Tonight on Best Kept Secrets, we go inside one of the world's most secretive crime-fighting organizations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. How does the FBI solve cases like the Oklahoma City bombing? Unfortunately in the United States, it's very...
But even this was not enough to satisfy the desire of Genghis Khan. He wanted something more, something his army could not give him, which is why in 1222, this man traveled towards Genghis Khan's court. He was a revered Taoist monk. From him, Genghis...
He looked to the west to build on his conquests, not through war, but through trade. He sent ambassadors to Persia, and established a network of routes linked by staging posts, 40 kilometers apart. A messenger could travel 200 kilometers in a single...
For one month, his army plundered, burnt and raped. A year later, visiting foreign ambassadors described the streets as slippery with human fat. They also recorded that beyond the walls stood an entire mountain of bones. Genghis Khan's fearsome reput...
But despite the Mongol's attempts to master siege warfare, the Chinese were still much more advanced in their military technology. They responded by filling bombs with crude oil, molten metal, chemicals and excrement. Despite the ferocious bombardmen...
They feasted on the supplies they captured. Genghis Khan turned Beijing into a prison. Within the walls, thousands starved to death. The survivors resorted to cannibalism. Finally, Genghis Khan's army was ready to attack. All who surrender would be s...
The Chinese could afford to employ people to fight for it. In the borderlands, the Mongols met a force of heavily armed mercenaries, who were loyal as only mercenaries could be. Reinforced by the mercenary troops, they marched into the fertile plains...
Temujin granted his blood brother his final wish and broke his back. The defeat and death of Jamuqa led to a sight never before seen in the history of Mongolia: the recognition of one man as the leader of all the Mongol tribes. In the Mongol world, t...
Across the battlefield, I saw the bodies of Jamuqa's(扎木和) men lying together like felled logs in the forest. Following the defeat, Jamuqa fled into the mountains of Tannu(唐努). He hid throughout the winter of 1204. In the spring, he reappear...
We advanced in silence, saving our battle cries to the last. When the enemy came within reach, my archers released a storm of arrows, and my cavalry attacked without mercy. According to the Secret History(蒙古秘史), each tactic was meticulously p...
In the summer of 1204, Temujin(铁木真) rode west to confront his blood brother. The outcome would be decisive for the future of the Mongol people. In the foothills of the Khangai Mountains (杭爱山脉), on the eve of battle, Temujin called his g...
Jamuqa(扎木和) split the tribe. Two years would pass before they would hear from him. High on the plateau of central Mongolia is a place known as Dalan Balzhut. It was here that Borte's(孛儿帖) prophecy would be fulfilled. Jamuqa ambushed Temuj...
For the tribe and for Jamuqa(扎木合) it was a decisive moment. Men who were sworn brothers share one life. But I began to question whether Jamuqa was truly my blood brother for all eternity. It was not right that our differences should force a feu...
At the Merkit(蔑儿乞惕) camp in the mountains of northern Mongolia, Temujin(铁木真) went looking for his wife. We made the Merkits pay for their deed. We destroyed their families and emptied their breasts. Temujin, the man who was to become Ge...
My father had been poisoned by a rival tribe. My mother told me my father's enemies were forever the enemies of my own heart. From that day, I would never be a child again. As the eldest son, Temujin(铁木真) grew up to lead what was little more th...
