Why Did Ben Franklin Look Up to Genghis Khan?

So like Jefferson, he bought a ton of the copies of this book. He gave him to relatives and gifted him libraries. George and Martha Washington had the biography and Mount Vernon like for some reason that's never mentioned in Hamilton's think it is there were even like plays about con that were put on stage at the time. But

this was a super peculiarly American obsession. And people in Europe, I mean, they had some interest in Genghis Khan, but I guess the reason it was so popular in the US was they were really looking for new non European heroes to look up to and also new models of government, and weirdly enough, Genghis Khan kind of fit into both those categories. But as we poke around his biography, we wanted to know how much of a hero was Genghis Khan, Like why was he so enamored with a meritocracy? And

did he really invent the hamburger? So let's dive in pay their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend Mangesh Ticketer and sitting on the other side of the soundproof glass wearing yet another perfectly themed shirt. I mean, this guy nails it every time. That's our friends and producer Tristan McNeil. And actually I forget what it says exactly. Can you show us, Tristan, it says if Genghis Khan

sokn you. I mean, you know, it's just spot on mango that is so terrible and it almost feels like a bad motivational poster. But I have a feeling that's not an original Genghis Khan quote. No, I don't. I don't think it is. It feels a little more Tristan, if you know what I mean? But what's clear from this week's reading is that Genghis Khan didn't need motivational phrases or a life coach to get things done. I mean,

this was a born go getter. And in roughly two and a half decades, Genghis Khan and his army conquered more lands and people than the Romans did over a four hundred years span. I mean, that is just insane to me, like four hundred years of Roman rule and and like they didn't accomplish what Genghis Kan did in

two and a half decades. But you know what's weird and Gabe told us to me is that Genghis Khan was apparently a really good boss, which is just such a funny idea to me, Like, I love the idea of Genghis just you know, sitting behind a desk pile of paperwork, like sipping from his world's best boss mug. But apparently this is true. He had all these progressive policies, like um, he granted universal religious freedom, he abolished torture. Uh in just about every country the Mongols took over,

the quality of life actually improved for the citizens. I mean, as long as they pledged the loyalty to con things got better, and that's really what we wanted to get to the bottom of that today's show, like who was the real Genghis Khan? Was he a super innovative, ahead of his time mastermind or or was he just this blood thirst deep barbarian who kind of cleverly slaughtered his

way to the top. Well, before we get into that debate, I feel like we should start with a little bit of a recap on how Genghis rose to power, and to do that, I feel like we really need to set the scene a little bit. So this may be a little bit weird, but Tristan, if you don't mind, I feel like we need a little bit of mood

music here. So picture life for a twelfth century Mongol And at the time there were about a million nomadic people living on the Central Asian step and this is not too far from the border between modern Mongolia and Siberia. And as you might imagine, life was pretty brutal, to say the least, and you had dozens of different tribes living in the same general area, all vying for these

same limited resources. That's funny because, like the way you described it started out so pastoral and romantic, and then it ended kind of like a really terrible game of Katan, or like game of Throne. That's exactly what it sounds like. But so it was really a terrible time, and because of that scarcity, everyone was always drinking and fighting and

stealing from each other. People were afraid to go out after dark, and it was really just a chaotic way of life by most accounts, at least, like I read that most people slept on top of their weapons just in case anyone tried something during the night. And this is the world Genghis Khan was born into in the

early eleven sixties. So according to the myths, he came out of his mother clutching a blood clot and his fist, which is an odd detail and I don't really know exactly what that means, but I guess it was supposed to be a sign that he was destined to be a great leader. I love that that's the re sure, which is a nice story. But you know, even without that blood clot, the boy would have been in line for a pretty kush leadership role. So he was the

son of a Mongol chieftain. He was the head of the Borgigan clan, and this was composed of around families, and because Asia's feudal system was what it was, it favored class and ancestry, and that kind of set Genghis up nicely well. And besides, his name was Genghis Khan, which literally translated means universal ruler. I mean, I think if you have a kid with a name like that, it's pretty clear what the plan is. Yeah, I mean,

you're right, that's what the name means. But the boy who would be Khan actually didn't go by that name until he was already in his forties. Before that, he was actually called Timidgen, which was the Mongol word for blacksmith, and his dad actually took that name from an enemy chief that he'd recently captured, so he was named for an enemy. Apparently it was this common practice in Mongol culture to name a newborn after some kind of important event,

like something good that happened recently. So I guess you could say that like Timidgen wasn't so much named after the father's enemy, but I guess the capture of that enemy, and I guess that makes a little more sense. It's still a little but so if Timidgen's dad was this hot shot clan leader and the soldier. Does that mean Genghis Khan was basically born into success and just kind of expanded the empire because I don't know, I always had this thought of him as as being more of

a self made man. Yeah, me too. But you know, for the most part, Mongol leaders went through the same hardships as their people, So it's not like his family status really put him on easy street or anything. But Genghis's story actually takes a turn for the worst before

things start to go really well for him. So, when Timidgin was just nine years old, his father was poisoned to death by assassins from Arrival Klan, and since he was so young, Timiden wasn't given the chance to take over for his father obviously, you know, like a nine year old is not going to lead however many people. But you know, instead of being able to live among the tribe, the clan kind of saw his family as a burden now and that they'd have to be responsible

for feeding and housing. So instead Timagen, along with his mother and their six siblings were banished from their own clan. Wow, I mean this is honestly, it feels like the start of I don't know, like a good superhero origin story. Maybe it's because I saw the recent Spider Man movie, but that just just feels that's coming, yeah, into the Genghas verse. But you know, things don't get easier for Genghas here. Like during his teenage years, they're spent mostly

hunting and foraging with his family. There's this really low point in their situation where Timidgen actually murders his older half brother because his brother isn't sharing the limited food they have. I mean, that's how bleak things get. And then after facing his mother and grappling with what he'd done, somehow, things even get worse for Timidgen. So while foraging for food, he gets captured and enslaved by the same clan that had banished him a few years earlier. Oh my gosh.

You know, you think about abandoning his family being bad enough, But but what happened though? He must have escaped at some point, yeah, I mean pretty soon after his capture he got away, and it was kind of this morale boost, strangely for him, because after that he decided he was strong enough to return to society, and now he had kind of a chip on his shoulder, so he decided to go in and asked to marry the woman that had been betrothed to them just before his father's death.

It's kind of a confusing image though, like so he just storms back into the village and makes these demands and does that work or what? Yeah, So this is actually where things start to turn around for Timigen. So he convinces the tribe leader to honor this old agreement with his father, and Timidgen's allowed to marry the chief's daughter named Borte, And now Timidgen's honor is more or less restored. He kind of has a place in society again.

And uh, you know, this is ancient Mongolia we're talking about, so so things don't stay that peaceful for long. Pretty soon after the wedding, this rival tribe goes on a raid and during the scuffle, Timidgen's bride is kidnapped and carried away on horseback. But it's like they can't get a break, like nothing is easy in this cult where it seems like I know, and and he's he's kind of like the ziggy of Mongols like that thinks keep happening to him. But this ends up being like the

last straw for Timogen. So right then, like backing down, he rallies some friends and he rides out and he rescues Borte, and he kind of realized he's good at this.

And and with those connections established and he's got this win, he starts to form alliances and then he attracts more followers, and over the course of the next few years, this just keeps growing and growing, and he gradually consolidates all the various nomadic tribes one by one, until in twelve o five when Timodgen best the very last of his rivals, Like he's now looking for more things to do, and and at this point, like the Mongols really have established

their leadership, Like he's toppled the entire structure that I've been there before. The step tribes are all united for the first time in history, and honestly, everything is about to change. And the following year, Timogen calls together representatives from every part of the region, and once they're gathered, he informs them there now all part of this brand new nation. It's going to be organized by these universal laws.

It's going to be overseen by a universal ruler him And at the end of the meeting, Timagen has proclaimed Chengis Khan, or the universal Ruler, and uh, you know, in the West this gets translated as Genghis Khan. Al Right, So just to kind of wrap my head around this whole thing, I mentioned that we're about a million people living on the step when Khan came to power. So all of a sudden, the prince, turned outcast, turned slave is now in charge of a million people. Is this right? Yeah?

It is this miraculous return to grace. And and you know he really meant it when he came out of the womb clutching that blood clout, I guess, because that was just the start of it. But uh, you know, with the tribe United, con spent the next two decades just growing and growing this empire. And at the peak of his power, the Mongol leader controlled roughly twelve million contiguous square miles, which was more than twice as much

land as any other person before or since. And at the heart of that conquest was this ferocious but highly disciplined Mongol army composed of just a hundred thousand men. I'm curious to like, how could such a small army conquered that much territory? Like, I know it happened, but it really feels impossible. Yeah, and I think it wouldn't have been possible for most countries. But that's really where

Genghis Khan's genius comes in. Like the innovations he brought to society and warfare really made it possible for his people not only to conquer an empire, but to run it effectively once the fighting was done. And so what kind of innovations are we talking about? Like, what what did Genghas do differently that made his reign so successful? I mean all kinds of things, but I'd say one of the most important was the way he dealt with the people in the places he conquered. Like his whole

focus was expansion. He wanted to extend his empire and grow his hoard, and that meant that wholesale slaughter was really out of the question. And that doesn't mean he didn't kill people. He killed plenty of people. It's just that his army always needed new recruits, and any nation that was conquered had plenty of them waiting in the way. The only catch was that these people would have to be treated well enough that they wouldn't mind joining forces with him and also bending the need in So how

did he make these people convert? Well, once he conquered a nation, he killed the leaders on the spot, but he had kind of like a weird justification for that, like he thought those kings and royals or chieftains like they all deserved it for leading their people into a war they couldn't win. And then he also killed off the wealthy ruling class because on one hand he considered them soft, but he also figured he could never really

win their loyalty anyway. But everyone else, if they surrendered, they were spared, and anyone with useful skills was allowed to stay and essentially carry on with their lives pretty much as usual, though now with sort of greater security. And this was for really any type of skills, so like basket weavers and and those with ability to write were essentially as valued as those who farmed or forged weapons. All right, So what about the conquered citizens who didn't

have certain skills, Like, what would happen to these people? Yeah, I mean they were spared as well. They were typically forced into labor or or sometimes used as human chields in the army's next battle, which was I'm sure, a little less appealing for them. It's kind of a kind of a mixed bag for these people. Yeah, I mean, you might have been progressive, but he was still, you know, a con but uh um, you know, Genghis was still this incredibly harsh and violent guy when he had to be.

But before we get into the mass murder and the city burning, I do want to spend a little more time building the case for Khan as a great progressive. Well. I can't wait to see what you come up with, but first, let's take a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about the softer side of Genghis Khan. At least I think that's what we're about to talk about. Yeah, it almost feels like a

Hallmark movie, right, it should be all right? Well, migo, before the break, you were playing devil's advocate for Khan and laying out some of the surprisingly tolerant views he had held. But do you do you want to give us a few more examples of him. Yeah, definitely, so again, so much of what he did differently came down to how he treated his subjects, and those were really not

just his own people, but the people from the conquered territories. Basically, he knew that if he kept people happy, they'd be less likely to rebel, and his empire would continue to grow as a result. So with that in mind, Khan created universal laws aimed at keeping the peace and preventing the infighting that had previously plagued his tribe. So first and foremost, he granted religious freedom to everyone under his rule. This was super crucial because so many of his followers

practice completely different religions. So within his ranks you'd find Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, Taoists, and and even people who followed animistic traditions like the shamanism Genghis Khan himself practiced. And then his new regions fell to the Mongol invaders, religious representation within a hoard became more and more diverse. But you know, con didn't stopped just that tolerance. He he also rewarded piety by exempting religious personnel and places of worship from paying taxes,

which is kind of a huge boon. And he also exempted any person whose profession contributed to the common goods. So if you think about it, like these are people like teachers, doctors, undertakers, all of them were exempt as well. And uh, you know, as we mentioned earlier, Genghis also outlawed other traditional practices at the time, like torturing prisoners, uh, kidnapping women, and taking other Mongols as servants or slaves. And as you might have noticed, that some of those

decisions drew directly from his own life experiences. So his wife had been kidnapped, he himself had been slaved as a teenager, and all this taught him firsthand that you can't really build a healthy community or economy when fellow citizens are living in bondage. Wow. I mean, those are great examples, and I feel like you make a compelling

point here. But there was one example that I thought you would include here, one of really I think his biggest achievements, and that is, of course, that he devised one of the first international postal systems in the world. Like it was basically an early version of the Pony Express. That's right. So here's a breakdown that actually saw on

history dot com. I thought it would just read it directly, so it says one of his earliest decrees as con involved the formation of a mounted courier service known as the Yam. This medieval express consisted of a well organized series of post houses and way stations strung across the whole empire. By stopping to rest or take on a fresh mount every few miles, official writers could often travel

as far as two hundred miles a day. The system allowed goods and information to travel with unprecedented speed, but also acted as the eyes and ears of the con Thanks to the Am, Genghis could easily keep abreast of military and political developments and maintain contact with his extensive

network of spies and scouts. I love that it's called Yam first off, that feels like such a weird, fun branding, But I I think you're right that is way too cool to leave out, especially since it's such a great example of like advantages that Khan's army had over other people. And speaking of advantage is one of my favorite things about Genghis Kan's leadership style is the way he used

his army's diversity as a strength. Like if you remember all those skilled workers they accumulated from fallen cities, you know he had brought in these engineers, craftsmen, experts on everything from like Chinese metallurgy to um to Arabian mathematicians. And because Khan put all religions and cultures on the same equal footing, he was able to wield this big melting pot of international expertise however he wanted, which is amazing.

But what did he do with this? Exactly? Like, I feel like the Mongols mostly fought on horseback with bow and arrows, So how do you improve on that? Yeah, I mean that archer approach worked really well early, and so when enemy is retreated behind city walls, Mongols could just aim higher and pepper them with arrows until they surrendered. But it got harder and harder as word got out, so you know, the nations started building up their defenses,

walls got taller and stronger. It became clear that Mongols would have to like change their tactics, and that's where the fleet of engineers and craftsmen really come in. So pretty soon the Mongols were catapulting these iron balls filled with gunpowder over the walls or just straight up tearing down the walls with grappling hooks, and on at least one occasion, the army diverted the flow of an entire river as a way to flood a walled city and force the people out. Isn't the insane It really is.

I mean, you look back at this and you think, not only is he building this huge and sweeping empire, but he's also changing the face of warfare. In the process of all of this exactly. But beyond all these tactics, Con also changed the way armies were structured and ranked. So in the past, Mongol armies had been organized according to the same feudal system that governed society as a whole. Officers were appointed and promoted based on which class they

belonged to or who they were related to. But again, Genghis Khan was having none of this right, he had this traumatic childhood experience, so that really showed him the flaws of the system. So, rather than perpetuating something he saw and had experienced as broken, Con decided to up end that too, and he started promoting his officers based on individual merit and skill. And this setup, which feels kind of obvious and almost American, you can see why

all those founding fathers liked him. It really made his soldiers work harder to distinguish themselves, since all of a sudden they felt like they had this chance to improve their standing and it was on them to do it. Yeah. I was actually reading this week about how Khan was a big fan of meritocracy, which we kind of alluded to earlier. But you know, it makes sense when you look back at how he had to prove himself to

his fellow tribe members. But I feel like the clearest example of his philosophy is from this early encounter his army had with a rival tribe. So this enemy archer managed to shoot down Genghis Khan's horse in the heat of battle, and when the horse fell, it nearly killed Khan on its way down. And in the end, the Mongols were victorious and the opposing soldiers were all taken prisoner. And so at this point Genghis demands to know who

the archer was that had shot his horse. I mean, who knows if he actually expected anybody to raise their hand and kind of cop to it. But he might have just been looking for an excuse to punish all of them. I guess, at least that's what I would have thought if I were in that position. And this is Genghis Khan we're talking about. But anyway, at any rate, after a pause, one soldier steps forward and admits to

having shot the arrow. And this kind of bravery actually catches Genghis off guard, so rather than having the man killed where he stood, Genghis immediately pardons him and makes him a ranking officer in his army. In fact, contakes to the guy so well that he even gives him one of those callback nicknames like he had when he was a kid. So what do you mean, like he he gets a name like almost shot me or something. It's really not far from that. kN actually started calling

him jeb A, which means arrow. And yeah, you might assume that being renamed by a conquering warlord would rub this guy the wrong way, but Jeb didn't mind one bit. He remained loyal to Khan throughout his life and eventually became one of his most successful and respected field commanders. And in this entire vast army, Oh Jeffy, and I'm surprised we don't hear that name more often. Well, don't

sing his praises too much. Remember, being an effective general really just means he was super good at killing people, like a lot of people. Sure, So, now that we've covered what a tolerant, unifying statesman genghas Khan was we should probably address the pile of dead elephants in the room and talk about just how bloody his rise to

power really was. Yeah, I mean, the progressive policies were great and all, but it's hard to get around the fact that Genghis Khan was also responsible for the deaths of as many as forty million people. So I I didn't realize the head count was actually that high. The official number is forty million people. I mean, there's no official numbers, not like anybody was keeping track out on

the battlefield or anything like that. But the best guess according to historians is that somewhere around forty million people were killed during Genghis Khan's conquest of Asia and of course Europe. I mean that is staggering. So how are they getting that sort of number if there's no written record. Well, there's no written record from the battles, but that doesn't

mean there are no records at all. I mean, we actually have details sensus reports from the Middle Ages, and those show that the population of China dropped by tens of millions during Khan's lifetime. So when you add up all the circumstantial evidence, it's likely that the Mongols rampage reduced as much as eleven percent of the entire world population. That is horrific. I feel like I can't even wrap my head around that amount of carnage. Yeah, I mean,

it's definitely a lot to process. But on the bright side, though, there are these studies that show that something like point five percent of the global population is descended from Genghis Khan. So I guess you could make the case that he indirectly replaced all these lives that he took. But I don't think you could really say that makes up for too much. What a hot take to make that case. But uh, you know, instead, let's take another quick break and then when we come back, let's talk about how

Genghis Khan might have affected climate change. Okay, well, so was Genghis Khan a blood thirsty tyrant or was he a progressive champion of the people? We need your take. Well, you know, at the end of the day, and I've been thinking about this, I'd have to say my answer is a resounding yes. Sure, So yes to both. I'm

guessing yes to both. I mean, I don't know what the other conclusion you could draw, really, I mean, on the one hand, he was tolerant of other religions, other cultures, relatively kind to women and prisoners, a staunch defender of the rule of law. I mean, his life as the underdog story for the ages. And it just so happens that this really innovative and inspirational figure was also a mass murderer, like the likes of which the world had

never seen before and honestly hopefully we'll never see again. Yeah, he's definitely a difficult figure to pin down, but you know, in my mind, there are some things that do come across as kind of tough but fair. Like his laws are incredibly harsh, but he does seem to like abide by them and enforce them in equal measure, which, if you look at like Europe and other places, his peers aren't doing this, Like they play fast and loose with

laws and they rarely hold themselves or their friends accountable. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean. Another thing is that from everything I've read, Khan also seemed to be unfailingly loyal. Like as you were saying before, he was of course loyal to the law itself, but he was also loyal

to soldiers and to the people who followed him. So, for example, Ginghis Khan is often thought to be one of the richest people in history, if not the richest, and that's mostly because of the sheer quantity of land that he possessed, I mean, those twelve million or so acres that we were talking about before. But the thing is, Kant never kept all the money and riches that he

won through the conquest for himself. Instead, he redistributed all that wealth to his people, thereby ensuring that it would go right back into growing the nation's economy. And he didn't just do that for the soldiers and craftsmen either, like even widows and orphans were given a share of the spoils. So in the end, here was a ruler who never built himself a palace, never ordered a monument to be built in his honor, and instead he made sure that the weakest and most vulnerable members of the

community were all provided for. And yet for all that good, there was still a lot of blood and death. I mean, he's definitely president of contradictions. I mean, you know what's funny is that you hear about Genghis Khan and even though I knew how wide his empire was, I rarely compared it to Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. I mean, both of these guys. He really puts the shame, to

be honest. Yeah, you know, one thing I hadn't realized was that there was this concerned effort from the Soviets to stamp out the memory of Genghis Khan. And it kind of sounds weird now because modern day Mongolia is right next door to Russia, but you know, Mongolians revere Khan as kind of a national hero and founding father all sort of rolled into one. But in the early twentieth century, when the region was still under Soviet rule, it was illegal to even mention the name Genghis Khan.

And it wasn't just his name that was taboo either, Like the Soviets also removed con story from their textbooks, their history books. They it made it a crime to visit his birthplace. It was insane. Wow. So the Mongols really did a number on Russia. I mean, if you think about all of those centuries later, they were still

insecure about this defeat. Yeah, I mean, the crackdown was definitely fueled apart by hard feelings, but the bigger concern was that the memories of Khan's conquest would ignite a sense of nationalism in the Mongolians, and the Soviets really wanted to like keep their thumb on the population, so it was kind of in their best interest to race any connection to a hero or a figure who might be inspirational to the Mongolians and give them any ideas

of independence. Yeah. But once the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fell in the early nineties, Mongolia did, of course become a sovereign nation again, that's right. And when it did, the history of Genghis Khan was restored. And of course he's been a huge part of the art and culture in Mongolia ever since. In fact, CON's faces even featured on Mongolian currency. All right, So what about outside of Asia? Like, why do so many people in Europe and the States have such a limited view

of Khan's accomplishments. I mean, I think a lot of it comes down to this idea that Mongols were really barbaric and savage. But there are a lot of historians out there who have made it their mission to set the record straight on Genghis Khan, and and chief among them is is this anthropology professor and this author named Jack Weatherford. He's written multiple books on the life and exploits of Genghis Khan, and much of his work focuses

on the duality we've been talking about today. But you know, thanks to his efforts, a lot of people have this much fuller picture of who Genghas Khan was. And as a nice bonus, books have actually helped Mongolia's economy. Apparently tourism there has more than tripled in the decades since his first book on Genghis was published. Wow, and does he have a theory for wa Genghis isn't more celebrated. Yeah,

he does. I Actually, I've got a quote right here, and this is from an interview he did two years ago with the History News Network. So in it he says, quote, contrary to common myth and cliche, history is written not necessarily by the victors, but by those who hold the deepest grudges. The so called civilized world, Europe, the Middle East, in China was not only defeated by, but humiliated by

its conquest by people whom they considered inferior barbarians. For a long time, we have been unable to accept that an Asian conqueror might have something to teach us. Still today, it is time to reconsider that legacy of Genghis Khan. To label him an environmentalist, feminist, liberal, or democrat would be silly and anachronistic. He was a conqueror, but he was also more a man of the future than the past, because we still not have been able to fulfill his

vision of a just world. I mean, it's it's weird. I never would have guessed that Genghis Khan's vision was something to aspire to, but here we are. I mean, I guess in the end, it all goes back to Tristan's T shirt. Like, if the world is heading in the wrong direction and you don't feel like finding any longer to try and make it right, just remember if Genghis Khan so kanu thanks Tristan. Yeah, truly words to

live by. But before any of you go out and change the world, we still got a few great facts to cover, so let's do this fact. One of the weird things about Genghis Khan is that no one knows where he was buried. He he wanted to be placed in an unmarked grave. And there are all these theories of the people who buried him being killed so that the secret died with them. There's another story that his engineers diverted a river over his grave to cover it up.

But whatever they did, it worked because even now this many centuries later, we still don't know where his body is actually. Speaking of devoting rivers, apparently it was a favorite trick of Genghis. After vanquishing one enemy, he diverted a river through the enemy's birthplace so that it would be totally erased from the maps. So here's a fun one. Do you know that one of the world's hardest horse

races is directly inspired by Genghis Khan. Apparently as part of the Mongol derby, writers try to stay on these half wild Mongols horses as they raced along Genghis's old postal route, which was over six miles long. That's pretty cool. One of the things we really didn't touch. I mean, we mentioned that forty million number, but we really didn't

touch on how brutal Khan could be. So after defeating a Russian army, he and the Mongols forced the Russian army to lie on the ground and they basically threw a party on top of them, like they put this giant wooden gate, then chairs and tables, then feasted and danced on their enemies, cru shing them beneath. I know we usually like to keep it kind of light and the fact off, but I felt like I had to mention this one. But how horrible is that? That is horrific?

You know. I feel like it's almost like when my mom used to kill an ant in the kitchen and then leave it there as a warning to all the other ants to see you. Both my mom and Genghis Khan like to send a message. You know. Here's one of the weirder theories I read about this week. The Guardian had the story that because Khan killed so many millions of people, he was actually an unintentional eco warrior.

Raid supposedly resulted in man made climate change cooling the planet and possibly scrubbing seven metric tons of C O two from the atmosphere. Yeah, I'm not sure I can get behind that argument. But that's that's pretty well well, I will say. I know we've shared some pretty terrible things about Genghis Khan, but one thing that does really kind of redeem him, to be honest, is the spread of the Hamburger. So nat g O and first we Fees both trace the big mac back to Khan and

his squad. And that's because Mongolians would carry meat under their saddles to transport on the go, and this would tend arise the food. And they brought this technique to Russia they started eating steak tartar and from there it past to Germany where people started making these hamburg steaks, and of course you fast forward from there and it was finally slapped on buns and ordered animal style at

in and outs. I really hope someone comes up with like a new fast food chain called Genghis Is for you wait like three yards from the restaurant and they just pony expressed that's a good thing. So good. But uh, I do think you take the prize today. But you know, before we go, I I did want to give a special shout out to my wonderful sister in law. Even though I've got this terrible voice, it's it's sincere Laura Cravis.

She's one of the world's best teachers. And if your kid is lucky enough to have her, your kids are gonna fall in love with history and reading and learned so much but you know, not only has she been a big champion for mental floss over the years, but essentially since the first time I've met her, she's been telling me how we should do an article on Gangs Khan, or an issue one Genghis Khan, or make Genghis Khan

t shirts or poster her. She's been such a supporter and I never did any of it, so all this years later, this episode for her. Oh, we're a little late on the execution here, I think that thank you for listening to our little show. If you have thoughts or comments, hit us up at part time genius at how stuff works, and if you really want to make our year, give us a nice rating on the ratings thingies,

you know, and tell your friends about the show. But from Gabe, Tristan, Mango, and me, thanks so much for listening.