The Most Brutal Empires the World Has Ever Seen — Fexingo History

Genghis Khan's Siege of Wall: The Mongol Conquest of the Jin Dynasty

8 min · 4 de jul de 2026
Portada del episodio Genghis Khan's Siege of Wall: The Mongol Conquest of the Jin Dynasty

Descripción

In this episode, we step back from the Mongol conquests in the west to examine their first great war against a sedentary empire: the Jin Dynasty of northern China. Genghis Khan spent over two decades subduing the Jin, a state that dwarfed the Mongols in population and resources. We focus on the key siege of Zhongdu (modern Beijing) in 1215, where the Mongols faced a walled city of unprecedented size. We discuss the Jin strategy of fortification, the Mongol use of siege engineers defecting from the Jin, the role of the Khitan and Han Chinese auxiliaries, and the eventual fall of the capital. We also examine the controversial figure of Shimo Ming'an, a Khitan general who switched sides, and the long-term consequences: the Mongols learned siegecraft from this campaign, which they later used against Khwarezm and beyond. The episode touches on the Jin's own brutal policies, including the use of conscripted peasants as cannon fodder. We end with a reflection on how the Mongol-Jin war set the stage for the later Yuan dynasty. #GenghisKhan #JinDynasty #Zhongdu #MongolConquests #SiegeOfZhongdu #ShimoMingan #Khitan #BeijingHistory #MongolSiegecraft #13thCentury #ChineseHistory #MongolEmpire #JinForts #YuanDynasty #History #FexingoHistory #MedievalWarfare #SiegeWarfare Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

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173 episodios

Portada del episodio The Mongol Yassa: Genghis Khan's Code of Brutal Order

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Portada del episodio The Mongol Tumen: How Genghis Khan's Army of Ten Thousand Conquered the World

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Portada del episodio Genghis Khan's Secret Weapon: The Mongol Yassa Law

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