All language subtitles for Genghis Khan s01e04 The Unstoppable Empire.eng

NARRATOR: The mighty
Chinggis Khan

has risen to become
the undisputed leader

of the Mongols.

Uniting the once divided
people under his command.

DR MAY: Chinggis Khan did
something no one else

had done before.

Taken the Mongols farther than
they've ever been before.

This was a whole
new world for them.

NARRATOR: Having reshaped
society and quelled

all internal opposition,
his ambitions have shifted

beyond Mongolia's lands.

Chinggis Khan conquered
his enemies, the Tanguts,

who now swear loyalty
to the Mongols.

His armies in the East have
killed the emperor of the Jin

and continue to
ravage their lands.

DR MAY: You get the sense
of overwhelming dread about

the Mongol invasion.

NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
is now in his fifties.

And has been in command of the
Mongolian people for ten years

and now his gaze turns west.

His forces will travel
further than ever before

where a new wave
of destruction

awaits his enemies.

PROF SNEATH: 1216
Chinggis Khan controls

the whole of the
eastern steppe.

He's also master in effect
of a lot of northern China

and he's expanding eastward.

NARRATOR: The Jin in the east
and the Tanguts to the south

have felt the awesome power
of the Mongolian army

but to the west lies a
new potential threat,

a great Empire that could
challenge the might

of Chinggis Khan.

DR FAVEREAU: There is a big
power just on the west

that is called the
Qara Khitai Empire.

Qara Khitai is the big
central Asian Empire

that is just next to
the new Mongol Empire.

This is really a core area.

Mainly on trade connection
which is super important

for Chinggis Khan.

JOHN: The Qara Khitai were the
people who were kicked out

by the Jin over
in the Far East.

They migrated on masse and
had fled one of the princes

who'd been defeated by
Genghis and he'd taken over

and was therefore a threat.

DR FAVEREAU: The Qara Khitai,
led by one of Genghis Khan's

worst enemies.

They are not going to trade
peacefully with the Mongols.

Genghis Khan starts
putting some pressure

on the Qara Khitai Empire.

PROF SNEATH: He sends one
of his ace generals, Jebe.

He begins to take over
and occupy regions

from the Qara Khitan
Dynastic rule.

DR FAVEREAU: This
conquest is very fast.

When the Mongols arrived
many people opened doors

and said ok we are happy
to make a deal with you

as long as you let us
practice our religion, Islam.

The Mongols thought that
religious agreements

they can practice their
religion as long as

they support Mongol power.

It's implemented first
time in Qara Khitai land,

then it will be implemented
everywhere in the Empire

by the Mongols and it's
gonna work very well.

PROF SNEATH: Now Chinggis
Khan's prime left tenant

is basically ensconced in
the Qara Khitan capitol.

DR FAVEREAU: So this whole
part of central Asia entered

the Mongol Empire,
absorbed by the Mongols.

And the Mongols gain access
to this trade network.

JOHN: It was an essential
part in his progress.

PROF SNEATH: As part
of that expansion,

Chinggis Khan's Empire is
bumping into another rival

Empire emerging
from the west.

DR MAY: The Khwarazmian
Empire, the largest Islamic

Empire of the early
13th century.

PROF SNEATH: Mohammed,
the king of Khwarazmian,

had expanded successfully
over much of the Middle East.

A lot of Persian areas
were now tributary to him.

Emerging from Khwarazmian way
out west to the Caspian Sea

and we're still in the
process of growing,

Mohammed the second had
been really successful.

DR MAY: He's done
some great conquests.

He's extended the Khwarazmian
Empire to its greatest extent.

DR DASHDONDOG: Khwarazmian
was the richest Empire

of their time.

Rich in the wealth, rich in
people, rich in culture.

PROF SNEATH: In many ways
there were a lot of

similarities actually
between the Mongol conquest

and those of the
Khwarazmian Shah.

Khwarazmian also controlled
a lot of urban

and agricultural areas so
they had more by the way

of infantry and other
sedentary forces.

Both of them drew upon steppe
land subjects to form

the basis of their
cavalry units.

Expanding across the
territories and gaining

this submission from
various cities and regions.

Most local rulers would often
be left in place provided

they swore fealty
to the new ruler,

in this case the
Khwarazmian Shah.

They were trying to mop up
territory and gain wealth

and power from the regions

they controlled just
as Chinggis was.

Chinggis Khan's Empire
expanding to the west

and the Khwarazmian Empire
expanding to the east.

DR MAY: Sultan Mohammed
Khwarazmian Shah,

the ruler of the
Khwarazmian Empire,

he was dealing with
nomadic raiders

and stumbled across the
track of the Mongols,

Mohammed is able to
catch up with them.

He encounters Jochi.

Jochi does not want to fight
the Khwarazmian Empire.

He tells Mohammed, we're
going back to Mongolia.

Mohammed says, you're
invaders, I am powerful,

I am the second
Alexander the great

and they fight the Mongols,

even though Jochi's
armies are outnumbered,

they fight the Khwarazmian
to a standstill.

The battle ends at nightfall.

They're out on the open
steppe, it gets dark fast.

Under the cover of night,
the Mongols who never wanted

the fight, they leave, but
the battle the previous day

shook Mohammed to his core;

he'd never fought
an army like this.

So he knows the
Mongols are dangerous,

Mohamed Khwarazmian Shah,
feeling quite confident

in his power and he sends a
caravan to the Jin Empire

to gather intelligence.

And this caravan meets Chinggis
Khan and they see the siege

of Zhongdu, they see what's
happening in the Jin Empire

and they come back and
they tell Mohammed,

who views himself as the
second Alexander the Great,

it looks like there
is a new power.

PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
seems to have been very

prepared to coexist with
the Khwarazmian Empire.

He's occupied by the Jin.

He seems to have wanted to
initiate trading relations

with the Khwarazmian Empire.

JOHN: In which Chinggis was
interested because he liked

the idea of trade routes
which would bring him wealth

which would be useful for
preserving the loyalty

of his generals
and his allies.

PROF SNEATH: His first
advances were diplomatic;

he offers to look upon
the Shah in a kindly way

as if he were a son and so
on, so it was a little bit

patronizing but sort of
nevertheless friendly

so it's to try and
establish good relations

with his western
neighbor.

DR DASHDONDOG: Sending
three times his ambassadors

to negotiate with the
Khwarazmian Shah

about what to trade
and how to cooperate.

And a big caravan of goods
were sent to Khwarazmian.

JOHN: He sent a trade mission.

He would have regarded
them as envoys;

the idea was that a trade
mission would establish

trade links with the
Khwarazmian Empire

and everyone would benefit.

DR MAY: The caravan that
Chinggis Khan sends

to central Asia to the
Khwarazmian Empire

consists of approximately
100 merchants

and 400 camels each camel
can carry about 400 pounds

of goods so this includes
silk, and spices, furs,

and allegedly there is a
gold nugget the size

of a camel's neck. And if
you're familiar with

the size of a camel that's
a really big nugget.

JOHN: This mission was seen
by the local governor

in the town called
Otrar which exists.

DR MAY: And the Governor there
decides that these merchants

are probably spies.

PROF SNEATH: It's true
to say that the Mongols

had a reputation for
using merchants as spies

and gathered
intelligence that way.

DR DASHDONDOG: The
governor of Otrar City

took all these goods and
killed all the merchants.

DR MAY: Basically they robbed
the caravan by killing everyone.

The governor there probably got
permission from Sultan Mohammed.

JOHN: Chinggis acknowledged
if you want your own envoy

to be protected you better
protect the envoys

that come to you as well.

So it was a sort of diplomatic
no-no to kill an envoy.

DR MAY: However there
was a camel tender.

He survived the massacre.
He escapes.

He goes back to the Mongols
and he informs them

of what happened.

PROF SNEATH: Chinggis
sends some more envoys

to try to establish
what's gone wrong.

DR DASHDONDOG: Chinggis Khan
asks Khwarazmian Shah

to send him the Governor of
Otrar who killed his traders.

Of course, they reject it.

DR MAY: Mohammed burns
the beards of the guards

and then kills the envoy.

JOHN: As a result, drove
Chinggis into a fit of rage,

such as nobody had
ever seen before.

PROF SNEATH: This fall for
Chinggis Khan, is undoubtedly

a declaration of war?

To him it's now unmistakable
that the Khwarazmian's,

are bent on military
conflict.

DR MAY: Sultan Mohammed
believes he's the most

powerful ruler, but he's not as
powerful as he thinks he is.

PROF SNEATH: Not surprisingly,
Chinggis feels

very much up to
the challenge.

He's never been
faced down before.

He decided that he was
unable to live alongside

such an aggressive power
as the Khwarazmians.

JOHN: He headed west
instead of finishing

the campaign against Jin.

PROF SNEATH: And he summons
his armies to prepare for

a major new campaign into the
Empire of the Khwarazmians.

NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan,
enraged by the Khwarazmian

Shah's rejection of
diplomacy and the slaughter

of his envoys,
gathers his armies,

they will enter the biggest
war the Mongolian Empire

has ever faced.

DR MAY: The Mongols then
start attacking various parts

of the Khwarazmian Empire.

DR DASHDONDOG: It became the
start of the Mongol war,

which was directed
towards the Middle East.

PROF SNEATH: Chinggis
Khan's Invasion of

the Khwarazmian Empire was an
enormous military campaign.

Quite how big his forces were
isn't really well established

down from 70,000 way
up to maybe 200,000

but whatever the size
of the invasion force,

it's pretty certain that
the most reliable troops

would have been his step
cavalry that had taken

the Mongols to victory so
many times before, augmented

and supported by other kinds
of specialist troops.

They've got siege
engineers and so on,

some of them drawn from the
areas of what is now northern

China and Manchuria, as well
as other kinds of specialist

troops, which they bring in for
this big new western expansion.

Chinggis Khan makes his sons
key military commanders there.

He also relies upon one
of his ace generals, Jebe.

NARRATOR: Anticipating
the tough war ahead.

Chinggis Khan calls upon
his subjects, the Tanguts,

for assistance.

DR MAY: One of the
generals says, well,

if you don't have
enough troops, perhaps

you shouldn't be the Khan.

PROF SNEATH: It was certainly
considered to be an insult.

BULAG: Chinggis Khan was
very angry, of course,

by saying that I have a
more important thing to do,

but I'll come back to you
after I finish my business.

NARRATOR: The Tanguts
refuse to assist.

Then Chinggis Khan continues
leading his armies toward

the Khwarazmian Empire.

Readying their first assault
on the city of Otrar,

where his envoy
was massacred.

PROF SNEATH: Chinggis himself
marches through along

the main trade routes
where armies

might be expected
to appear.

DR DASHDONDOG: Chinggis Khan's
army was very well prepared.

It was not difficult to
have long distance travel

because they used to have
this at their own homeland,

usually Mongols, they do start
their raids in the Autumn.

If you start from Autumn,
you have to pass

also through the winter.

But winter was not the
obstacle for the Mongols,

because we have in Mongolia
a really harsh winters.

So everybody is
ready for this,

and we are well
equipped for this.

PROF SNEATH: Livestock was in
many ways a key ingredient

in the success of
Mongol steppe armies

because it enabled mobility.

Camels were certainly used
crossing the deserty regions.

They could carry heavy burdens
where they're particularly

valuable for that.

But the mainstay of the
Mongol fighting force was,

of course, horses.

JOHN: As long as
there's grass there,

you have fuel for the
horses, cattle and sheep

as well, you have food. And
that's the crucial element.

PROF SNEATH: Typically, any
Mongol force would bring

a lot of spare horses,
remounts, as they were called.

So a single Mongol Trooper
would often have a string

of four, five or perhaps
six remount horses,

so that when one steed
tired, they could swap out

and ride another one, which
meant that you could cover

much greater distances.

DR DASHDONDOG: They waited
until the horses gained weight

to be ready for crossing.

They endured all this, mainly
due to Mongols survival

skills and Mongol horses'
survival skill.

NARRATOR: Having strategically
prepared for their invasion,

the Mongol forces descend
upon their first target.

DR MAY: The Mongols
come to Otrar.

JOHN: The city where
the governor ordered

the death of the traders.

DR MAY: And the governor
tries hard to survive.

The garrison they're
trying to escape,

and the Mongols realize it's
a lot easier to kill people

when they're running away, so
they wipe out that garrison.

The Governor was greedy.

His avarice led him to
massacre the caravan

and steal everything.

NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan has
shown the city of Otrar

no mercy.

He now targets the heart
of the Khwarazmian Empire.

He splits his army into
different battalions, leading

his own troops through the
treacherous Kyzylkum desert.

If he succeeds in this
dangerous journey,

his forces will be able to
strike directly at the heart

of the Khwarazmian Empire.

Chinggis Khan's forces
have advanced deep

into hostile lands.

They now prepare to strike
one of the Khwarazmian's

most prized cities.

DR MAY: Genghis Khan
turns up at Bukhara,

300 miles behind enemy lines.

PROF SNEATH: It was
wondrous urban center,

famed for its architecture,
its mosques,

beautiful buildings and so on,
and it was very well defended.

DR MAY: This is where
Mohammed has stored

the treasure from
the caravan,

and again, Chinggis Khan is
demanding the treasure.

NARRATOR: The Mongols
encircled Bukhara,

relentlessly battering the
city with their powerful

catapults for 12 long days.

JOHN: It was quite a siege.

The siege goes on
for a while.

It was eventually
successful.

DR MAY: And then we have the
great scene where Chinggis Khan

enters the Great
Mosque of Bukhara.

PROF SNEATH: And he's
supposed to have given

a sermon from the pulpit.

He said, the reason
that you are suffering,

the reason that I have
been sent is because

God has sent me as a
punishment upon you.

JOHN: This was picked up
by the Muslim historians

and repeated as a truth.

PROF SNEATH: So this gives
you a sense of the way

in which the Mongol Empire
tries to make Mongol victory

a kind of manifest destiny,
historical inevitability

willed by God or Heaven.

And the best way when
you're faced with that kind

of inevitability, is
simply to surrender.

NARRATOR: The people of
Bukhara finally surrender,

but not soon enough
to save themselves.

The Mongolians slaughter
30,000 people

and burn the city's
buildings to the ground.

Those who are not killed
become fodder

for the next battles.

JOHN: Great cities like Bukhara
and Otrar taken one by one.

DR MAY: The Khwarazmian Empire
sends 50 war elephants,

the Mongols have never
met war elephants before.

Now, elephants tend
to frighten horses

because they're loud,
they're scary,

but the Mongols have a pretty
good record fighting elephants

because it turns out
elephants don't like

being shot by arrows either.

Some of the elephants, they
killed, some of the elephants,

they let them go.

PROF SNEATH: The Khwarazmians
find it difficult to note

the best way to defend against
these simultaneous strikes

from different directions
by Mongol forces.

The information that the
Khwarazmian Shah is getting

is very confused.

They don't have a single
location where they can

be sure to find the
main Mongol force.

NARRATOR: Word of the Mongols
brutality spreads fear across

the Khwarazmian Empire, city
after city fall in fierce

campaigns led by Chinggis
Khan and his sons.

JOHN: Chinggis devised a new
and rather dramatic way

of taking the Empire.

PROF SNEATH: In general, if
the Mongols besieged your city

and you surrendered straight
away, the terms of surrender

weren't too bad.

JOHN: Siege warfare is
extremely expensive.

Each was an operation,
and it's far simpler,

if you can persuade a city
to surrender in advance.

PROF SNEATH: Very often,
the local rulers

would be left in place.

A Mongol Garrison
might be placed there

to keep an eye on it.

This might include extracting
artisans and crafts people

and so on, to be relocated
somewhere useful

to the Mongol conquerors.

But in general, early
surrender meant relatively

good accommodation with
the new conquerors.

However, if the siege
lasted, and particularly

if they stretched out
and were stubborn,

and the Mongol forces
began to suffer losses

from disease or attrition
or something then

the terms shortened to
something really brutal.

There were very often
massacres as a result.

JOHN: So the purpose,
for instance,

of destroying Samarkand was
not so much to destroy it,

but to convince next cities
down the line to surrender

in advance, having been told
that this would be their fate

if they didn't.

And this happens extremely
quickly, as you can imagine.

It would take a matter of
minutes for one Mongol

soldier to slit the throat
of, say, 10 people.

You can deal with 10s of
1000s of people in a morning.

And it destroyed the heart
of Khwarazmian Empire,

from then onwards.

PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
has this very well entrenched

reputation as a
brutal conqueror.

But the reality is that if
you compare his conquests

to others, the
scale is enormous.

The scope for massacre and
bloodshed, just simply,

is larger.

Other famous conquerors
in history like Alexander

the Great, they were
also very brutal.

It was a standard feature
of pre-modern Empires

included massacres.

The civilian population were
frequently killed in large

numbers as a result of
these huge conquests.

So, these were brutal times,
and Chinggis Khan being

the most powerful, the
most successful conqueror,

in a way that brutality
was amplified.

BULAG: There is a term
in Chinese culture

Jing guan, big spectacle
in translation,

which means that the
enemies who were killed,

their skulls would be
collected by the victors,

and they were piled into
mountains to showcase

your own achievement.

But your victory over the
enemies, at same time,

you try to frighten
the enemies,

they would need to
establish aura.

Try to awe and shock the enemies
so that you do not resist.

This kind of practice was
never denounced as some kind

of symbolism of brutality
in East Asia.

This is a standard practice.

DR DASHDONDOG: Of course,
every invasion in conquest,

it has lots of casualties,
lots of death,

lots of cruelty, that's obvious.

So if you look at
European history as well,

so many slaughtering as well.

BULAG: Mongols didn't
write their history.

Mongols' history was written
by the losers, by the victims.

Therefore, they will,
of course, naturally,

sort of characterize Mongol,
as you know, as brutal.

The Mongols were brutal,
just like anybody else.

NARRATOR: The stories of the
Mongol's terrifying massacres

spread across the land.

The Khwarazmian realize
they are powerless against

the invading force.

DR MAY: Muhammad, he's seeing
his Empire fall apart.

He had fought for this.

He had plotted to get
this from Kara Khitai

for most of his early reign,
and then it's gone.

The Mongols have taken
it in less than a year.

NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan's
armies have weakened

the Khwarazmian Shah.

Can his Empire withstand
the force of the Mongolian

onslaught.

JOHN: The Khwarazmian
are overrun.

The cities are taken.

The Emperor chased away.

PROF SNEATH: He's stripped
of all his power,

living from pillar to
post, and he's fled.

DR MAY: And then Chinggis
Khan sends a task force

led by his commander,
Subudai and Jebe.

Jebe and Subudai chase
Mohammed all over Iran.

PROF SNEATH: It makes
sense for Chinggis Khan

to make sure he is dead.

After all, he is
the rival ruler,

and he doesn't want
him rallying support.

DR MAY: Muhammad has to flee
with some of his troops

on an island in
the Caspian Sea.

JOHN: In complete
poverty and surrender.

DR MAY: Muhammad went from
being one of the most powerful

people on the planet
to basically a beggar.

PROF SNEATH: Jebe and
Subudai are way out west,

and they have at least
one division each.

NARRATOR: Jebe and
Subudai eventually find

the Khwarazmian Shah
hiding place,

but he has already
met a grim fate,

succumbing to the
ravages of dysentery.

PROF SNEATH: He is
eventually chased to death.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
the remaining forces

of Khwarazmian Empire
rally under the leadership

of the Shah's son.

Their resistance
is short lived.

DR MAY: Mohamed Khwarazmshah's
son Jalal Al-Din has put up

an effective resistance
in Afghanistan.

JOHN: Which is where
Chinggis pursues him.

DR MAY: Eventually, Chinggis
Khan will chase him down

to the Indus River.

Jalal All-Din will
flee into India.

The Mongols will send a
pursuit force after him,

but eventually give up.

JOHN: Chinggis withdrew
from Afghanistan,

which was as far
west as he ever got.

He still had unfinished
business in the Far East,

Jin still remained
to be taken.

DR MAY: At one point,
Chinggis Khan thinks,

let's invade India, and
then we'll cross Tibet

and then invade the Jin
Empire from that direction.

But they encounter
rhinoceros,

it's mentioned the
sources as a unicorn.

His advisor says
this is an ill omen.

We shouldn't do this.

And eventually return
back to Mongolia.

NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
returns east to fight

his old enemy, the Jin.

Although he has
left their lands,

he dispatches troops to
eliminate the last pockets

of the Khwarazmian resistance.

It will take the Mongols
two more years to finally

wipe out one of the largest
Empires known to mankind.

PROF SNEATH: The Mongols
are the supreme force

in the region.

They've defeated the
other conquest dynasty.

They've got supreme access
to the trade along

the old Silk Road.

DR FAVEREAU: Silk Road is the
trade network in Central Asia.

This trade network connected
what is Mongolia today,

northern China, southern China
to Central Asia, to Iran,

up to Anatolia, up to Europe.

It included Russia.

It included Siberia, their
connection with Western Europe,

their connection with
1000 Asian powers also,

but it's bigger
than the Mongols.

All this allowed a
traveler, a trader,

to cross almost all of Eurasia
safely and make good business.

And at the time
of the Mongols,

there were so many
communities exchanged.

DR DASHDONDOG: Tributes
were based on specifics

of the locations Mongols
learned what to gain

from where Russia were just
good suppliers of the fur

Middle Eastern countries,
they had spice,

Chinese, they had grain.

DR FAVEREAU: It was really
key for Chinggis Khan

and his successors. They
need to attract traders,

and it's not so easy
to do that,

because you cannot force
traders from another part

of the world to come
and deal with you.

You have to make them
understand that good business

can be done.

So you have to convince them.

You have to make
yourself known.

They want people to
believe in the system.

So what they create
is a very small tax,

up to 4% of what you've
sold as a trader.

4 percent is really nothing.

You don't necessarily
pay with coins.

People can actually pay in
what they produce the best.

So you can pay in silk,
or you can pay in foods,

spices, animals.

This system functions
very well.

Actually, it pushed
them to produce more.

Imagine at the scale of the
whole system, then at the end,

it's a lot of money
that circulates

through this Silk Road.

DR DASHDONDOG: At the first
stage of the conquest,

there were military overseers
who were in charge

of collecting taxes, and it
was done just to reinforce

the military army needs.

And then there was
transformation

of the military overseers
into civil ones.

When they became
civil overseers,

they starting to take
yearly basic taxes

from the local people.

And it wouldn't be just
only for military needs,

it would be needed also
for the Khan's court.

DR FAVEREAU: The Mongols
were really keen to produce

a lot of written agreements
and a lot of documents

that could also
protect the traders.

So, the vision we have of an
Empire built upon violence

is just a very tiny
part of the picture.

NARRATOR: The Mongols have
annihilated the Khwarazmians

but their lands are so vast,
Chinggis Khan does not fully

integrate their
territory into his own.

DR MAY: He does not
try to occupy

all the Khwarazmian Empire.

Basically. He makes
the Amu Darya River

his border and pulls
most of his troops back.

PROF SNEATH: So having
returned from his successful

campaign in the Middle East,

the Khwarazmian
Empire is rolled up.

Now he's defeated
his main rival,

Chinggis Khan returns to
his Mongolian Heartlands.

The Secret History suggests
that Chinggis, around

this time, begins to decide
on who will be his successor.

DR MAY: At this time, Chinggis
Khan, he's in his 60s.

PROF SNEATH: This is
the central question

for any dynasty.

So this is a really big deal
as to who might succeed

to the throne.

Some divisions seem
to be emerging

between Chinggis
Khan's four sons.

Jochi seems to have
been a bit headstrong.

He doesn't seem to rendezvous
with other commanders

very readily.

Chagadai is supposed to
be also rather difficult.

The Secret historian writes
up Chagadai as being not easy

to get on with, and we get an
account in The Secret History

of a vicious dispute
over succession breaking

out between Jochi and Chagadai,
where Chagadai accuses Jochi

of being illegitimate.

JOHN: The sons in the rivalry
called him a Merkit Bastard,

and this was an insult
that he couldn't tolerate.

PROF SNEATH: These kinds
of family disputes begin

to emerge at this time,
particularly over seniorities,

these important markers of
one's status are also grounds

for disputes, which
increasingly emerge alongside

the victories of
the Mongol Empire.

JOHN: Jochi was off on
a mission to the tribes

of the North in Russia.

He was either dispatched
or went off his own accord.

When he mysteriously died.

No further details available.

NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
appoints his middle son

�gedei as his heir.

�gedei is even handed
and well liked.

DR FAVEREAU: You want
someone who is peaceful.

You want someone who
would put people together.

�gedei fits the picture.

At that point, Chinggis Khan
decided that �gedei

would be his successor.

NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
now turns his attention

to the Tangut rulers
who have betrayed him.

PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
decides to settle old scores

with the Xi Xia,
the Tangut rulers,

who didn't support him when
he needed additional troops

for his invasion
of Khwarazmian.

JOHN: He had thought in his
first invasion he had left

a nice, obedient vassal.

Turned out that he
was not so obedient,

because when he asked for
troops from Xi Xia

the invasion westwards.

The Xi Xia Emperor
refused to give them,

so he had to be punished, and
then the rest of North China

had to be taken from Jin.
That had to be established.

DR MAY: The Tangut make
an alliance with the Jin,

and now they're
fighting the Mongols.

Meanwhile, Chinggis Khan has
received word about this.

Chinggis Khan loses his
patience and invades.

And this is a campaign
of destruction.

PROF SNEATH: He
mobilizes his army.

He marches into Xi Xia and
seizures their capital city.

The extent to which Chinggis
Khan himself would be engaged

in any combat, I think,
is almost minimal.

He's the prime Commander.

You wouldn't risk him by
putting him too close

to any of the front lines.

DR MAY: He has his
top general, Subudai,

just eradicating
fortresses as they go.

Now, remember when he
conquered them in 1209,

Chinggis Khan did
not occupy Xi Xia.

He says, you guys
are loyal to me.

You can rule yourselves.
We're good.

But now he's destroying
fortifications

wherever he finds

and eventually they're
reducing their cities

one by one, if the Tangut are
foolish enough to send out

an army against them,
it gets destroyed.

The Mongols are quite good.

They have siege trains with
equipment being carried

by camels that they
can rapidly assemble

and put against any city.

They've refined
their techniques.

They have a core of engineers
able to build roads,

make bridges across rivers.

The Tangut are not safe.

NARRATOR: It is 1227, and war
rages on against the Tangut.

Chinggis Khan is now 65 and
despite his advancing age,

he still accompanies
his forces on campaign.

JOHN: He was heading south.

He had reached a part of
what is now Xi Xia in China,

inner Mongolian, near
down the Xi River.

DR MAY: Chingis Khan is
hunting wild donkeys,

and some of them come
out of the brush.

He gets flung from his horse,

and this probably has done
some internal injuries to him.

He gets sick.

JOHN: There was
typhus in the area,

and it's probable
that he caught typhus.

PROF SNEATH: His health
condition deteriorates

over some time. Could
have been weeks,

could have been months, but
he still gives commands.

As his health is worsening,
he decrees that his illness

and possible death should
remain completely secret

until the campaign is won.

They don't want the enemy to
know that the commander

in chief is dying.

DR FAVEREAU: This is
such a key moment,

we could imagine that this is
also the end of the Empire

he has built.

PROF SNEATH: So the whole
affair is shrouded in secrecy

until the campaign against
the Tangut Xi Xia rulers

is complete, but he
never recovers.

NARRATOR: In August 1227,
Chinggis Khan dies.

PROF SNEATH: A rather symbolic
end for such a conqueror

that he dies whilst
conquering.

JOHN: The whole episode is,
I think, largely poetic.

BULAG: He endured all
kinds of hardship.

He survived and he managed
to unite the Mongols

he was fighting
all of his life.

He defeated his
rivals or enemies,

and eventually he emerged
as a great leader.

For someone of that age to
survive and live that long

was actually a miracle.

DR MAY: As people began to
reflect on the enormity

of what Chinggis Khan
had completed.

His afterlife took
on new meaning

in the traditional belief
system of the Mongols.

There is no transcendental
afterlife.

The afterlife is pretty
much like the mundane.

If you are just an
ordinary Shepherd.

You're gonna be an ordinary
shepherd for all eternity.

If you are a Khan in the spirit
world, you'll also be Kahn.

But then you have someone
like Chinggis Khan,

who's done something no
one else had done before.

So he became a God, and in many
ways, his words became sacred.

Now, of course, at this time,
the Mongols did not have

a ruler and a compass to
measure the extent

of their Empire on a map to
say, wow, Chinggis Khan

just conquered more territory
than anybody else.

They just knew it was a lot.

They've taken the Mongols
farther than they've ever

been before they
entered new lands.

This was a whole
new world for them.

They just knew that he had
done something unbelievable,

unlike anyone else. So
his spiritual power

was greater than anything else
that they had ever experienced.

Any other Khan in the steppe,
dwarfed by Chinggis Khan.

BULAG: I mean he is somebody
who I admire, not just admire,

but I guess worship.

Mongolians celebrate Chinggis
Khan for giving customs.

He give law to us.
He gave custom to us.

He gave language to us.

DR MAY: The world irrevocably
changed with his actions.

It could not go back to the way
it was before Chinggis Khan.

NARRATOR: The war against
the Tangut continues.

With their visionary
leader gone,

the Mongol armies face
their greatest test yet.

Will their Empire fall,

or can it survive the
death of Chinggis Khan.

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