The Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire (Full History)

Around 1170, a boy on the Mongolian steppe was living on roots, fish, marmots and field mice. His father had been poisoned and his own clan had abandoned the family. Fifty years later his armies had ridden from China to the Caspian, and within two generations his family ruled about 9 million square miles, the largest connected land empire in history. Then, within about 150 years, it was gone. This is the full history of the Mongol Empire: how Temüjin became Chinggis (Genghis) Khan, how he built an army on loyalty and merit instead of blood, and why the empire fell apart the moment it was handed back to his family. We follow the rise and fall of the Mongols from the 1206 kurultai to the decimal army, the keshig guard and the Yam relay system; the conquest of the Jin and the Khwarazmian Empire; the 1241 invasion of Poland and Hungary and the real reasons the Mongols turned back in 1242 (including a 2016 tree-ring study); Möngke, Hulagu and the fall of Baghdad in 1258; the Mamluk victory at Ain Jalut; Kublai Khan, the Yuan dynasty and Marco Polo; the failed invasions of Japan and what archaeologists found under the sea off Takashima; the Pax Mongolica and the Silk Road; the Black Death's Central Asian origin; and the collapse of the Ilkhanate, the Yuan, the Golden Horde and the last Crimean Khanate. Plus the unsolved mystery: where is Genghis Khan buried? Chapters 0:00 Intro: The Boy Who Ate Field Mice 2:05 1. The Boy Nobody Wanted 6:33 2. Blood Brothers 11:52 3. The Machine 17:45 4. Over the Wall 20:50 5. The Caravan 25:31 6. The Gates of Europe 30:00 7. The Last Caliph 35:15 8. Brother Against Brother 39:17 9. The Divine Wind 43:26 10. The Mongol Peace 47:18 11. Coming Apart Sources (selection; full fact sheet with 120+ sourced claims available on request) The Secret History of the Mongols, tr. Igor de Rachewiltz (Western Washington University CEDAR edition), §§74–96, 153, 254 Britannica, "Mongol empire" — https://www.britannica.com/place/Mong... Büntgen & Di Cosmo (2016), "Climatic and environmental aspects of the Mongol withdrawal from Hungary in 1242 CE", Scientific Reports 6:25606 Spyrou et al. (2022), "The source of the Black Death in fourteenth-century central Eurasia", Nature 606 Sasaki (2008), "The Origin of the Lost Fleet of the Mongol Empire", Texas A&M thesis Guan, Palma & Wu (2024), "The rise and fall of paper money in Yuan China, 1260–1368", Economic History Review Zerjal et al. (2003), "The genetic legacy of the Mongols", American Journal of Human Genetics William of Rubruck, Journey to the Eastern Parts of the World (1253–55); Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Yasa", "Gaykatu" Wikipedia: Mongol Empire, Rise of Genghis Khan, Yam (route), Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire, Siege of Baghdad (1258), Battle of Ain Jalut, Mongol invasions of Japan #mapsodic #MongolEmpire #GenghisKhan #history