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Jack Weatherford

What Jack Weatherford thinks about war

@jack-weatherford · 22 positions · On ppll ↗

Anthropologist and author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, and DeWitt Wallace Professor of Anthropology emeritus at Macalester College.

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Only Jack Weatherford on war. See everyone on war

8 dated positions, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Jack Weatherford has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingGenghis Khan conquered the largest empire in history with an army that never exceeded about 110,000 men.

    Their wordsGenghis Khan's army was extremely good in warfare but small. He never got probably above 100,000, at the most 110,000. That is small.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 3rd of 22 in this recording

  3. Our readingGenghis Khan's kinsmen deserted him and the common herders he promoted never did — that asymmetry is the first explanation of the Mongol army.

    Their wordsI think the first point is the extreme loyalty of the people whom Genghis Khan chose. His kinsmen, as we said, had deserted him, his anda was a questionable relationship but all the others that he found were just common people, herders or hunters, very common, and they were loyal to him and never, ever revolted against him, never betrayed him.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 4th of 22 in this recording

  5. Our readingThe Mongols fought for victory rather than honour, which is why retreat cost them nothing and became their deadliest tactic.

    Their wordsThe Mongols did not fight for honor the way we often think of brave soldiers, Achilles and the Iliad and things like that, they fought for victory. That was the one thing. So, to retreat, to save lives and all, there's no shame in that.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 6th of 22 in this recording

  7. Our readingGenghis Khan manufactured the atrocity stories told about him, deliberately releasing refugees to carry terror to the next city before his army got there.

    Their wordsAnd when he conquered a city, he always made sure there are plenty of refugees to go to the next city because it's going to weaken them. It's going to weaken their food supply, and they're going to terrorize the people with tales of the millions of people that the Mongols killed with their steel chisel teeth and eating children and all kinds of horrible tales. Genghis Khan encouraged it.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 7th of 22 in this recording

  9. Our readingAnyone with a craft survived a Mongol conquest, whatever the craft was — skill was the one thing the Mongols never destroyed.

    Their wordsBut the one thing that they valued were all the artisans, everybody who had a skill. And that skill could be making a pot. It could be hammering out a metal plate. It can be weaving carpets, it can be translating or just reading and writing. Every person with a skill was spared.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 8th of 22 in this recording

  11. Our readingHiroshima and Nagasaki were not military targets — they were acts of terror against women and children, and Americans should say so before condemning the Mongols.

    America

    Their wordsWe dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those were not military targets. We were not doing anything strategic against the country other than terrorizing the country by killing women and children.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 9th of 22 in this recording

  13. Our readingA nation of a million people cannot rule hundreds of millions by warfare; the Mongol Empire lasted because it offered its subjects things they actually wanted.

    ChinaRussia

    Their wordsIf you have a nation of 1 million people and you are ruling over hundreds of millions of people, hundreds of millions of people, China, Russia, the Middle East, you do not do that through warfare. You conquer them initially through warfare, but you do not rule them through warfare. You've got to be offering something that they want, something that they like.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 10th of 22 in this recording

  15. Our readingGenghis Khan's army was the greatest military force in history, and no power will ever repeat what it did.

    ChinaRussia

    Their wordsNo other power in the history of the world has conquered Russia and China and Persia and Central Asia and Turkey and Korea. No power in the world has done that. Not Alexander, not the Romans. Nobody will ever do it again.

    ↗Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #476youtube.com 20th of 22 in this recording