this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2026
59 points (100.0% liked)

History Memes

2353 readers
1021 users here now

A place to share history memes!

Rules:

  1. No sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, assorted bigotry, etc.

  2. No fascism (including tankies/red fash), atrocity denial or apologia, etc.

  3. Tag NSFW pics as NSFW.

  4. Follow all Piefed.social rules.

  5. History referenced must be 20+ years old.

Banner courtesy of @setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world

OTHER COMMS IN THE HISTORYVERSE:

founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
PugJesus@piefed.social
Deceptichum@quokk.au
59
The Sultan really wanted to choose death. (infosec.pub)
submitted 1 day ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to c/historymemes@piefed.social
4 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 4 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Explanation: Genghis Khan sent envoys to the Khwarazmian Empire to normalize trade relations between the then-new Mongol Empire, and the long-established Khwarazmian Empire. Genghis made certain to send Muslim subjects of his as envoys to minimize the chance for religious-cultural offense.

The envoys were accused of being spies, seized along with their goods, and executed.

Genghis Khan sent another group of envoys to emphasize that his intentions were peaceful and that the only interest was in normalizing trade and ensuring the safety of his subjects in any future negotiations.

They were also executed (or according to some accounts, one was executed and the other two were humiliated and allowed to return to Genghis to deliver the Khwarazmian message of 'no').

Genghis then invaded the Khwarazmian Empire and destroyed it entirely within two years.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 11 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Was Genghis already a big dog at this point and the Khwarazmian leader just too full of themself to see who they were picking a fight with, or was this the beginning of the Mongols doing their thing?

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 12 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

A little of both - Genghis had recently united the Mongols under his banner, and he had had several successful expeditions against smaller sedentary polities, but the Mongol Empire's greatest period of expansion would actually be wolfing down the Khwarazmian Empire itself. It would around double the Mongol Empire's land area!

Genghis was fighting a war with China at the time, and the Khwarazmi may have either thought that he would be too distracted and weak to carry on another war, or that ~~they were built different~~ Khwarazmian fortifications would prove too much for a bunch of lowly nomads, just as such fortifications had turned back nomadic raiders in the past.

Unfortunately for them, the Mongols took diplomatic immunity very seriously - both in respecting it and in expecting it to be respected. So when Genghis had two sets of envoys executed by the Khwarazmi for basically no reason, he packed everything up (nomadic armies find that much easier than sedentary ones), put the entire campaign in China on hold, and let loose the full force of the Mongols on the Khwarazmi. And also unfortunately for the Khwarazmi, unlike previous nomadic polities, the Mongols were very good at besieging fortified positions.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 18 hours ago

We're the exception!