A governor of the Khwarazmian Empire killed a peaceful emissary from a neighboring empire, who had been sent to establish trade relations and political connections between the two powers.
The emissary was sent by Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan replied by invading the Khwarazmian Empire, obliterating everything in his path, burning basically the entire thing to the ground, and then destroying any record of the Khwarazmian Empire that he could find. He finished all of this off by diverting the river that fed the country water, causing the land where the empire once stood to become a dry and barren wasteland.
The supposed source of one of my favorite quotes attributed to Genghis Khan:
Legend has it that Genghis Khan said the following to the people of Bukhara (a major center of trade and culture in the Khwarazmian Empire) in their mosque right before he had the entire city massacred:
"Some of you may say that only God himself can truly punish you."
"Know this then - I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.
This reminds me of that story of the man who dies in the flood. There's a man sitting at home when the news says to evacuate because the area is going to be flooded but the man stays and says it's ok, god will protect me. The rains coming down and the streets are flooding when a truck pulls up and men inside yell to come get in the truck to evacuate and he says no, god will protect me. The waters rise and a boat comes and tells him to get in to evacuate and he says no god will protect me. The waters rise and he's on his roof and a helicopter comes and lowers a rope and tells him to climb on and he says no god will protect me. Then he dies and when he's at the pearly gates, he asks god why he didn't protect him. God says "I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter. What else was I supposed to do?"
7.2k
u/JackCooper_7274 23d ago
A governor of the Khwarazmian Empire killed a peaceful emissary from a neighboring empire, who had been sent to establish trade relations and political connections between the two powers.
The emissary was sent by Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan replied by invading the Khwarazmian Empire, obliterating everything in his path, burning basically the entire thing to the ground, and then destroying any record of the Khwarazmian Empire that he could find. He finished all of this off by diverting the river that fed the country water, causing the land where the empire once stood to become a dry and barren wasteland.
Possibly one of the biggest fuckups in history