this is old school Cracked.com #1 on Top acts of Revenge ever. One of my favorite articles on the site (when it was peak) and ended with something to the tune of "don't kill the messenger, especially if he's of Genghis Khan's."
I would highly recommend reading the Conn Iggulden series on Genghis Khan. The first book in the series is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. His life was epic.
This reminds me of the Three Tents strategy used by Khan.
He would roll into a new area to conquer and put up a huge white tent.
The white tent meant: Send an ambassador, and pay us a bunch of tax. Agree to live by our laws and under our rule and its all good, no one has to die.
Then if no one showed up, they took the white tent down and put up a red tent.
The red tent meant: When i come for you, i am going to kill every adult male in your kingdom to teach you a lesson.
If still no one showed up to make peace….a black tent was erected.
The black tent meant: We are going to invade you and kill every living thing we find. Men, women, and children. You will be erased from the face of the earth.
this is old school Cracked.com #1 on Top acts of Revenge ever. One of my favorite articles on the site (when it was peak) and ended with something to the tune of "don't kill the messenger, especially if he's of Genghis Khan's."
Damn is there an archive of those old cracked articles. You just unlocked a core memory.
This story is told on Reddit every once in a while. I think it's interesting that this person uses the word "Khan" like a surname.
I spent a good hour reading that thread last night. Good stuff!
Getting involved in a land war in Asia is one of the classic blunders
There is a YouTube series about various Mongol conquests and they were the personification of brutal. Hell on earth.
There’s a saying in IR that all wars end with diplomacy. I always like to hedge that with, except the Mongol conquests.
Seems like they preferred to lead with diplomacy and bad news for you if you didn’t accept.
I would highly recommend reading the Conn Iggulden series on Genghis Khan. The first book in the series is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. His life was epic.
When keeping it real goes wrong...
Sorry for being pedantic, but wouldn't that be Central Asia?
Poured molten silver in his eyes. That had to sting (at least for a minute anyway...)
This reminds me of the Three Tents strategy used by Khan.
He would roll into a new area to conquer and put up a huge white tent.
The white tent meant: Send an ambassador, and pay us a bunch of tax. Agree to live by our laws and under our rule and its all good, no one has to die.
Then if no one showed up, they took the white tent down and put up a red tent.
The red tent meant: When i come for you, i am going to kill every adult male in your kingdom to teach you a lesson.
If still no one showed up to make peace….a black tent was erected.
The black tent meant: We are going to invade you and kill every living thing we find. Men, women, and children. You will be erased from the face of the earth.
And they made good on that promise.