Genghis Khan & Napoleon Bonaparte

Two powerful kid contestants square off to find out who rules in this episode about famous conquerors! Bea decides her first job as The Who Was Emperor is to make Elliott the host…a job he already has! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, be ready for another edge retaining episode of the
Who Was? Podcast? That's Emperor B to you, Elliott. I'm
taking over this show now. I understand why you're pointing
a sword at me. Yep, I found it in black
Beard's backpack. Pretty neat, right, and that's also why you're
wearing that beard. Yes, it was also in the backpack anyway.

(00:21):
I was inspired by this episode's world conquering subjects Genghis
Khan and Napoleon Bonaparte to found my own podcasting empire
nil before your new host. Hold on, let me just
kneel slowly so I don't wrinkle my corduroys. So what's
your first decree, oh, Imperial hostness, I, Emperor be, the

(00:41):
first host of all who Was land here by decree
that you hold my sword for me. It's getting pretty
heavy and all this conquering has really tuckered me out,
so I'm gonna take a nap um. Would you mind
hosting the show? Wait, your first decree as host is
to make me the host, so demands Emperor Be. Also,
can you tell Eric to play the theme song? It

(01:02):
seems like you should really do that since you're the host.
Now I can't look nothing, Eric, please play the theme
song quietly so we don't wake her. You go, what
do you think you know about the grates room? This story?

(01:25):
The game is on. To get some energy and buckle
up your brain because it's time to play the most podcast.
Because it's stund to play my from Don g Land
or so called SoC Out Los Angeles. Welcome on the

(01:46):
history quiz show that gives contestants the chance to win
mega prizes and podcast glory. I'm your announcer, be the
co host who puts the B in B and here's
your hopes a pair of glasses with a person attached.
It's Elliot Kalin. Thank you be and welcome everyone to
the Who Was Podcast. This show it's like Jeopardy, only

(02:07):
with surprise guests, silly games, and let's face it, a
much better theme song. Our contestants were sent Who Was
books about two great figures from history. Now they're here
to show off their knowledge in the hope sub winning
fantastic prizes prizes pros. Today we're talking about Ganghis Khan
and Napoleon Bonaparte to violent conquerors who started out as kids,

(02:28):
just like our contestants. Let's not encourage our contestants to
become violent conquerors if we can. And speaking of our contestants,
let's meet them right now. First up, we have Desmond. Desmond,
please introduce yourself. O. I am does Limp and elect
Trens and the Godziola. Whoa trains and Godzilla? Now? Is
there a movie idea you have that combines trains and Godzilla?

(02:51):
I feel like that's a good movie that I would watch,
no ideals. It's an interesting combination of life though, because,
as people who might know from the first Godzilla movie,
he doesn't like trains himself. He picks them up and
puts them in his mouth and then throws them. So
I'm glad that you can combine those two and let's
keep the show moving. Um. Next up, we have Nola.

(03:12):
Nola please introduce yourself. Hi. I'm Nola and I love animals.
I have two dogs and going to get a third
one in the summer. Oh my gosh, No, are you
going to get like a puppy? Yeah? Do you have
some puppy names picked out? Because the puppy names are
very important? I mean, you know dog names are important,
but puppy what do you mind sharing some of these options.

(03:34):
I was thinking, I like Hayes and oh very nice.
Are you a big David Bowie fan? Oh, well, Nola,
that sounds super exciting. And I hope this Bowie puppy
is just the puppy of your dreams. And when once
you have three dogs, I assume of all different sizes,
you can finally stack them. Yes, And was the name Hayes?

(03:56):
Was that a choice because you're also a fan of
President Rutherford B. Hayes. I just sort of like it
fair point not a good president. Well, thank you both,
Thank you both of our contestants. I'm very excited to
talk about these fans of David Bowie and Godzilla. And
thank you to Eric, our musician, for providing that lovely
live Meet the Contestants music. So that's who is. Now

(04:16):
Let's find out who was Genghis Khan with four fast
facts prospects. Genghis Khan lived in Mongolia from eleven seventy
nine to twelve twenty six. Genghis Khan was the founder
of the largest land empire the world has ever known.
Genghis Khan created the written Mongol language, and Genghis Khan
invented brilliant military strategies to conquer China and the Middle

(04:38):
East prospects. Nola and Desmond, Um, we're talking about emperors
and people who oversaw empires. But I'm curious if you
had power over an empire, what would be what would
you do if you were like the ultimate leader? Nola,
do you want to go first? Sure, I would probably

(04:59):
give all the homeless people's houses. That's very good. Okay,
that's great, that's great, benevolent emperor, it's such a relief.
That's so not the ordinary way of doing things historically. Yes.
And Desmond, how about you? What would you do if
you were Emperor Desmond the first of Desmond Dania who
I would make sure everyone is happy? Okay, wow, we

(05:23):
got very lucky. I mean when we were talking about
this internally, it was definitely like I would make sure
that I got all the best desserts from from everybody
within my empire. And Elliott, what did you say you
would do? I wanted everyone to wear silver jumpsuits so
we could pretend like we're in the future. M Yeah,
so a little sillier, a little danier, and and definitely

(05:45):
like not helping people at all. No, unless I was
helping people pretend they were in the future. But that's
not that's not the thing most people need help with. Yeah,
like the future in terms of Devo music video, that's
the future I want to live in. That's right. Thank
you both for those surprisingly noble answers. I think now
it's time to move on to our first game. It's
called true or false false? Is a true? False? Is

(06:10):
it false? Or is a true? It is a true
that it is false? Is it false that it was true?
Or true? True? Horror fault? Thank you Eric. In this game,
the will read a series of statements. You will tell
us if the statement is true or false false. As
you heard in the song, this is our first game,
so each question is worth one point. Desmond, you are

(06:30):
up first. When Timidgen, the young man who would someday
grow up to be Genghis Khan, wanted to build a
good relationship with Todd Rill, leader of the powerful carry
A tribe, Genghis actually re gifted a wedding present. Is
this true or false? This is true? That's right, it's true.
Timogen gave Todd Roll his black sable coach given to

(06:53):
him by his father in law as a wedding present.
Now Timidgin spent his youth foraging for food and making
clothes out of mouse and dog skins. So giving togg
Roll this very nice coat made a huge impression and
they became official allies. And that's why I always give
personally engraved blenders as wedding gifts. No re gifting unless
they find somebody with the same exact name. That's Luphole. Okay,

(07:15):
The next question is for Nola. It was the straw
that broke the camel's back. Genghis Khan had a falling
out with his best friend Jamuka over Genghis being made
to camp with sheep and goats instead of camels and horses.
The two went from being besties to being arch rivals.
Is this true or false? True? You're right, that's also true.

(07:37):
After this incident, Jamuka and Genghis spent the rest of
their lives battling each other. Ironically, you'd think the sheep
would be the best animals to camp out next to.
Just count them and get a great night of sleep,
Genghis triat Next time, Desmond. This next question is for you.
After Temujin was named Genghis Khan, ruler of all the
Mongol people's the Golden Khan, the ruler of China. Propose

(08:00):
is that the two Khans enter into a peaceful contract,
because teaming up meant they could keep those pesky vikings
at bay. Is this true or false? That is false?
You're right, it's very false. The Golden Khan demanded Genghis
Khan pledge subservience to him. Genghis Khan said nuts to that.
He said that in Mange language, that's meaning was the same.

(08:22):
And he took a sixty five thousand Mongol army with
him to conquer China, and he did. He won. Now
that's what I call hashtag Mongols Nola. This next question
is for you. Genghis pioneered many new fighting techniques in
his battle against the powerful Mohammad to Sultan of the
charsi Um Empire. He pioneered the Genghis goat, which is

(08:43):
a lot like the Trojan horse, only it's a goat.
Is this true or false? False? You're right, that's also
very false. He pioneered the lake formation. For this, rows
of archers worked together like waves on a lake, firing
one volume of arrows after another. Genghis Han's innovative fighting
strategies were all named after things in nature, like the
tumbleweed formation and the lightning advance. My pervert strategy is

(09:08):
the adorable chinchilla formation. Oh, what's the adorable chinchilla formation?
You give your enemy an adorable chinchilla and then they're
all like, oh, he's so adorable, he's so soft, I
love him. And then and then you started chinchilla club
and become friends and and that's the end of fighting.
And it's also the end of the game. True true, fault.
I like that formation. That's a nice idea. Great round everybody.

(09:31):
You were slamming those questions away saying true false true false.
That's amazing. It was a beautiful thing to see. Yeah,
it was remember it for the rest of my life.
Now be true or false. We're going to go to
producer Jane now for the scores. Wrong, it's true, Jane,
what are those scores? How dare you'd be the scores
are tied up? Doesnt Nola two points? That's amazing. It's

(09:54):
literally anybody's game, Thank you, Jane. Those stores look they're
the same, but that might not be the same forever.
It's still anyone's game. And we'll get right back to
it after this short break, Eric, can you please play
us some riding a horse into battle music? It's in

(10:16):
the mongol. Nice. Welcome back to the Who Was Podcast.
Today we're learning all about Genghis Khan and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Our scores Art Desmond has two points and Nola has
two points. And now factos Elliot Kalin, thank you be.

(10:37):
These are some very fierce competitors. Genghis Khan would have
been fround. So let's get right to it by finding
out more about another fierce competitor, Napoleon Bonaparte with four
fast facts. Napoleon Bonaparte lived from sight four to eighteen
twenty one. Napoleon led the French army as one of
history's most skilled generals. He conquered Chips and a thought

(11:00):
of Europe, but failed to conquer Russia. And Napoleon introduced
the Napoleonic Code, a set of laws that ensured freedom
of religion in France and equality for all French men,
though not all French women, saying all french men were equals.
He said all men were equal except for Napoleon, but
he thought he was the greatest thing since sliced beginning.

(11:22):
We'll see if that was true or false in our
next game, Backpack from the Past from the Best Baby.
I thought I was going to say the game was
true or false, didn't you? That's what I thought. I
was really psyched out. I tricked you like Napoleon might have. Anyway,
For this game, we got Napoleon bonapartes actual backpack from

(11:43):
the who Was Historical Backpack archive B and I will
pull items out of the backpack and you'll tell us
why they're important in the life of Napoleon. Choose the option.
It's a multiple choice. That is the best answer, and
since this is our second game, each question is worth
two points each. Nola Europe. First, all right, I'm going
to take out the first item from the backpack. Oh,

(12:06):
it's two pieces of bread. One is soft white bread
and the other is old hard brown bread. Does this
have something to do with a Napoleon's dream of opening
a bakery? Or be the food Napoleon eight when he
was young or see I don't know, maybe he was
gluten intolerant. B that's right. The answer is be Even

(12:29):
as a boy, Napoleon wanted to grow up to be
a soldier, so he would trade food with a real
soldier exchanging his mother's soft, fresh baked white bread for
the soldier's hard, army brown bread. He told his mom,
if I'm going to be a soldier, I must get
used to eating soldier's bread. Oh great French accent there,
Thank you in French. Whatever that is. The next item

(12:49):
is for Desmond b what's in that backpack? Oh, it's
a snowball with a rock in the center of it.
It's amazing that it stayed frozen for two hundred years.
But you know that's a the who was backpack historical
closet is very cold, Desmond. What does this have to
do with Napoleon Bonaparte? Was he a involved in a
big snowball battle? Be a master snowman builder or see

(13:14):
afraid of the cold? That's right A. When Napoleon was
fourteen years old, he led his classmates in a huge
snowball war that went on for weeks. It was Napoleon's
first big battle, so it ended in a draw when
the teachers made them stop because they were putting rocks
in the snowballs. Listeners, don't do that at home. Napoleon
is a trained snowball professional, Nola. The next question is

(13:36):
for you, Oh, Wow, it's a crown, and hey it
fits me. Be. Please don't try on other people's crowns.
That's how you get lice. Okay, Nola, what's this crown
doing in Napoleon's backpack? Did he a kill a king,
b have his birthday party at burger king, or see
have himself crowned king? That's right. See. In seventeen nine,

(13:57):
Napoleon took control of the French government, and an eighteen
old for he was officially crowned Emperor of France. Pretty
impressive for a kid who used to give away good
bread and put rocks in his snowballs. Okay, there's just
one item left in the backpack, Desmond. This one is
for you. It's a postcard. There's a picture of an
island and it says Elba wish you weren't here. What

(14:18):
would that mean to Napoleon? Was he a vacationing on Elba?
Be imprisoned on Elba? Or see bought a time share
on Elba? But you know he never got around to
using it because he was too busy invading countries. That's right. Be.
In eighteen fourteen, a group of countries teamed up to
defeat Napoleon after he tried to conquer Russia, they sent

(14:40):
him away to the island of Elba, where life was
really boring. Ten months later, Napoleon came back took over
France again, but then he lost the Battle of Waterloo
and Scott sent to an even smaller island, where he
spent the last five years of his life gardening. Oh,
typical retiree behavior. And now it's time to retire from
this game. I could from the Best Baby, another great game. Everybody. Okay,

(15:06):
let's backpack on over to producer Jane for the newest scores.
We are all tied up again at six point speech this.
I can't deal with the suspense of this game. It's
a tie every time. It's a lot. It's a nail bitter.
I'm literally biting my nails while I talk. It's disgusting. Oh, Elliott,
that's a terrible Yeah, that's a terrible habit. You should
try to break. That's very I'm trying my best of

(15:26):
the games. It's too suspenseful. Well, thank you very much, Jane.
There's just one game between us and finding out who
has totally conquered this episode of the Who Was Podcast,
so without further ado. Wait, Elliott, there is a little
further ado to do before we do that. We've got
a new sponsor for the show today. Um, apparently Napoleon
Bonaparte has a new business he's trying out. Well, okay,

(15:47):
I'm not going to be the one who tells Napoleon, No, Napoleon, Eric,
please play that We've got a new sponsor jingle, You've
got a new responsive girl Hello, CCS Napoleon Bonaparte, former
Emperor of France. For centuries, people have been told that
I am a very short, tiny man. British political cartoons

(16:12):
made me look like a teaka purdle sized person, when
in fact I was five ft seven inches tall. I
was actually more of a standard portal. Okay, yo, Napoleon,
how's the weather down their shorty, monsieur, I'm five ft
seven inches rega day. Everyone thinks I am shot, And

(16:35):
because they think I am shot, they won't let me
ride holl coasters. That's why I founded the Napoleon Bonaparte
I Club for Men, the only business that helps men
whose history has incorrectly remembered as short, but who were

(16:57):
actually five feet seven inches tall. We do this by
calling every single person in the world, one by one
and correcting them. Hello, bonjeou, this is the Napoleon Bonapar
Height Club for Men. How tall do you think Napoleon was? Oh, well,

(17:22):
not tall enough to write a roller coaster, probably like
four ft six No, you are long. It was five
ft seven inches tall. You see it really works, And
you know I am telling you the truth because I'm
not just the president of the Napoleon Height Club fork Men,

(17:44):
I am also a client. But you don't have to
take my word for it. Listen to this satisfied customer. Hello,
I'm George Washington. I asked the Napoleon High Club for
Men to help correct the false belief that I chopped
down a cherry tree, and Napoleon was like, no, I
don't do that. I only do the hype thing. So

(18:08):
you know you're welcome. Joe's buzzy best part. The Napoleon
Night Club falk Men has given me the confidence to
become a small business own air, by which I mean
the business is small, not me. I'm five ft seven
inches tall. Now, if you'll excuse him more, I'm off

(18:32):
to ride this hold coasters. This is going to give
way more funds and think Lasha, what a great product
sort of. You'll be right back with the final game
of the show after a short break from our real sponsors, Eric,

(18:54):
could you please play us some French music mus beautifully? Hey,
who was Ours? I want to share a fun fact
we missed. Do you have an idea for an episode?
I want to explain bitcoin to me. What I'm trying

(19:16):
to say is we want to hear from you, so
send us an email or voice memo at the Who
Was Podcast at gmail dot com. Part We're back on
the Who Was Podcast? When we lets level up Desmond
at six points and Noah at six points. It's a tie.
Now back here, Elliot Klein, Thank you, b I can't

(19:39):
wait for this our last game. It's called Converge of Greatness.
In this multiple choice game, we'll explore how the lives
of Genghis Khan and Napoleon Bonaparte, connect, overlap, or invert

(20:00):
reach and because when the third round, each question is
worth three points. Is everybody ready? Yes? Yes? Right? The
first question goes to Desmond b take it away. As
a young man, Timidgen killed his older brother beg Tar
after beg Tar stole a fish from him. Napoleon had
a lot of siblings, but he treated them a little differently.

(20:21):
Did he a train them as a secret team of spies,
be crowned them as kings and queens of the nations
he conquered, or see buy them gift certificates for their
birthdays because you know he didn't really know what they
were into. B that's right, it's being Napoleon made his
brothers the kings of Spain, Holland, and Northern Germany, and

(20:41):
sent his sisters to rule over parts of Italy. A
way better present than a gift certificate. Oh, I guess
maybe it depends on where it's a gift you get to.
Is it too sharper image, because that is better than
than Holland. They'll tell you that much. Yeah, sharper image
you get like a big TV or like a massage chair,
and Holland, I think has that. It depends on the
side of the gift certificate. How generous is Napoleon. We'll

(21:02):
find out at my birthday. No, La, this next question
is for you. Napoleon Bonaparte set the standard for many
of the laws in Europe with his Code Seville or
Napoleonic Code. Genghis Khan also introduced a revolutionary new set
of laws for his empire, which included freedom of religion,
a ban on stealing and kidnapping. And which of these

(21:24):
programs A a Lost and Found program for missing farm animals?
Be the first lending library or see Taco Tuesdays. Ay,
you're right, Yes it was a a lost and found
program for missing farm animals. But of course, as we
all know, this did not include the cheese, for as
it was known throughout history, the cheese stands alone high

(21:48):
the darea. Yeah, it's also not a farm animal, so
there's that too, Desmond, Europe. Next, Timidgon changed his name
to Genghis Khan. Napoleon was into changing people's names too.
When Napoleon met Rose to Bown, he fell madly in
love with everything about her except her name. Would he hated?
What did he rename her? Was it a Mirabelle b

(22:10):
Sally or see Josephine. That's right. See Napoleon decided to
call her Josephine, and that's the name history has forever
remembered her by. Napoleon and Rose slash Josephine were married
for thirteen years until Napoleon divorced her for not giving
birth to an heir to the French throne. Pretty rude,
But then again, this is the kind of guy who
just walks in and steals people's countries. Okay, Nola, this

(22:33):
last question is yours. Napoleon's Tomb is a famous tour
spot in Paris, visited by thousands of people every year.
Genghis Khan's tomb not so much. What happened to the
people who saw Genghis Khan's burial place A. They were
killed in order to keep the tomb's location a secret.
Be they were sent to foreign kings to tell them

(22:54):
how beautiful the CON's tomb is or see They got
special T shirts that said I saw Genghis Khan's tomb
and all I got was this lousy T shirt. You
got it A. The Mongols kept his tomb a secret
for centuries. According to legend, the men who buried him
were killed, and then the men who killed the men
who buried him were also killed, and everyone who saw

(23:16):
his funeral procession you guessed it killed. It was a
great time to be a Mongolian funeral director. Lots are worked.
An archaeologists weren't allowed into the region where Genghis Khan
is believed to be buried until ninety nine, many many,
many many years later, and that means it's the end

(23:41):
of the game and our show, like all great empires,
must now crumble into dust becoming knocks Lena memory. But first,
while producer Jane Tally's our final scores, I'd love to
hear from the contestants. A contestants, what's something you were
surprised to learn about Genghis Khan or Napoleon Bonaparts something
that really stuck out to you? Nola's something that really
surprised you that Napoleon teaches his wife name to um Josephine. Yeah,

(24:04):
isn't that a strange thing to do to to to
change another person's name? Very weird If someone wants to
change their own name, sure, why not. There's lots of
names out there. But well, it's just interesting because it's
not Josephine is not like a nickname, you know, like
it's a name name. It's a name name. So weird. Well, Desmond,
is there anything that surprised you about Genghis khnor Napoleon? Well,

(24:26):
I didn't know that Napoleon conducted like snowball was his
military school. I didn't know that. Yeah, it's pretty amazing, right.
They said that the snowball war went on for weeks
and the kids spent all their time that they were
in classes doing this, and they built forts and the strategies.
It just goes to show that when you're playing as
a kid, you might be setting your destiny for the future,

(24:49):
or you might just be playing no pressures. Yeah, yeah,
you don't need to set your destiny. Okay, now it's
time for the big moment. Jane, please announce our winner.
It's no surprise. Neither one of them could be fooled.
It's a tie with twelve point teach. Amazing. What it's
a tie game, but what a well deserved tie, Desmond. Knowla,

(25:10):
you've both played so fantastically. You've got real history memories,
amazing memories for history. So you're each going to get
ten seconds to thank people that got you here. Who
your shout out for? Nola, who would you like to
shout out to you? I would like to cut out
to my family, my teachers, and my acting coach, dancing
coach and singing coach. Wow, that's what what a team

(25:30):
you've got behind you. Yeah, it takes a village supports
and Desmonds. Who would you like to shout out to?
I would like to shout out to my family and
well all of my friends because they were all very
good friends. That's really sweet. I want to take a
minute and shout out Godzilla and Nola's future puppy, whatever

(25:50):
your name is, we love You's Bowie, Okay or Hayes,
We'll see get back to us on okay. Our winner
and their library of choice will be receiving a selection.
Should have who was books? Hey be, I say that
part not any more, you don't. I'm reconquering the show
and I'm going to give a shout out to intern
Zach Jane, Eric Seth Alchol for being our Napoleon and Elliott,

(26:12):
and a big thank you to both of our contestants
who played an amazing game. Thanks for listening. Next week
we'll find out about two more incredible people from history.
Until then, this is be slice to Bigett saying we're history. Cheers.
This is xoxovit. That's a lot to t by app
Got a question for any of our famous figures, send

(26:32):
us a voice memo at who Was Podcast at gmail
dot com. It might just end up on the show
like and subscribe who Was on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. So who
Was Podcast is produced by Radio Point, I Heart Media
and England Workshop and is based on the best selling
who h Q series published by Fingers, hosted by Elliot

(26:52):
Kalin with co host Megan O'Neill as b who Was
podcast is also starring Jane Paper as Producer, Jane, Eric
check Lee as Eric and sent Paultruler as an holy
and Bonaparte, with Elliotklin as George Washington. Our executive producers
are Richard Corson, Alex Boch, Ellie Klin, Meagan O'Neil, Daniel
Powell and Houston Snyder. Our executive browser for Penguin Workshop

(27:13):
this Francesco Savida. Executive bruser for iHeart Media is Lindsay Hoffman.
This episode was written by Elliott Klin, Megan O'Neil, Kenny
Smokeley and Jane Baper, who was produced by Bernie Kaminsky
and Taylor Kilalski. Our talent prouser is Jane Baker. Our
theme song and music were composed and performed by Eric Shackney.
This episode was edited and mixed by Green Matan and
Kate Molden Power recorded by Joanna Samuel's Special thanks to

(27:35):
Zach Timpson, Charlotte DeAnda and Michael Lewis Howard. Sound services
provided by Great City Post Blues podcast ERST Papers