Genghis Khan and the Defeat of Beijing

Lifting the siege of Beijing, Genghis Khan ordered total annihilation of the city and its residents.  Long after the battle was over, visitors to the city reported seeing heaps of bones.

Wanting his people to benefit from his conquests, the Khan established a new order for his formerly nomadic people.  The Mongols could neither read nor write, but their leader wanted his legacy to be written.  He instituted other types of administrative reforms as well and sent ambassadors to neighboring countries.

In 1218, a messenger from Persia brought something to Genghis Khan which changed the course of history.  It was the head of the Khan's ambassador.

Greatly angered, the Emperor of All Emperors sent an army to ruthlessly burn Persian towns which did not submit.  After all the fighting, about a million Persians were dead, and Genghis Khan had an empire four times the size of Alexander's and twice the size of Rome's.

The video clip is from the BBC's Genghis Khan.  It is based on a written history composed soon after the great ruler's death.

Credits

Clip, from the BBC's Secret History of Genghis Khan.