#476 – Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13K Ratings
🗓️ 1 August 2025
⏱️ 280 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep476-sc
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EPISODE LINKS:
Jack's Books: https://amzn.to/3ISziZr
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World: https://amzn.to/4l45LsY
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: https://amzn.to/4l22uud
Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: https://amzn.to/4fpOQA4
Emperor of the Seas: Kublai Khan and the Making of China: https://amzn.to/40JEll1
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:44) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(10:44) - Origin story of Genghis Khan
(52:30) - Early battles & conquests
(1:05:11) - Power
(1:07:33) - Secret History
(1:20:58) - Mongolian steppe
(1:24:16) - Mounted archery and horse-riding
(1:32:36) - Genghis Khan's army
(1:48:49) - Military tactics and strategy
(2:01:13) - Wars of conquest
(2:05:37) - Dan Carlin
(2:15:37) - Religious freedom
(2:31:24) - Trade and the Silk Road
(2:40:10) - Weapons innovation
(2:41:40) - Kublai Khan and conquering China
(3:23:31) - Fall of the Mongol Empire
(3:50:26) - Genetic legacy
(4:00:20) - Lessons from Genghis Khan
(4:10:36) - Human nature
(4:13:47) - Visiting Mongolia
(4:33:15) - Lex: Dan Carlin
(4:36:06) - Lex: Gaza
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Jack Weatherford, anthropologists and historian specializing |
| 0:06.4 | in Jenghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. He has written a legendary book on this topic titled |
| 0:12.7 | Jenghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. And he has written many other books, including |
| 0:18.4 | Emperor of the Seas Kublai Khan Khan, and the Macon of China, |
| 0:21.9 | Jenghis Khan in The Quest for God, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, and other excellent books. |
| 0:28.9 | I've gotten to know Jack more after this conversation, and I cannot speak highly enough about him. |
| 0:35.3 | He's a truly brilliant, thoughtful, and kind soul. |
| 0:39.4 | This was a huge honor and pleasure for me. And now a quick few second mention of a sponsor. |
| 0:46.3 | Check them out in the description or at lexfidman.com slash sponsors. It's the best way to support |
| 0:52.1 | this podcast. We got Aleo Capital for Investment, |
| 0:55.7 | Zoc Doc for finding a medical professional, Finn for AI customer service, Oracle for cloud |
| 1:01.9 | computing, Shopify for selling stuff online, masterclass for learning, and element for your |
| 1:08.2 | daily electrolytes. Choose why isn't my friends. And now onto the full ad reads. They're all here in one place. I do try to make them interesting by talking about some random things I'm reading or thinking about. But if you skip, please still check out the sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. And it is truly the best way to support this podcast. To get in touch with me, |
| 1:29.4 | for whatever reason, go to Lex Freeman.com slash contact. All right, let's go. This episode is |
| 1:36.2 | brought to you by ALEO Capital, an investment platform leveraging AI and macroeconomic insights |
| 1:43.0 | to help you invest. |
| 1:45.9 | They're a new sponsor, a very interesting sponsor. |
| 1:49.3 | The idea there, when you're talking about macroeconomic decisions, |
| 1:53.3 | is leveraging everything that's going on, not just in the United States, but globally, |
| 1:58.3 | and understanding that deeply, and then leveraging AI tools to make decisions |
| 2:03.1 | based on what is going on in the world. |
| 2:06.0 | I personally am always wondering, trying to figure out exactly what to do with the ever-quickening |
... |
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