All language subtitles for Butterfly.Effect.S01E06_English

- [Narrator] Our
history is no more

than a series of
incredible events.

Each one of us can
influence its course.

The tiniest of our decisions

can influence the
future of mankind.

To know the past is to
anticipate the future.

1174, Mongolia.

A clan chieftain is
poisoned by a rival tribe.

He dies in front of his young
son, whose name is Temujin.

Several years later, dozens
of horsemen raid a nomad camp.

They carry off a captive,
a magnificent woman.

Her name is Borte.

1214, Peking is taken and
sacked by the Mongols.

Over the course of
the following years,

China will lose one
third of its population.

These three dramatic events
are intimately connected.

They are the key moments
in the life of a conqueror

unique in the history of
humanity, Genghis Khan.

Let's see why.

Mongolia at the end
of the 12th century.

Temujin, a child,
has lost his father,

poisoned by a rival clan.

While alive, his father
was a renowned warrior

and the greatest of
the Mongol chieftains.

Dead, he is nothing,
nor is his family.

His wife and their
seven children

are left to fend for themselves,

abandoned in the middle
of the windswept steppes.

They are doomed
to certain death.

Temujin is nine years old.

His name means he
who beats steel.

Mongolia offers extreme
conditions of life,

wedged in between the
polar circle to the north

and the Gobi Desert
to the south.

It experiences temperatures
of minus 100 in winter

and plus 100 in summer.

The land is hard; its
people are harder.

The nomads have adapted
to these harsh conditions.

They move constantly
with their flocks

according to the seasons.

They are expert at living
off this hostile environment.

In such climatic conditions,
the clan is fundamental.

A man alone is nothing; a
clan can survive any winter.

How do you cope
when you are a woman

alone with seven
children, with no flocks

in the midst of a land
teeming with wolves.

On the edge of the
gulf, Temujin's mother

shows incredible strength of
character and refuses to die.

The family lives off wild
berries, roots and rare fish.

They all work for the
survival of the group.

Well, almost all.

One of Temujin's brothers takes

their catch of fish by force.

The family is in danger.

Temujin cannot allow this.

He must choose, live
together or die alone.

- [Woman] Welcome to
the memory of humanity.

Here, we can control time,

analyze and compare
billions of events,

and alter them to rewrite
history endlessly.

For example, what would
life have been like

for Temujin if his father
had not been murdered?

In fact, there would have
been no place for him

before his father
died a natural death.

He would've been
like a young shoot

in the shadow of a
100 year old tree

that hid the light of the sun.

To understand the
complex character

of the future Genghis Khan,
we must look at his childhood.

Long before Temujin's birth,
his mother had been kidnapped

from a neighboring
tribe by his father.

At age three, when children
are beginning to speak,

he was taught to ride a horse.

At five, instead of
learning to read,

he was shooting his
game birds with a bow

and slitting the
throats of sheep.

At nine, the dawn
of adolescence, his
father is murdered.

At 13, he kills his own brother.

For him, normality
is violent death

and it will accompany
him throughout his life.

The childhood of Genghis
Khan shaped his personality

and influenced the
course of history.

Another little boy, the sole
survivor among his siblings,

suffers the blows of
his drunken father

in the depths of the
Russian countryside.

His name is Josef, but
later, he will become Stalin,

the man of iron, dictator
of the Soviet Union.

What doesn't kill you
makes you stronger,

but not necessarily more humane.

Let's continue.

- [Narrator] Temujin and
his family have survived,

but they lead a
desperate existence.

During the years of wandering,

though in adolescence leading
nowhere, two people will mark

Temujin's destiny forever,
a man and a woman.

First, Jamukha, his
childhood friend,

who would become
his blood brother,

and for Mongols, this idea is
extremely powerful, sacred,

but the person essential
to the life of Temujin

is not yet at his side.

Just before he died,

Temujin's father had
chosen his future bride.

Like his son, she
had fire in her eyes

and an exceptional face.

While a teenager,
Temujin returns

to find his promised
one and marries her.

The young woman's name is Borte.

Their love will be eternal.

Borte quickly gains
the ear of her husband.

Her advice is wise, her
arguments irrefutable.

Temujin will always listen to
Borte, but for the present,

the couple lives happily
with their flock.

It is at this
moment that an event

will upset the
course of history.

Dozens of horsemen
suddenly rise up

from nowhere and
charge upon them.

It's a matter of revenge.

Even after decades, a Mongol
never forgets an affront,

and a young Temujin
is now paying

for the actions of his father.

Temujin has only seconds
to make his choice.

Remain to defend
his wife and die

or flee and leave
Borte to be captured.

With iron in his soul,
Temujin
flees, but he makes a vow.

One day, he will raise an
army, he will recover Borte,

and he will avenge this
humiliation with blood.

A Mongol never
forgets an affront.

His heart cries out for
revenge,
but Temujin can do nothing.

He has no army.

So he calls upon
his lifelong friend,

his blood brother, Jamukha.

Temujin may be no one
but Jamukha is now
a fearsome warlord.

He has an army and he agrees
to help his blood brother.

Together, the two men cross
the northern mountains,

far from their native steppes.

They enter the heart
of enemy territory.

They await the night.

A Mongol never
forgets an affront.

This expedition enables Temujin

to find Borte again,
but not only that.

During his campaign, he reveals
his abilities as a leader.

He is charismatic,
brave and generous.

Several warriors are
literally dazzled.

Rather than remain with Jamukha,

they decide to follow his
blood brother, Temujin.

History has just changed course.

- [Woman] We have just
reached a turning point.

A turning point is a key
event,
a crossroads in our history

where the world swings
one way or the other.

Young Temujin loves
Borte with all his heart

and he cannot bear the
idea of living without her.

To find her, he
builds alliances,

forms an army and
sets out to do battle.

This episode will spotlight

his extraordinary
gift for command.

Warriors listen to him,
and they follow him.

But another side to his
character also emerges.

Temujin has all the
kidnappers executed,

including their
wives and children.

When they kidnapped
Borte, his enemies roused

the violence that
slumbered within him.

The fearsome war machine
is now in motion,

and there is no longer anyone
capable of stopping him.

History has just
taken a dramatic turn.

Temujin becomes a great
chieftain, loved and
respected.

Amongst nomads, the position
of chieftain is precarious.

You were not born a chieftain.

You become one through
personal merit,

and it's difficult
to remain one.

Incompetence is not tolerated,

nor is weakness or ill fortune.

In the 18th century, we find

a similar sort of
organization among pirates.

With pirates, the captain of
a ship is elected by the
crew.

If he proves incompetent or
loses the confidence of his
men,

he can be removed, or worse.

To become and to
remain a chieftain,

a Mongol must combine
authority,
competence, generosity

and in addition, have
luck on his side.

Quite an art.

Let's return to the
course of events.

- [Narrator] The years that
follow are an endless list

of battles, betrayals
and massacres.

During this period, Mongolia
is occupied by various
tribes,

Mongols, but also Merkits,
Tatars or Keraits.

They have hated each
other for generations.

In ancient times, strong
men were able to unite

all the tribes and impose
themselves as sovereign lords.

They were known as khan.

Fighting side by side,
Temujin and Jamukha seek

to revive this ancestral power.

They know that, once united,
the tribes will be
invincible.

However, there can
only be one khan.

That's what Borte explains
to her husband Temujin,

and Temujin always
listens to Borte.

The two blood brothers
become sworn enemies

and wage war on each other.

Jamukha is a good warrior,
but a poor chieftain.

Mendacious and cruel, he loses
the respect of his troops.

At the same time,
Temujin is drinking

the same muddy water as his men.

He believes in
loyalty and merit.

Under his command, simple
soldiers can become generals.

Rumors race around the steppes,

building up the
legend of Temujin.

Finally, at a great assembly,

the clan chieftains
appoint him sovereign.

Temujin becomes the new khan,
but he must defend this title.

The new khan still has
considerable opposition,

in particular, Jamukha,
his blood brother.

The two men fight
over many long years.

Temujin suffers
defeat after defeat.

His power should
have been threatened,

but the opposite happens.

More powerful than
weapons, Temujin's charisma

swells his ranks,
while at the same time,

Jamukha's cruelty isolates
him a little more every day.

The blood brother,
exhausted and alone,

is finally handed
over to Temujin.

Amongst Mongols, killing a
blood brother is very serious,

but there can only be one khan.

Temujin controls
all of Mongolia.

He was already khan.

He now proclaims himself

Genghis Khan, the
supreme chieftain.

With Mongolia united,
Genghis Khan finds himself

at the head of a
formidable army.

100,000 warriors
from the steppes,

waiting for just one thing,

to set forth and
conquer the world.

- [Woman] The word
warrior did not exist

in the Mongolian language.

Every man from 14
to 60 is a warrior.

War is all around.

In this nomadic society, one
person in four goes to war.

The Mongol warrior is a
peerless rider and archer.

The double curved Mongolian
bow is a formidable weapon,

shooting further and
faster than any other bow.

In 1415, at the
Battle of Agincourt,

the English archers let
loose 12 arrows a minute

and decimated the
French cavalry.

A trained Mongolian
archer can shoot

more than twice that
many in the same time,

a hailstorm of steel.

The armies of Mongolian
horsemen are highly mobile.

As Napoleon said, an army is

its mass multiplied
by its speed.

Mongol warriors had understood

that principle centuries before.

They were able to cover
almost 60 miles in a day.

The riders responsible for
carrying the khan's messages

did even better, up to
800 miles in a week.

To achieve that, they slept
and ate in the saddle.

Like North American
native Indians,

the Mongols apply
the military tactic

advance separately,
attack together.

The Mongols were
unpredictable, avoiding
contact

and preferring to draw
the enemy into traps

in order to destroy them from
a distance, in perfect safety.

Nobody saw them coming, but
everybody heard them attack.

- [Narrator] When you have an
army, you look for enemies.

Temujin, now Genghis Khan, will

set fire to the
rest of the world.

First, in the south.

The histories of
Mongolia and China

have always been connected.

Chinese emperors
have always sought

to divide the Mongol tribes
in order to live in peace.

But now, the Mongols are united.

They finally have their
chance of revenge.

In a few years, he sweeps
the Tanguts off the map,

then falls upon the Jin.

Unable to carry out a siege,

he forces Chinese
engineers into service.

Thanks to them, he takes
Peking and sacks it,

infuriated by the
city's resistance.

After having annexed Manchuria,
Genghis Khan invades Korea.

Granting the Songs a
respite, he throws himself

upon central Asia,
ravages Russia and Turkey.

The world is in flames.

The Mongols are
feared everywhere,

because for Genghis Khan,
war is also psychological.

By cultivating terror,
the Mongols break

their enemies' will to fight.

Any resistance is
punished with a massacre.

The men are slaughtered,
the women made slaves.

They build highly visible
pyramids of skulls.

Everywhere, the talk is of
impaling, horrific torture,

prisoners used as human shields.

On each occasion, a few
survivors are spared,

not out of mercy,

but just so that they
can convey the message.

Don't resist Genghis Khan.

The recipe, though inhuman,
is horribly effective.

In just a few years,
Genghis Khan builds

the biggest empire in history.

From Iran to Korea,
his empire imposes

an age of peace known
as the Pax Mongolica.

Commerce flourishes,
trade routes are created.

Asia opens up to
Europe permanently.

- [Woman] 10 million
square miles,

more than one quarter of
the landmass of the planet.

Throughout history,
only the British Empire

has been able to
rival it in size,

and to think that
in the beginning,

Genghis Khan's Mongolia
had only 900,000 people.

But the surface
area of an empire

must be compared
to its lifespan.

Alexander the Great
conquered a territory

measuring two
million square miles,

but it all collapses with
his death a few years later.

Napoleon manages to
gather 70 million people

over 30,000 square miles but
the empire lasts only 10
years.

Hitler predicted the Reich
would last 1,000 years.

He had to settle for 12.

The Roman Empire counted
up to 88 million people

over 1.5 million square miles,
and it lasted 500 years.

Throughout history, one
truth becomes clear.

Empires that last are not
those that rely on force
alone.

They are the ones that
promote human development.

So what of Genghis
Khan's empire?

- [Narrator]
Exhausted, Genghis Khan

finally dies at the age of 72.

Behind him, tens of
millions of corpses.

The destruction is on
an unprecedented scale.

The Chinese had a saying.

All that the Mongols don't
understand, they destroy,

and so it will be with
irrigation systems

as well as libraries.

Genghis Khan did not seek
to conquer the world.

He wished to return the land

to its legitimate
masters, the Mongols.

But ironically,
Genghis Khan's wars

will ruin his own
country completely.

With a small population,
Mongolia sees all its males

go off to war only to return

during a period of
extreme hardship.

Mongolian conquests do not end

with the death of Genghis Khan.

His descendants carry on
the work for years to come.

(dramatic music)

And the hecatomb is
only just beginning.

In China, ravaged by war,
health
conditions are disastrous.

The vast territory
becomes the seat

of a terrifying epidemic,
the Black Death.

It will ravage China for
years, but not only China.

Carried by fleas, the
disease takes advantage

of the Pax Mongolica.

Thanks to trade
and the Silk Road,

the epidemic spreads
throughout the whole of
Europe,

where it invades the cities,

infects the countryside
and poisons the villages.

Within four years, the
Black Death exterminates

one third of the
population of Europe.

The continent will take
200 years to recover,

but that is another story.

- [Woman] Barbarians pass,
civilizations remain.

The Mongols carried out
the greatest invasion

China has ever seen,
but not the only one.

Since time began,
Mongol warriors have
swept across China,

to the point where
China finally built

a wall to protect the country.

Built over several centuries,

the Great Wall of
China never succeeded

in preventing Mongol invasions.

Elsewhere in the world,
similar attempts were made,

such as the Roman lines and
their 300,000 miles of
defenses.

That also failed against
the Germanic invasion.

Closer to our time, the
Berlin Wall tried to preserve

an economic model by
cutting Germany in two.

When it fell, it took
the USSR down with it.

We might think these
walls belong to the past.

That is wrong.

From a wall protecting
the United States

from Mexican illegals to
the anti-migrant fences

between Hungary and Serbia,
50 borders have been fortified

and more than 12,000
miles of barriers erected

over these last 25 years,

more than the Wall of
China in 2,000 years.

For the last 15 years,
the world is closing in

behind its borders,
and yet history shows

that it is not walls
that protect countries.

Slowly, without realizing it,

the nomad Mongols arriving in
China became used to comfort.

They adopted the
Chinese way of life.

The harsh custom of
the steppes gradually

fell into oblivion
and the descendants

of those terrible
warriors became Chinese.

China integrated them and
then swallowed them up.

To live in peace, eat your fill.

Watch your children grow.

Civilization's weapons are
slower than those of
conquerors.

Time works on their side.

(dramatic music)