# Genghis Khan



## Princess Ivy (Apr 27, 2005)

did anyone catch the BBC docu/drama on this figure? i've not known much about him, except that he lead a ravening hoard of barbarians and wasn't very clean, and that he liked small fury hats. but this was fascinating to watch. i hadn't realised that he had set up a government, done so much for his people and i had always believed that his empire ended with his death, not that it had continued for a century after wards.
i have no idea how accurate the show was (they all looked suspiciously clean to me for starters) anyone know about the man? maybe watched the show? be interesting to get an intelligent informed opinion on this


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## Winters_Sorrow (Apr 27, 2005)

I watched it.
I like my war-mongering historical figures, so I knew a bit about him beforehand. 
It seemed a fairly accurate (if flashy) depiction of the man. 
I knew about his 'blood-brother' betraying him and having his back broken. Although the version I read was that Temujin didn't forgive him and wanted him dead. The reason he got his back broken was because of an edict which forbade mongols to shed the blood of other mongols. Ironically, this was a law created by Temujin to help ensure the blood feuds of the mongol tribes.

The only drawback for me was that it concentrated mainly on his early life. The construction of Karakorum, his invasions of China and Persia were very sketchy.


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## Princess Ivy (Apr 27, 2005)

although i did enjoy it (although i had to change chanel at the breaking back and boiling the generals scenes) i felt that it was just to sketchy in general. although  giving figures and dates and places, it didin't give details or reasons behind. as with the breaking the back, maybe it was because of the law that that sort of death was honourable? i don't know. also would have been interesting to see more of mongol nomadic life, appart from rushing around in cute costumes and on small horses. it briefly mentions that they were abandond on the death of his father, and yet when he married, he was obviously well respected and a member of a tribe.
*i notice a heck of a lot of similarity with the Peloi from the tumali and elenium series by eddings in the tribe, as well as several other novels by other authors (not specifics right now, my brain is dead). so it seems the literary world has once again been raiding historical archives


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## Winters_Sorrow (Apr 27, 2005)

well, I couldn't see many trees on the steppes so I guess hanging was out!
The boiling people alive was fairly unpleasant but I was quite pleased to see (?) it in this programme as brutalities like this were a part of the times these people lived in.

I got the impression when he appeared in front of his brides father, he was pretty much alone but maybe I wasn't paying attention.

I was interested by the constant referral that he was "chosen by god" to take over the world. I think this may actually be a bit of fabrication by his chroniclers after his death, though.


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## Brian G Turner (Apr 27, 2005)

Darn it, missed it, but no terrestrial reception yet.


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## Winters_Sorrow (Apr 27, 2005)

Your TV on the fritz, Brian?
It was BBC 1 so they'll probably repeat it either later in the week or on BBC 3 or 4
I'll try to find out


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## Amber (Apr 27, 2005)

As it so happens, I knew little about Genghis Khan, being more an afficando of Alexander the Great. When I walked into English class today, we were doing a Mongolian wedding.. and the teacher rambled on and on on this tv programme. 80% of the people in my class had never even heard of either Genghis Khan or Lenin....


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## Alia (Apr 27, 2005)

I'm have a personal love for Temujin and his rich history.  I don't know if the program that your talking about is the same one that was aired over here is the same one. It was a while back that it showed (over a year now).  I know that they came out with a TV show like movie about him and his fall, but I don't know how accurate it was.  
I have a 1944 book by Harold Lamb about Temujin, I don't know how accurate it is either, but it was quite interesting.  Mr. Lamb made Temujin to a person of circumstances.  His role of leadership was driven more by the actions of others and his strong will to survive.  Mr. Lamb also talks about how much he loved his young wife too and their children.  Very fansinating book!  Although, it's easy to enjoy a book when you enjoy the subject at hand.


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## Winters_Sorrow (Apr 27, 2005)

Amber said:
			
		

> As it so happens, I knew little about Genghis Khan, being more an afficando of Alexander the Great. When I walked into English class today, we were doing a Mongolian wedding.. and the teacher rambled on and on on this tv programme. 80% of the people in my class had never even heard of either Genghis Khan or Lenin....


 
true, but I bet they'll all very knowledgeable about Hollyoaks or Kylie's new record.
Much more important in my opinion....  

beside's I think Hannibal (that's the Carthiginian, not Anthony Hopkins) was one of the best generals considering what he had to work with


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## Princess Ivy (Apr 28, 2005)

i caught one about hannibal on discovery a while ago, apparently he is considered the greatest general of all time

No alia, i don't think this is the same program. this is a bbc production and this is its first screening.

Brian, i'm sure WS is right, check the TV guide, its probably re-screening later this week. How'd the move go btw? all fun and dandy again?


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## Stalker (Jun 1, 2005)

When we speak of Temujin, we first of all, speak not only of a mere general but of a ruler of a Great Empire streatching from Far East and China to Volga. Hannibal the son of Gamilkar Barka (sp?) despite all grandeur of his gender and great influence on the policy of Carthagen, was a good general but a poor politician.
In early 1220s AD 2 horse legions of Temujin  led by Jebe and Subedai defeated Georgians and then smashed Polovstans. Their khan Kotyan came to Kiev to beg Great Knyaz Mstislav for a military aid in the fight against strange and horrible Mungals or Monguls that came from Itilia (Lower Volga). Mstislav of Kiev called other causins to bring troops to punish those arrogant Mungals who dared to come to the lands under protection of Russ. In 1223 AD at the river Kalka not far from the river Don, the Russo-Polovstan army met Mongols. The Russian troops were led by three cousins - all Mstislavs and those started scolding over High Command and that was that: each of them wanted to have victory of his own, fo the army was no more united, each of the knyazes acted on his own battle plan. The result was almost total annihilation of separated Russian troops by Mongols...
The Temujin's grandson Batu Khan ruined Russ, sacked and ruined Kiev in 1242 but lost under Kiev's walls about one third of his army. Then he went to Europe and came up to Triest. His approach frightened the Emperor of Holy Roman Empire that the latter fled to Adriatic Sea.
Daniel of Galich the King of Galician Russ begged the Pope of Rome to initiate the crusade against Mongols but Europe was too frightened. Despite a few minor defeats Mongols really seemed horrible warriors that time.


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## JoanDrake (Jun 23, 2008)

According to this he may have been the world's greatest lover

Genghis Khan a Prolific Lover, DNA Data Implies

Also one of the strangest treatments ever done of him was a movie starring John Wayne. That's right, the Duke, no less. The movie is more remembered for having been shot near the atom bomb test sites in the 50's and possibly giving most of the cast the cancer that killed Wayne in the 60's

The mongols are noted for having affected some areas, particularly in Central Asia, in a very adverse way until the present day. In the Bamiyan valley Hulagu Khan decreed that everything above the size of a cat must die after his son was killed there. In Iraq, they destroyed the irrigation system that had functioned since ancient times and are thus credited with turning the Fertile Crescent into the desert it remains today.

OTOH the mongols were probably the first people to enforce a policy of religious tolerance and the Postal system which tied their huge Empire together also made travel between Europe and China more convenient than it had ever been or would be again for almost a thousand years. In this way they are credited with being a major cause of the Renaissance and thus our own modern world.


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## Pentagathus (May 28, 2009)

Try reading Wolf of the plains by Conn Iggulden (and the next two if you like it) he based the story on "the secret history of the mongols" and his own experiences in Mongolia. It's a good series, the books are supposed to be entertaining but they do give a lot of information about Temujin, and later on Ghengis.


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## AE35Unit (May 28, 2009)

Sounds like that documentary would have been interesting! Funny,i was interested in history at school but we never covered stuff like this!


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