Before he was Genghis Khan, he was a boy named Temujin.

In this episode of GengHISTORY, author Conn Iggulden breaks down the real history behind “Genghis: Birth of an Empire,” Season 1. The blood clot omen. The father poisoned by Tatars. The family left to die on the open steppe. The kidnapping that started a war. Every beat in the series traces back to something that actually happened, and Conn is the one who knows it best.

These are the stories that turned an abandoned child into the universal ruler of the largest land empire in history. Watch the facts, then watch the book.