Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

2005, History  -   73 Comments
7.36
12345678910
Ratings: 7.36/10 from 104 users.

Genghis KhanOf all the images the name Genghis Khan brings to mind, that of a visionary who brought literacy, law and culture to his people rarely springs to mind. His name is usually synonymous with evil, his image that of a brutal barbarian who slaughtered millions in his quest for power. Yet a BBC drama-documentary is aiming to change the reputation of one of the world's most notorious warlords to that of a heroic figure who achieved greatness against all odds.

Genghis Khan is right up there with the likes of Hitler and Attila the Hun as one of the bogeymen of history, said Ed Bazalgette, the programme's producer.

We hear the phrase somewhere to the Right of Genghis Khan. Everyone has heard the name yet few people know much about his story. It is one of the great untold stories of history and we wanted to get behind the myths. No one is suggesting that he was a benign individual but his history was written by those he defeated. To make a parallel, imagine if our country's history was written by the people of Africa or India.

He was intent on sharing his riches with his people, and wanted to raise levels of culture, law and literacy. He also brought Chinese medicine to his people. Amassing material wealth did not matter much to him, as he shared everything with his loyal supporters. He was seen as a generous leader.

Genghis Khan also demonstrated a rather liberal and tolerant attitude to the beliefs of others, and never persecuted people on religious grounds. Born in Mongolia sometime after 1160, he created the largest known empire, covering a fifth of the world, stretching from the Pacific to the Black Sea.

More great documentaries

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

73 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Harry McNicholas
Harry McNicholas
6 years ago

A few things. His empire collapsed after a few generations. Sorry that is wrong The last khanate of the Golden Horde was destroyed by the Soviet Union in 1924. As to descendents. only 200 people have been found to be his descendents. The rest is BS. The Khaan was no better or worse than any conqueror in history just better at it. Unlike the Muslims and Christians he did no allow torture. Also, the two main religions of this time in Mongolia were Tengriism and Christianity. Mongolia did not become a Buddhist country until the 17th century. The Kalmyk Republic is S.E. Europe is a Mongolian state and is the only Buddhist country in Europe.

Jack
Jack
7 years ago

He wasn't 'blood-thirsty'; there was a reason behind everything he did. Also, he never said that thing about 'taking everything away from the conquered is the highest pleasure in life.' Read Jack Weatherford's book 'Ghengis Khan'.

Melissa
Melissa
8 years ago

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History has a 5 series podcast titled Wrath of Khans that is very insightful and discusses exactly what avd420 mentions. Genocidal maniac turns epic hero because of the passage of time. I highly recommend the entire HH series, but especially the Wrath of Khans for a different perspective.

Johan Borgstrøm
Johan Borgstrøm
11 years ago

Cannot watch it because I live in Denmark :-[
Really annoying!

Anita Vold
Anita Vold
11 years ago

Djingis Khan was the greatest. He did the historie for the rest of the wourld. And all wars are barbaric and the most of the men are barbaric to....

Rais Karauchy
Rais Karauchy
11 years ago

The name "Mongol" until 17th-18th centuries meant belonging to a political community, and was not the ethnic name. While “the name "Tatar" was “the name of the native ethnos (nation) of Genghis Khan” , “…Genghis Khan and his tribesmen did not speak the language, which we now call the "Mongolian”…" (academic Vasiliev, 19th century). This also is confirmed by many other facts. Read about a real Tatar (Turk) History in a book "Forgotten Heritage of Tatars" (by Galy Yenikeyev). You can find it on Smashwords company site.

Rais Karauchy
Rais Karauchy
11 years ago

A well-grounded rebuttal of the chinese- persian myths about "incredible cruelty of nomadic mongol-tatar conquerors", and about "a war between the Tatars and Genghis Khan", as well as a lot of from the real Tatar (Turk) History, what the official historians hidden from the public, you can learn in the book of an independent historian Galy Yenikeyev "Forgotten Heritage of Tatars", published by Smashwords. On the site of Smashwords is an electronic version of this book in English – it’s easy to find on the Internet.

Peter Laird
Peter Laird
11 years ago

Absolutely brilliant, many, many thanks for this documentary.

L0LAW0NKA
L0LAW0NKA
12 years ago

I always have to wonder when I see documentaries like these, you know, all the labeling. Why is it that a quest for power is always seen as evil? I mean is power really so bad, because if it is, then you could say that our politicans today with THEIR diplomatic quests for power are also Evil.

I don't understand the thought process behind the label artists.

lullajah
lullajah
12 years ago

kinda interesting but not detailed enough

Godsclaws
Godsclaws
12 years ago

this is a frail, frrraaaiiiillll skeleton of information on Genghis Khan compared to the four books by Conn Iggulden called "the epic story of the khan dynasty" which details Temujin/Genghis Khan's life from his birth to after his death when his sons and grandsons conquered. GREAT books.

mountainski
mountainski
12 years ago

history repeats itself , as with the rise in 2011 + of China once again

Ider
Ider
12 years ago

He was the greatest emperor the world has ever had
b

Ider
Ider
12 years ago

He was the greatest emperor that the world has ever had.

Rhythm
Rhythm
12 years ago

Thank you but how can I have the full move and not from you tube

gaboora
gaboora
12 years ago

Good general account. Not specific enough, but very smoothly done. The doc seems much shorter than it actually is because of all the action.

Pierre Moua
Pierre Moua
12 years ago

Most of the story that are past down about Genghis Khan were by chinese people so what would you think the outcome would had been? Lets ask the Indians back in the 1700 and 1800's what they thought of the White man.

TonyIII
TonyIII
12 years ago

He was the perfect embodiment of a monstrous barbarian.The world would have been better off without him.

Crow Zerox
Crow Zerox
12 years ago

to Conqueror the world huh? i think he might've actually did it if he didnt die of an illness speaking of his death i thought he died in a tsunami heading towards japan?? anyways great documentary

lex lexich
lex lexich
12 years ago

great documentary, i agree with greg...

Greg_Mc
Greg_Mc
12 years ago

I thought the doc was pretty good but like rtiom I would have prefered it be longer, although that could just be because I was enjoying watching it and didn't want it to end so quickly.

rtiom
rtiom
12 years ago

"Most complete television portrait of Genghis Khan ever made", my assess!!
It one of the shortest documentaries I've ever seen. This should have been an introduction to a 6 hour detailed account of not only his trials and tribulations, but also his conquests and losses until empire collapse. So, as for quality of this documentary it wasn't bad but I think I learned more from that movie that came out not too long ago.

hailflavour
hailflavour
12 years ago

great doc only thing its lacking are subtitles

melloyeyo
melloyeyo
12 years ago

I liked this one. The combination of narration while the actors do their lines keeps a nice flow and give more information.

Piav
Piav
12 years ago

He was just atyran, evil and left just death och notihing else. An evil death do human glad.

Ross Payant
Ross Payant
12 years ago

There's no point to trying to apply your modern sense of morality to someone that far back history either to justify or condemn. He was a monster but EVERYONE was a monster, he was just better at it. Maybe he had some sort of positive legacy but plenty of terrible things have positive legacies (greater women's suffrage via the world wars, beautiful structures of the ancient world built with slave labor, etc).

StillRV
StillRV
12 years ago

Have yet to watch this, but am looking forward to it. Genghis may well be one of the most simplistic yet complex personalities of the past. He was so simple in his motivations (disrespect me, my family, or my people and I will lay waste to all that you know). At the same time his strategy for war and wielding of power in a nation never before unified under one horse tail was pure genius. He had the gift of "I don't give a S%%%" to the highest degree. It did not matter to him what color, creed, or nationality a man was or from what culture came an idea. If it worked and he could use it he did. In an odd sort of way the mongol people had more freedom under an all powerful emperor than many do in todays republics or democracies. As long as you didn't screw with the Khan you could do whatever. After he had unified the Mongol people he never really had to assert his power. He just got what he wanted by the sheer power of his will. People just naturally bent to him as a result of his persona. That and knowing that if you did try to rock the boat he would kill you before his morning piss. My favorite Genghis story is one were, after a long siege of an Islamic city in the mideast he finally took the city. The leader of the city offered him a massive quantity of gold for amnesty to go free and flee south. Genghis responded by having molten gold (the weight of one of his favored generals who had died in the siege) pored down the mans throat. That is a man that commands men.

adilrye
adilrye
12 years ago

Genghis was a murderous man, but let's be honest, there was a context to all of this. Think of the time, the damn Middle Ages, where the concept of a humane war was barely a blip on the radar, AND that he grew up in the tribal, warrior based society of Mongolia. Naturally, when he and his people created an empire, they did it in the way that was norm back in the "old country", so to speak...that is to say, brutally. I'm not trying to justify his actions, but what's the point? Back then, perspectives on what war meant was completely different than today.

Anyway, I do believe that despite his violent legacy, he did do quite a bit of positive in the context of world history. A mixed legacy to say the least.

Alan Strife MacDonald
Alan Strife MacDonald
12 years ago

greek and roman history > your history

Tyler Shipowich
Tyler Shipowich
12 years ago

1 in 200 men today can trace their lineage to Ghengis Khan
what a pimp, spread his seed farther than anyone i guess to

J009_5B
J009_5B
12 years ago

Was Genghis an atheist?

tariqxl
tariqxl
12 years ago

I love that line ''who were as loyal as only mercenaries could be'' lol

S.E.T.H
S.E.T.H
12 years ago

funny how in this documentary the information presented is "according to the secret history".

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

He must have been a follower of pedophile and mass murderer Mohammad. No wonder he inflicted such a defeat on muslim Baghdad, called the centre of knowledge at the time, in 1258 that muslim faithfuls never fully recovered from its shocking impact on their culture and beliefs. Jihad against the Mongols didn't work out, I guess :D

MatarD
MatarD
12 years ago

Awesome, thanks for this one. Just about to start Conn Iggulden's final book in his series about him (novels).

Genghis's honor mentality was really extreme, a human nuke. 40 million killed 600 years ago is sick.

Mulakush
Mulakush
12 years ago

I find it strange that in European view, Alexander is called great and not the barbaric murderer that he really was.