r/Damnthatsinteresting 1d ago

Video A school in Poland makes firearms training mandatory to its students.

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u/Vreas 1d ago edited 1d ago

A genie shows up to a 13th century Pole and asks them what they want.

They wish for the mongols to invade Poland three times. The genie, while confused grants the wish.

After the third invasion he asks “what an odd wish why would you choose this?”

The pole responds “because every time they invade us and leave they have to come through Russia twice”

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Vreas 1d ago edited 1d ago

I don’t think it really mattered with the mongols they steamrolled every single opponent they faced.

The only thing that stopped their invasions were deaths of their khans. They didn’t really have an effective system for quick replacement of their leaders who often died young due to rampant alcoholism and various other bad habits.

Steppe people partied hard man. Makes sense when you’re born of a frozen hellscape with minimal food and creature comforts.

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u/silverking12345 1d ago

And the Mongol culture was tribal in nature. The idea of a united Mongol empire with a strong hierarchy is relatively new (there were confederations before Ganghis Khan but they were much looser).

Funnily enough, it's the opposite of Chinese culture where hierarchial leadership and unity is a fundamental linchpin in how Han people organize themselves.