Selects: Genghis Khan: Madman or Genius? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

hey everybody it's me Josh and for this. week's select I've chosen our really. great episode on genas Khan from back in. June of. 2018 he's maybe one of the more. misunderstood characters in all of. history he's certainly one of the most. significant I mean how many individuals. can you trace a portion of the global. population to not many I can assure you. anyway I hope you like this episode. [Music]. enjoy welcome to stuff you should know a.

production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh Clark and sitting across from me is. Charles W chuckus. chus Bryant and sitting to your right is. Ghost producer Casper nobody it was. Ramsay guest producer Ramsey we' got. like all these new guest producers. coming on hot and heavy I know Jerry has.

she had to leave today and I think. everyone's busy and so someone came in. there's also a distinct lack of Interest. I picked up on boy remember the days. when people used to jump at a chance to. sit in here oh yeah now they're like uh. I've got to mail something I know used. to be like oh my gosh Jerry's gone let. me do it let me do it yeah and they grew. up yeah and then they grew up in um now. we have our little uh dunking bird to. Peck the key yeah the r record button. yeah.

just going back and forth thinking about. where its life went wrong just. us just us chuck and a guy named. gingas Dingus Khan do you pronounce it. Dingus or gingas or chingis are you. being serious I know it's not Dingus but. I've also seen it spelled in a way that. would suggest you Dingus you Dingus you. pronounce it chingis oh really I think I. have heard that but we're gonna go with. the the General gas pronunciation okay.

right although his uh what was his birth. name uh timu Jin mhm doesn't even GS. Khan isn't even his real name everybody. so calm down it's teu Jin or teu Jin man. did you see that statue I've seen it. before yes it's enormous have you seen. it in person no no I've not yet been to. Mongolia that's something else man I. will one day though yeah I know it's. it's the world's biggest equestrian. statue and with good reason it's like 40.

m or 130 ft tall yeah that's an enormous. statue it's pretty impressive whether. whether you're on a horse or not that's. a big old statue right sure I almost. didn't say. old and I think it's made of like 250. tons of stainless steel which means it. it rinses clean really well. MH and it looks like I saw the wide shot. it doesn't look like one of those that's. you know surrounded by Burger. Kings oh good looks like there's a lot. of land around it well Mongol has a lot.

of land a lot of undeveloped land from. what I understand yeah this was an. interesting one because depending on. what kind of historian you are uh he is. a either a. revered Mastermind or a. scorned uh butcher Butcher yeah I know. he's actually I think both well of. course he was both there are definite. camps for sure like like a lot of people. um I've seen him called the pro gas Camp.

um the pro yeah yeah that they're. they're all about like all the cultural. transmission that happened under his his. rule yeah um or all of the um all the. new Innovative laws or religious. religious tolerance was another one yeah. and and yes you like all that stuff. happened it's not in dispute like there. were a lot of things that we'll talk. about that were really. positive but he's also directly resp. responsible for the deaths of about 35.

million people yeah the anti-g over 25. million 25e period MH that's a. ridiculous amount of death of people who. had genas Khan not been born and you. know decided to lead a conquest yeah. would probably otherwise not have died. violently that's a big Mark in his favor. or against him well my morality just. switched off there for a so you got the.

pro G the anti-g and the Ali G that's. the third Camp yeah the Boya. buha I missed that oh it's good stuff it. is but they tried to bring it back. remember and it was like oh really was. there a part two or a 2.0 they that's. that's the problem they didn't do new. stuff it was just him introducing old. stuff and it was like we want more new. stuff we've all seen this old stuff a. bunch it was like for a month on FX but. they shot new hosting segments yes that.

were like 15 seconds long so basically. they said hey Sasha bar Cohen how'd you. like to make another x amount of dollars. right by showing up for a day how would. you like to do the the Ali G version of. sysk. Select o. yeah all right I'm not going to examine. that one too closely all right so we're. talking about Ali G I mean gask Khan. right yeah and just some um large. statistics right off the bat as far as.

his um his his influence well not his. influence but his rule in sheer numbers. yeah this is the reason we're still. talking about him not just because he. killed so many people yeah agreed um by. the time you know of course everyone. knows he was a great conqueror who just. kept branching out further and further. and this is how far he reached. eventually in modern-day terms he would. reach Austria Austria he banged on the. door of Austria his.

his son did just get out a world map and. look at where Mongolia is so Austria. Finland Croatia Hungary Poland Vietnam. Burma Japan and Indonesia 12 million. contiguous square miles which is the. size of Africa. again amazing yeah and then to put that. in context you know the the great Roman. Empire that was about half the size of. the United States yeah the the Roman. Empire was half the size of the United.

States yeah it took them 400 years to. amass that yeah in 25 years gingas Khan. had an Empire the size of Africa yeah. and then at the time the uh population. of the world was about 7 billion people. and the Mongolian Empire was about three. billion of that so it's just astounding. it is astounding and and to put it in. like true cultural or true historic. context at the time in say like the. early early 13th century the Mongols.

were the Mongols a bunch of nomadic. tribe tribes on the steps of Mongolia. China was a wellestablished and um. fairly Advanced Patchwork of dynasties. yeah um you had like Europe growing in. the they were in the Middle Ages but. they were like the Renaissance is coming. not too long yeah um you had the Native. Americans over in America doing their. thing Africa doing their thing so. there's all these different things going. on in the world and then all of a sudden. out of nowhere this tiny little bunch of.

people who aren't even in. agriculture take over Eurasia yeah in 25. years yeah out of nowhere and kill 35. million people yeah out of nowhere it'd. be like if if Polynesia suddenly rose up. and took over the Americas in 25 years. they just assembled and said we're. taking over and they were just so. ferocious that America just didn't even. know what to do and was over run by them.

yeah and their uh their rule was not. long lasting for a lot of the reasons. that there's a lot of ironies you know a. lot of the reasons that they were able. to spread so fast ended up being their. undoing but um this is all just setup. fodder yeah we haven't even gotten into. it yet so let's let let's do start. okay back in uh people think the best. guess is probably I think 1185 I I saw. there was a a kid named U Jin 1162 I'm.

sorry and uh he was born uh in place. called well along the Onan river near. aatar which is a great name but that's. the capital of Mongolia there's five A's. in that it's a lot of a it's a lot of. A's and uh this this kid this uin who. would grow up to be gingas Khan was not. uh gingas K material from the outset no. he was um he well he was a middle.

brother and apparently both younger and. older brother outshone him yeah he was. very much the jam Brady of his family he. was cuz apparently little brother was a. much better athlete and a better you. know arrow shooter or I guess you would. call them. archers um kind of better at everything. and then his older brother picked on him. um he was not he was illiterate he. wasn't like formally schooled or super. smart right right but I mean in his. defense neither were most of the people. he knew. he lived on the steps yeah it's not like.

his two brothers like got their. doctorates their phds and kicking butt. uh well that's true um but he was uh. there I mean reading I wish I knew more. about this this whole era because it. sounds like it was just a crazy time. especially over there where people would. be like if I want something I'm just. going to go take it yeah if I want that. tribe gone I'm going to go kill them if. I want those ladies and children I'm. going to kill kidna them mhm and that's.

was just sort of how the land was ruled. yeah it was kind of not chaos but just. brute force uh Lawless yeah pretty. Lawless and you were you were loyal to. your tribe or your clan um and your. tribe or Clan was nomadic and you live. by the horse and yeah you you there was. a lot of war between these tribes on the. steps tiny tiny Wars like like like you. said kidnapping like you would kidnap. your wife that's that's how you got your. wife was you go kidnap her from another.

tribe and be like you're my wife now. that's how his mother came about right. yes that's how he came about was his. father kidnapped his mother his father. was the chief of his tribe um oh what's. his father's name Yugi nice and Yugi. kidnapped uh H hulon yeah there's a lot. of umls in there I don't know how the. umlout represents. Mongolian dialect we're going to do a. German style so her name is hulon is.

that pretty German Mertle crew so she. was kidnapped and I this is the thing. like I have no context to put this in if. this was a common thing was she like I'm. being kidnapped okay like I I I I guess. I'm 18 now or something like this is. just a normal course of events for her. so it didn't impact her I don't know or. is that just a ridiculous thing to even. think and like yes if you were kidnapped. and taken from your tribe and made to be. some dude's wife unwillingly it doesn't.

matter where it happened or when it. happened it was a horrific experience I. think it was I mean I think it was that. and just sort of the way it was women. were just had. no recourse or say in anything at the. time so was both but like I I think I. know what you're saying though like you. know she had these children and they. were quote family but what do you know. what does that mean in that context yeah. is it a family if Mom's like looking for. an Escape Route for the whole life right.

yeah um either way it was not like. people recording one another back then. right so um. Yugi right that's what we decided on yes. uh Yugi was the chief like I said of the. clan of the tribe a very powerful dude. and he was poisoned actually he died by. poisoning when temu Jin was nine and. that was bad news for tagin his mom and. his two brothers yeah they were just. sort of kicked out of this new tribe mhm.

and I'm not sure why I guess cuz that he. was the son of of yeah okay they didn't. want anybody being like Oh by the way. I'm the rightful Heir right I I should. really be the chief of this tribe I'm. very surprised that they didn't just. kill all of them yeah because that's. kind of the way it usually went yeah so. yeah they were kicked out uh see he had. a rough childhood they were not they had. to scavage for food um I reckon it. toughened him up a little bit but um our. article points out that he uh it kind of.

gave him a will to and probably ticked. him off so he had anger and will. Vengeance and Vengeance all rolled up. into one which says a lot about like the. man that he would become I think for. sure um. so he and his family make it so not all. of his family there's there's a story. called The Secret history of the Mongols. and it was written in about 1240 so.

shortly after gask Khan's death we don't. know who the author was but that's the. primary source for most of the auto or. the biography of gask Khan they know a. lot or at Le because somebody sat down. and wrote this and we'll see eventually. why um but the um that's where we're. getting all of this information which is. also why if you listen to the history of. gas Khan a lot of it sounds like a. string of fables and tales wrapped. together but historians to think that. there's some some kernel of Truth or.

just outright truth to most of it should. we take a break uh yeah all right we'll. take a break and we'll talk about what. uh young timu Jin was like. [Music]. [Music].

[Applause]. [Music]. all right so we said that he was a bit. of a crybaby got picked on wasn't very. athletic or strong but he had charm he. had hutzpah he had Charisma and a little. bit of Moxy and definitely you got to. throw in some Moxy and apparently he was. able through his Charisma to to talk. people into helping him out and that. became sort of a trait through his life.

right and they give a couple of examples. um one time he was going after a horse. thief and he just ran upon a stranger. and kind of convince the guy to not only. uh give him a horse but to help him out. yeah he really attracted people into his. orbit from what I understand yeah he was. like like like Gilbert. Godfrey it's funny cuz I knew I was. trying to think of someone legitimately. and I knew that you were headed down of. the opposite of.

that uh what else there was another uh. time that he had a bride to be or maybe. I think he was married yeah I think. that's the case and she was kidnapped. cuz that's how it went and so he went to. the leader of another tribe and said hey. take this Sable skin it was one of my. wedding gifts he goes oh nice yeah he. was pretty impressed apparently because. he helped him rescue the wife and then. pledged his allegiance to him as an ally. for life I guess he said Not only am I. going to help you get your wife. you're going to go on to do great things.

and I want to be there with you love. me so um there's just tons of stories. like that like early stories where like. he was held prisoner by he was kidnapped. himself and escaped by beating the guy. watching him with the wooden collar that. he had passing around his neck there's. just tons of stories like that that if. you put it together you can kind of see. this guy develop over time right sure. but eventually he probably hit the. weights eventually. right yeah as as um as he grows up and.

develops and more and more people kind. of come into His orbit and want to help. him out he starts putting that that. Charisma and that Vengeance. to I guess productive use and he he. assembles like his own tribe and other. tribes he starts allying with other. tribes and the tribes that don't go. along with it he Slaughters in war um. and he would he was known for having. like an eye for other Talent which would.

Aid him tremendously throughout his. years as a a conqueror but for example. if you were a a good enemy soldier and. he noted that in battle yeah there was a. good chance that you were going to end. up a field commander on his side after. the battle was over and he beat your. your guys and there's actually a story. where his horse was shot out from under. him and after his he his group won the. battle the Mongols won the battle um. he wanted to know who shot that arrow.

and the guy on the other side stood up. and said it was me and he said you your. name is jebe now which means arrow and. you're going to become a field commander. for me and he went on to be one of the. best he ever had and the guy was like is. he messing with me right are you kill. yeah U but that was a that was pretty. par for the course with him and so. through these actions he started. assembling like an army and became the. leader of the steps yeah and people like. you said if they challenged him they. were squashed he um he had a surrender.

or die policy which apparently if you'd. literally did not fight and you were. just like okay we're all yours. apparently he was okay to you he wasn't. known for torturing people um I don't. know if he you. know I don't know want to say he was. kind to them but I think he kind of. wanted his subjects to be happy and. productive right so if they didn't fight. him he was like all right you're you're. part of the extended Khan family come.

here come here you thank you for your. kingdom although he isn't KH at this. point still no that didn't take place. until I believe. 1206 yeah that's when they the Mongol. tribes all got together they had a great. assembly called uh uh curai and they. said you know what you're the man you're. gas KH now we are all on your team. because quite frankly we're scared of. you right we're scared. so.

scared he was like hey that's fine yeah. so gas Khan they think there Khan means. ruler yeah indisputably Gus they're not. 100% sure what they meant by it because. it can mean Ocean or just so they think. they were saying like Supreme like the. leader all the way to the ocean sure and. then then you run into to Triton you. want to mess with him right but up to. Triton's area this guy is the leader so. that's that's what they meant by like. ocean leader he wasn't Aquaman.

no so they're unified now and he said I. have to like I have to assemble a nation. here I've got all these tribes I want a. unified people yeah that was a big move. it was and it was a smart move um and. all these old Clans got together people. that were enemies um joined forces I. don't know if they became you know best. buds or anything well one of the things. they did is they renounced these old. rivalries yeah they um they stopped.

Waring with each other they stopped. robbing one another yeah um and they. started identifying not as these. individual Clans but as Mongols yeah and. like strengthen numbers I think they. realized this this could benefit us all. right if we are one big powerful group. right but numbers is relative though man. like from what I saw at its peak the. army of gask Khan had about 100,000 men. yeah which is peanuts it is peanuts. so why were they should we get into why.

they were successful yet or yeah okay. why were they successful. well uh a few reasons the probably the. one of the biggest is is these dudes. could ride horses and shoot arrows like. nobody's business yeah they were. incredible uh Cal they had an incredible. Calvary he was one of the first that. whoever wrote that article you sent um. that one historian he was great yeah so.

he pointed out that he uh he realized. that that the calvary didn't need to be. followed by an infantry which was a huge. Advantage I guess in battle Yeah you. needed far fewer guys yeah and just get. everyone up on a horse yep uh they were. incredible archers they could their. accuracy was unmatched they could fire. an arrow apparently like over 300 yards. accurately mhm um these horses were.

awesome they were grass-fed they could. live off the land they had this armor. that was really lightweight and flexible. so you know at the time they were. fighting people in much heavily armored. uh apparel so they uh they were they. could move around better you know on. their horses they were firing arrows and. they had these little short swords and. they had this thing called they hooked. Lance and they're like a lance is all. right it's it's cool I guess to poke. someone off a horse but what if you can. poke them or grab them so they added a.

hook to the land it's a very simple. feature right and it really changed. things it was like a modern uh evolution. in Weaponry right so these are just a. few of the reasons one of uh one of the. others is tactics and strategy yeah uh. he would scout out before battles for. weeks sometimes he wouldn't just go as. like as brutish as they were they would. spend a lot of time doing research and. spying yeah and really kind of figuring. out a game plan like like if they were.

going to sack a city like they knew. where the trade line or the supply lines. were Escape Routes um you know all that. kind of stuff all the stuff you need to. know to sacka City yeah one of the other. things so so part. one a I saw it called the Quantum Leap. in. military strategy and Technology yeah. okay that was the first thing the other. thing is something you touched on. earlier there surrender or die policy.

yeah right so their military prowess. combined with their tactics and the. their policy of if you don't just say. yes that's fine we don't want to fight. we're going to kill. everybody just about everybody they were. actually pretty smart about it too. they'd find like the skilled Craftsman. in some cities and be like we're going. to spare your life because you're now a. Mongol you got to move to Mongolia by. the way um but they would just kill so.

many people that that a lot of. historians have tried to figure out why. were they so ferocious and there have. actually been a number of theories that. have been put up one is so apparently so. gask Khan was a uh he was into Shamanism. that was his religion yeah but he was. like fervently religious about Shamanism. and there was like a great god of the. sky who um I think is analogous to. Vishnu maybe in Hindu hu ISM and this.

this God supposedly gave him a vision. that he should become conqueror of the. world yeah and so some people have said. well he you know if you opposed him you. opposing his God and so there was no. room for that and that's what made him. so ferocious yeah um probably the best. explanation though is that if some if. like one of their 100,000 Horsemen died. that was a big deal right yeah so to. save their numbers they were better off. not fighting so by slaughtering an.

entire city yeah that word about that. gets around the area so when those guys. show up to your city there's a pretty. good chance that if they say surrender. or die you're going to surrender and so. the the Mongols didn't have to sacrifice. a single person yeah and also get the. idea I mean we're going to talk about. his major uh seizes but he also had a. lot of smaller skirmishes with just kind. of regional tribes I think and it I got. the idea that he wouldn't send. all his dudes in there he would send in.

as small amount of people as possible. right because they were so Fierce and. good at what they did he didn't need to. and then that also reduced the chances. of loss of life I guess and then so the. smallest units those that 100,000 man. army boiled down to units as small as 10. people yeah that was the individual unit. was a 10 person Cavalry group yeah and. yeah you could just say send five groups. in or a thousand groups in or what. whatever yeah there you go and he would.

also uh he would also as he went he. would pick up whatever weaponry and. tactics that other armies used and use. those because one thing that um was. pretty clear in reading this gask Khan. did not like walls in in Walled cities I. saw that too it ticked him off. especially for some reason why would you. do that I know so he uh you know he he. got catapults and uh things like that. and he would he would do some awful. things like with ladders and catapults.

he would fling diseased animals like. that wasn't and I know he wasn't the. only one to do that but uh some of this. seems like lore though the thing with. the cats and the birds yeah he told one. city that he'd spare them if they gave. him a thousand cats and 10,000 Birds and. they gathered up their 10,000 Birds. which I guess they had in the thousand. cats and gave them to them and then he. set the cats and the birds on fire and. flung them over the walls to start fires. in the city well supposedly Cai cotton. oh gotcha and set that on fire oh well. that's much better but I'm sure the fire.

spreads it does seem apocryphal yeah I I. don't know if I believe that apocryphal. by the way I just learned in like the. last year or so means that word made up. you didn't know that's you never heard. the word or no plenty of times I just. didn't realize I always assumed it meant. like biblical and end of times oh. interesting because it's resemblance to. apocalypse I've got one more for you. what's that I just this week learned. what cou d' gr actually means I thought.

it meant like the cream of the crop the. ultimate it's the death blow like. there's nothing after it not because. it's the best right because you just had. your head cut off yeah the Cuda gr yeah. the final blow just learned that this. week yeah I think I knew that you know a. word I used to always get wrong was. uh. dubious you thinking about pot I don't. know yeah can you score me some dubious. did you ever listen to Funk dubus they. were like this rap group from the 9s cou.

they were great they were they all they. wanted to do is have fun in the midst of. like the whole gangster ad thing Funk. duest totally remember that boy they. they just went away I haven't heard that. name in I think they had like one album. and that was it what was their big hit I. don't even remember but I'll bet it had. to do with pot probably so um all right. so he's got Mongolia pretty well taken. care of at this point wait what did you. think dubus meant I I a joke instead of. letting you answer no I don't I don't.

remember what I thought it meant but I. think I just used to get it wrong we'll. go back to Funk. dubus uh so he's got Mongolia pretty. well in control and he is insatiable. though uh gask Khan as he starts looking. around and he's like China is Big you. look pretty pretty pretty and I think. even though they are wealthy and tough. and have a lot of dudes uh to fight I. think I can take them mhm cuz I'm gask. Khan which is a nuto thing to say at.

that time sure especially depending on. which of the the dynasties in China you. were talking about because I think there. were at least three major ones well he's. like all of them let's just go one at a. time yeah so that's what he did yeah. that's exactly what he did he started. with the uh and there's I'm sorry. everybody I'm having trouble keeping up. with all of the names but the tanguts. yeah the kingdom of uh xiia is how I. would probably pronounce it dixia Chang.

no yeah forgot about that xia yeah xia. and the tanguts and uh I think this was. sort of a test his biggest test. militarily at the time yeah it was he'd. been fighting other tribes on the steps. that to consolidate them and killing off. the resistors they didn't have cities. the tanguts were the first ones that he. encountered that had like cities with. walls that were fortified that he needed. to figure out how to lay Siege to yeah.

and he he did to the point where uh the. king finally said all right uh you are. my master here are my troops and here's. The Princess Bride as well right because. I've heard you get around yeah and. gingas Khan said as you wish that's. right isn't that what he said I think so. okay uh so then next he said all right. how about this other region uh the chin. Kingdom and he faced a 70,000 man army.

and it said virtually wiped it out in. this article so he's working his way up. here now yeah so he actually Hit The. Chins twice from what I understand and. this house stuff works article says it. happened in 2013 so I'll bet The Chins. were quite surprised to see gask Khan. show up five years ago yeah I wonder why. I mean it says they came he came back. and got a bunch of silk and gold and got. a bunch of Engineers I wonder if that. was the the purpose of that mission. Maybe was like hey I don't think we. properly rid them yeah cuz this was two.

years after the first one I I guess. that's all all it was that he wanted. some more silk and gold and again. appropriating weapons uh like crossbows. catapults and because it's China early. versions of explosives right and so he's. using all this stuff he's not married to. just the hook pole and just a saber. he'll try out anything he sees works. right yeah so he's he's knocked out the. first two dynasties he's brought them. under his control he Now controls a.

significant portion of China all of the. steps around Mongolia yeah and he's got. his sets his sights set on the biggest. one of the three the Jin Dynasty yes and. he um actually got in contact with them. or else they got in contact with him. first but the emperor of the jyn dynasty. this is an advanced civilization at this. point very wealthy maybe the most. advanced and wealthy civilization on the. planet at the time maybe gas Khan is a.

backwoods redneck horse rider who just. happened to get lucky a couple of times. caught the other two dynasties slipping. well sure that's what the emperor of the. of the Jin Dynasty is thinking at yeah. he's thinking you're going to be my. slave yeah he's like you've done pretty. good kid I'll tell you what I'll let you. I'll let you look over my land in the. South you'll be my vassel and um here. here's The Princess Bride I hear you. like him yeah but uh it did not work out.

that way no it didn't he actually. successfully defeated the most advanced. wealthiest Society on the planet at the. time the JY yep slaughtered thousands. and thousands of people well that's how. you do it I guess and these three. campaigns these These are huge enormous. campaigns China was extremely populous. at the time and the number of people who. died most of the people who died under G. Khan's rule through war and Conquest.

happened during these three China. campaigns yeah about 30 about 30 million. people died and this is. over I mean 10 years I think less than. 10 years yeah I think so it's nuts man. yeah so he wanted to uh. continue going uh I guess West uh 1219. he made his way through. modern-day uh Central Asia like turkman. istan Afghanistan Iran and the Sha.

Muhammad there. said he killed an ambassador that they. had sent forward uh from a trading. Caravan and he had a big wal City and. he's like I'm going to be fine I'm not. sweating this guy right and uh he burned. the city down genghiskhan did including. a thousand of the soldiers who were in a. mosque hiding out killed about 100,000. people but of course like you said. earlier he spared the the skilled. Craftsmen and workers right and this is.

the the quam. quarz I even practice this one the. quism quism I think so Empire which um. it's capital city that he sacked is now. in usbekistan but I've seen it called. mostly like. Afghanistan. Iran for the most part this is the the. area it covered Iran is what I see it. mostly compared to these days yeah and. things are starting to get a little out.

of hand at this point and and it's. basically sort of due to the fact that. he there was he went too far there were. too many people too much land um when. you control your I think the the guy who. um wrote that article you sent said that. they weren't producers of anything the. Mongols yeah right or uh or Tradesmen. they were conquerors that's it yeah and. that's not like you got to diversify. from what I understand they didn't have. a written language. um they didn't do anything they just.

conquered people and took over your land. and then leeched off of you yeah which. is a good skill to to get going but if. that's all you can do I think he likened. it to a shark needing to feed right like. eventually you run out of lands to. conquer and then in the interior it's. such a huge corporation at this point it. gets unwieldy so gask Khan recognized. this at some point saw that he had. basically a a change of heart about.

agriculture about walled cities about a. sedentary lifestyle yeah and I think he. mostly saw like oh you can make way more. wealth this way so he turned from. conquering as much toward figuring out. how to administer this area that he. conquered again Eurasia is conquered. it's under this guy's this guy's had. never never been United before and is. hasn't been United s even under Soviet. Soviet rule the genas Khan's Empire was.

bigger yeah than that right um and so. he's put it together and he's like yeah. what do I do now and we'll talk about. that after this message how about that. yes. [Music]. [Music].

[Applause]. [Music]. okay Chuck so gask Khan has conquered. Eurasia and said what now what now urer. what do you guys want to do now I'm done. with killing not really. though well he died yeah I guess that's. right yeah and this is uh no one knows. quite how he died still uh some people. say he had a fall from a horse and was. injured eventually died other people.

said it might have been typhus there are. a few other theories floating around out. there but yeah like shot in the knee. with an arrow is my favorite yeah which. I guess just infection I I would die. from Pain. yeah uh it's interesting though in uh. August of 1227 when he was on his. deathbed like one of the last things he. did was say you know remember the. tanguts go kill all of them right that's. what he did I think they were the first.

people he conquered right they were the. XA um people okay the first people in. China and when he went to go um go. attack the qum Empire yeah he demanded. that they send some troops as. reinforcement and they said no he. defeated the qum and um turned around. and went right over to xah and was like. you guys are you're toast you're in. trouble and uh that was his last act as. as um a living person yeah he was.

succeeded by one of his son uh ogai who. took that stuff all the way to Europe oh. yeah like he had a bunch of suns uhuh. and I guess we might as well talk about. his lineage it's very famously the gask. Khan I mean what is it like one of every. 200 men something like. 0.5% of the total global population is. directly descended from him that's. amazing. it's amazing and.

gross that's a lot of people yeah he was. about 65 is when he died and no one. knows where he's buried no because they. killed everyone on the way to the the. funeral that's one and then also they. rode over his his grave with horses I. looked up did you ever go on. quora uh sure every now and then it's. great man yeah like you can you can. usually tell. who knows what they're talking about of. the answers to multiplay and frequently.

it's most of the people it's it's a very. it's a good. serious like it's a good place to get. info that you should then go double. check yeah but I agree though it's not. like the old days of uh what was the. terrible one years and years ago where. you would ask a question Yahoo questions. yeah probably or Yahoo yeah something. like that yeah there and there are a lot. of platforms like this this is a pretty. good it's not corre corupt yet how about. that yeah I think cor is pretty good. actually so um I went on Cor this one.

you can't really look up but um this one. guy two people like the question was why. was gask Kon buried in secret I think. and two people said um they didn't want. his grave robbed um makes sense they. wanted to make sure that the transfer of. power to his son was complete so they. had to keep his death a secret that. makes sense yada yada this one guy said. don't be idiots he was a little arrogant. but he said like don't be idiots genas. Khan was a. shamanistic person religiously fervent.

yeah he would have gone one of two ways. they would have cremated him and just. spread his ashes or they would have done. a sky burial remember we talked about. those before where they just left him on. the mountain side for the vultures to. pick over um they it wouldn't have. buried him with grave Goods he would. have been embarrassed with that so he's. the only person I saw say something like. that but it it gave me pause it made me. wonder if if the The Hidden Grave is. just you know more lore about gask Khan.

and Off the Mark interesting yeah well. his legacy looms large still not only in. his uh his uh. lineage from his. loins his overactive loins just leeching. out goop but depending on who you're. talking. to. um well he definitely did some things he. opened up trade right um the the West. got things like noodles and tea and.

playing cards he perhaps founded the the. very first version of what would later. be a post office uh which is uh what was. it called the yam yeah like a Pony. Express yeah like just different. stations the Pony Express yeah like. straight up but like 600 years before. the Pony. Express yeah exactly but uh depending on. who you're talking to some people lay. almost all of Modern Warfare at his feet. yeah which is sort of interesting cuz.

you can sort of draw a line back to his. tactics mhm that eventually would become. the Crusades or the uh the slaughtering. of the Aztecs and the Incas yeah so they. like they would learn from him and then. do that right because it was more of. that cultural conveyor belt that right. so they say that he conquered the qum. Empire came in contact with with Islam. um and taught them ferocity which the. Europeans learned during the Crusade and.

they took that ferocity back to Europe. and then eventually to the new world. which they used on the Native Americans. they found there and somebody said um no. the Europeans were already well-versed. in ferocity and brutality and warfare. they didn't need to learn it from gas. Khan that doesn't mean that's wrong. right but it does it's the suggestion. that the Europeans were naive to. brutality and warfare is is incorrect. well it's complete BS and the um the. author of that article also makes a good.

point and like you can't you can't look. and judge him by today's lens he wasn't. any more brutal than anyone else back. then it was just the number yeah he just. did it better that to me though so I. guess then maybe my problem is like. celebrating people who've killed tons of. people yeah like that's what I have a. problem at it base sure great man great. man history you know it bugs me it bugs. me too. we didn't come we didn't come across. that way did.

we but just just just by carrying on the. tradition of talking about this guy and. you know there's you definitely keep his. his little flame burning well and. there's a what 150ft statue of him yeah. like he's still very much revered well. let's talk about that like if you were. in Mongolia right now you're probably. pretty mad at me and Chuck apologies for. that we're really it's the great man. history thing we have a problem with but. um in Mongolia he is known as the.

founder of Mongolia yeah the um the. great basically the great the greatest. leader Mongolia has ever known and. possibly the world if you're a Mongolian. um and during that during the Soviet. occupation of Mongolia you were not. allowed to talk about him yeah they like. took him out of history books yeah. because they were trying to stamp out. any kind of nationalism in Mongolia at. the time so the moment the Soviets left. the Soviet Union dissolved they were. like gas Khan gas Khan gas Khan yeah.

they built a statue of him they named. him an airport after him they put him on. currency so he's definitely revered over. there but I think that that um art the. the author of the article I think his. name is Frank mlin I'm almost positive. it's really good article yeah it's great. Frank mlin um he wrote this wonderful. article called the brutal Brilliance of. gask Khan but he he points out. like whatever you think of the guy even. if he was the same as his contemporaries.

and it still seems alien to you yeah. like think about your own leaders your. own leaders send people to to to die on. the battlefield too and they're revered. as well sure for causes that aren't not. Noble right so the the the point is is I. guess don't hate on genas Khan hate hate. the game not the player right I guess so. wow boy this guy took a deep left turn. didn't it well it is interesting yeah.

you can talk about this dude forever. yeah he also makes the point too that. the the Mongols were um what he called. culturally. unbalanced so he's like you know at. least the Europeans while they were. slaughtering and killing were giving us. the Divine Comedy and Carmina barana and. these great Cathedrals and operas. whereas the Mongols were. just Barbarian Raiders and butchers all. slaughter no substance that's a. t-shirt yeah very famously too uh in the.

movies uh kingas Khan was played uh. twice once by John Wayne yep believe it. or not in the Conqueror and then Omar. shf uh okay said Egyptian also not close. to Mongolian right um I don't know if. that's better or worse than John Wayne. it's probably the same I think it's. worse or no better better well. now it'll be Hugh.

Jackman no I think Hollywood's changed. somewhat but like five years ago they. would have been like what about Jason. Mamoa or Matt Damon put one of those fum. Manu mustaches on him or they just pick. Mamoa because like he looks tough who's. he and he looks sort of ethnic he's a. guy that plays uh Aquaman ah I gotta and. is on uh very versatile ethic Game of. Thrones probably but and I even looked. up Mongolian American actors to see if. there was anyone out there who they. could tap into and I don't think there. are a lot of them probably have to be.

some some good unknown So speaking of. looking like a Mongolian okay got one. last thing are you done I'm done the. Mongolians were really really good at. propaganda and one of the ways that they. showed this was in Iran in Modern Day. Iran the qu quism man Empire when they. subjugated it one of the things they did. they said we are we don't have an.

alphabet we don't write things down but. you guys do and we want to put that to. good use you have great artists we want. you to do a history of the the. Mongols and the uh scribe said sure. we'll do that and we want you to do a. history of the world all the great. leaders in the world all the great. civilizations in the world we want you. to do those so they did they built this. they wrote this huge compendium a. universal history of the world but the.

Mongols had them illustrate like. illuminate the text and they had them. whenever they drew a leader or a. conqueror or an army they drew them as. Mongols oh interesting so they. insinuated themselves into history as. basically the the progenitors of all. greatness and thus Justified the. subjugation of this area wow um and they. did it through propaganda they had like. all that like copied you know hand.

copied and distributed as widely as they. could wow isn't that interesting yeah. there you go that's it all right uh if. you want to know more about Mongolia or. gingas Khan or any of that stuff you can. type those words into the search bar how. stuff works pick up a book you. Dingus and since Chuck said that it's. time for listener. mail uh Hey guys recently listened to to. the um show about burying Ferraris. wanted to share another cool story about.

an almost buried car uh in 2013. Brazilian billionaire count chin quingo. Scarpa uh made headlines when he. announced he wanted to bury his $500,000. Bentley oh my like the Pharaoh did with. their precious possessions so he could. supposedly ride around the afterlife and. style tracked tons of press and social. media Buzz with many people outraged he. would do something so. selfish uh on the day of the burial tons. of Brazilian press and media crew show. up to his house to see him bury his.

Bentley but moments before the car is. lowered in the ground the count pulls a. major plot twist and announces he won't. be bearing the car and he Reveals His. true intention to create. awareness. uh for organ donation wow cuz people are. buried with something valuable they're. organs and it was all a stunt and a use. of social media and Buzz Marketing. create awareness for organ donation that. is fantastic man what a cool guy. really interesting uh anyway guys big. fan of your show learned a lot from your.

stories over the years so I wanted to. take this chance to share this cool. story with you uh and that is from Kate. Miller who's looking forward to more. stories yeah thanks a lot Kate I. definitely had not heard about that it's. a good one um if you want to let us know. a cool story we want to hear it you can. send us all an email to stuff podcast. house storks.com and as always join us. at our home on the web stuff you should. know.com. stuff you should know is a production of.

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