People assume the Mongols were bloodthirsty barbarians who killed millions of people during their rule. Though the Mongols did kill lots of people, reports of the death tolls were often greatly exaggerated by those who feared them. In one account, the Mongols supposedly massacred two million people in Herat, a small city located today in Afghanistan. At the time, the entire population of the region’s larger capital of Samarkand actually numbered just 200,000 .

These inflated body counts suited the Mongols just fine. As their empire expanded, they began to use propaganda to supplement their overstretched numbers. They encouraged accounts of their atrocities. More often than not, the plan worked like a charm. It let the Mongols frequently enter cities with zero resistance—saving lives as a result.

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