Hacker News Reader

Comment by avgcorrection | Hacker News Reader

> This is an interesting contrast with leaders like Genghis Khan, who seemed to think (or at least portray to others) that his actions were not only acceptable but noble and religiously desirable.

Didn’t the Muslims or Christians (or both) think that the Mongols were the Wrath of God? I’d definitely lean into that.

View on HN

There is a quote attributed to Genghis Khan:

'I am the flail of god. Had you not comitted great sins, god would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.'

Considering how total the destruction was that the Mongols visited on the conquered, it is almost believable. And likewise, them not invading Europe was considered to be divine intervention.

The Mongols believed the world was meant to be theirs, by divine right. Saying No to a Mongol when he asks you for something (eg your land or daughter) was considered a religious offense.

The idea that divine intervention places limits on rulers, like Genghis Kahn, could be supported by Genesis 20:3–7, where a king is prevented from sinning through divine intervention.

Atilla was known as the scourge of God, but opinions are still divided on whether the name or the man or tribe was Germanic, Mongol, or other. Seems likely they were a surprisingly heterogenous lot, literally mongrels. Fascinating and surprising how little we know for sure. Source: insomniac Wikipedia binges

That’s a cool aside but Attila rampaged many centuries before the Mongols.

Right, and it makes me wonder whether the great Khans in their time knew more about Atilla than we do. Things like leveraging religion to spread intimidation might be part of the playbook they copied, or might just be convergent evolution, hard to say. Any modern would certainly think of it, but back in the day it seems pretty innovative

Reply on news.ycombinator.com