Mongolia: Rise and fall of an empire | DW Documentary

Mongolia, a country rich with forests, deserts and steppes, borders Russia to the north and China to the south. But its chief influences today come from South Korea and the West.

Director Robert H. Lieberman and filmmaker Deborah C. Hoard introduce novelists, journalists, politicians, activists, poets, painters and a comedian, all of whom shed light on the young republic - and its young population.

Historians, archaeologists and local residents tell the story of the vast empire. The eastern European and Asian territory captured by a fighting force of united Mongol tribes was the largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world. The film looks the beyond the figure of Genghis Khan, the notorious founder of the Mongol empire, and explores the multi-faceted legacy of the realm. It’s a legacy that still makes itself felt in the present day.