14. Few Owns are Greater Than Feasting Atop Your Foes’ Living Bodies
Genghis Khan’s and his Mongols’ reputation for cruelty and bloodthirstiness was well deserved. While those who chose to surrender immediately often found the Mongols to be decent rulers, woe betide those who resisted. It is estimated that the wars of the Mongol conquest might have killed up to 60 million people.
The Mongols relished making examples out of their defeated foes, and came up with creative ways – some of them quite weird – to drive their point home. After their victory at the Battle of Kalka River, captured enemy commanders were laid on the ground, then a huge board was then laid over their bodies. Atop that, the victorious Mongols sat down to eat, drink, and celebrate their triumph, while slowly crushing and suffocating the captives beneath to death.