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He was one of the most fearsome
warlords who ever lived,
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waging an unstoppable conquest
across the Eurasian continent.
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But was Genghis Khan a vicious barbarian
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or a unifier who paved the way
for the modern world?
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We'll see in "History vs. Genghis Khan."
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"Order, order.
Now who's the defendant today?
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Khan!"
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"I see Your Honor is familiar
with Genghis Khan,
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the 13th century warlord whose military
campaigns killed millions
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and left nothing
but destruction in their wake."
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"Objection. First of all,
it's pronounced Genghis Kahn."
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"Really?"
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"In Mongolia, yes.
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Regardless, he was one of the greatest
leaders in human history.
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Born Temüjin, he was left fatherless
and destitute as a child
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but went on to overcome constant strife
to unite warring Mongol clans
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and forge the greatest empire
the world had seen,
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eventually stretching from the Pacific
to Europe's heartland."
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"And what was so great
about invasion and slaughter?
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Northern China lost 2/3 of its population."
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"The Jin Dynasty had long harassed
the northern tribes,
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paying them off to fight each other
and periodically attacking them.
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Genghis Khan wasn't about
to suffer the same fate
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as the last Khan who tried
to unite the Mongols,
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and the demographic change may reflect
poor census keeping,
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not to mention that many peasants
were brought into the Khan's army."
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"You can pick apart numbers all you want,
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but they wiped out entire cities,
along with their inhabitants."
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"The Khan preferred enemies
to surrender and pay tribute,
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but he firmly believed in loyalty
and diplomatic law.
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The cities that were massacred were ones
that rebelled after surrendering,
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or killed as ambassadors.
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His was a
strict understanding of justice."
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"Multiple accounts show his army's
brutality going beyond justice:
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ripping unborn children
from mothers' wombs,
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using prisoners as human shields,
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or moat fillers to support siege engines,
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taking all women from conquered towns--"
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"Enough! How barbaric!"
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"Is that really so much worse
than other medieval armies?"
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"That doesn't excuse
Genghis Khan's atrocities."
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"But it does make Genghis Khan
unexceptional for his time
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rather than some bloodthirsty savage.
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In fact, after his unification
of the tribes abolished bride kidnapping,
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women in the Mongol ranks
had it better than most.
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They controlled domestic affairs,
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could divorce their husbands,
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and were trusted advisors.
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Temüjin remained with
his first bride all his life,
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even raising her possibly
illegitimate son as his own."
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"Regardless, Genghis Khan's
legacy was a disaster:
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up to 40 million killed across Eurasia
during his descendents' conquests.
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10% of the world population.
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That's not even counting
casualties from the Black Plague
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brought to Europe by
the Golden Horde's Siege of Kaffa."
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"Surely that wasn't intentional."
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"Actually, when they saw their own troops
dying of the Plague,
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they catapulted infected bodies
over the city walls."
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"Blech."
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"The accounts you're referencing
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were written over a hundred years
after the fact.
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How reliable do you think they are?
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Plus, the survivors reaped the benefits
of the empire Genghis Khan founded."
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"Benefits?"
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"The Mongol Empire practiced
religious tolerance among all subjects,
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they treated their soldiers well, promoted
based on merit, rather than birth,
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established a vast postal system,
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and inforced universal rule of law,
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not to mention their
contribution to culture."
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"You mean like Hulagu Khan's
annihilation of Baghdad,
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the era's cultural capital?
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Libraries, hospitals and palaces burned,
irrigation canals buried?"
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"Baghdad was unfortunate,
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but its Kalif refused to surrender,
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and Hulagu was later punished
by Berke Khan for the wanton destruction.
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It wasn't Mongol policy
to destroy culture.
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Usually they saved doctors, scholars
and artisans from conquered places,
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and transferred them
throughout their realm,
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spreading knowledge across the world."
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"What about the devastation of Kievan Rus,
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leaving its people in the Dark Ages
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even as the Renaissance
spread across Western Europe?"
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"Western Europe was hardly
peaceful at the time.
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The stability of Mongol rule
made the Silk Road flourish once more,
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allowing trade and cultural exchange
between East and West,
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and its legacy forged Russia and China
from warring princedoms
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into unified states.
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In fact, long after the Empire,
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Genghis Khan's descendants could be found
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among the ruling nobility
all over Eurasia."
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"Not surprising that a tyrant would inspire
further tyrants."
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"Careful what you call him.
You may be related."
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"What?"
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"16 million men today are descended
from Genghis Khan.
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That's one in ever 200."
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For every great conqueror,
there are millions of conquered.
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Whose stories will survive?
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And can a leader's historical
or cultural signifigance
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outweigh the deaths
they caused along the way?
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These are the questions that arise
when we put history on trial.