Los mongoles, población originaria de Mongolia, Rusia y la República Popular China, tienen una rica historia y cultura que merece ser explorada. Este grupo étnico se destaca no solo por su contribución en la historia de Asia, sino también por su singular estilo de vida. En Mongolia, así como en regiones como Buriatia, Kalmukia, Tuvá y Yakutia en Rusia, los mongoles han mantenido tradiciones ancestrales que reflejan su conexión con la tierra.
La historia mongola está marcada por figuras icónicas como Gengis Kan, cuyo imperio se extendía por gran parte de Asia, y cuyas tácticas militares revolucionaron el arte de la guerra. Además, los mongoles son conocidos por su vínculo con la naturaleza, practicando un nomadismo que ha influido en su forma de vida. Platicar sobre los mongoles también implica mencionar su música, danzas y gastronomía, que revelan la diversidad y la riqueza de su cultura.
En este video, profundizaremos en los antecedentes históricos, así como en las costumbres contemporáneas que aún persisten. Nuestros seguidores descubrirán la herencia que han dejado los mongoles a través de los siglos y cómo su identidad sigue evolucionando hoy en día. ¿Estás listo para conocer más sobre los mongoles? ¡Acompáñanos en este fascinante viaje!
#Mongoles, #HistoriaMongola, #CulturaMongola
mongoles, historia de mongoles, cultura mongola, Gengis Kan, tradición mongola, Mongolia, música mongola, nomadismo, gastronomía mongola, grupos étnicos.
La historia mongola está marcada por figuras icónicas como Gengis Kan, cuyo imperio se extendía por gran parte de Asia, y cuyas tácticas militares revolucionaron el arte de la guerra. Además, los mongoles son conocidos por su vínculo con la naturaleza, practicando un nomadismo que ha influido en su forma de vida. Platicar sobre los mongoles también implica mencionar su música, danzas y gastronomía, que revelan la diversidad y la riqueza de su cultura.
En este video, profundizaremos en los antecedentes históricos, así como en las costumbres contemporáneas que aún persisten. Nuestros seguidores descubrirán la herencia que han dejado los mongoles a través de los siglos y cómo su identidad sigue evolucionando hoy en día. ¿Estás listo para conocer más sobre los mongoles? ¡Acompáñanos en este fascinante viaje!
#Mongoles, #HistoriaMongola, #CulturaMongola
mongoles, historia de mongoles, cultura mongola, Gengis Kan, tradición mongola, Mongolia, música mongola, nomadismo, gastronomía mongola, grupos étnicos.
Categoría
😹
DiversiónTranscripción
00:00At the end of the twelfth century, with Europe plunged into the dark age,
00:04there are two cultures that set the level of human civilization.
00:10The Islamic states of Persia and Central Asia,
00:15and further east, a trio of fabulous kingdoms in China.
00:22The first of these cultures is the Chinese.
00:25Among them are vast and inhospitable plains,
00:29the Eurasian steppes.
00:32Although the steppes are imposing, they are not empty.
00:36There are nomadic tribes, the Tartars, the Mongols, and others,
00:40who survive as they can.
00:44Mongolia is one of the coldest places in the world,
00:47with temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees.
00:50For much of the year, you have to fight against nature.
00:55It is a life without margin of safety.
01:02In 1175, the Tartars revive an old conflict with the Mongols.
01:07The two tribes, so similar in lifestyle and beliefs,
01:10are bitterly confronted by the Mongols.
01:14The Tartars, on the other hand,
01:16are bitterly confronted by old rivalries,
01:19an endless cycle of alliances, betrayals, and revenge.
01:27Caught in their own struggles, they ignore their common enemy,
01:31the rich and powerful Qin of northern China.
01:35The policy of the Qin dynasty with Mongolia was that of divide and conquer.
01:40The Qin used the Tartars to attack other nomadic groups and tribes.
01:45They had become too strong or threatening.
01:55The Qin wisely perceived that the peoples of the steppes
01:59would not bother them while they were busy with each other.
02:03It is at this time of tension that the great Mongol conqueror,
02:07Genghis Khan, emerges in the 12th century.
02:11But he does not come from a family of kings or princes.
02:14He is an orphan and faces death with his family in the arid steppes.
02:20The name of Genghis Khan's pillar is Temujin,
02:23the Iron Worker.
02:25It suits him well.
02:27His life required an iron will.
02:32In 1175, when he was barely nine years old,
02:35his father, head of the clan, was poisoned by the Tartars.
02:40Genghis Khan's father had been an up-and-coming tribe chief.
02:44Perhaps if he had lived,
02:46he would have become the next Khan of the Mongols.
02:50But as soon as he was poisoned,
02:53the widows of the previous Khan led the Mongols
02:57to abandon the widows of Genghis Khan's father, Yesugei.
03:02As a result, Genghis Khan was left in the steppe,
03:06with his mother.
03:09Abandoned with his children,
03:11Temujin's mother gave him only one task.
03:15Revenge.
03:22He grew up, we imagine, with a strong sense of revenge.
03:26He was the son of one of the main clan chiefs,
03:29who had won victories where other chiefs had been defeated,
03:33but they had abandoned him.
03:35That created a very strong feeling of bitterness,
03:38a feeling that the world did not work as it should.
03:43For 30 difficult years,
03:45Temujin struggles to join his clan
03:47and obtain the title of Khan, Grand Chief.
03:51He learns to trust those who show him loyalty in combat
03:54and suspects everyone else.
03:57At 40, he has become a clan chief of great talent.
04:02We're looking at a man like Alexander, like Hitler,
04:08with immense charisma,
04:11who makes people follow him by the strength of his personality.
04:18Once his tribe was unified, in 1196,
04:21Temujin dedicated himself to his second task,
04:25to take revenge on the Tartars.
04:28The tactics were pretty much on horseback.
04:31He incorporated all the techniques that could be assumed.
04:34For example, techniques learned from hunting,
04:36which he used as tactics in battle.
04:38He often pretended to retreat,
04:40attracting the enemy to surround him and then swallow him.
04:44There were elements in his tactics
04:46reminiscent of those of the Blitzkrieg,
04:48German lightning war.
04:50What stands out in the case of Temujin, of Genghis Khan,
04:54is his reorganization of society.
04:57That has to be recognized as one of his most important contributions,
05:01not only in military innovations, but also in social ones.
05:05He takes the ancient tribal structure of Central Asian Mongols
05:08and refounds it in his own image,
05:10breaking the ancient tribal loyalties,
05:13but maintaining the power of tribal cavalry.
05:18It can be said that practically in all the battles they fought,
05:22the Mongols were substantially lower in number than their enemies.
05:26But they were much more mobile, because they had many horses,
05:30and they were able to operate in small tactical teams,
05:33with a few attacks.
05:35So the first thing you thought when you fought the Mongols
05:38was that they seemed to be everywhere.
05:41They often approached in a single row,
05:43and suddenly they dispersed,
05:45and they reappeared surrounding you everywhere.
05:48That was really disturbing.
05:53The Mongol combination of masterful equitation and tactical strategy
05:57overwhelmed its enemies.
06:00In less than two years,
06:02the Tartars are practically erased from the face of the earth.
06:06Only his name remains.
06:08And they are the first of many,
06:10because Temujin has designed for his army
06:13the most brilliant light cavalry that the world has ever known.
06:18And he does take revenge on the Tartars,
06:21the people who had caused so many misfortunes to his family,
06:25and to his relatives.
06:27And when he finally defeats them,
06:29he tells the legend that he had everyone executed
06:32who were taller than the axis of a chariot.
06:35So he annihilates this tribe.
06:39The ambitious chief is a religious man.
06:42He worships the natural hierarchy that surrounds him.
06:46The earth is sacred.
06:48The rivers are sacred.
06:50But above all is the sky,
06:52the protector of the nomads.
06:54For Temujin, human affairs must reflect that hierarchy,
06:58and a man must be above everyone else.
07:01Temujin has no doubt that fate has chosen him as chief.
07:05He believed that he belonged to a celestial lineage with a destiny.
07:10Why?
07:12Because when you get the victory in battle,
07:15it's something decided by heaven, by God,
07:18by this Mokhatengar,
07:20the eternal heaven,
07:22from which Genghis Khan firmly believed
07:25that he was in charge of all victories in battle,
07:29and all successes.
07:32In 1206, a council of chiefs of tribes of the steppe
07:36acclaims Temujin as universal chief, or Genghis Khan.
07:42Now he is ready to conquer the rest of the world
07:45and build his reputation as the bloodiest of all barbarians.
08:02Impulsed by the revenge of his father's murder,
08:05and legitimized by the instinct of his own destiny,
08:08in 1206, Genghis Khan emerges from the darkness
08:11to the edge of world domination.
08:14He is the supreme chief,
08:16the Khan of all the restless nomadic tribes of the steppes.
08:20His people lead a difficult life in a brutal environment.
08:24It is a society in perpetual movement.
08:27They are ready to set up camp at any time.
08:32What do they tell us about this town,
08:35the shops in which they live?
08:38They have a cane structure,
08:41and felts,
08:43and tiles,
08:45and all kinds of things,
08:47and they are ready to set up camp at any time.
08:51They are tied or sewn to individual cane panels,
08:58and they can be set up and dismantled in 15 minutes.
09:05The interior of the yurts was incredibly dark
09:08and was full of smoke,
09:10because they only had one hole at the top and another for the door.
09:13And the door was always facing south,
09:15because the Mongols had the superstition
09:17that the good news came from the south.
09:19There were felts on the walls,
09:21all very dark and impregnated with smoke.
09:24What did they burn?
09:26There is no wood in the steppe.
09:28So it's dung,
09:30and the smoke was also impregnated with that animal smell.
09:33This subsistence system
09:35forged the character of Genghis Khan,
09:38and his mother's words of revenge
09:40gave him a mission.
09:42It is indicative of the importance of the role
09:45that the Mongolian women played,
09:48and they have a fundamental educational role.
09:52Because of this stage of his life,
09:54Genghis Khan will always be very close to women,
09:57to his wife and to his mother.
09:59They are very prominent figures in his life,
10:01and both will be represented later in a relevant way.
10:04In fact, when Genghis Khan distributes his territory
10:07and his soldiers among his people,
10:09both women receive part of that domain.
10:12Towards the year 1206,
10:14Genghis Khan's dominion over the steppes is indisputable.
10:18Now he directs his revenge
10:20towards the rich and arrogant Qin of China.
10:27In 1211, the Mongols are ready to invade China.
10:31The huge and ancient nation
10:33considers them dirty atrocities
10:35that sometimes make a bit of a fuss.
10:37The Chinese have no idea what they are going to face.
10:43In the south of China, the Sun Dynasty,
10:45the Chinese in the south of the country
10:47often considered the Mongols as possible allies
10:50and developed a very interesting image of them.
10:53They believed that the Mongols were a barbaric,
10:56cruel and wild people,
10:58but at the same time incorruptible and unspoiled.
11:02In a few hours,
11:04the Mongol troops annihilate a much larger Chinese army.
11:10The nomads learn quickly.
11:12They copy the Chinese techniques of siege
11:14to open gaps in their walls.
11:16They become the personification of terror.
11:20Then they start playing the drums,
11:23which carry four men on ropes.
11:26The simple sound of the drums
11:28makes people go crazy with fear.
11:31They brought with them the prisoners
11:33of the previous conquered city
11:35and threw them into the moat
11:37to be able to walk over the corpses
11:40to the foot of the wall.
11:43And then they would kill all living beings,
11:46even dogs and cats.
11:50In 1215, they razed the capital of northern China,
11:53Chongqing.
11:55The Mongols were forced to flee
11:57to the south of the country.
11:59They razed the capital of northern China,
12:01Chengdu, now Beijing.
12:05But just when the victory was within reach,
12:08they heard that problems were brewing
12:10in the Mongolian homeland.
12:17The news reached Genghis Khan
12:19through 1,600 kilometers of territory,
12:22transported by a surprising communication system
12:25that will end up connecting the entire Mongol Empire.
12:29They developed very soon
12:31a system known as Yam,
12:33which worked like the Pony Express.
12:35Two messengers were dispatched
12:37with special badges around the waist
12:40indicating that they were official government emissaries.
12:43Horses were provided to them
12:45at post stations every 40 kilometers
12:47so that the two could continue galloping
12:49with rolls of messages in their hands.
12:55In 1218, the Yam riders
12:57brought Genghis Khan the news
12:59that Kuchlu, the Khan of the Naiman clan,
13:02was encouraging a rebellion
13:04among other unhappy tribes.
13:06The order that had cost Genghis Khan so much
13:09was threatened by the disloyalty of his own people.
13:12It could not be tolerated.
13:17Genghis Khan launched a crusade
13:19in search of the rebels
13:21who were keeping him away from his affairs in China.
13:27As they pursued the rebels
13:29to the west in Muslim land,
13:31they annexed one kingdom after another.
13:34Before crossing each border,
13:36Genghis Khan offers the local ruler
13:38the option of giving up the conspirators
13:40and surrender peacefully.
13:42If the ruler resists,
13:44Genghis Khan warns him that he will not have mercy.
13:47He writes to a chief,
13:49the disaster will reach you too.
13:53The revenge campaign of Genghis Khan
13:55has expanded his empire
13:57to cross the borders of the former kingdom of Khwarazm,
14:00what is now Uzbekistan.
14:05Although Khwarazm is an attractive objective,
14:08Genghis Khan decides not to go any further.
14:11He has learned something new.
14:14I think that the key moment
14:17of Genghis Khan's career
14:20that lifted him from being a territorial chief
14:23in outer Mongolia,
14:25and it is no coincidence that outer Mongolia
14:28means the fifth pine,
14:30behind, beyond,
14:32to become a major actor
14:34of the world stage.
14:36He realizes that his territories
14:38include the Silk Road
14:42and that he can change the fate of his people
14:45with trade.
14:47He sends a series of embassies
14:50to his closest neighbor,
14:52the Sultan Mohammed,
14:54who was the ruler
14:56of the east of the Islamic world.
14:59The embassies are followed
15:01by a caravan of 1,500 camels.
15:04And I think what happened there
15:07was that this particular caravan of camels
15:10was so rich
15:12that it triggered the greed
15:15of the Muslim governor
15:18of the border post of Uttar,
15:21that he simply seized it.
15:24The governor of the border city
15:26saw that an embassy
15:28of Mongol merchants was coming,
15:31and he asked Sultan Mohammed
15:33what he should do.
15:35He told him that it could be spies.
15:38He made him believe
15:40that the Mongol emissaries were spies.
15:43What can I do with them?
15:45Can I massacre them?
15:47And Sultan Mohammed said yes,
15:50and they were killed.
15:56Impassive,
15:57Genghis Khan sends a second emissary
16:00who is also captured.
16:03They shave his beard on the street
16:05as a humiliation,
16:07and send him back.
16:10The caravan of gifts, of course,
16:12is not sent back.
16:14Genghis Khan's final dispatch
16:16to Sultan Mohammed
16:18is simple and laconic.
16:20You have chosen war, he writes.
16:25And it was that greed,
16:27that breaking of the laws
16:29of the exchange of ambassadors
16:32and the permission of the merchants
16:35to cross borders freely
16:37that caused the catastrophe in Mongolia.
16:40A catastrophe that,
16:42according to a Russian chronicle,
16:44did not leave an open eye
16:46to mourn the dead.
16:48They came, they attacked,
16:50they plundered, they burned,
16:52they slaughtered and they left.
16:54It was a complete disaster
16:56for the civilized world
16:58that had been exploited
17:00by a small spark.
17:03While his soldiers prepare
17:05for the war in 1219,
17:07Genghis Khan is unconcerned.
17:10It will happen, he says,
17:12whatever has to happen,
17:14and whatever it is,
17:16we do not know.
17:18Only God knows.
17:21Carrying out God's celestial plan,
17:23Khan will teach his enemies
17:25a tremendous lesson
17:27and will continue a conquest
17:29that will destroy everything
17:31that comes his way,
17:33the entire civilization.
17:46Genghis Khan has unified
17:48the Mongolian nomads.
17:51He has subdued the oppressive Chinese
17:53and now, in 1219,
17:55is about to take down
17:57Sultan Mohammed,
17:59ruler of the Warazan Empire
18:02Genghis Khan is a man
18:04motivated by revenge.
18:07Inalchuk, the sultan's governor,
18:09has blatantly humiliated
18:11a Mongolian diplomat,
18:13an intolerable abuse.
18:17But the bastion of the sultan,
18:19Samarkand, is defended
18:21by an army much larger
18:23than that of Genghis Khan.
18:25To equal the disadvantage,
18:27Khan launches the tools
18:29of the past, mobility
18:31and surprise.
18:35The most interesting thing
18:37about this campaign in particular
18:39is that Genghis Khan divided
18:41his army against a superior adversary.
18:43This is the type of tactics
18:45that we associate with General Li
18:47or with the Blitzkrieg
18:49of World War II.
18:51The purpose is to cross the enemy
18:53to create confusion
18:55and distraction in the rear
18:57and then take those positions.
18:59I find that to be a very significant
19:01part of what he does.
19:05Genghis Khan attacks
19:07his first blow in the border city
19:09of Uttar, in 1219.
19:15After a siege of five months,
19:17the Mongols collapse through
19:19the defenses and destroy
19:21everything in front.
19:23His cruelty has no limits.
19:27Why were the Mongols
19:29so cruel?
19:31It's a difficult question.
19:33No one really knows
19:35the true explanation.
19:37But the fact of it
19:39is indisputable
19:41that these people
19:43did not wage war
19:45in the ordinary way.
19:49The greedy governor Inalchuk
19:51is reserved a special destination.
19:53He first discovers the meaning
19:55of the old Mongol proverb
19:57Give back what they gave you.
20:01Dragged out of his refuge
20:03in the citadel,
20:05he is held while silver is poured
20:07into his eyes and ears.
20:17In February 1220,
20:19Genghis Khan plans
20:21an attack in three phases
20:23in Parangon, Astucia and Malicia.
20:27First, two columns of Mongols
20:29attack Guarazan from opposite directions,
20:31east and west.
20:33Their main objective,
20:35make Mohammed believe
20:37that these weak attacks
20:39are the best the Mongols can show.
20:43The medieval armies of Europe
20:45and the Middle East
20:47had the strong conviction
20:49that retreating in front of the enemy
20:51was the best strategy.
20:53Another reason why they could not do it
20:55is that from the point of view
20:57of a general,
20:59once you start retreating,
21:01the others believe you have lost
21:03and suddenly you lose control
21:05of your army.
21:07Everyone would run away.
21:09We have lost, we have to flee.
21:11The Mongols retreated
21:13and as soon as they started
21:15to retreat,
21:17they dispersed suddenly
21:19Distracted by the Mongols'
21:21brawls and skirmishes,
21:23Sultan Mohammed deployed his forces
21:25along hundreds of kilometers
21:27of fertile land
21:29through the river valley
21:31to the south of Samarkand.
21:33But far north,
21:35Genghis Khan prepares
21:37the main assault.
21:39Genghis Khan carefully recruits
21:41as guides the smugglers
21:43and bandits who know
21:45the secret water wells
21:47of the desert of Kilz Kum.
21:49They are the ones
21:51who will guide their armies
21:53through 500 kilometers
21:55of sand-punished desert.
21:57It is the back door
21:59of the Sultan's kingdom.
22:01In March 1220,
22:03Genghis Khan and his army
22:05emerge from what the Sultan
22:07believed to be an impenetrable desert
22:09like the demons of his worst nightmare.
22:13In one of the most
22:15grandiose rear-guard strategies
22:17in the history of war,
22:19the proud Samarkand falls
22:21in just 10 days.
22:23Sultan Mohammed shows
22:25his true talent,
22:27fleeing from one city to another
22:29to save his life.
22:31As hunters chasing a fox,
22:33the great Mongol generals
22:35receive 20,000 men
22:37to crush any population
22:39that takes refuge in the fugitive sultan
22:41and follow the trail
22:44It was not just about
22:46defeating an army
22:48in the battlefield,
22:50but eradicating
22:52the power of a country
22:54to ground zero
22:56so that it could not recover.
22:58So they sowed salt fields,
23:00destroyed the wells,
23:02flooded the cities,
23:04cut the canals,
23:06tore the orchards
23:08as if tomorrow did not exist.
23:10The monstrous wave of Mongol devastation
23:12destroyed magnificent Persian cities
23:14like Balkh and Herat.
23:16Genghis Khan did not care.
23:21They couldn't care less.
23:23And the destruction
23:25that they committed
23:27in the eastern Islamic world
23:29has persisted to this day.
23:34The ruins of once-grand cities
23:36still lie wasted
23:38throughout Persia
23:41With the annexation of Khwarazm,
23:43the empire of Genghis Khan
23:45extends from the Yellow River
23:47to the Caspian Sea,
23:49the largest land empire
23:51in the history of the world.
23:54The most notable result
23:56of the Mongol conquest
23:58is that the East is open to the West
24:00for the first time in a thousand years.
24:04The Mongol Pax,
24:06a Mongol peace,
24:08allowed people for the first time
24:10to travel in absolute safety
24:12from Rome
24:14to Beijing.
24:18It was never possible before
24:20and it was not possible
24:22until the 20th century.
24:24It's not a small thing.
24:27There were people from the Middle East
24:29who traveled everywhere,
24:31even to China.
24:33A famous traveler,
24:35Ibn Battuta of Morocco,
24:37traveled through many of the successive states
24:39of the Mongols,
24:41states governed by the descendants
24:43of Genghis Khan.
24:45And that created a kind of knowledge
24:47of each civilization in Eurasia,
24:49acquiring more knowledge
24:51from each other.
24:55Ironically,
24:57the creation of such an empire
24:59was not the goal of Genghis Khan.
25:01The flame of revenge
25:03was still burning in his chest.
25:05He already has a game to win
25:07against the Chinese.
25:09And he decides to dedicate himself to it.
25:11But it is out of his reach.
25:15In 1227,
25:17at the age of 65,
25:19Genghis Khan dies on the way to China,
25:21according to legend,
25:23because of a tragic horse accident.
25:27His body is escorted
25:29by armed troops and slave maidens
25:31back to the steppe,
25:33to be buried in secret.
25:37There are some legends
25:39that say that 50 guards were chosen
25:41to bury him,
25:43who were murdered by another 50 guards,
25:45who were also murdered by others,
25:47so that his tomb remained
25:49in secret for various reasons.
25:51And the exact place is not known.
25:55The Mongol chiefs
25:57were buried in complete secrecy.
25:59They went off
26:01in a procession
26:03with the people who were going
26:05to bury them,
26:07making the horns sound
26:09and playing the drums,
26:11making as much noise
26:13as possible.
26:15If the procession met
26:17someone on the way
26:19from the secret place
26:21where the burial was going to take place,
26:23they killed him.
26:25The goal was that no one
26:27would ever open any tomb
26:29of a Mongol chief.
26:31They have never been found
26:33and we have no idea
26:35what they contain.
26:37Genghis Khan's empire
26:39seems to have been lost
26:41as much as his funeral tomb,
26:43because after his death,
26:45the state that had unified
26:47is divided into four kingdoms
26:49for his four sons.
26:51But the dream continues.
26:53It will become a nightmare
26:55and the story will trigger
26:57a reign of terror
26:59even more bloody and brutal
27:01than that of Genghis Khan.
27:09In an eruption
27:11of violent conquest,
27:13the Mongol empire continues
27:15its expansion
27:17after the death of Genghis Khan
27:19in 1227.
27:21In the west,
27:23in the south of Russia
27:25and in Warazan.
27:27In the Far East,
27:29the grandson of Khan
27:31defeats and unifies
27:33the three kingdoms of China.
27:35And in Persia,
27:37the Mongols become Islam
27:39building fabulous mosques
27:41to glorify their new god.
27:43However,
27:45although the Mongol empire
27:47is a success,
27:49its enormous size
27:51was not like China,
27:53for example.
27:55Perhaps the Mongol army
27:57was composed of about
27:59100,000 men,
28:01no more.
28:03So the larger the territory
28:05they dominated,
28:07the finer the Mongol control
28:09over it.
28:11In the middle of the 14th century,
28:13the Genghis Khan empire
28:15was very weakened.
28:17Like the old Mongol plans
28:19their rulers spent their time
28:21fighting each other
28:23instead of combining their forces.
28:27The actual power
28:29was going from the hands
28:31to the family of Genghis Khan
28:33and falling into the hands
28:35of the lords of the tribal wars
28:37who did not belong to the imperial family
28:39but who held the real power.
28:41In the middle of the year 1300
28:43in the lands of Warazan
28:45in modern Uzbekistan,
28:47a Mongol called Timur
28:49is about to steal a sheep from a neighbor.
28:51He is a cunning and stealthy adversary
28:53for the shepherd
28:55but this time his luck fails him.
29:01It is said that he receives
29:03a wound that he will never fully recover
29:05and will remain lame for life.
29:09When he comes to power
29:11they call him Timur the Lame
29:13or Tamerlan in the West.
29:15In the year 1360
29:17Timur is an important emir or chief
29:19a master of chess
29:21and a skilful strategist.
29:23Although he is Mongol
29:25he cannot prove to descend from Genghis Khan
29:27so an elaborate genealogy
29:29is invented
29:31linking him to the great chief.
29:33He even takes two wives
29:35descendants of Genghis Khan
29:37to legitimize the alliance
29:39between the two tribes.
29:41I think Timur saw himself
29:43as the restorer
29:45of the new version
29:47of the history of Genghis Khan
29:49which was his own version
29:51reflected through the prism
29:53of his ambitions.
29:55And at a certain point
29:57he saw himself as a man
29:59with a destiny
30:01not only as the messenger of heaven
30:03who had been Genghis Khan
30:05but as a person acting
30:07for the sake of the people
30:09in his own right.
30:15Around 1375
30:17the Mongol Empire
30:19is not the only restoration project
30:21of Timur.
30:23A century and a half after
30:25Genghis Khan set fire to Samarkand
30:27Timur hopes to make his city
30:29the jewel of the world.
30:31He was born in that area
30:33and he was always attached
30:35to what is now Uzbekistan
30:37as his birthplace
30:39and in the course of his
30:41campaigns
30:43wherever he went
30:45he would kill everybody
30:47in a city of the city
30:49but he would save all the artisans
30:51from there and transport them
30:53back to Samarkand.
30:55So you must imagine
30:57Samarkand alive with traditions
30:59from all over the Muslim world
31:01from China and India.
31:03Samarkand was something special
31:05Samarkand was a garden city
31:07and one of the biggest
31:09construction activities
31:11of Timur
31:13was the excavation of irrigation
31:15canals that filled the outskirts
31:17of wonderful gardens.
31:19Because Timur was a Muslim
31:21he also built religious buildings
31:23and he used a large part of the booty
31:25he acquired by conquering India
31:27to build an absolutely gigantic mosque.
31:29One of Timur's features
31:31seems to have been his pride
31:33and his megalomania
31:35and that can be seen
31:37in this mosque.
31:39It is colossal.
31:41Size, with a portal
31:43of 15 meters high
31:45the impression that you had to cause
31:47was, I am a poor and tiny faithful
31:49that I have to cross this door
31:51of 15 meters to get in.
31:53The magnificence of Samarkand
31:55is a testament
31:57to the power of Timur
31:59but it is also a testament
32:01to the power of Timur
32:03to impose order.
32:07Out of the walls of Samarkand
32:09his cruelty and mercy
32:11became legendary.
32:15From 1385
32:17Timur is dedicated to systematically
32:19looting all of eastern Persia
32:21as well as cities
32:23of all of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia
32:25and the Caucasus.
32:27Tens of thousands of people
32:29are killed along the way.
32:33In 1398
32:35Timur follows the steps of the Greeks
32:37leading a bold expedition
32:39through the most famous mountains
32:41in the world, the Hindu Kush.
32:43Then he invades
32:45the north of India.
32:47But the further away
32:49he extends his dominions
32:51the more difficult it is to control
32:53the hostile populations.
32:55When the inhabitants of Delhi
32:57rebel against their new Mongol lords
32:59Timur opens a page
33:01of the book of the terror of Genghis Khan
33:03and writes a new chapter
33:05even more horrible.
33:09The chronicles that tell
33:11that he cut off the heads of his victims
33:13and piled them in huge piles
33:15are too frequent
33:17to be mere rhetoric.
33:19In numbers there could be
33:21about 70,000 or 80,000 dead
33:23but it did not matter
33:25because we are talking
33:27about psychological weapons
33:29which is something that the Mongols
33:31introduced.
33:33One thing is to go to war
33:35and another to use terror
33:37as a weapon of war
33:39which is what Timur did.
33:43Timur took advantage
33:45of Genghis Khan's legacy
33:47He was more cruel
33:49in the sense that his killings
33:51were more brutal
33:53and faster
33:55although always respecting
33:57the artisans.
33:59When they say he destroyed a city
34:01it is a metaphor
34:03which means he killed so many people
34:05as if it were a disaster
34:07but then he took from every city
34:09he conquered the best workers
34:11the best artisans
34:13the best engineers
34:15and the best products.
34:17The line of the sky of the domes
34:19of the modern Istanbul
34:21is witness of a dynasty
34:23that got in the way of Timur's dream
34:25with a Mongol empire
34:27the size of Genghis Khan's
34:29the Ottoman Turks.
34:31In 1402 the territories
34:33in Timur's expansion
34:35reached the immovable borders
34:37of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid.
34:39Proud to scratch
34:41in arrogance
34:43neither of the two rulers
34:45tolerated the other.
34:47He even suggested that Bayezid's mother
34:49is of an uncertain birth
34:51meaning that she is a whore.
34:57Bayezid could not stand it anymore
34:59leading one of the best armies
35:01in the world
35:03the Sultan left his fortress of Ankara
35:05to meet with Timur's
35:07very inferior forces.
35:09Confident and imposing
35:11he knows little about the cunning genius
35:13of the Mongol Timur.
35:17In 1402
35:19aggravated by insults to his honor
35:21the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid
35:23hurries to face
35:25the Mongol army of Timur.
35:27But Timur, aware of the Sultan's route
35:29agilely surrounds the Turks.
35:33Traveling through unknown routes
35:35he surprises the Sultan
35:37and places the Turkish bastion
35:39Ankara itself.
35:41It is a turn of events
35:43humiliating for Bayezid
35:45who is forced to retreat
35:47to defend his city.
35:51When his exhausted troops finally arrive
35:53they are no rival
35:55for the well-rested army of Timur.
35:59And what is worse
36:01in the heat of battle
36:03a whole Turkish battalion
36:05deserts and passes to the Mongol side
36:07when they see a prince
36:09admired by them
36:11fighting alongside Timur.
36:15Deceived, betrayed
36:17and totally exhausted
36:19Sultan Bayezid refuses
36:21to leave the battlefield.
36:23He is determined to fight to the end
36:25but is captured and made a prisoner.
36:31The Ottoman defeat is sweet for Timur
36:33but it is even more delicious
36:35for Christian Europe.
36:39If you look at the situation
36:41on the great strategic map
36:43of Eurasia at that time
36:45the Ottoman sultans
36:47were forced to invade
36:49Constantinople.
36:51They had penetrated
36:53in Europe
36:55they had surrounded it
36:57they were ready to start the siege
36:59that would destroy the main city
37:01of Eastern Christianity.
37:03And just then
37:05they had bad luck
37:07someone came calling
37:09to the back door
37:11and that was Timur.
37:13The reaction of Europe
37:15to the defeat of Bayezid
37:17was of immeasurable joy.
37:23With the defeat of the Ottomans
37:25in 1402
37:27the empire of Timur
37:29approaches that of Genghis Khan
37:31in size and pretensions.
37:33Predictably it will not be enough
37:35to secure his place in history
37:37he must do better than his hero
37:39and the only way to get it
37:41is to take over
37:43what Genghis Khan could not
37:45China.
37:51But like Genghis Khan
37:53Timur mysteriously sick
37:55and dies on the way to China.
38:01In 1405
38:03he is buried in Samarkand
38:05in a tomb so ornamented
38:07as simple was that of Genghis Khan.
38:13There is a curious anecdote
38:15that tells that
38:17when he was agonizing
38:19he said
38:21do not desecrate my tomb
38:23because if you do
38:25you will fall a curse worse than me.
38:27And his grave remained
38:29completely sealed
38:31until June 22, 1941
38:33when Soviet archaeologists
38:35opened it
38:37and found the skeleton
38:39of a tall man
38:41with a damaged hip.
38:43And on June 22, 1941
38:45Hitler launched his attack
38:47on Russia
38:49which marked the beginning
38:51of a stage in which
38:53about 20 million Russians
38:55would die in four years.
38:57So you could say
38:59that his shadow
39:01lasted until the 20th century.
39:07Without the strength of personality
39:09and the leadership of Timur
39:11their heirs are unable
39:13to maintain the united empire.
39:15The Mongols begin to diffuse
39:17in history.
39:19Too few in number
39:21to govern their vast empire
39:23end up assimilating
39:25the cultures they conquer
39:27And yet
39:29it can be said that today
39:31its impact remains
39:33immeasurably present.
39:35By opening China to the West
39:37the Mongols created an insatiable thirst
39:39for Asian goods.
39:41The impulse to satisfy it
39:43promoted the era of discoveries
39:45and the trips that would lead
39:47Europe to America.
39:49In reality, by destroying
39:51the old empires of China and Persia
39:53the Mongols gave birth
39:55to an empire that extended
39:57from the sea of Japan
39:59to the Baltic, from Korea
40:01to the east of Germany
40:03and which occupied
40:05most of Eurasia
40:07except India and Southeast Asia.
40:09There was nothing like it.
40:13Will there ever be
40:15an equal empire?
40:17In Mongolia, some
40:19fervently hope so.
40:21Even today, there they worship
40:23Genghis Khan as a god.
40:25His name
40:27is a source of national pride.
40:29His tent, a sacred temple.
40:31It is not surprising that
40:33the Mongols eagerly wait
40:35for his spirit to resurface
40:37and for the barbarian to return.