genghis Khan
had caught a fish,
and this half
brother who was older
snatched the fish from
him, so Genghis Khan,
or Temujin, as he was called
then, stalked after him.
- [Narrator] Behter,
his older half brother,
who is sitting on a grassy knoll
guarding the family's nine
horses, sees Temujin coming.
Temujin pulls back his arrow,
his arms shaking with tension,
and releases the string.
(Behter screams)
The arrow pierces Behter's body.
It's m*rder number
two on Temujin's path
to world domination.
- And it pretty much
set the standard
for the rest of his life.
Don't cross him.
- What in the King Lear
is happening right now?
- My family has never
experienced fratricide, per se,
but there was one time when my
brother and I were fighting,
and I threw a boot at him,
and then he was jumping
on a bed and he fell off,
and we had to go
to the hospital,
and we learned our
lessons that night, so.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] k*lling on his
own makes Temujin a m*rder*r,
but k*lling with an army
will make him a hero,
and it will take one kidnapping,
and 40,000 warriors
for him to come to this
dangerous conclusion.
(numbers rattling)
(clock ticking)
- Back during the 12th century,
different Mongolian tribes
were fighting with each other.
- The whole Mongolian
nomad steppe culture
was rival clans and tribes
all raiding each other,
all murdering each other,
constant petty skirmishing.
- [Narrator] And the
Mongols are but one
of the region's
five biggest tribes
fighting for power and wealth.
- At this time, we see an
eye-for-an-eye type of justice.
- [Narrator] Or in some
cases, a heart for a heart.
(man screaming)
Early one morning, 17-year-old
Temujin lays in bed
with his new wife, Borte.
Suddenly, they hear the
Earth-shattering sound
of 1,200 horses.
It's a surprise attack from
the rival Merkit tribe.
- Temujin and his companions
hit on horses and right away,
(warriors yelling)
and so everyone's safe
except for one little thing,
they left Borte behind.
- [Narrator] The Merkit
find her and kidnap her.
Temujin escapes with his life,
but his heart is torn in two.
(dramatic music)
Temujin recruits Jamukha,
his childhood best friend,
to help him get her back.
(dramatic music)
Together they gather an
army of 40,000 horsemen,
and by the light
of the full moon,
Temujin and Jamukha
charge on the Merkit camp.
(man screaming)
(people screaming)
Temujin searches for his wife,
calling out, "Borte, Borte!"
She hears his call.
- And basically
we have this scene
that you might have in a movie
where you have the moonlight
and they join together
in an embrace.
- And it's often described
as like this love story.
He's doing it out of intense,
romantic love for her.
- [Narrator] Temujin
will make the Merkit pay
for taking his first love.
Over the next few years,
he will hunt them down
and wipe their name off the map.
- Going after Borte and
showing that he had the ability
to draw warriors to his side,
and exact great revenge,
and get what he was going after
is going to be something he
points to over and over again
as part of the justification
for his rise to power.
- [Narrator] Temujin
has tasted conquest,
tasted vengeance,
tasted victory.
He's ready to become
Chinggis Khan,
and make himself an empire,
but it will take a four-letter
word to make it happen.
(numbers rattling)
(dramatic music)
News of the Merkit defeat
spreads across the steppe.
Temujin gathers more followers,
and over the next two decades,
he conquers the region's
tribes one by one.
(warriors yelling)
By 1206, Temujin has united
major tribes of the steppe.
He now controls a territory
the size of Western Europe.
- [Timothy] He's united
the tribes of Mongolia
into, what he will call,
the Yeke Mongol Ulus,
or Great Mongol Nation.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Not only does
the country get a new title,
Temujin himself finally take
on the name of Chinggis Khan.
- Anytime a ruler gets
one of these titles,
and not simply
having Khan attached
to his name, is symbolic.
- So it's like as if he
is getting born socially
and politically in a new
format to rule all the Mongols.
- Ooh, I've always
wanted to pick my name.
- Maybe like Jeff the
Don't-Even-Try-It.
Like, you can't
win, really long,
a sentence like,
Jeff-Don't-Even-Try-That.
Like, he can't be beaten,
even if you're pretty smart,
don't even go for it.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Chinggis needs
to keep his new subjects happy
if he wants to keep them united.
So how many letters does
it take to spell happiness?
For Chinggis, the answer
is just four, L-O-O-T.
- There's no paycheck
for the nomadic warriors.
Basically, their income comes
from not only their livestock,
but also the loot
that they gather.
- [Narrator] In their first
team-building exercise,
Chinggis takes his men south
to conquer the
kingdom of Xi Xia.
After Xi Xia's defeated in 1209,
Chinggis sets his sights
on the Northern
Chinese Jin dynasty.
- Well, he knows, eventually,
the Jin will try
to overthrow him.
Why? He's become too powerful.
- [Narrator] Over
the next four years,
the Mongols unleash hell
on the Chinese countryside,
forcing 1 million peasants
to pour into the
cities as refugees.
- The best thing the
Jin can really do
is hide behind their walls
because every time
they send out an army,
the Mongols seem to win.
- [Narrator] By 1214,
the Mongols make it
to the Jin capital of Zhongdu,
now modern-day Beijing.
The city is heavily fortified.
One 30-mile section is
enclosed by walls 40-feet high,
900 battle towers,
and three moats.
(dramatic music)
After months of bombardment,
Zhongdu finally falls.
For one month, the
Mongols sack the capital.
They k*ll so many
people that it's said
that the streets are
slippery with human fat.
- Chinggis gets
10% of the spoils,
but he'll distribute
the rest to his people,
ensuring that even widows
and orphans receive a cut.
The more Chinggis gives his
subjects, the more they crave,
and he'll be happy to oblige
since he can count on the
force of 13, his lucky number.
(mechanisms whirring)
(dramatic music)
So we know why Chinggis
begins his Mongol conquest,
but how did he do it?
With a big boost of horsepower.
(engine whirring)
- The early Mongol
Empire was created
on the back of a horse,
and could not have
been done otherwise.
- [Narrator] The Mongol horse
gives Chinggis'
army a helping hand,
actually, 13 hands,
or four feet.
That's the average height
of the Mongol's breed,
the same size as a pony.
- It's like the bunny
hill of horses. (laughs)
- Ah, that's probably
why they're successful.
They think, "Oh, we
can take these guys.
They're on these
tiny little ponies,"
and then they get taken out
'cause ponies are vicious.
- Listen, it's not
the size of the horse,
it's how you use it.
- [Narrator] What these
horses lack in size,
they make up for in stamina.
Unlike many of its counterparts,
the Mongol horse
has a fifth gait,
also known as an amble.
- The amble is an action
that's quite natural in horses.
We've bread it out
of most of them.
Both legs on one side move,
followed by both
legs on the other.
It's called a lateral gait,
so it kind of has this action.
- [Narrator] The horse
can sustain this gait
for long stretches,
maintaining speeds between
10 to 15 miles per hour,
traveling up to 600
miles in nine days,
while also conserving
the energy of its rider.
- A rider is less fatigued,
far less fatigued.
All you have is a very gentle
sideway swaying motion.
There's no bouncing up and down,
you're not using the
muscles of your legs.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] And each
Mongol warrior will travel
with a string of at least
three additional horses,
so they will never
have to stop riding.
- You'd sleep in the saddle.
(rider snoring)
You'd change horses
every hour or so.
You wouldn't waste time
getting onto the ground
and getting up again.
- [Narrator] The rider
wouldn't even have to stop
to make dinner.
- They would take
slices of raw meat
and put it under their
saddles in the morning,
and the heat and sweat
and friction of riding
would cook the meat
and they would have their
dinner waiting for them
at the end of the day.
I'm not sure how delicious
saddle-sweat meat is,
but it is a creative
way to cook something.
- [Narrator] But the Mongol
will also need some firepower
to become the inter-ballistic
m*ssile of the medieval era.
- We call them composite bows
because they're made
of a composition of
several materials,
not like a wooden bow
that's just made with a
single material of wood.
- [Narrator] Like their horses,
the Mongol bow was small,
but its range was large.
It could fire a deadly
poison-tipped arrow
more than 350 yards,
beating the English longbow
by a good 100 yards.
One of Chinggis Khan's
nephews is on record
for hitting a target
at over 575 yards.
That's almost six American
football fields end to end.
(warrior groaning)
- Marco Polo tells us
that a Mongol warrior would
carry 60 arrows in his quiver.
That's an awful lot.
And when you think of
the tens of thousands
in a Mongol army.
Did you extrapolate
those numbers?
It is a phenomenal hail
of iron-sharp arrows
raining down on an enemy.
(arrows whooshing)
- [Narrator] The supremacy
of their horse archers,
mixed with a bit of trickery,
make the Mongol army the
masters of the surprise attack.
- And then you couple
that with Mongol tactics,
such as tying brushwood to
the tails of the loose horses,
and the dust clouds
would be seen
from many, many miles away,
and the Scouts would report,
"There is an army of
immense size coming,"
and their knowledge of horse
travel is from their culture
where horses can only travel
as fast as the supply line.
It was the perfect army for
the challenge of the time.
- [Narrator] And in 1219 AD,
the time has come for Chinggis
to lead as horse archers to
greener and wealthier pastures.
(dramatic music)
After the fall of Zhongdu,
Chinggis is continuing
his hostile takeover
of Northern China, when
he's suddenly forced
to turn his attention westwards.
The reason, 550 rolling
heads, and two beardless men.
In 1218 AD, a
Mongolian-funded caravan
of 550 merchants and
guards makes its way
to the Central Asian
empire of Khwarezm.
- The greatest empire
you ever heard of.
It covered much of
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Afghanistan and Iran.
Largest Islamic
empire at the time.
- [Narrator] The Caravan's
500 camels carry booty
and treasure from the east.
A camel can carry an average
of 300 pounds of weight.
That means Chinggis'
caravan is carrying
around 150,000 pounds
worth of riches.
(warriors shouting)
But at the border city of
Otrar, the caravan is attacked.
- Now the governor of Otrar
suspects them as spies.
They probably were also spies.
Trade missions through the
ages have often included spies.
- [Narrator] The governor
takes all the merchandise
and beheads 549
members of the party.
A single camel driver
manages to escape,
but Chinggis is
reluctant to retaliate.
- He doesn't really want to
start a new military campaign,
but a lot of his brand is
vengeance and reprisal,
if you cross him, but he
just tries one more tactic.
- [Narrator] Chinggis
tries to be diplomatic
and sends three ambassadors
to the governor's boss,
the shah of the
empire, to politely ask
for the governor's execution.
Instead, the shah beheads one
of the Mongol ambassadors.
The other two have
their beards burned off
and are told to take the
head back to Chinggis.
- Naturally, Chinggis Khan
does not receive this well.
- There is no more talk,
there is no more negotiation.
Genghis Khan assembles an army
of perhaps 200,000 troops,
and he sends them down
on the Khwarezmian Empire
like a hammer.
(people shouting)
- He will take the city
and then m*ssacre much of the
garrison that resisted him.
The survivors of the city,
he'll go through
and evaluate them.
If they don't have any
unique or essential talents,
they're going to
become arrow fodder.
- And the governor, the
foolish defiant governor
who had k*lled those traders,
he was made an example of.
(dramatic music)
- The Mongols will have a sense
of ironic whimsy about
them when they execute him.
- They k*lled him by pouring
molten silver into his eyes
and into his ears.
It's a vicious image that
haunts us even today,
but that was the
whole point of it,
that the word would spread,
that the terror would spread,
and that in future, towns
would open their gates
and spare the Mongol army the
trouble of besieging them.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Like Otrar,
Chinggis will not hesitate
to crush those who ignore
the stories of his brutality.
- The Mongol terms of
surrender are very basic:
surrender or die.
- If someone wrongs me, I am
not the person to let it go.
That's not my personality.
I'm petty.
- I see how Genghis
Khan kind of started,
you know what I mean?
I wouldn't say like wipe
out an entire nation,
but like, you know?
- Listen, life is short.
I don't have time for a revenge,
so I just k*lled
them really quick,
get it over off.
(numbers rattling)
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] If
Chinggis is to continue
taking over the world,
he'll need to harness the
power of his mighty warriors,
and he'll do it
through the number 10.
- The organization of the
army was absolutely key.
He had this sophisticated
command structure,
this sophisticated
structure of units.
- [Narrator] And the
most basic building block
of Chinggis' new army
will be the arban,
a squad of 10 warriors.
He'd make sure at brothers,
cousins, fathers and sons
were separated into
different arban units
to thwart any
threat of rebellion.
- In a tribal society, people
had the highest loyalty
to their own family members.
- Therefore, each unit of
10 was a combination of men
from different origins
who had to four new bonds
with one another.
- They go through the
same hell together,
they suffer the same
punishments together,
and that bonds them.
That makes them friends who are
ready to die for each other.
- [Narrator] 10 Of these
arbans then make one company
of 100, called a jaghun,
and then 10 jaghuns
make one mingan
of 1000 warriors.
Whoever commands a mingan,
commands a considerable force,
but there is a price to pay.
- So what Genghis Khan did
was he would take the sons
or other relatives of
the leader of a mingan,
and they would go
to the royal court.
- But they also
functioned as hostages.
- But it was known that if
that leader of the mingan
wasn't 100% loyal
to the Great Khan,
then his relative would
suffer the consequences.
- If someone were gonna hold
something hostage from me,
it'd be like my video
game console, for sure.
- Right, well, but, okay,
so if I have the choice
of what they take,
they take my husband.
- Take my boyfriend,
take my mom,
but if you touch my
cat, it's game over.
(signs popping)
- [Narrator] And it
doesn't end there
because 10 mingans make
one tumen, 10,000 warriors.
The number 10 has
never looked so scary.
(women screaming)
Those who get in Chinggis' way
will be added to an
overwhelming number of zeros.
As Chinggis and his army
carve a path through Asia,
it's recorded that
1.7 million are k*lled
in the city of Nishapur.
In Herat, the death toll
climbs to 2.4 million,
but can we trust
these estimates?
- A quarter of Herat is
alleged to be 600,000 people.
Keep in mind, the population
of Constantinople at its height
was approximately
500,000 people.
There is no way
Herat had four times
the population of
Constantinople.
Many of these
numbers are written
by people hostile
to the Mongols,
so they definitely
want to convey the
terror of the Mongols.
- [Narrator] So what do
these numbers reveal?
- That the people
who recorded them,
like the historian Juzjani,
he's never seen destruction
on this scale before
in his life.
- [Narrator] Either way,
Mongols bring a bloody end
to the Khwarezmian Empire.
Staggering numbers of
zeros enable the Mongols
to expand their empire to
12 million square miles,
but it'll take more than
brute force to sustain it.
(numbers beeping)
One of the perks of the
Mongol conquest is control
over the Silk Road.
- [Sarah] The Silk Road
is a trade network moving
from East Asia down
into Southwest Asia
and the Mediterranean.
- [Narrator] At its zenith,
it spans over 4,000 miles.
The silk routes date
back to ancient times,
but by the 13th century, the
network's fallen into disrepair
and become stagnant,
yet Chinggis sees value in
revitalizing the system.
- It was essential that
tribute being paid was conveyed
to a central point
and distributed,
that taxes came in,
messages, information.
- Because of unification of
this massive stretch of land,
he was able to actually
make the Silk Road
a smoother place to travel.
- [Narrator] This Silk Road
2.0 facilitates the exchange
of revenue and culture, but
it also serves as the backbone
for the Mongols' new
intelligence system.
- An incredibly efficient
postal system called the Ortoo,
in China it was
known as the yam.
- [Narrator] So how
does this system work?
Postal stations are
set up 20 miles apart,
and civilians are forced
to maintain a stock
of about 200 fast
horses at each post,
ready to go for
the yam messengers.
(horse neighing)
- These riders could cover
easily 100 miles in a day
because they go to a post,
they on a new horse
and keep going.
- They rode so hard that they
actually had a silk cloth
binding around their abdomens,
not only to
strengthen their spine
from the constant
concussion of hard riding,
but also to hold their
internal organs together.
- [Narrator] And to make
travel more efficient,
the Mongols issue
special passports
to messengers,
merchants and diplomats.
- It was often a cast bronze
disc with an inscription
ordering safe passage.
- By today's standards,
he abolished the barriers
of going through customs,
declaring, and being searched.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] And Chinggis'
forward-thinking approach
also applies to religion,
whether you worship
one God or dozens.
- As long as you did not
cause trouble in the empire,
the Mongols really did
not have much of an issue.
- [Narrator] He also
institutes a hiring policy
based on achievement.
At least 20% of his
mingan unit leaders
are promoted on merit,
but can any of these numbers
cancel out the big one:
the fact that
Chinggis and his army
are said to be
responsible for the death
of around 40 million people,
a number that accounts
for around 10%
of the world's
population at that time.
If 10% of the world's
population was wiped out today,
that would be equivalent
to 780 million deaths,
and yet Chinggis' death maybe
be the most brutal of all.
(numbers rattling)
(ominous music)
Chinggis Khan's life is
one of mythic proportions,
and his death will prove
to be just as legendary.
(dramatic music)
- There are several stories
on how Chinggis Khan dies.
There's one where he's
struck by lightning,
there's another
one where he dies,
where basically he subdued
the Xi Xia rebellion.
- Having conquered Xi Xia,
he was having sex with
the conquered Xi Xia queen
who hid a gruesome
device within herself
and did such damage to
him while they had sex,
I'm not making the up,
although someone must have,
that he apparently was mortally
wounded and bled to death.
- "The Secret History" has a
completely different version.
One day he's out hunting, and
he gets thrown from his horse,
and suffers internal injuries.
- And he died in August of 1227.
That seems to be the real story.
- In the steppe, when you died,
your spirit continued to live,
and your spiritual power
was akin to what it was
in the real world.
So if you were just
a simple shepherd,
your spiritual power
was basically the same.
If you were a khan,
you were very powerful.
What if you were Chinggis Khan,
and you had conquered places
that no one had ever
heard of before,
you had done things that
no one had ever done,
what would your power be?
So in the eyes of the Mongols,
Chinggis Khan becomes not just
the founder of their empire,
but essentially a demi god.
- [Narrator] So how do
you lay a god to rest?
Legend has it Chinggis
Khan's dying wish
is for his resting
place to be kept secret.
His burial procession
lasts 40 days,
and on the way, his troops
are said to k*ll every person
and animal they encounter.
The 50 mourners at his
burial are k*lled as well
to ensure the secrecy
of the location,
and then the guards who
carry out the executions
are also k*lled.
And before his tomb is sealed,
40 virgin women sacrificed
and buried with him.
And finally, 800 horsemen
trample the grave site
to make sure no one
will ever find it.
- Well, I mean, I guess
they needed 800 horses
'cause they're so tiny.
- Why would you k*ll every
animal that you encountered?
Like, yeah, I understand people,
they talk, they're gonna say
some (beep), but animals?
- It seems like overkill,
but he was kind of
known for overkill, so.
- He was thought to have
been brought back to Mongolia
and buried there, probably
on Mount Burkhan Khaldun,
this sacred and holy mountain.
- [Narrator] For
over eight centuries,
the Mongolian royal family
keep this sacred space sealed.
They call it Ikh
Khorig, the great taboo,
and no one is allowed to enter.
With an area covering
93 square miles,
protecting this blessing
site is no small feat,
but Chinggis' legacy
will prove to be
as deadly after his death
as during his lifetime.
(numbers rattling)
(dramatic music)
It had taken Chinggis 25
years to build an empire,
but it'll take his grandson
only 384 hours to destroy one.
When he dies in 1227, the
Mongol territory stretches
from the Pacific Ocean
to the Caspian Sea,
and it continues to expand
under his successors.
In 1257 AD, one of his grandsons
tries to make grandpa
Chinggis proud
by striking at the heart of
the Islamic world, Baghdad.
At this time, Baghdad
is the capital
of the wealthy Abbasid
Caliphate dynasty.
- That had the reputation
of perhaps being the
finest city in the world.
It had mosques and
palaces and 36 libraries.
- [Narrator] But the
caliphate refuses
to pay the tribute
demanded by the Mongols.
Under the order of
Chinggis' grandson,
150,000 Mongol warriors
surround the city.
- With more courage than wisdom,
the governor of Baghdad
sends out a force
of 20,000 horsemen,
and what the nomads do is they
send their Chinese engineers
and they dig at the
edge of the Tigris River
and flood an area behind
the attacking horsemen.
- [Narrator] Almost all of
the horsemen are k*lled.
After 16 days of
bombardment, Baghdad falls.
- When the Mongols swarmed
in, they were without mercy.
- [Narrator] For
six days and nights,
the Mongols ransack the city,
leaving piles of
bodies in their wake.
- The caliphate was seen
as basically timeless
and essential, so for
the Islamic world,
its destruction was
earth-shattering.
- [Narrator] Within 384
hours, the Mongols managed
to undo 500 years of the
Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad,
but for the Mongols.
- I don't know if
it was really more
than just another
day in the office.
(numbers whooshing)
(cheerful music)
- [Narrator] Not
long after Baghdad,
the empire enjoys an era of
relative peace and prosperity,
known as the Pax Mongolica.
But by the mid 14th century,
the Mongols inadvertently
unleash a monster
more ferocious than any warrior,
100 million times as
deadly, the bubonic plague.
- It arguably spread
because of the trade
along the Silk Road,
and because of the
inter-connectiveness
of the Mongol Empire.
- [Narrator] As merchants
traveled throughout the empire,
they brought rats in
their caravans and ships,
and these rats brought flees,
and on these fleas
is Yersinia pestis,
the bacteria that causes
the bubonic plague.
Less than one 10th of an inch,
the same size as a pinhead,
these tiny bugs will
k*ll more people
than Chinggis'
Mongol army ever did.
- [Mike] But there's
another theory,
that it came more
directly from the Mongols
after the siege of Kaffa.
Now, Kaffa is in the Crimea,
the bottom of Ukraine
and the Black Sea,
very prosperous trading town,
and it was run and occupied
by Genoese merchants.
- The Mongols basically
allowed them to rule this city,
but pay taxes and tribute.
There's been a dispute between
the Italians and the Mongols,
and the Mongols are
there to settle it.
- And it is said that the
Mongols use their trebuchets
to fling in the carcasses
of plague victims
to spread disease
within the city.
- [Narrator] A machine
adopted from the Chinese,
the trebuchet can launch a
m*ssile weighing 200 pounds
over a range of 300 yards,
about the same length
as the Eiffel Tower.
(fire roaring)
This is medieval
biological warfare.
- Okay, that's really dirty
warfare, but it's not stupid,
but it's really gross, but
that's pretty smart to do.
- Like the commitment on that
strategy is just really crazy.
- They were well
before their time.
Wow, the today's governments
would've been impressed.
- Finally Kaffa fell,
and some people escaped,
and they got to their boats
and they went back to Genoa.
Then that was a quick passage
for the plague to get to Europe.
- [Narrator] By the
end of the century,
around one quarter of
the global population
will have been wiped
out by the plague.
With the spread of the plague,
the united Mongol Empire
starts to fall apart,
and it will crumble
into four pieces.
- The Mongol Empire breaks
down for a very simple reason,
lack of a clear
succession principle.
- [Narrator] Before he died,
rather than pass his
power to one successor,
Chinggis splits up his kingdom
amongst four of his sons.
- Unlike in European monarchies
where it's the first-born
son inherits all of the power
and becomes the ruler.
- [Narrator] His grandchildren
will solidify this division
by establishing a confederation
of four separate kingdoms
known as khanates: the
Golden Horde in Russia,
The Ilkhanate in Iran, the
Chagatai in Central Asia,
and the Yuan Dynasty
in East Asia.
- And they sort of had their
own kinds of ways of crumbling.
- [Narrator] With the
plague disrupting the trade
and communication between
the Mongol confederation,
the khanates lack the
will to stay united.
The Mongol Empire that
Chinggis Khan had dreamt of,
withers and dies.
(melancholy music)
And yet, Chinggis' 250-ton
legacy continues to weigh heavy
on the hearts and minds of
modern Mongolians to this day.
(numbers rattling)
Following the fall
of the empire,
the Mongolians go
from the conquerors
to being ruled by others,
and it'll take them more than
five centuries plus three days
to reclaim their glory.
(dramatic music)
In the 20th century,
the Mongols are forced
to ally with the USSR,
becoming the second
communist country ever,
but even from beyond the grave,
Chinggis Khan is
able to instill fear
in the hearts of the Soviets.
In fact, Stalin is so scared
of Chinggis inspiring rebellion,
he goes out of his way
to suppress his legacy.
- If the arts or media
or literature had content
that mentioned Chinggis
Khan or mentioned the past,
those works were not
allowed to be produced,
and the authors, the
creators of this works
would be punished.
(door slams shut)
- When Mongolia emerges
from communist rule
in the early 1990s,
Chinggis Khan is the figure
that everyone can latch onto
and agree upon because he
is not only a national hero,
but he's one that the
world knows about.
(cheerful music)
- [Narrator] And Chinggis
mania sweeps the nation.
- You see Chinggis
Khan on everything.
There is money with
his face on it.
Currency denominations over
100 have Chinggis Khan on them.
You have Chinggis Khan Airport,
you can go to Chinggis
Khan University,
you can stay at the
Chinggis Khan Hotel
and have a Chinggis Khan beer,
or have a Chinggis Khan vodka.
- [Narrator] But all this
branding pales in comparison
to the biggest
Chinggis of 'em all.
- So the equestrian
statue of Chinggis Khan
was erected in 2008,
about 50 kilometers
from Ulaanbaatar,
and it is meant to be this place
where the Mongolians can
feel connected to their past.
- [Narrator] Costing
over 4 million dollars,
the statue stands 131-feet tall
and weighs of whopping 250 tons.
- The sheer size of the
Genghis Khan statue in Mongolia
is the reflection of
just how important he is
for national identity.
- [Narrator] Statues are cool,
but we all know the best way
to celebrate someone
is with a big party.
(cheerful music)
And the Mongols show
Chinggis much love
during their annual
Naadam Festival.
Used by Chinggis to train
and celebrate his army,
the Naadam games is
a three-day affair
in which thousands of
participants compete
for the glory of the Mongols,
and a cash prize in
three main events:
long-distance horse
races, up to 16 miles
for children, ages five to 13,
an archer competition
in which teams of
five to seven archers
sh**t arrows at a range
of 66 to 82 yards,
and a nine-round
wrestling tournament.
Over 800 years later,
and Chinggis is still the
guest of honor at the Naadam.
- He created a new
nation, and indeed,
there would not be a Mongolia
or Mongolian people without him.
- The Mongolians
themselves are very proud
to have the history
that they had,
and look up to the
figure of Chinggis Khan
as their powerful originator.
- His legend stands on its own
because the historical
facts support that legend.
That empire really
was humongous.
It really was put together
remarkably quickly.
- [Narrator] But
let's not forget,
Chinggis did all of
these remarkable things
at the expense of
millions of lives.
- There's no easy
stories in history.
We all have to take the
guilt with the glory
if we look at our past.
None of us have a clean sheet.
- He did conquer, he did k*ll,
and Chinggis Khan was
a very destructive man.
- He was a form of monster,
but he was also a genius,
and he was an inspiration
that lifted a people up
and beyond anything they could
ever have dreamed of being.
No wonder there is
a big statue of him.
(dramatic music)
- Did he have 24 hours
in the day like all of us
or did he have extra time?
He did so much
stuff, like, chill.
- 40 Million deaths is like,
that's like a life's work.
He really put in
his 10,000 hours.
- I mean, if you're
gonna get to conquering,
you're gonna k*ll some people.
Successful conqueror,
successful m*rder*r.
It's just how the game goes.
- I think Genghis
Khan was ambitious,
to say the least.
Blood thirsty k*ller, maybe,
but I don't think
that's all he was.
- So Genghis Khan was
religiously tolerant.
He promoted based
on meritocracy,
but he also k*lled
a lot of people.
(dramatic music)
(dramatic music ends)
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01x19 - Genghis Khan
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This series is loaded with mind-blowing factoids and stats, entertaining expert interviews, and infographics injected with cheeky humor.
This series is loaded with mind-blowing factoids and stats, entertaining expert interviews, and infographics injected with cheeky humor.