The last Genghis Khan Day video

[@thephelddagrif2907]

Life is less frustrating when you stop listening to redditors and Twitter addicts

[@user-dnf83n0s8sg9u]

Timeline slop people

[@Vaslof]

Also the guys who frustrate you might very well be astroturfing bots.

[@sgttomas]

Reddit and Twitter are where MSM addicts go if they get red pilled (term used pejoratively)

[@magimon91834]

Those people also always treat historical entities like sports teams where 'our guy' is good and the 'other guy' is bad. I get that you like the Byzantine empire that doesn't mean you have to keep posting "Not holy, not Roman, not an empire" all over the Internet

[@jcavs9847]

youtube addicts tho

[@0sm1um76]

But how did the Mongol conquest affect wheelbarrow use worldwide?

[@premodernist_history]

They broke all the wheelbarrows so everyone had to start schlepping their stuff around on their heads.

[@Moonleader6]

@@premodernist_history those goddamn mongols!!

[@henrg]

​@@premodernist_history hitler could only dream of such an evil

[@kevinhu162]

@@premodernist_history literally worse than hitler 🤣

[@Stoneworks]

Sorry professor, the Mongols killed 194 million people in Asia and North America alone. The number came to me in a dream

[@hamaljay]

If you had read it on the internet it would be true.

[@premodernist_history]

Also Genghis Khan was the gunman on the grassy knoll.

[@bilbobaggins13yt]

my grandpa served with the Genghis army and can confirm this exact number

[@Facerip]

This is how all anti-communists sound lmao

[@intolerablescamp1436]

@@premodernist_historygenghis was a Serbian nationalist who shot the Austrian archduke. it’s true.

[@cameronberkley1344]

There's no need to apologize for rambling! One of my favorite things is to listen to someone knowledgeable and passionate about a topic ramble about it! Thank you for taking the time to make these videos. I always learn something interesting.

[@cooolsimon282]

I could listen to the ramblings of a learned professor for hours, I love it when premodernist pops up in my sub box

[@WackoWambo]

I lose my mind every time this guy posts. Hell yeah

[@BabsJohnson111]

it feels very refreshing to listen to a guy who knows his stuff and can explain it well to the laymen

[@ikkislsdikkyybh]

@@BabsJohnson111 You have any similair channels?

[@shavanerad9038]

As a (red-headed) Central Asian, I bless you for standing up to all the "yellow peril" scare mongering comparing Genghis to Hitler and the other insane lies. Ask them what they think of Alexander the Great and see if the people who care about conquest condemn him? Most would not. And among them, many would not because they assume Alexander was 'White." You seem too kind to point this out, so let me do it for you. The Mongols were tolerant of local religions. They supported that autonomous tributaries were better for them and for locals. They supported the very modern notion of "peace through trade." You are right. There is NO comparison between the Mongols and the Nazis. Stick with your principles and continue to champion truth. I am so sorry all of this has stressed you out.

[@mothballmouth]

Took the words right outta my fingers 🫡

[@geesixnine]

Dan Carlin if you want extremely long form​@ikkislsdikkyybh

[@honestylowkeye1171]

I love this channel. Please consider making more Genghis Khan Day videos. Otherwise, we'll just have to celebrate the Great Earthquake of 1755 twice

[@puertoricanboy100]

Understandable have a great day.😂

[@twonumber22]

lol

[@BluJean6692]

I studied the Mongol Empire in college, I make no claim to expertise but as I understand it part of the problem here is that the Mongols themselves frequently exaggerated casualty reports after taking large cities, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands. They did this terrify their future opponents into submission and it worked so well that many contemporary and future historians take the numbers at face value and when adding all the figures up arrive at something like 5-10 million people at least. To be sure, the Mongols killed an awful lot of people but they were unique in not doing so on the basis of religion, political ideology, or ethnic/racial superiority. After studying them I was forced to conclude that if anything GK and his successors more resemble a Mafia Don than any dictator or despot, their deal was pretty simple: live in peace and do whatever you like under our exclusive protection as long as you pay us heavy taxes and gifts, or you and everyone you love will be threatened. There was always that choice, and the perfidy they sowed to those who refused was on that basis alone. (Though it is worth mentioning that the early mongols thought less of landed farmers and compared them to livestock due to their static plant-eating way of life, this never manifested as systematic mass murder on that basis and the attitude soon faded as many Mongols became accustomed to life in towns and cities...)

[@JuanSmithers]

It's kind of weird to think of conquerors as "pure-hearted" but in the modern world we're so used to armies being raised to fight for an ideology or a nation. People like Genghis Khan or Timur or Napoleon, though, were just fighting to conquer. It really does feel different, less malicious somehow, although obviously still very malicious. Maybe because they don't necessarily think that what they're doing is right. There is a beautiful passage in The Idiot about this that I think about a lot.

[@andriyka17]

Why bother with Nazis. All jews who wanted to leave, left Germany before ethnic cleansing started. So those who stayed, kind of agreed to what Nazis did to them. Is that your logic?

[@jacobscrackers98]

Are mafia dons good people? Do we celebrate them? Do we have days named after them?

[@jacobscrackers98]

@JuanSmithers, that makes them worse imo. At least if you have a cause then you have some values. The mongols seemed to just want to sow fear and exact tribute (but ianah)

[@BluJean6692]

@ no but they aren’t Hitler either.

[@MissBrainProblems]

I'm going to be honest here and say that - up until I watched this video - I was someone who took the 60 million dead figure at face value, and I was someone who took the "Look! Genghis Khan caused a dip in global greenhouse gas emissions because he killed so many people!" meme at face value, which is honestly really embarrassing considering that I have a history degree, still consider the core of myself to be a historian, and thus should be far more aware of the necessity of checking my sources. So if it means anything to you, professor, the fact that you made this video means that I was able to realize just how positively silly it was for me to take those casualty figures and those unsubstantiated memes at face value. I certainly never put Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler on the same level, but I absolutely did buy into all of the nonsense that made Genghis Khan out to be way worse than he actually was. So, yeah. Thank you, professor, for fixing at least a little bit of my wrong-headedness on this here Genghis Khan Day! Always looking forward to more of your videos! 😄

[@Bailed_Scotian]

I am right there with you. Have a bachelor's in History, currently studying for my master's with a concentration in the German Crusades of the High Middle Ages. I cannot say where I was first exposed to the extreme narrative of Genghis Khan--perhaps Age of Empires II while I was in Middle School? It is really quite impressive how pervasive and persuasive these claims about him are, and just how quickly everyone accepts it without question. It makes me wonder what else I take at face value, and what I can trust from survey books and popular media. My advisor has had to teach me the delicate balance between looking at everything with the highest level of skepticism to the point of rejection and trusting the sources we have because... Well, they are all we have and can't analyze anything without them. I am currently having this issue with the chronicles of the Third Crusade about Frederick Barbarossa's contingent. I guess it's the art of Historiography though, huh? Thanks for the video doctor. This was clearly an important and effective production!

[@KeilGries]

I hate the fact that every time this guy is about to say something interesting, he has to can it for fear of being demonetized. KZbin has really sold out and traumatized our creators into putting muzzles on themselves 😕

[@yungoldman2823]

Its not even the platform, its just our entire society in the internet age. sucks.

[@Synochra]

I am going to say something very controversial now, but it is in no way directed at the esteemed creator of this video, whom I appreciate immensely. What I want to say is this: the fact that one has to engage in self-censoring on the topic of Holocaust on this platform, is one of the most terrifying and clear-cut examples of Capitalism's dehumanizing tendency. The two famous controlling share holders of alphabet, formerly Google, the parent company that owns this site, are, if I'm not mistaken, both from families that have Eastern European Jewish roots and thus were among the targets, if not the victims of this Holocaust. I am sure that these two individuals have absolutely no intention whatsoever to silence the memory of what their ancestors were living through, but that is precisely what makes this such a terrifying example: what the owners of this site want on a personal and political level plays absolutely no role for the business decisions that are made on this site. But this is KZbin, this is not McDonald's or H&M, this site is an important medium for our entire societal process. If you have to self-censor on such important topics, that actually matters.

[@74oshua]

​@@SynochraThis isn't censorship, there's no actual fear of this video getting taken down for the things being discussed. You're free to say pretty much whatever you want on KZbin, aside from slurs and explicit hate speech. The fact that KZbin pays uploaders with ad revenue in the first place is a bonus. KZbin is using their datacenter to host client's videos and make them accessible, and to cover the cost and make a profit they put ads on their site. Uploaders getting money for using a free service is a pretty good deal, and anyone relying on that money for income is playing a dangerous game. Creators don't work for KZbin, they aren't entitled a salary, even though everyone seems to think that's the case nowadays...

[@Mr.Shartly]

@@yungoldman2823 I agree, it's up to the Content Creators whether they want to make money or not. I watched a vid recently that censored the word Covid three times, it's crazy. The platform doesn't dictate content, the almighty dollar does.

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

​@@74oshua"Uploaders" also make content that's the major drive in user engagement on KZbin in the first place. Without content, people wouldn't come here. And so KZbin and Google in turn are reliant on these creators to make content, to drive engagement, so people can see ads and get their data harvested. Yes, KZbin pays for the hosting, but they're still getting something in return. Your argument reads like someone saying film studios are lucky to have their content hosted on Netflix... the content is the only reason to use Netflix in the first place. It's reasonable for these studios to expect compensation for hosting their content, just as it's reasonable for creators to do so. This is model that has existed since the movie theater was invented. Besides, taking down videos aren't the only thing that happens when a video gets auto-struck for content. Videos can also be restricted in multiple other ways, from age restriction, to country restriction, to having the video's interaction with KZbin's algorithm restricted; limiting the audience it's advertised to. These can severely limit the amount of people that see your content, and considering how much content is on KZbin a channel needs all the help it can get to reach it's potential audience. And also, channels and videos aren't struck for solely "slurs" and "hate speech", and claiming otherwise is disingenuous. There are multiple kinds of content that can get your video struck down, and that can include discussing certain topics or using certain phrases that are deemed not advertiser friendly. Which is why a channel might curate it's use of language to avoid these words or phrases, even if the use of these phrases are justified. For example, any KZbinr covering WWII history concerning a certain angry man and the party he was apart of know this fact; that it's a tricky and trepidatious landscape to navigate.

[@P.J.W.]

Lol the description of this video. This guy is great. Definitely one of my favorite channels on KZbin.

[@Orange_Pith]

Came here looking for some one else who spotted that. cracked me up

[@sitiesito715]

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History made a series called The Wrath of the Khans, a popular history of the Mongol invasions. The introduction to that series explored what history books might say about Hitler in the future had he been successful, and whether histories might paint him in a favorable light given the overwhelming influence he would have had if he had taken over the world. He then turns that logic to question our modern perception of Genghis Khan, and other historical conquerors like Alexander. He postulates that the victims of these historical conquerors might have perceived them much like we do Hitler today. I don't think Dan Carlin was trying to directly compare Genghis Khan to Hitler in terms of body counts... He was just playing into our biases to challenge our perspectives and to have us build empathy for people that were involved in complex historical events. However, I suspect this has a lot to do with many of the Genghis Khan - Hitler comparisons out there.

[@alucard347]

I doubt it's started from there. Even back when Hitler was still alive people compared him to Genghis Khan and Attila. They were just the generic "historical bad guy" they could make comparisons towards.

[@pedals900]

I'd love to see Premodernist and Dan Carlin discuss Genghis Khan one day.

[@szlomobronsztajn3115]

Some more years and Hitler will be as distant to the future generations as Genghis Khan, human time perception isn't quite linear

[@Thumbdumpandthebumpchump]

Why? ​@@pedals900

[@rairaur2234]

But that sounds like a correlation presented as a causation The fact that we don't treat Genghis Khan the same way we do Hitler does not in any way mean that they were the same and we just conveniently forgot. This is such a baseless idea that it really is hard to refute. We can say that Abe Lincoln was actually a horrible person doing horrible things but since he won the elections and the Civil War we were manipulated into thinking he wasn't such a bad guy. How do you even refute such claims? It's like trying to explain why the air is not toxic to us. It just ain't, but exactly because it's so obviously not true it's incredibly hard to start explaining why it is so.

[@finnpendleton4615]

A better equivalence than Hitler would be saying "why not have a Napoleon day?"

[@joanalosm]

What about a Stalin's day?

[@someonelikeable616]

​@@joanalosmstalin's similar to comparing genghis khan to hitler because of the policies that stalin put in place that were also terrible. The khans didn't send people to systemic work deaths camps like hitler or stalin. Considering all the other horrible things those people put in place Genghis was a warmonger like Hannibal or Alexander of yore.

[@zman245]

I think the point he’s making is to not compare historical figures for emphasis. Judge each according to their actions as they are relevant to their time period. You don’t NEED to compare the two.

[@thecoolbyzantine24]

there isnt a napoleon day?

[@samsonsoturian6013]

@@joanalosm Stalin definitely murdered Trotsky for personal reasons.

[@AA-be6fw]

Jamie... pull up the detailed red cross records that were revised in the 1360s

[@shugeee]

I wish more Joe Rogan fans watched this channel. Might talk some sense into them.

[@peteharwan553]

@@shugeee And there it is....the source of the abject stupidity.

[@FunnyLittleFella]

@@peteharwan553 Hey man, Joe Rogan might be pretty bad, but I feel like calling him "the source of abject stupidity" is a little extreme.

[@74oshua]

@@FunnyLittleFella No no... just his fans ;)

[@FunnyLittleFella]

@@74oshua Oh okay yeah I agree then

[@infernocanuck]

I really love everything you talk about, so although it is sad that others have ruined your really interesting academic insight into Genghis Khan, I really look forward to listening to anything that comes to your mind. You are an amazing communicator and teacher, and I'm really glad you are on KZbin.

[@shaesmith2831]

I usually open and read the descriptions of videos just because my brain needs to do multiple things. This is the first time a description has legitimately made me belly laugh

[@KMO325]

If Genghis Khan had an analogue, it would be Napoleon or Charlamange or even his sons or grandsons. I mean he himself was emulating earlier Mongol, Turkic, and Chinese leaders. As popular as fascism has been since 2016, one would think there would be more awareness of what made Hitler, Hitler. But of course I don’t take people in Internet-comment sections serious anyway. Please keep making these videos, Professor, if you wish to.

[@szlomobronsztajn3115]

Nice completely useless f-buzzword you got there

[@Lo-opss]

"As popular as facism has been since 2016" what

[@doximaxx]

@@Lo-opssHe means it in a pop culture / discourse way: people bring up Hitler and fascism often in regards to modern day politics, so you would think this would spur on more research and knowledge about how awful fascism truly is (and what is / isn’t fascism)

[@doximaxx]

Or she or they, I shouldn’t assume the gender

[@terrencebucker]

@@Lo-opss There has been a rise in fascism (or perhaps fascism lite) recently, yes. All around the world. The desire to return to a mythical past, the ideology of racial and ethnic purity, the denigration of outside groups to maintain power, the rise of demagogues who lead via cult of personality and who encourage the identification of the state with themselves and their personal body, the attack on all aspects of the state that are not personally loyal to that leader (rather than some set of impersonal ideals), political rhetoric of extreme violence, and more. Yes, a rise in all of this. 2016 is an obvious turning point, not just in the US but around the globe. This formula has been winning elections.

[@hacim42]

Congrats on 300,000 subscribers! I just wanted to say that I really appreciate how precise you are with your wording. You always phrase everything in such a specific way to maximize clarity, and it's admirable.

[@HalfLifeHalfDead]

You know, this is not relevant to the topic of this video, but I deeply appreciate how seriously you take these videos, all the research that clearly went into the, while also being able to talk in a more casual manner and say "Wars suck". It's one thing to be knowledgeable, it's another to be able to communicate your knowledge in a clear and understandable manner. I wish more academics were like you.

[@M1DA5_]

Thank you for always making such interesting, entertaining and informative content! Happy Genghis Khan day!

[@premodernist_history]

Thank you!

[@LordAurum2]

People who enjoy you videos never make a comment and that's a shame. Your videos are exceptionally awesome and we love them! Don't let a few guys who didn't understand them or have a different view on those matters ruin your day. I know that's not really a point of this video, I just wanted you to know that. Stay awesome!

[@wraithwrecker_]

It is very difficult to overstate how much I love everything you make. Just know that.

[@Audrey_1110]

Same. I found this channel because of his medieval time traveler video, but then I couldn’t stop watching all of his other videos too lol

[@staplefinger]

I love the chill convo vibe of all of your videos! My first was the George Washington election video and I've since watched every one, such a great way to discuss these interesting topics!

[@RMS_Azad]

Aw, I was really loving these Chinggis Khan Day videos! Also I think it probably would be worthwhile to debunk the claims that the Mongols killed X insanely high number of people. Even though I love history and studying it, I haven't delved deep into Mongol history and believed that Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire did kill some insane number of people.

[@yungoldman2823]

same, I would love to hear some real numbers if this concept of a mass horde of murder isnt the reality of what happened

[@sandorhujber]

Thank you for your high quality scholarly content! Keep doing these Genghis khan day videos, as in the exact "superstitious" context you described, your objective and fact-based lessons are rather contributing to the ceasing of superstitions and ahistoric views.

[@condragon2251]

I totally understand not wanting to pick fights by doing a big debunk video but I absolutely think you should continue making videos about Mongol history. For what it's worth I think having at least one source of information that's based in a sound understanding of history out there could help to work AGAINST the type of attitude you mention at 12:50

[@CptTango22]

The best way to combat misinformation is to spread the truth.

[@leonardo.1024]

*to spread the skill of thinking.

[@darksaurian6410]

Fight misinformation with disinformation.

[@GilgameshofUruk]

Like a rain drop during a drought and it’s CHENGIS KHAN VIDEO again.

[@kbar4462]

Thank you for the Genghis Khan Day videos you've given us. Hopefully one day, they'll return.

[@deathcare]

Please never stop making videos. You are the Michael Jordan of making interesting, accurate history videos on KZbin. Great work as always, goat.

[@louidominicnaquita7723]

Your videos are podcast worthy, sir. You should keep uploading more particularly history topics.

[@btj89]

Just wanted you to know your video description had me in stitches

[@RolandRelish]

I love your videos, they have become a favorite comfort watch of mine. The way you voice your opinions and knowledge is really nice to listen to. I hope you continue making these!

[@Dida2O]

I think the most important distinction to make between Chingis Khan and WWII Germany’s leadership is ideological. There wasn’t a racialized hierarchy, nor did the mongols think they were superior to other people, nor did they dehumanize their conquered (more than in any other wars of the period). In the contrary, the major absence those kinds of oppression are probably why people still value the system with which the mongols governed, which is widely attributed to have big amounts of religious freedom and general freedom within its population, and even when the conquests were really terrible and devastating, they didn’t conquer with the idea of devastating or exterminating their conquered

[@Revacholiere]

That seems like a very unimportant distinction. It's not like I'd be any happier knowing that I died due to completely impersonal non-ideological reasons, I'd still be dead

[@skyworm8006]

That's more a weak state vs strong state. Modern nationstates are very powerful and overbearing.

[@TazzleSundress]

@@RevacholiereI think I might be, because there is a chance my whole family might not die.

[@TankDerek]

@Revacholiere Yeah, this seems like a conflict between a consequentialist and a deontological world view. Is the man that kills 3 people by accident a better person than someone who kills 1 person in cold blood for ideological reasons? In some ways, yes, absolutely, that's why we distinguish between manslaughter and murder under the law. We rightfully expect the former to be less likely to kill again. But at a certain point, I do think we have to acknowledge that the world is also worse off due to the first person having been born than the second.

[@Dida2O]

I get what you mean, but when Mongolians decide which figures of their history they want to celebrate, I think it’s the most important distinction by far. In the end they are using their view of Genghis Khan as a parallel to things they consider important in their ideology and society today, and there’s still a very big moral difference between one and the other

[@Wow22109]

One of my favorite channels on youtube. Can hear you for hours because you got the chill vibe that my history teachers had in school and university. Only educational content made easy to everyone

[@54032Zepol]

Not just tens of millions but hundreds of gazillions of people!

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

Or as Carl Sagan would say, BILLIONS and BILLIONS of people.

[@eilees7466]

Glad to see a new vid and excited for more to come! I’ve watched the medieval advice video like 20 times by now, love all the stuff u put out

[@matthewsmith5104]

If 2-4% of your population dying in a war is catastrophic (and it is), it's worth mentioning that over the course of WW2, Poland, due to the German conquest and especially due to the subsequent occupation, lost approximately 18-20% of it's pre-war population. That's one out of every five Polish citizens killed during the war. That's how bad the Nazi regime was. Some of that was probably due to the Soviets in eastern Poland but I suspect that's a very small proportion of the total because the Soviet occupation was only half the country, for less than 2 years, and didn't involve the systematic killing of whole demographics of the civilian population. Proportionally speaking, no country suffered more in that war than Poland.

[@moviereviews1446]

Why is any of that worth mentioning

[@amarminhas202]

​@@moviereviews1446 cause it's interesting

[@codymoon7552]

​@moviereviews1446 To show the difference between the Khan and Adolf.

[@EvoDeVeau]

@@moviereviews1446 why are you even on this channel if you don't find that worth mentioning?

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

That's the difference between war and genocide. As horrifying as war is, it's not the worst killer. Modern genocide is even worse--e.g., the Rwanda Genocide, which killed about 15% of the country's population, the Holodomor (12-15% of Ukraine's population), or the Cambodian Genocide (20-25% of Cambodia's population). I'd consider Poland's experience during WW2 to be more akin to genocide (although genocide often happens in the context of a war, as it did with Poland, so it's a blurry line).

[@emersonpage5384]

for what it's worth, i love the genghis khan day videos. central asian history is widely underappreciated. i'd still love to see more videos about the general subject if you're sick of genghis-related ones

[@JustStop19]

As usual, top content. Clicked on the video the second I saw you uploaded it!

[@mattpahl9710]

I hope you publish every video as soon as you finish them! Love every video

[@hucklebucklin]

I just like the yearly excitement to know you'll upload on a certain day

[@11901thomas]

You're a very enjoyable person too watch as your videos sort of let me take a break from clickbait, uninformed, and picture and infographic history videos that pertain to people with short attention spans. Thank You

[@trevormiller1637]

I love love love your channel. Some of the best stuff I've seen on this site. Also the mustache is a good look 👌

[@kadmii]

your Genghis Khan Day videos have been on great topics for an historical perspective on a major historic figure. Ending on a high note! if I may prevail upon you, though, post-Genghisid mongol states are very interesting as topics to explore in the future

[@pebystroll]

Your content is just fantastic, i watch every video

[@Commentomori]

Love your content and work, all best and thanks!

[@LouSkunt44]

Keep up the great work! One of my favourite youtube channels!

[@Iunio92]

this guy is rapidly becoming one of the great historic communicators of our time

[@jacksonward2544]

Currently trying to sober up after partying too hard at University of Iowa, could not have gotten a better vid ty so much premodernist

[@jasonchahal5262]

Thanks Professor, absolutely love your videos

[@d.b.scoville]

I’ll miss opening KZbin seeing your video and thinking “oh it’s Genghis Khan day today😃”

[@daltongalloway]

Unfortunately a lot of people are getting their history "facts" from memes and instagram posts nowadays

[@kleckerklotz9620]

It is frightening to see that people completely ignore the Holocaust when they make Hitler comparisons. I can only recommend everyone to visit one of the concentration camps and find out about the industrial scale on which people were exterminated. The intention alone and the dehumanisation associated with it makes this man, as well as his helpers, far greater monsters than Ghengis Khan. Anyways I love to see that you are able to convey that as well as I love to listen to every other history lessons you tell us. I'm not at all surprised that you're having such success with it. You are a great storyteller and fill a gap that can be trusted not to tell BS. It's certainly not necessary to say, but i'll say it anyway. Thank you and keep up the good work. Best wishes from Germany.

[@kalackninja]

i totally disagree, the fact that people are are making the comment "BUT HILTER" is the reason you should keep doing these videos. Keep up the good work, love these videos

[@ReaderOfThreads]

Thank you sir, for posting a new video!

[@cameron6861]

Thank you Premodernist. Your Genghis Khan Day videos have helped me learn more about the Mongol Empire, and rid myself of some misconceptions. I'm more critical when watching history videos, thinking through a common sense filter, and better considering the source and how it warps perception.

[@efeme04]

Gengis Khan literally founded Mongolia and made it the biggest it has ever been, of course it has a national day.

[@rock4glory713]

I been waiting for this channel to return and I missed it for this long?! Please continue making content you're so amazing!

[@ButzPunk]

Thanks for this! Embarrassingly, I'd uncritically believed the 10% figure for deaths attributed to the 200 years or so of the Mongol rule across Asia. It's on wikipedia, why wouldn't it be true? This video reminded me to be more sceptical of my sources.

[@BongShlong]

Exactly 300.000 as time of posting this. I love youe content keep it up

[@xxrepresent]

I would love to see you do a deep dive into those terrible things in Germany and WWII. There are not enough people teaching it, and many are forgetting in America. I wish youtube would permit it.

[@FWSeba]

It's a very positive show of character that you think about your reach and influence in the sphere so much. Many KZbinrs get blinded by their rising fame or simply just dont care about their role in the world, and what you're doing is so important.

[@raw1175]

You mention how the Mongols operated “it’s all just how they all are” and while what the Mongols did is pretty typical of premodern wars it’s Atypical of “modern wars”1914-1945 (why do you think the eastern front was so infamous) and incomprehensible for “postmodern wars” 45-now. Cities are where most people live nowadays that’s not it worked back then. Consciously massacring entire cities to us now is wiping out 50% of a population at the very least. That’s why people can believe this. just one of those little things we modern people forget about the before times. Like Mass illiteracy.

[@olganikitina5585]

Well yeah, but if you wipe out a medieval or even worse, pre-medieval city, what you're left with is a bunch of extended families in villages living their lifes trying to hunt, fish and produce enough food to sustain themselves. They don't read, they don't build, they don't invent. You don't wipe out the people, but you wipe out the culture.

[@HeitorS.-dh2wl]

I'm honestly highly skeptical of the claima about killing and entire city. Even if such a thing was posible back than, it's not like the buildings could not be reused. Like, I believe there is a a story about how an Assyrian King completely destroyed Babylon, and then in the next generation it was just simply rebuild to be even greater than before. That's sort of the case for alot of cities which were "entirely destroyed", it might just be the case that they suffered severe despopulation, not only from deaths, but also from refugees, and then when the war ended people just migrated back. Even then, i'd put most of the deaths on the devastation caused by war than on war itself, as estability rapidly eroded into chaos, disease and famine in ways that just don't happen today

[@colbylejeune]

​@olganikitina5585 we must have different ideas of what constitutes culture, since I believe humans had culture in the hundreds of thousands of years that elapsed before the invention of writing, and that my illiterate great-grandparents had a richer culture of tales, beliefs and customs than any of their descendants

[@leonardo.1024]

@@colbylejeune not to knock anyone's ancestors, but "richer" is, well, rich when we have in the modern era collected and shared many (tragically, not all) of the histories and cultures of the other people who would have existed at that time and never shared their stories, plus the many people since who have created derivative works. Your point about the culture persisting, though, is on point.

[@jebolleneef8206]

I don't think you have to (or should) worry too much about demonitization or getting your video taken down. I think almost all your viewers absolutely love your videos, especially when you get into interesting details or side stories, so go for it! Just try it!

[@elemenopi55]

"The last Genghis Khan Day video" i misread that as "the last genghis khan video" and started to sweat. i cannot get enough genghis khan videos.

[@Orange_Pith]

i am sorry that you have to deal with this issue. i appreciate the work you do to educate and make history topics approachable and accessible.

[@naterthot]

love the moustache

[@kingdafox]

Found your channel not that long ago and I’m absolutely enthralled each upload. Excellent video (and description), I genuinely love gaining more insight on topics I knew very little about, or thought I knew more than I actually did!

[@iinalina]

The most shocking thing I learned in this video is that you can be demonetized for calmly discussing actual facts about Hitler and the Holocaust. Get it together, KZbin!

[@tubbs2063]

Nah I don’t believe it. I’ll see you next year Premodernist.

[@megidope]

Just came home from the club beyond ecstatic to view a new premodernist video while I cook pasta YEEEAAASSSSSS

[@0rangecray0n]

Please make a video explaining why 40 million is bonkers. Thought I was pretty knowledgeable about history. This video was a real eye opener. I think you underestimate how many people actually believe this.

[@ronald3836]

He explains that it is a statement that is (1) totally implausible and (2) not based on any historical evidence. It is just an absurd made-up claim.

[@CarrotConsumer]

It's not made up exactly, it's riding on some pretty unstable estimates of the Chinese population at various points and conjecture about the cause.

[@TheDrunkenHetzer]

​@CarrotConsumer I've done of few years of Chinese history studies and a lot of those numbers are just bad. They look at census data and assume if there's a drop from 40 million to 20 million people, that all those missing people must have died. In actuality it's just way harder to do accurate census data when there's a dynasty collapsing or a brutal war going on. (Also China was conquered by Kublai Khan, not Genghis.)

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

@@ronald3836 It wouldn't mind seeing more specific data, though. This channel is informative because it doesn't just hand-wave--he often cites specific data and research.

[@premodernist_history]

I wish I could, but I can't provide specific data to prove a negative. It's up to the people claiming the 40 million number to provide their evidence. The best I could do is to explain why it's problematic both to take the Chinese census numbers at face value and to attribute the difference in those numbers solely to Genghis Khan. As I said in the video, no specialists in Mongol history make this "40 million" claim. They all say we simply can't know how many people died in the Mongol wars of conquest, just as we can't know the fatality numbers in any premodern war.

[@onelongwordable]

Man I love this channel and good luck on 300k! My friends and I have developed a long time fascination with Mongolian history and culture and this channel has only bolstered that with the perspective and story telling skills you bring; so whatever you do keep bringing interesting stories and historical perspective and I'll support it

[@BobofWOGGLE]

Genghis Khan only gets a day while Julius and Augustus get whole months, it just ain't fair.

[@olganikitina5585]

I grew up in Russia, and all my school life I was told that the Mongol invasion was a horrible event that decimated almost all our cities and threw the development level of my country 3 centuries back. Because of the war, heavy tribute and pure destruction only a handful of cities continued to exist. Maybe it wasn't personally Genghiz Khan, but he set the wheels of the Mongolian Invasion in Russia in motion, and I'd love to hear how you lay the evidence against this point of view. Because when you're in school, and your schoolbook tells you smth, you just accept it. And I have no idea why such a thing would be fabricated... It was such a long time ago, has nothing to do with modern political realities and you do see a lot of old books depicting the burning of the cities... It was not your ordinary border raid that Slavonic people had among themselves and with maybe some Turkish neighbours..

[@jackcross4895]

Very good point the devastation wrought in the russian states is just sidelined here

[@NarantsatsraltOrgil-y2o]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZDFdqOBd8ljbdksi=ewyEPRhqODToP6mJ Literally answers your comment

[@AlirezaSharifi-ct7tx]

Honestly, I don’t understand where this so-called regression you’re talking about is supposed to be. A three-century setback? That sounds ridiculous. What exactly regressed by three centuries? How was this estimated, and where’s the evidence? For that matter, during the era when the Mongols invaded the Rus’ states, the Mongols were far more civilized than your Rus’ people. That’s why your lands were devastated-because you simply didn’t have the strength.

[@pushpaw]

"I have no idea why such a thing would be fabricated..." You have to consider that anything you learn in public school is filtered through the lens of your nation's national identity, and statements like this should always raise a yellow flag in one's mind regarding their veracity and potential for distortion of the historical narrative. Based on the phrasing alone this reads as a nation-builidng myth, a truism that you could never really prove or disprove that very conveniently sets up the young learner to feel a very specific way about their nation's place in history. The foundational myths that support national identities often lean on this concept of historical victimization or persecution because it is so effective at evoking a sense of moral injury in the young learner on behalf of "their nation", which is the perfect kind of mind-soil in which to grow some nationalism trees. In the US I was taught to see taxation and colonial rule by the British as our nation's great persecution, and furthermore to see the revolutionaries and founding fathers as essentially god-like perfect heroes who should be worshipped and never questioned-- probably a big part of why Americans love being heavily armed and still hate taxes (and the British) even 300 years on.

[@patrickmelvag8098]

I'd love to see Premodernist and Dan Carlin discuss Genghis Khan one day.

[@zachjordan7608]

historians don't tend to like carlin, he has a tendency too.... mangle subjects. i'd look up his name on r/askhistorians for more details

[@hilutlp2]

Why is every single comparative reference you make here (particularly in the demographics section) to **modern** warfare? The reason I ask is that, in my opinion, it's modeling sketchy historical reasoning, when discussing premodern conflicts, to list a few modern conflicts and then use those to decide past events or interpretations of past events are, out of hand, "unrealistic". Tons, tons, tons of real actual phenomena in history were "unrealistic". Meanwhile, most of the argument you're offering here, like, doesn't include evidence or context or scholarly engagement, just instead descriptions of anyone who disagrees being "dumb" and "crazy". I also don't know that people are wrong to dislike warmakers...or necessarily wrong to blame the one who started a series of wars of conquest for all those subsequent wars? Idk Idk Idk.

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

Absolutely agree. I'm sure Premodernist is a legitimate historian and academic, but he does a lot of "argument by assertion." For one thing, he rarely cites specific sources for any of his claims. He should take a cue from other creators of high-quality KZbin history content, and at least list the sources (plus recommended reading) in the video description. As for your question about why he only gives comparisons to modern wars--I think it's because demographic statistics weren't available before the 19th-20th centuries. Even so, there is a lot of scholarly work on medieval demographics. It wouldn't hurt to cite some of the scholarship in these areas, even if it's based on partial/inconclusive data.

[@wesmorton1247]

God bless you for your nerdy wisdom. Smartens my day

[@joeyjoejoejrshabadu]

The German equivalent of the Genghis Khan day wouldn't be Hitler day, because he did only bad and absolutely nothing positive, but it would be Otto von Bismarck day, who did archive a lot for Germany even though people died under his wars. Germans don't celebrate Bismarck day because they aren't monarchists, however it would be understandable if they did so.

[@danielj.8876]

Bismarck was a general and then a chancellor and Germans generally have zero bad connotations with him. In fact, he's one of our national heroes, so an actual Bismarck day would get very little critique. I don't think it would be comparable to Chengis Khan at all.

[@joeyjoejoejrshabadu]

​​@@danielj.8876Obviously there are a lot of differences between Bismarck (who was never a general but a diplomat) and Genghis Khan, however I drew the analogy with because both managed to unify their respective nations through successful wars.

[@NarantsatsraltOrgil-y2o]

@@danielj.8876 Bishmarck: 1. Unified his ethnic people (Germans) 2. Expanded it Genghis Khan 1. Unified his ethnic people (Mongols) 2. Expanded it. " I don't think it would be comparable to Chengis Khan at all" I guess the difference is that one of them came from the West and did it in 1800s, while the other one is from Asia and did in 1200-1300s. "Bismarck was a general and then a chancellor and Germans generally have zero bad connotations with him. In fact, he's one of our national heroes, so an actual Bismarck day would get very little critique" Great job, that's the whole point, that's why he is celebrated in Mongolia. He unified the Mongolic tribes into a singular nation and forged the "Mongol" identity, culture etc. Like how the Iron Chancellor forged the "German" identity, the people and it's culture.

[@pebystroll]

First to begin anti smoking campaigns and the Vw beetle, I hate the guy but those are positives

[@pupsipupsi3468]

@@danielj.8876 I promise you plenty of Germans see Bismarck in a terrible light because of his unification efforts.

[@LilDitBit]

Thank you!!

[@mikebaker2436]

If memory serves, Dr. Timothy May in "The Medieval World and Early Imperial Expansions" (Cambridge Press) makes some interesting arguments that the modern concept of genocide can be applied (albiet anachronisticly) to the Mongol Empire's attempts to ethnically cleanse ethnic groups (like the Tartar and Tangut cultures in some regions of their control as an example.) He has a recent paper titled "Mongol Genocides of the 13th Century" that is in Cambridge's "The Cambridge World History of Genocide, vol. 1, Genocide in the Ancient, Medieval and Premodern Worlds". So, regardless of the idiocy floating around the internet, it is still an academic discussion in the field of Eurasian history that 13th century events and policies in the khanate could be described with the modern definition of genocide (with a focus on their means, victim demographics, and intent rather than the sensational myths and inflated numbers that you see at the popular level.) I don't think this school of thought equates any individual to Hitler... but it does put forward a picture that places the actions of portions of the 13th Century khanate much closer to the genocide camp than people might think including their use of some of the unnamed modern policies and practices that fit the label. fwiw, I have no beef with Genghis Khan or his holiday... and don't think he was morally better or worse than the vast majority of world leaders throughout history.

[@mikebaker2436]

In other words, academic genocide and ethnic cleansing isn't "killed alot of folks"... it is "tried on purpose to erase this people group"... which doesn't require a millions high death toll if it is a small population being intentionally targeted. (I guess I should also state the obvious: under this definition the khanate was far from the only pre-modern culture to do this.)

[@Lucas-uu5em]

your vids are always so good, thank u

[@deathcare]

I think a non-insignificant part of this whole "Genghis Khan was just as bad at Hitler" thing comes from a pretty specific, let's say, European viewpoint as a means of deflection, and for some even defense, of some of the historical injustices perpetrated by a particular group of people.

[@bumbi123-u4x]

Spot on! Also, the current national memory revisionism going on in increasingly illiberal countries in Europe is contributing to the increasing distancing to the WWII crimes against humanity. The new memory narratives are based on different versions of victim -pasts and simultaneously downplaying the part-taking in WWII crimes. The current discussion on the topic heavily revolves around topics such as politics of recognition and differences between guilt and responsibility.

[@CarrotConsumer]

I don't think so. People say the same thing about Napoleon, Alexander, Stalin. I doubt everyone is a secret Nazi trying to soften Hitler's image.

[@treysonmcgrady4750]

Spot on. It’s pure European guilt and projection as usual.

[@Screwycummings]

@@bumbi123-u4x This isn't a purely European viewpoint. I am Chinese and many Chinese historians don't view Genghis Khan favorably. Many Persian and Arab sources also described Genghis Khan and his successors as genocidal maniacs. The biggest difference between Genghis Khan and Hitler was that Hitler lost the war. If Hitler won WW2, we probably would be celebrating Hitler Day today.

[@khurultai]

@@Screwycummings prefacing this with a big "in my opinion" so that we don't get into a debate. but in my opinion the biggest difference between GK and Hitler was absolutely not that Hitler lost the war. (What "war" was GK waging anyways? The expansion of the Mongol empire wasn't the same type of conflict as WW2, and one could say that GK ultimately "lost" anyways bc well, the Mongol empire doesn't exist today either.) Hitler and GK's fundamental ideology behind warfare and the treatment of people under their rule is the biggest difference. Hitler initiated the European theatre of WW2 because of Lebensraum, the idea that Nazi Germany must be self-sufficient and occupy as much land and resources bc the German people needed it to survive and become the master race. GK started the expansion of the Mongol empire after uniting the steppe tribes and getting an admittedly unnecessarily bloody revenge on several groups of people for perceived wrongdoing against him (Khwarezmian empire, certain steppe tribes, etc.) and then seemingly just a desire for power and wealth after he felt that the Mongols were strong/united enough. Yes, obviously, the Mongol empire under GK's rule killed a lot of people and could be extremely brutal, most likely greater in scale than era-typical warfare, but then that explains precisely why European, Chinese, Persian, and Arab sources are so biased against him -- these were the people/areas/cultures Genghis Khan conquered lol, obviously a lot of these historians would have a negative bias against him. I am Chinese as well so I know what you mean, but neither Genghis Khan nor his successors were out to systemically wipe out the Han Chinese people and culture like Hitler was out to systemically genocide Jewish people, Romani people, etc. European/Chinese/Persian/Arab folks or even historians who like to say these things are driven by a lot of nationalism/ethnocentrism when they are furiously adamant that Genghis Khan is at least as worse as Hitler and refuse to engage in actual historical discussion.

[@oberham]

your content is wonderful, thank you for being consciencous about your influence. More videos about travel accounts would be awesome! You mentioned a travel account in your time travel video and doing a more in depth video on it would be super cool.

[@TheDecimater1000]

You could always post a ghengis khan related video on ghengis khan day without mentioning the fact that its ghengis khan day in the title

[@_Ozka]

your channel is epic, the topics you pick are fantastic, I need more.

[@codymoon7552]

On the topoc of Hitler compared to Ghengis. I believe the death count of World War 2 is 83 million people. The issue with fully defining it are some of the undocumented deaths of the Holocaust and the sheer amount of Soviet civilians and soldiers being killed. The Holocaust killed more people than we think and lots of these people were never documented, especially on the Soviet front. Thousands of towns in Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Russia were emptied by the Nazis. To compare ideologically fueled by hate to what Ghengis Khan did is absolutely inane.

[@benimtelefoncaliyor1dk]

Big daddy Chinggis did some high quality demographic engineering in lower Central Asia, depopulating Persian speakers in favor of Turkic speakers, there truely are levels to this

[@ArdaSReal]

i mean even that is just too common in history as to act like mongols were espescially evil or something. All empires that conquered many peoples changed the demographics in some way into their favors or at least tried to

[@wirelessbluestone5983]

Persian and Iranian languages were already on the decline at least 200 years before the Mongol conquests. There were Turkic migrations into the area from 500 AD and a lot of those Turkic migrants established dynasties that favoured Turkic languages/ standard Persian over local languages like Sogdian, Bactrian and Khwarezmian

[@samsonsoturian6013]

Except that never happened.

[@vzl3ntin]

Love mongol history and really like your pragmatism, please keep making content on it, would love to hear about the Golden Horde for example

[@Mahreo1]

I hadn't really thought about how the numbers might have been inflated, and would love more information on the topic. My question is, are all the death tolls of Chinese wars inflated? My understanding was that most of the death toll came from the Mongol's conquest of China. China, being incredibly population dense, puts up large numbers of dead in most major conflicts, as far as I know. Wikipedia (I know) puts the An Lushan Rebellion, the Manchu Conquest, The Taping Rebellion, The War of the Three Kingdoms, and The Mongol Conquest at 10+ million dead each. Are these all inflated?

[@CarrotConsumer]

Probably, because there isn't reliable data. But you also have to consider the time scale of some of these wars. The Manchu takeover of China is usually considered to encompass a period of 60 years. Throw in some bad harvests and pandemics and it's not that hard to reach those estimates you see on Wikipedia. Then you're arguing who is responsible for those famines and pandemics and it's all a bit of a mess.

[@emmittratliff4024]

Please don’t stop with this content. I’m sorry you have to deal with the idiocracy. Love this channel

[@ellcaa4220]

I'm not a historian, I don't know much about history, but are death/displacement numbers above 4% really that unrealistic? Didn't Ireland lose like 25% of population during a peacetime famine? Or wasn't the Caesar's conquest of Gaul incredibly brutal with similar death tolls? Or Justinian's pacification of Samaritans? I get that maybe Plutarch or Procopius "numbers" can't be trusted, but even if we come back to an even more recent example - what about Russian genocide of Circassians? Like, we know for a fact that that one happened and had a much higher death toll than 4%, 10%, or even 25%, not to mention displacement. Edit:Just to be clear, my point isn't that therefore Mongol conquests surely killed 10% of Asia's population, or that Mongols were just as bad as German state in ww2. My point is just a narrow one how crazy high mortality isn't that unrealistic and unimaginable, considering that we do have examples in history, from before WW1, like the Circassian genocide, where we more or less reliably can confirm even higher death tolls.

[@premodernist_history]

It's imaginable, but it's also a lot. We can't say it happened unless we have evidence for it. But I haven't seen anyone cite any good evidence. Just vibes.

[@Alfonso162008]

@@premodernist_history why aren't they good evidence? where is that good evidence and what makes it good? I basically know nothing about the mongol conquests and I think it would've been a great opportunity to talk about that more in detail, to educate instead of just saying "ha, idiots, those are unrealistic numbers, look at better sources and don't be dumb!".

[@leonardo.1024]

I agree it would likely be totally possible to kill or enslave the effective entirety of a city, especially trade cities or those with strong natural defenses (the idea that a cave, being a hole with one exit, is a grave, and all that), but I'd also agree that surely the numbers as recorded are inaccurate (though to what degree, who knows). I think, though, that as those numbers (the actual, not "as recorded numbers") go up - not as a proportion of the local population, but as raw figures, the proportion of the population killed across the affected area would be less. I think you make a good point, though worth considering the effect of lesser degrees of urbanization and globalization/nationalization serving to both exacerbate some extremely local disasters (crop failure/blights, conquered cities, pandemics, fires, etc.) as well as ameliorate the relative knock-on fatality rate (due to being more able and practiced at living off the land, or hiding, etc.) of many of the same and other disasters. So, back to the economist's favorite answer: "it's complicated".

[@Thisiswhativebecome]

I think there is a major diffrence between famine and starvation which might eradicate any living thing and situations like war when one group of men which almost everytime are larger in number kills "a large proportion" of the less numbered group of men

[@ellcaa4220]

​@@Thisiswhativebecome War often causes famine and starvation. And I brought the Irish famine just to illustrate that the famine alone can devastate the population, even without the added horrors of war. And you can also have high casualty rates even without famine being a major factor, of course.

[@bcvetkov8534]

I can't believe people wre surprised Genghis Khan day exists. He literally unified all the steppe tribes and created modern Mongolia. He's the founding father of that country. The equivalent in America is presidents day.

[@micah9934]

A truly legendary mustache

[@Luality]

I really love your channel and how you handle things, sadly there's a number of people who spend way too much time online parroting false information they read somewhere they likely have long forgotten! Happy to see you fighting the good fight!

[@mfkoerner]

I in good faith disagree with you here. I think that a large channel giving factual information is helping overall reduce hate, and the number of comments you receive is simply a symptom of the existing issues here and not any real signal that you're fueling the flames of hatred. That said, keep up the good work whatever it is and whether or not it's published on this holiday. I always look forward to hearing your thoughts!

[@melatoninhelpmesleep858]

Please come back for another one next year. I love these ghenis khan videos soooo much. Just say the last ghengis khan video pt2 for next year😂 anyways thanks for the upload. One of my favorite accounts on here.

[@Classics990]

I am a non-expert, and I am probably typing into the void, but the comparisons in the video are with modern industrialized wars. Premodern warfare was supposedly much less lethal and so these statistical comparisons are not really fair. There are good reasons for considering the Mongol conquests especially devastating considering the depopulation of Merv and other the cities of central Asia. I think these anti-Genghis Khan Day people do have a point that the Mongol Conquests were a particularly bad event in history.

[@LilYupper]

I love your videos man!! Would love to see more Mongolian content, maybe another time travellers style guide because that one SLAPPED

[@MuchWhittering]

You articulate your points well, and the people bringing up Mr Moustache are stupid, but I don't think "Genghis Khan isn't worth celebrating" is an unreasonable opinion. In your last video you spoke about how important he is for Mongolian history, and I totally agree there that he should be studied in history. Genghis Khan was nowhere near as bad as people are saying, you've debunked that. But I'm not sure you've given a compelling case for why he should have a day to celebrate him. To be clear, I'm neutral on the topic. I don't really care enough to have an opinion. But I think both sides have a valid argument here that hasn't been totally addressed.