Genghis Khan: The Secret History of the Mongols (2025) s01e06 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: The mighty warrior,
Genghis Khan is dead,
and the Mongolian empire is
ruled by his son, Ogodei.
PROF SNEATH: It seemed as
if it was chalk and cheese.
Very different personal
qualities
between these two men.
NARRATOR: A wise
yet drunken ruler.
Ogodei Khan has built
a Mongolian capital
called Karakorum.
DR FAVERAU: Ogodei,
had a bigger vision
of what they could achieve
NARRATOR: Under his watch,
the Empire has expanded
dramatically,
and it continues to grow by
trade and also by force.
DR FAVERAU: They
felt under Ogodei,
'Well, who is going
to stop us?'
NARRATOR: Ogodei
Khan's nephew, Batu,
has gathered a great army
to capture more territory,
and with veteran General
Subutai at his side,
he has crushed the nomads
of the Northern steppes.
Now Batu and Subutai stand at
the brink of a new conquest
more colossal than either
could have imagined.
DR MAY: The Mongols,
their perspective was,
'We are meant to
rule the world.
You can either submit
or you can die'.
NARRATOR: Led by Chinggis
Khan's grandson, Batu,
the Mongolian army has traveled
deep into foreign lands.
Having defeated the nomads
of the Northern Steppes,
they now stand on the
border of Kievan-Rus,
a territory that today
comprises Western Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus.
Rich with people and goods,
it proves a tempting target.
After they deal with much of
the Steppes they do decide,
'as long as we're here,
let's go after these cities'.
PROF SNEATH: The size of the
army is probably something
like 120,000.
Batu Khan being of royal
blood, the Royal House,
grandson of Genghis, is
nominally in command
of the Mongol invasion
force, but his advisor,
Subutai is probably the
best of the Mongol generals.
He dates right back, He was
one of Chinggis Khan's
original commanders, and he
was the real strategist
and military genius behind
the Mongol invasion
of what became Russia.
DR FAVERAU: We always wonder
how the Mongol could conquer
so many different peoples, in
rather short amount of time,
and there is clearly
one explanation.
They know how to
fight in winter.
They really decided on
the decision of war,
people in village,
people in cities,
they don't fight in winter,
usually they don't know
how to organize themselves.
They are puzzled.
They are scared to do it.
The Mongols force them to fight
when they are not ready for it.
Mongols really can
stand a harsh cold,
and they are able also to
walk and fight on the ice.
PROF SNEATH: Being used
themselves to operate
in icy conditions, the Mongols
had no trouble operating
in this frozen landscape.
DR MAY: When they invade
Russia, the rivers are frozen.
That makes some highways
they can easily cross.
DR FAVERAU: If you look
at Central or Asia,
you see all those big rivers.
Imagine crossing this
when it's summertime.
Logistic is crazy.
PROF SNEATH: The ice was so
thick that it could support
men, horses, carts and so
on, to both cross them,
but also in some places,
to move along them.
DR FAVERAU: It transformed
central Eurasia into a place
where nothing can stop them.
PROF SNEATH: At the time,
the area that was known
as Kievan-Rus were actually
a set of principalities.
Each one usually had a city
and a series of local rulers,
almost like city states.
This set of principalities
now lay in the crosshairs
as the next target for
a Mongol invasion.
NARRATOR: The Mongols
breach the frozen borders
of Kievan-Rus, and descend
mercilessly on the city
of Ryazan, encircling
it, entrapping
the terrified inhabitants
within its walls.
DR MAY: The Mongols, typically,
before they would attack
anywhere, would give them
an option of surrender.
They would send envoys,
typically included someone
who could speak the
local language.
In one case with the Rus,
we do have a female envoy.
Now in the Rus sources, she's
described as a sorceress.
It's Orthodox Christianity,
'thou shalt not suffer
a witch to live', and
so they kill her.
And of course, if you
kill a Mongol envoy,
you've basically sealed
your own death warrant.
NARRATOR: Avenging the
death of their envoy,
the Mongol forces
besiege Ryazan.
After days of
fierce bombardment,
the city falls and is
burned to the ground.
The royal family is executed,
the population slaughtered,
all to send a gruesome
warning to nearby cities
surrender or die.
DR FAVERAU: Their longer
way of war that you see
in the Russian principalities
is trying to make them
understand they have not a
chance against the Mongol,
and force them to open
up the city doors.
The victory is a victory when
the city is not destroyed,
it's left untouched
and unarmed.
Some thought it's better
to align with the Mongol.
Some others said,
okay, no way.
We can't let them conquer us.
PROF SNEATH: This is
a really major force,
and it's able to overwhelm one
Russian city after then next.
Ryazan, Suzdal, Rostov.
One after another, they fall
to the invading Mongol army.
DR MAY: I really doubt that
the Rus were caught unaware.
They had to be aware
of the Mongols.
They certainly would have
heard at least something
and people fleeing
from the Mongols,
I don't think they
fully appreciated
the magnitude of the
Mongol threat.
NARRATOR: Having refined
the art of warfare
under Chinggis Khan
and his son Ogodei,
the Mongols have become an
unstoppable force.
Their battle tactics,
unrivaled.
City after city
crumbles before them.
They use a terrifying
encircling technique
against their prey. It
is called the Nerge.
DR MAY: The Nerge
is a hunting circle.
You have many guys who form a
line that eventually forms
a circle, and then that circle
draws in and contracts,
driving the game
into a center area.
All of the riders in the
Nerge have to maintain
their line and prevent any
animal from escaping.
Now, instead of herding
animals, you're herding people.
So you can control the
movement of people.
You can drive people from
outlying villages into cities,
and the Mongols are doing
this on a scale that spans
hundreds of miles.
They're attacking
multiple points.
They're preventing any
unity of the Kievan-Rus
principalities from forming.
NARRATOR: Thanks to
their unmatched skills
on the battlefield, the Mongols
continue to advance across
the land, destroying cities
that refuse to surrender.
Moscow shares this
dreadful fate.
DR FAVERAU: So Moscow, at that
time, it was made of wood.
DR MAY: Of course, there
are some stone buildings,
but mainly wood, because
they're in a forest and well,
you have plenty of wood
to make cities with.
And they typically always
allow people to escape,
because you can't sow terror
unless there are survivors.
PROF SNEATH: Up
north in Novgorod,
the rulers simply
surrenders to them,
which undoubtedly would have
been sacked along with
the rest if they didn't put
up any kind of resistance.
NARRATOR: This invasion
leaves a trail of destruction,
permanently reshaping
Kievan-Rus.
Yet contrary to popular
belief, the Mongols
were not merely
agents of death.
DR MAY: They did destroy,
but where they saw it
as important, they
also rebuilt.
DR FAVERAU: Reconstruction
starts very quickly,
also after the conquest.
Destructions come quick,
but reconstructions
come even quicker.
DR MAY: They did not
want to live in cities.
They did understand their
importance and would take
steps to help these towns
recover, because they viewed
it as integral for trade,
which brought in more wealth
for the Mongols.
PROF SNEATH: After the Mongol
conquest, very frequently,
local rulers were allowed to
get on with ruling their own
local areas that provided
they swore fealty
to the Mongol Khans. Their
tribute had to be delivered.
Orders had to be obeyed,
but there wasn't very much
by way of direct
Mongol administration
of those Rus areas.
They basically they were either
killed or they swore fealty
to the new overlords.
NARRATOR: Whether through
annihilation or surrender,
cities of Kievan-Rus fall
one by one
to the unstoppable armies
of the Mongolian empire.
Their invasion of the
West has only just begun.
In the wake of their initial
victories in Kievan-Rus
the Mongolian army under the
command of Ogodei Khan's
nephew, Batu, settle
in the Don Basin.
They must rest and regroup
if they are to take
their campaign deeper
into foreign lands.
PROF SNEATH: These were lands
that could easily be used
for Mongol rulers themselves
to their own royal centers,
and frequently they did
actually live in and around
these grassland regions.
And it's from there
that Batu Khan himself,
once he's established
power in the region,
exercised indirect control
over the principalities
of the Rus in the North.
DR FAVERAU: The family
come, they join, actually.
They don't go on the
battlefield, of course,
but they organize a camp.
So the Mongol warriors are
not alone and fighting,
but they have the logistic
of the family behind them,
which helped them
just to get the food.
Also, it's part of the
logistic of the armies.
So, it's a very different
type of war.
NARRATOR: As the
Mongol force rests,
maintaining control over the
Kievan-Rus principalities
requires an intricate web of
contacts, envoys and spies.
One such figure rumored to
have joined Batu service
is an English knight.
PROF SNEATH: There's only a
few fragments of information
about this Englishman who seems
to end up in the service
of Batu Khan.
It's speculated that he
might have been originally
from the Crusades.
At some point in the Holy Land,
he detached himself, got lost.
JOHN: They were adept
at taking on anybody
who was willing to speak to
them about what was happening
in foreign parts.
And he's a bit of an
aristocratic down and out
who was extremely
good at languages.
PROF SNEATH: He probably
was engaged in translating
material and gathering
information,
intelligence information
for Batu Khan.
Batu and Subutai were making
use of various kinds of
networks and connections
to gather information
about the European kingdoms
that they now faced.
NARRATOR: Operating
on a wide front,
the Mongols attack the
remaining cities
of the Kievan Rus and
their biggest target
will be their religious
and cultural capital.
DR MAY: You have Mongol
armies from the North,
you have Mongol armies
coming up from Steppe,
and they all converge on Kiev.
PROF SNEATH: Kiev was the
center of Christian learning
at the time, sort of glittering
golden center, most famous,
largest, richest of
these principalities.
DR MAY: The prince of Kiev,
he flees and leaves them
to their fate.
PROF SNEATH: There's the
usual kind of massacre
after Kiev falls.
DR MAY: Many people take
refuge in the many churches
of Kiev, thinking, well,
that they'll be safe there.
Those churches are
also made out of wood.
Rather than trying to cut
through and you know bust
the doors open, they'll just
light up the churches.
PROF SNEATH: Particularly
shocking to many
of the Chronicles, since they
were frequently churchmen,
was the sacking of
churches and Cathedrals.
Mongols had very little
respect, really
for this particular religion.
NARRATOR: The Mongolian
siege of Kiev was their most
ruthless yet, and the
savage aftermath
would remain a warning
for years to come.
DR MAY: Later, in the mid-1240s
we have a Franciscan friar,
a missionary, who's also
serving as a papal envoy
to the Mongols. He's
traveling through
and as he's approaching Kiev,
long before he
ever reaches Kiev,
he just sees rows and
rows of skeletons,
just bones scattered on
the approaches to Kiev,
which gives us an idea of
the size of the massacre.
With the Rus conquered,
now what?
Well they could
continue going west.
PROF SNEATH: Having
moved through Russia,
they're really on
the fringes of
what we would think
of as Europe now.
Refugees had started to pour
into neighboring areas,
particularly Hungary.
Béla the Fourth, the
ruler of Hungary,
was faced with refugees and
nobles and Royals rocking up
on his borders, begging
for entry for refuge
from the invading
Mongol army.
So, there was already, kind
of, shock waves radiating out
from the Mongol conquests.
NARRATOR: Batu and Subutai
have overrun the Kievan-Rus
who have destroyed their
cultural capital.
Refugees from their destructive
campaigns have fled
to Hungary in the hope it
will provide refuge,
but there will be no escape
from the Mongol onslaught.
DR MAY: The Kingdom of Hungary
was a very powerful kingdom,
and had been making inroads
into the southern steps around
the Black Sea, trying to
extend their influences.
And the Hungarians knew
the Mongols were coming.
You have refugees
coming in from the Rus.
You have Kipchaks
fleeing from the Rus.
NARRATOR: The nomadic
Kipchaks people had suffered
the invasion of Batu's forces
when his campaign first
pushed into the West.
Their survivors now seek
sanctuary in Hungary.
PROF SNEATH: The Mongols had
demanded them back because
they considered them to
be runaway subjects,
but Béla the fourth,
the King of Hungary,
won't send back
the Kipchaks.
Probably couldn't,
they're very powerful.
They're already
on his territory,
so he instead tried to shelter
them and also make use of them.
They could provide the same
kind of military skills
as the Mongols themselves had.
The threatening messages that
Béla the fourth received
from the Mongols left him in
no doubt that he could expect
to be attacked next.
DR FAVERAU: They want
him killed basically,
because they say this, this
guy did not submit to us.
So, they have one thing in
mind is really to get rid of
this powerful king.
DR MAY: And so the
Mongols invade.
NARRATOR: The Mongolian
forces not only raid Hungary,
but their neighbor, Poland
too, invading to prevent them
from helping King Béla.
JOHN: The invasion incorporated
two great columns.
DR MAY: They'll send a
small army to Poland,
and then the main army,
led by Batu and Subutai,
goes into Hungary.
JOHN: And these two were
somehow in communication
with each other. There were
messengers galloping
between the two that each
know where the other was.
DR MAY: In Poland 1241, we
had the Battle of Liegnitz.
PROF SNEATH: This is a typical
Central or Eastern European
army of the time.
DR MAY: Polish knights,
Teutonic Knights,
maybe a handful of Templars.
Peasant levies.
Then the Mongol army
of maybe 20,000 men.
The Mongols approach,
they're shooting arrows
at the lines of the Europeans.
And then the Knights
were restless,
and they charged the Mongols.
The Knights have the Mongols
fleeing for their lives,
and then we see
that it's a trap.
Before they know it, Mongol
cavalry are attacking
their flanks. They're
shooting arrows.
Once they start breaking up,
it's individual warriors
on their own.
JOHN: The Knights were
vastly over armored
and extremely cumbersome.
Of course, the Mongolians
and their small ponies
could gallop in and out of
their ranks extremely easily.
And once upset, a Polish
knight was an easy victim.
NARRATOR: A finely
honed war machine.
The Mongols wield a
relentless arsenal of tactics
that the Polish knights
are unable to counter.
DR MAY: There are Mongol
riders with these pots
that are billowing smoke.
They're making a
smoke screen.
The infantry can't see what's
happening on the other part
of the battlefield.
They can hear the screams,
and then out of the smoke,
you see Mongol riders coming
with lances and swords.
As they charge, they maintain
silence until shortly
before contact where they
lit out a scream of "ure",
from once we get
the words 'Hurray',
it's a Mongol battle cry.
And then they hit you, and
there's also Mongol riders
flanking you, going around you,
and this army is decimated.
PROF SNEATH: Mongol
forces easily destroyed
the Polish ones at Liegnitz.
They faced little chance
against a really well-oiled
and practiced Mongol
military machine,
which was probably really
far more sophisticated
and definitely
more experienced.
NARRATOR: Batu and Subutai
armies cannot be stopped.
News of their military
success eventually reaches
their powerful leader, Ogodei
Khan, who is thousands
of miles away in Mongolia's
new capital city, Karakorum.
DR MAY: Ogodei remains
in Karakorum in Mongolia
while the European
campaign is going on.
He has been in power
for about five years.
He's not going on
campaign anymore.
PROF SNEATH: There are
accounts of Ogodei
being advised to leave the
campaigning to others
and to concentrate himself
on just having a good time,
probably in and around,
Karakorum his capital.
DR MAY: He's ruling.
He's working on the
administration.
He's dealing with merchants.
He's dealing with other
people who come to Karakorum.
PROF SNEATH: The Empire is
expanding so quickly that
to be an imperial overlord, to
exercise some kind of influence
and control over all
these moving parts.
It was quite politically
astute to take up residence
in the center.
DR MAY: He's enjoying
a good life.
Ogodei has sort of a popular
image of being the jolly drunk.
He seems jovial in many
of the sources, humorous.
As they expand, they have new
forms of alcohol coming into
the Mongol Empire and
to the Mongol court.
And the great thing about
being the Khan is you get
the best of everything.
So Ogodei has his choice of new
alcohols to try and try he does.
NARRATOR: Ogodei is a lover
of indulgence and excess,
yet beneath his drunken facade
lies the mind of a sharp
tactician, and he governs
wisely with his wife Töregene
serving as a vital counselor.
DR DASHDONDOG: She was also main
ruler of the Mongol Empire.
She had a great influence on
the decisions of the Khan.
Any deals with the religion,
she would deal with their own
issues and say just
how to pacify them,
how to solve these issues
and how it would be done.
DR FAVERAU: With Ogodei
there's also a lot of time
at court for arts, music,
dance, wrestling.
The Mongols are probably the
richest people on earth
at that time, people would come
from far away trying to get
into the Mongol land and
discover the life there,
integrating new habits,
new fashion, new foods.
Karakorum, it becomes
a real city.
PROF SNEATH: Ogodei consolidated
a lot of the Mongol Empire,
and we know that he
introduced new reforms.
He introduced various kinds of
taxes and generally attended
to management and
administration of this
now increasingly vast empire.
He established the
Yam relay system,
an extraordinary network
of relay stations,
which meant that messages could
be sent across 1000s of miles
extremely rapidly by a sort
of Pony Express relay
of messengers, swapping horses
every 15 or 20 miles across
vast distances.
DR FAVERAU: And that's also
changed the face of trade
in central Eurasia developed
up to the Abbasid Caliphate,
up to Middle East.
It covered now middle
Eurasia as well,
and certainly more of China.
NARRATOR: These new horse and
rider relays not only ensure
control over the empire, but
enabled swift coordination
between Mongol forces
during their conquests.
PROF SNEATH: The Mongol military
machine was in many ways,
far superior to anything
available to European rulers
at that time, they got really
well tested and developed
systems for coordinating large
numbers of troops they could
and did operate in independent
columns that struck different
targets and then rendezvoused.
NARRATOR: It is through these
carefully coordinated assaults
that Ogodei is able to strike
against numerous foes.
During his reign, he sends
forces against Korea, Georgia,
Armenia and the Song
Dynasty of China.
Yet his greatest war is
the one led by Subutai
and Batu against King
Béla of Hungary,
who was supported by a
fearsome army
bolstered with
Kipchak refugees.
DR MAY: So we turn our
gaze to Hungary King Béla.
He views the Kipchaks as a
valuable military asset.
He's gathered his army.
It's a large army,
maybe 70,000
immense for a European
army at this time.
NARRATOR: The enormous
Hungarian army has a deep
understanding of the
surrounding lands and rivers,
giving them a huge
tactical advantage.
This will be Batu and
Subutai toughest battle yet.
DR MAY: They've reached a
point by the Sajó River,
known as Mohi.
PROF SNEATH: They've got a
kind of strong hold next
to the river that they
were trying to defend.
DR DASHDONDOG: When Mongols
approached to this river,
there was only one bridge
which Béla people burned it
so Mongols couldn't cross it.
PROF SNEATH: Nevertheless,
Batu Khan advances
and engages the
Hungarian force.
DR MAY: They attack
and initially, that's not
working out, and
eventually they'll decide
they're going to advance
with a rolling barrage.
NARRATOR: Batu sends wave
after wave of battle-hardened
warriors to break the
Hungarian forces.
PROF SNEATH: This was one way
in which battle could inflict
casualties on the defenders
in the course of the battle.
While Subutai crosses
the river further down,
circles around the back and
eventually pins the Hungarians
up against the river.
DR MAY: The Hungarians had
taken all their wagons
formed a circle, essentially
a fortified it,
so you can't just charge in.
So the Mongols encircle
it, tried to draw
the Hungarians out.
PROF SNEATH: It was
actually touch and go.
It was by no means certain
that the Mongols were going
to win in this case.
DR MAY: The Hungarians notice
there appears to be a gap
in the Mongol lines.
So, they can either sit here
and wait for the Mongols
to wear them down, or they can
try to fight their way out
towards that gap.
Unfortunately for
them, it was a trap.
It's always easier to kill
people when they're running
away and not fighting back,
so then your riders
can just ride them down.
PROF SNEATH: It ends in
a really unmistakable
and decisive Mongol victory.
DR DASHDONDOG: One of the
main examples of great
strategies of Subutai
PROF SNEATH: A kind of brilliant
campaign that illustrates
many of the strengths of the
Mongol method of war.
It was a comprehensive
Mongol victory,
but Béla the fourth of
Hungary, the king, escapes.
DR FAVEREAU: One of the
rare, you know, rulers
who really managed
to escape the Mongols.
PROF SNEATH: The fleet
of the Hungarians
of the armies scattered.
Batu extends control
over most of Hungary.
NARRATOR: The Mongols
ravage Hungary,
besieging and
leveling its cities.
In the aftermath
of the invasion,
a quarter of the population
of Hungary is left dead,
either slaughtered in battle
or starved by the crippling
famine that sweeps
across the land.
DR FAVEREAU: Now, Mongols are
really close to Western Europe.
DR MAY: It looks like maybe
they're going to invade Austria.
There are Mongol riders
seen near Vienna.
JOHN: At that point, the rest
of Europe has gone berserk
with the fear of what's
about to descend on them.
PROF SNEATH: There are these
scaremongering accounts
emerging of this
kind of diabolical,
devilish people arriving from
the east and Christendom
itself being under threat.
DR MAY: Naturally, people
are looking for scapegoats.
We have two of the most
influential figures,
the Pope and the
Holy Roman Emperor,
squabbling over
whose fault it is.
And next thing you know, both
of them are declaring crusades.
We get all sorts of fears
being played out in letters
going back and forth between
rulers, between priests,
between monks.
PROF SNEATH: This becomes a sort
of moment of heightened panic.
It seems that no one can
stop these strange invaders
from the East.
DR MAY: Wherever
the Mongols go,
whether it's the Islamic
world, the Orthodox world,
or Catholic Christendom,
there's an apocalyptic
sense of dread.
PROF SNEATH: Rulers across
Europe begin to wonder how
and if the invaders
can be stopped.
By 1241, the Mongol Empire is
kind of at its zenith to date.
It includes an enormous amount
of territory stretching
from the edges of Hungary and
Poland right across Eurasia
to Korea in the east.
So this is a colossal
continent spanning empire
that has been forged in
an extraordinarily
short space of time.
DR MAY: There is now no
threat to those new lands
the Mongol has conquered,
whether it's the Kievan Rus
lands or the Kipchak steps.
DR FAVEREAU: The Mongols,
they don't have to prove
they can move the
will, it's clear.
NARRATOR: Ogodei Khan is the
most powerful man in the world.
He stands on the precipice
of conquering Europe.
His armies seemingly
unstoppable.
PROF SNEATH: At this moment in
1241, Ogodei Khan himself dies.
JOHN: He was a
notorious drunkard
and basically died of drink.
PROF SNEATH: It's pretty
certain that his lifestyle
led to his relatively
early death.
He seemed to have
indulged himself freely
in all sorts of past times.
No surprise perhaps that he
didn't live to a ripe old age.
DR MAY: There are some rumors
that maybe he was poisoned.
There are some things that he
might have done to diminish
the power and authority
of his sister,
Al-Altan and some
other sisters.
They had significant influence
and often returned to court.
And so there's a question of
maybe one of them got fed up
with Ogodei's grasping hands
at trying to accumulate
more power and territory,
taking away from his sisters
and so one of them
poisoned him.
There's also a possibility
that maybe his wife, Töregene,
poisoned him.
PROF SNEATH: After the
death of her husband,
she helps run the Imperial
bureaucracy and prepare
for the Kurultai, where the
new Emperor will be decided.
DR DASHDONDOG:
All Mongol Khan's,
they have to nominate the
successors, he didn't.
He thought he would live
longer, so he didn't mention
his successor.
DR MAY: Maybe Töregene decided,
maybe she should step in
and help her number one
son take the throne.
PROF SNEATH: So with
the death of Ogodei,
the question of
who will succeed,
this becomes a
central feature.
What other noble houses,
the other royal branches
of the family, also definitely
had ambitions here.
DR FAVEREAU: Political
tension among the Mongols.
So the conquest stopped.
War stopped because Mongols
need to gather to organize
a great assembly, great
Kurultai and decide
who's going to be next.
PROF SNEATH: The main princes
as well as the top commanders
and nobles return to Mongolia
to begin the process of working
on the succession, trying to
come to some accommodation
between the different factions
within the empire so that
a new emperor can be crowned.
The Mongol Empire is
poised it seems to invade
and conquer much, or
possibly all, of Europe.
DR MAY: But individuals like
Subutai would have to go back
for a Kurultai to
select a new ruler.
PROF SNEATH: It looks like
the news of Ogodei's death
reaches the Mongol armies in
Europe, probably in 1242,
and that's when the
withdrawal begins
from the eastern
part of Europe.
DR MAY: But they decided to
abandon these conquest.
NARRATOR: Although Europe
is within their grasp,
Subutai and Batu must
abandon their campaign,
summoned to Karakorum
to choose the next Khan.
Europe has been saved by
Ogodei untimely death.
DR FAVEREAU: It will never
try after that to get back
to Hungary, but they will
never go on in the West,
because they consider that
this is a solid border
that worked well.
PROF SNEATH: So, it's a really
fascinating question as
to whether or not the Mongols
could have conquered Europe
if Ogodei had not died and
the Mongol war machine
had continued to roll west.
It's by no means certain that
the Mongols would have been
stopped if they continued.
Certainly, if you look at the
sophistication of their armies,
excellent and very
developed communication,
it's actually quite possible
that they could have defeated
any of the European armies that
were fielded against them.
NARRATOR: Ogodei Khan
is dead.
His sudden death has left the
Mongolians without a successor,
paralyzing their
military expansion.
However, despite this turmoil,
the Empire remains unmatched
in scale and power.
PROF SNEATH: Father and son,
Chinggis Khan and Ogodei Khan,
have, between them, forged
and then consolidated about
the largest contiguous land
empire to date in the Eurasian
continent, all the way
from Korea and the East
right through to
Hungary in the West.
So this is an extraordinary
achievement.
DR FAVEREAU: The significance
of the Mongol Empire
in global history is
huge, and actually
it has been
rediscovered in a way.
Actually we think today we
saw in that it's comparable
to Roman Empire or
Ottoman Empire.
DR DASHDONDOG: The
Mongols shaped the world
which we know today.
URADYN: There wouldn't be
Russian, rural Russian,
without a Mongol conquest,
there wouldn't be Iran, Iraq,
you know, all these Middle
Eastern people without Mongol
conquest, there wouldn't
be Central Asia
without a Mongol conquest.
Korea, Japan, were very
much defined, you know,
who they are in relation
to the Mongolians.
DR FAVEREAU: Nationalistic
discourse, they would say,
well, Mongol period is the
worst period for us.
Because of them, we didn't
get into modernity
as quickly as we should have.
It has to be seen as a
negative period of history.
And now, of course,
thanks to the work also
of many researchers, it's really
an international endeavor,
we really are able to show
and prove, based on fact,
that it's a very rich
period of human history
with a lot of development
in many, many ways.
They put together cultures,
religions, peoples.
They had their own taste.
They had their own
vision of things.
So, they are very active
in art, in science.
Cartography was super
important for them.
So they mapped the world
differently under the Mongols.
So the vision we have
of the world really
is coming from the
Mongol period.
MRS TSEDEVDAMBA: Mongolia
today is the heartland
where everything started.
So where built Chinggis
his own country,
where Chinggis Khan Tribe
started its journey.
We are a proud continuation
of Chinggis Khan's legacy.
PROF SNEATH: Ogodei Khan is
definitely eclipsed, I think,
now in the historical memory
by his father, Chinggis Khan.
Chinggis Khan was this
continent spanning conqueror.
He'd come from a really
difficult position,
an exiled prince who'd become
this unbelievably successful
and powerful Emperor.
Where Chinggis had this
hardness, this will to succeed,
this will to power, Ogodei
was easy going, charming,
indulgent and self-indulgent.
So it seemed as if it
was chalk and cheese,
very different kinds
of personal qualities
between these two men.
But it has to be said
that Chinggis Khan began
the process, but the area
under proper Mongol Imperial
administration almost
doubled during the period
of Ogodei Khan's reign.
DR FAVEREAU: I don't think
that Chinggis Khan
ever thought like
conquering the world,
but I think that he thought,
I'm going to conquer
the nomadic world,
which was the most
important world for him.
Ogodei, he had a bigger vision
of what he could achieve,
because the Mongol armies
they've been so far,
maybe even felt under Ogodei,
well, who's going to stop us?
NARRATOR: In just
two generations,
the Mongolian empire has
grown from a group of warring
factions into one of the most
powerful forces on Earth,
guided by its future Khans,
its expansion will continue,
shaping it into the greatest
empire humanity has ever known.
PROF SNEATH: It's impossible
to find a good parallel
with the scope and scale
of this imperial conquest,
but all of that began with
The story of Chinggis Khan.