OSPREY Warrior Mongol Warrior 1200-1350‘STEPHEN TURNBULL is best known for his numerous books on samurai and Japanese military history, for which he is the recognised ‘expert outside Japan. More recently he has expanded his interests into China, Korea and Southeast Asia, particularly in relation to thoir military interaction with Japan. He has also published several books on the subject of warfare in medioval and early modern Europe, where he has developed a strong interest in eastern European armies such as the Hussites. WAYNE REYNOLDS was born in Leeds, UK, and attended {art college in Middlesborough. He has had a life-long passion {or illustration, and since 1991 has worked as a professional artist. Wayne thas provided illustrations. land source material for many ‘gaming companies, creating figures, landscapes and interiors, as well as providing core characterisation. He is. perhaps best known for is work on titles such as 20004D, Siaine, and Judge Dredd. Wayne is also a keen modeller and historical re-enactor.Warrior - 84 OSPREY Mongol Warrior 1200-1350 Stephen Turnbull - Illustrated by Wayne ReynoldsFret publned io Great rain in 2000 by Osprey Pubshing ms Cour, Chapel Way, Boley, Oxford OX2 LP, UK. Ema: ntoBospeeypubsshing.com (© 2008 Osprey Publishing Lic ‘nights reserved. Apart fam any far alin forthe purpose of pate study, researc, cris or eve, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Paton At, 1988, no part of ts publication may be reproduced, sored in a retvevaleyste or tanemited i ey form oF by any means, electronic, ‘ectrical,cherial, mechanical. optical, photocopying, recorng or otherwise! without th proewrtten parmision of the copyight owner. Erquries srould Be adorested tothe Pulchors |AGIP catalogue record for hs Books avatabe tm the Bish Library Ian 1 94176 589% Eto: Sally Rawtngs Design: Ken Vall Graph Desig, Cambridge, UK Index by lan Futter Originated by The Electronic Page Company, Cwmbran, UK Printed in Cina through Word rn Lid a 04 05 08 7 10987654321 Fora catalogue ofa books pubisned by Osprey Mitary and Aviation pease contact: (osprey Dect UK. RO. Box 140, Welingborough Northants, NN 2FA, UK Ema iflosospreydrect.co uk Osprey Dect USA, c/o MBI Publishing, 0. Box 1, 729 Prospect Ave, soecla, W 54020, USA E-mail ifosospreycrectusa com rww.ospreypublishing.com Artist’s note Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained by the Publishers. All enquiries should be addressed to: Wayne Reynolds 20 Woodside Place Burley Leeds Ls24 20U. ‘The Publishers regret that they can enter into no ‘correspondence upon this matter. ation To Anne-Marie Arrowsmith Author’s Note ‘The illustrations used are many and varied, ranging from manuscript sources to modern ethnographical observations, of Mongols today. For the latter | would particularly like to ‘thank David Lambert, David Sneath and David Nicolle for supplying several of the fine pictures in this volume. | also acknowledge the administrative support provided by my daughter Kate in one of her first projects as my secretay.CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION: THE MONGOLS AND THEIR EMPIRE ‘The Mongol warrior in historical context CHRONOLOGY RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF THE MONGOL ARMY Numbers and recruitment of Mongol warriors + Army organisation, training and discipline APPEARANCE AND DRESS Mongol armour and costume * Mongol weapons * The Mongol horse THE DAILY LIFE OF THE MONGOL WARRIOR ‘The Monge! dwelling + Mongol food and drink * The Mongol wagons ‘The Mongol camel + Belief and belonging + The hunt MONGOL CAMPAIGN LIFE ‘A nation on campaign + Grazing practices on campaign * The Mongol warrior’s campaign rations ‘Mongo! strategic planning * Reconnaissance in force * Mongols on the march ‘The weapon of terror + The strategic false retreat THE MONGOL EXPERIENCE OF BATTLE: MONGOL STEPPE TACTICS ‘Scouting the enemy + The tactical false retreat * Mongol archery in battle Counter-attack + Pursuit + Retreat + Treatment of the wounded THE MONGOL EXPERIENCE OF BATTLE: MONGOL ADAPTATIONS TO TERRAIN AND SITUATION Weather conditions and Mongol campaigns * Seas and rivers, “The defended town + Siege crossbows * The use of trebuchets + Jungles and war elephants GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY COLOUR PLATE COMMENTARY INDEX 13 17 26 45 50 60 60 62 64MONGOL WARRIOR 1200-1350 PREFACE ‘The Mongol warrior was one of the great success stories of world military history. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan and_his successors Mongol armies conquered much of the known world. They fought on the frozen steppes of Russia, in the wilderness of Palestine, in the jungles of Java and on the great rivers of China. Throughout all this they showed. a remarkable ability to adopt, adapt and improve a vast range of military techniques and technology from siege weapons to naval warfare. Yet never did they leave their cultural heritage behind, nor were they ever more feared than when they swooped down upon some unsuspecting sedentary community like a horde of mounted demons The popular view has taken this image further to produce a caricature of the Mongol warrior galloping everywhere, as inseparable from his horse as a centaur. He eats in the saddle, having tenderised his meat between man and horse. He then fights in the saddle, despatching clouds of arrows with great accuracy, and then, when exhausted by these endeavours, he even sleeps in the saddle while his horse carries him towards his next battle. This may be an exaggeration, but on many occasions this superhuman, myth was deliberately fostered by the Mongols to increase terror among their victims. Yet, needless to say, the daily life of a real Mongol warrior peace and war was a great deal more complex and down to earth than A view of the steppes of Mongolia. (David Lambert)this, and the pages that follow will illustrate the richness of the systems and material culture that grew up to support him, This Warrior volume tells the story of the remarkable military organisation of the Mongol warriors that contributed to their success. It also gives full details of their weapons and equipment, their daily lives and the beliefs that motivated them, all based on the latest research, In keeping with the format and the scope of the series I have concentrated on the small-scale experience of the Mongol warrior in peace and in war, rather than larger themes such as the laws and government system of Khubilai Khan’s Yuan dynasty ‘This is a modern Mongol with his way the gun and substitute a bow and you have the perfect picture of a medieval ‘Mongol warrior. (David Sneath)‘Modern wooden statues of ‘Mongol warriors in armour at Ulan Bator. (David Lambert) INTRODUCTION: THE MONGOLS AND THEIR EMPIRE At its height, the world of the Mongol warrior encompassed a large proportion of the known world of the 13th century: Japan, Java, Syria, much of Russia and Eastern Europe had experienced the Mongol warriors as real foes, By contrast, Western Europe heard of them only through travellers’ tales or garbled accounts at second hand. The exception was the Papacy, because once the Mongols were revealed as a serious threat following the battle of Leignitz in Silesia in 1241, successive popes were kept well informed of Mongol conquests by a series of envoys. Their reports allowed consideration to be given to the question of whether to proclaim a crusade against the Mongols or enlist them as allies in the long struggle with Islam. It is from such reports that much of the first-hand detail that follows is taken. The Mongol warrior in historical context The daily life in peace and war of the Mongol warrior can only be properly understood in its correct historical context. As the context of normous one there is no space here to give anything other than a brief overview of the processes that took place. But two facts are p tin grasping the scale of the achievement of the Mongol warrior. First, the Mongol Empire was created within three generations, and second, for the first time in world history, Europe and Asia were both threatened by the same entity. We are therefore looking at a military phenomenon that was rapid both in its growth and its dissemination. ‘The rise of the Mongols from being just one among a number of rival nomadic tribes in Central Asia to becoming a force that shook the world origin in the unification brought about by a steppe warrior called the Mongol conquests is an‘Temujin, who then accepted the title of ‘universal ruler’ or ‘Genghis Khan’, He consolidated his position by conquering nearby foes, and the Mongol Empire grew from these operations. ‘The newly emergent Mongols were faced on all sides by potential enemies, of which the greatest was the Jin Dynasty of China. They had a glorious history, but the Jin had weakened their position by their constant rivalry with the Southern Song Dynasty whom they had failed to supplant completely. The Jin would be Genghis Khan's main enemy, but realising the need to protect his flanks, he first attacked the Xixia of north-west China who became the first foreign people to feel the impact of the Mongol warriors, Genghis Khan’s next major campaign was against the Muslim Khwarazm Empire of Central Asia. All the techniques of Mongol warfare ~ from cavalry battles to sieges, and from false retreats to the spread of terror — were tried and tested in this dramatic theatre of operations. (One remarkable feature of their early conquests is how quickly Mongol warriors developed expertise in siege warfare - hardly the first characteristic one would expect from steppe nomads! The biggest test of these skills came with the siege of the Jin capital of Zhongdu (Beijing). This victory enabled the Mongols to recruit skilled artisans as auxiliaries, and the Chinese prowess in siege warfare spread still further in Mongol service. A mixture of siege warfare and mounted activities, chiefly raiding, are found in the Mongol invasions of Korea during the 1230s. A similar pattern may also be noted for Russia and Eastern Europe, though this was on a much larger scale. The battle of the Kalka River in 1223, for example, was a reconnaissance in force that was preceded by a false withdrawal that lasted nine days. The sieges of Russian and European fortified cities also tended to be of much shorter duration than Chinese operations. Kiev and Riazan succumbed after quite brief operations, while the major actions of the Hungarian and Polish campaigns were not sieges at all but two major battles in 1241 at the Sajo River in Hungary and Leignitz in Silesia. The continuation of the campaign against southern China and the mighty Southern Song Dynasty required the Mongols to develop siege warfare techniques even further. One crucial introduction in 1272 was the first use in China of counterweight trebuchets that could deliver a larger payload than the traction-operated variety. The conquest of the Song also stimulated new expertise in naval techniques that were later transferred to a much wider canvas with the mounting of expeditions against Vietnam, Burma, Japan and Java, although in none of these cases was real ‘naval warfare’ involved. In all these operations the use of a fleet was primarily that of transporting an army on to further dry land. In both Japanese campaigns, however, their intended victims took the fight directly to the Mongol ships. When Khubilai Khan, Genghis Khan's grandson, became the first Yuan (Mongol) Emperor of China, that part of the Mongol world became identified with Chinese society. Elsewhere, the IIkhans of Persia and the Golden Horde of Russia developed their own military and cultural identities that arose from adaptation and sharing with the peoples they had. conquered. Yet throughout all these developments there was still a core — amucleus of the old Mongol spirit. It was not always expressed through the continuing prowess of the Mongol horsearcher, but it was constantlyreasserted as the archetypal definition of the Mongol warrior. So it was that, in referring to their own Mongol heritage, the annals of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty of China could make the following reasonable statement: ‘By nature they are good at rid took possession of the world through this advantage of bows and horse ig and archery. Therefore they ‘This famous scene from the ‘Japanese Mongo! Invasion Scroll shows samurai attacking a Mongol ship during the invasion ‘of Japan in 1274. (Imperial Household Collection, Tokyo) CHRONOLOGY 1167 Probable date of birth of Temuchin (Genghis Khan) 1234 Suicide of the last Jin emperor 1206 Temuchin is proclaimed universal Khan of all the 1235 The Great Kurita is held Mongol tribes. 1287 Invasion of northern Russian principalities begins 1206 Mongol raids are conducted against the Xixia 1238 Siege of Viadimir 1209 Xixia campaign begins 1239 Defeat of the Polovtsians (Cumans) 4210 Surrender of Yinchuan 1240 Siege of Kiev (Kyiv) 1211 _ Invasion of the Jin empire by Genghis Khan 1241 Battle of Liegnitz 4212 Siege of Datong Battle of the Sajo River (Mohi) 1213 Mongol attack on the Juyong Pass Death of Ogodel Khan 1214 Siege of Ningliang in Manchuria 1242 Mongols leave Europe 1218 Capture of Zhongdu (Beling) 1243 Submission of Prince laroslav Vsevolodich to the 4216 Mongols drive the Khitans into Korea Golden Horde 4218 Fall of Kashgar. Mongols defeat the Kara-Khitay 1248 Death of Kuyuk Khan 1219 Invasion of Khwarazm empire and the siege of Otrar_ 1251 Mongke Khan launches the Persian campaign Capture of Bukhara 1253 Siege of Ch’ungiu 1220 Capture of Samarkand Destruction of the Nanzhao kingdom at Dali 1221 Death of Shah Muhammad of Khwarazm 1254 Final Mongol invasion of Korea begins Genghis Khan's Afghan campaign begins 1255 Death of Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde Capture of Tirmiz, Balkh and Merv 1256. Hulegu defeats the Ismail (Assassins) Capture of Nishapur 1257 Invasion of Annam 1222 Visit of the sage Changchun to Genghis Khan 4258 Hulegu captures Baghdad 1223 Battle of the Kalka River 1259 Siege of Aleppo 4224 Siege of Shazhou Death of Mongke Khan 1227 Second Xixia campaign begins 4260 Accession of Khubilai Khan Siege of Ningxia ‘Mongols defeated by Mamluks at Ain Jalut Death of Genghis Khan 1265 Battle of Daioyu. Mongols acquire a fleet 4281 Death of Jalal-al-Din Death of Hulegu, likhan of Persia Siege of Hezhong 1268 Siege of Xiangyang begins Siege of Kuju begins 1273 Peace settlement with Korea 41232 Siege of Kaifeng begins 41274 First invasion of Japan Korean court moves to Kanghwa Island 1275 Bayan crosses the Yangtze1277 Battle of Ngasaungyyan 1293 Mongols land in Java 4278 King of Champa pays homage to the Mongols, 1294 Death of Khubilal Khan 1279 Fall of the Southern Song 1296 Mongol embassy to Cambodia 1281 Second invasion of Japan 1801 Mongol attack on Lan Na Invasion of Champa Death of Kaidu 1282 Mongol treaty of amity with Siam 1285 Battle of Siming 1286 Capture of Hanoi The ger is a mobile home built around a 1287 Capture of Pagan framework of wood covered in felt and secured 1288 Battle of the Bach Dang River by stout pegged ropes. (David Sneath) RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF THE MONGOL ARMY Numbers and recruitment of Mongol warriors The nucleus of the army that launched the Mongol conquests, and its core throughout the century that followed, was the nomadic tribal Mongol warrior horseman, born into Mongol society and at one with i traditions. To be a Mongol man was to be a Mongol warrior. There is no word in the Mongol language for ‘soldier’, and it is no exaggeration to say that the whole of a Mongol warrior's daily life was a preparation for war. The same techniques that were learnt for survival, for herding or for hunting had direct application in the Mongol campaigns. This is also true when approached from a different angle, because the Mongol army may alternatively be regarded as Mongol society arranged on a war footing. As the Persian historian Juvaini put it, “It is an army after the fashion of a peasantry, being liable to all manner of contributions and rendering it without complaint whatever is enjoined upon it... It is also a peasantry in the guise of an army, all of them, great or small, noble and base, in time of battle becoming swordsmen, archers and lancers and advancing in whatever manner the occasion requires’.10 ‘A Mongol heavy cavalryman. (Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds) ‘One reason for the impression of large numbers in the Mongol armies was that an individual warrior would typically have had ‘with him five or six horses used for remounts. Here we see modern Mongols crossing a river with spare horses. (David Lambert) Initially, all recruitment to the Mongol an from within Mongol society. All males between the ages of 15 and 60 were liable for military service. Mobilisation was speedy, and fresh training was hardly necessary, while logistical support was provided by the rest of the tribe. As so many people went along on campaign, virtually no one was left out from the great enterprise. Itis partly the factor of total support from within the tribe that has given rise to the belief that the Mongol armies were exceptionally large in number. Such exaggerations could benefit both sides. For example, one can read in the earliest historical sources that Genghis Khan invaded the Khwarazm Empire at the head of 700,000 troops. This is a considerable exaggeration from a more likely figure of 150,000, and those men had to march neatly a thousand miles from their last home base before coming to grips with the enemy. But similarly inflated figures w than one occasion by their victims as an excuse for a defeat at Mongol hands. For their part, on some campaigns the Mongols deliberately tried to give just such an impression of overwhelming numbers simply to intimidate their intended victims. If the enemy believed that resistance was hopeless, for whatever reason, then he would be more inclined to surrender. The Mongol numbers were indeed large when seen from the point of view of the proportion of fighting men taken from within their society, because the Mongols were able to mobilise a greater proportion of their people than comparable sedentary societies. But the impre of invariable huge numbers was often illusory, and in some cases th of the Mongol army was actually inferior to its enemies. In 1211 Genghis Khan began his campaign against the Jin Dynasty of China with about 110,000 men. This was less than a quarter of the manpower that could be mobilised by his opponents. ies was sed on more sion sizeOne reason for the impression of large mumbers was that an individual warrior would typically have had with him five or six horses used for remounts. Sometimes, the Mongols also mounted dummies on these spare horses. Yet even if we play safe and use the most conservative estimates, the numbers are still very large. However, as many campaigns were carried out far from the Mongol heartlands then the question of reinforcements arises. Recruits from Mongolia would reach the various armies from time to time, but they cannot have been great in number, and there would have been a certain time lapse before they joined up with the forces they were sent to augment. The alternative practice was for the Mongols to make good their losses on the spot. This happened in Persia, Afghanistan and southern Russia. The previous rulers had been destroyed, and the Mongols were able to recruit auxiliaries from among those of the population who led a pastoral or nomadic life. When Subadai continued his move towards Europe with only the smallest of reinforcements from Genghis Khan in 1221, his numbers were swollen by Kurds, Turks and Turcomans willing to share in the fighting and the loot. In such ways the growing Mongol army acquired an ‘imperialist’ appearance from quite early on in its activities. During the northern Chinese campaign auxiliaries like these provided Genghis Khan’s first foot soldiers, but even more important were the artisans and engineers recruited because of their skills in building and operating siege weapons. They were made very welcome in the Mongol ranks. The Mongol warrior who followed Genghis Khan was unpaid. His only ‘income’ on active service was booty, divided up according to fixed principles. In fact, the Mongol warriors themselves paid contributions in kind > called qubchur. It was only very late and probably under Persian influence that the Ikhan Ghazan decided to give a modest level of pay to low-ranking soldiers, while the high-ranking Mongol officers remained unpaid. One of them. was taken prisoner during Ghazan’s campaign against the Mamluks in Syria in 1303. When asked what his pay was he replied, ‘The Mongol is the slave of his sovereign, He is never free. His sovereign is his benefactor: he does not serve him for money. Although Twas the least of Ghazan’s servants T never needed anything’. Army organisation, training and discipline The Mongol army was the backbone of the empire. It was the creation of Genghis Khan, and was subdivided hierarchically by using a strict decimal system. A bond of personal loyalty linked the captains of tens (arban) with the captain of hundreds ‘A young Mongol horseman. The concept of the Mongol warrior Is inseparable from that of the ‘Mongol horse. A Mongol learned to ride almost as soon as he could walk. He was tied on to the saddle during infancy and spent his childhood in the company of hhis mount. (David Lambert) Ww(iaghun), thousands (mingghan) and ten thousands (twnen), a simple system that aided both delegation and communication. Although the actual round numbers may not always have been attained, the structure of communications that it sustained was always used. There was also an elite bodyguard for the Great Khan, formed ally from the most loyal companions of Genghis Khan and growing eventually from 150 to 10,000 men. Only nobles and freemen could enter its ranks, and the guard was magnificently equipped and armed. It was first mentioned in 1203 when 70 men were selected for the day guard (turghaut) and 80 men for the night guard (kabtaut). Besides these there were 400 archers (khorchin) and a personal guard of 1,000 brave men who formed the advance guard in battle. An ordinary soldier in the guard had precedence over a commander in the rest of the army. The elite guard soon assumed the role of a military academy, and the presence of so many future generals who had trained so close to the Khan made the prospect of future rebellion quite remote. In principle the Mongol army was divided into three wings of left, right and centre, plus reserves. The three win, Iso referred to in terms of cardinal points with the army facing south. At the time of the conquest of the Jin, the left wing (east) consisted of 62,000 men, while the right wing (west) held 38,000. In all, the Mongol army at about the time of the death of Genghis Khan consisted of about 129,000 men. At the head of each unit were placed men whom Genghis Khan trusted personally, usually kinsmen of his own tribe. The sign of authority given to a commander was a great drum that was sounded only in his presence. If the Khan was personally in command, the whole army marched under his white nine-tailed standard. In 1217 the same standard was given to Mukhali, with orders that everyone was to obey him as if Genghis Khan himself were there in person. All officers were responsible for the training of the men under them. While on active service they had to inspect their troops personally and supply them with everything they needed, right down to needle and thread. Ifa soldier lacked any necessary part of his equipment then the officer was punished. During battle, in attack or retreat, if anyone dropped his pack or bow or any equipment then the man advancing behind him was required to return the item to its owner immediately on pain of death. Also punishable by death were flight before the order to retire, plundering before permission was granted and desertion Discipline was strict in the Mongol army For minor misdemeanours, the first act of corporal punishment was three strokes of a cane, then seven, and ifa member transgressed a third time he received 37 blows. A sentry found asleep at his post was executed without question. Such rigour was accepted and helped to mould an esprit de corps that enabled the Mongols to overcome temporary setbacks such as a serious incident that occurred in 1303. A Mongol army was defeated in Syria, and 5,000 men who had lost their horses were obliged to make a two-month journey home on foot. At the end of it they immediately set out on another expedition without a word of protest. John of Piano Carpini, who was a friar and therefore understood what discipline meant, admired the Mongols in this regard. He wrote, ‘These men are more obedient to their masters than any other men in the world, be they religious or secular’. were‘This model of an armour, probably from 17th century Tibet, shows the lamellar construction of the armour used by the Mongols, and one style of helmet. (Royal Armouries ‘Musoum, Leeds) APPEARANCE AND DRESS Descriptions of the physical appearance of the Mongol warrior during the 13th century tend to be very similar from one chronicler to another A wypical account is: ‘They had broad faces, flat noses, prominent cheekbones, slit eyes, thick lips, sparse beards, and straight black hair; swarthy skins, tanned by sun, wind and frost, they were short of stature and their stocky heavy bodies were supported by bow legs’ The heavy coats, boots and hats added to the short and stocky appearance of the Mongol warrior. Whereas descriptions of the physical appearance of the Mongols have much in common, accounts of their prowess tend to differ only in the degree of exaggeration. Mongol armour and costume Considering the eventual extent of the Mongol conquests, it is remarkable how little was known for certain until comparatively recently about the appearance and equipment of the Mongol forces. For centuries the main sources of information were the descriptions left by visiting ambassadors, travellers and the like, who left accounts that are often highly detailed but which were not written by military men. As a result it was often was very simply and lightly attired, perhaps ) wearing no more than a sheepskin coat and fur hat over his ordinary clothes. This may have been tue for many light Mongol horse archers armies, but recent research (including some very valuable archaeological finds) has demonstrated that a Mongol army would have included a large number of heavy cavalrymen in addition to light cavalrymen. The basic costume of both types of warrior was essentially the normal daily wear of the Mongol. It consisted of a simple heavy coat fastened by a leather belt at the waist. The sword hung from this belt. A dagger was also carried, and perhaps an axe. Ina pocket of the coat would be carried, wrapped. a cloth, some dried meat and dried curds, together with a stone for sharpening his arrowheads. His boots were stout and comfortable, being made from felt and leather, On his head he wore the characteristic hat of felt and fur The armour that the heavy horsemen wore over his coat was made in the common Asiatic style of lamellar armour, whereby small scales of iron or leather were pierced with holes and sewn together with leather thongs to make a composite armour plate. A leather cuirass of this type weighed about 201b. Alternatively, a heavy coat could be reinforced using metal plates. The coat was worn under the su of armour, and the same heavy leather boots were worn on the feet. The helmet, which was made from | a number of larger iron pieces, was roughly in the 13ABOVE LEFT Rear view of the ‘model lamellar armour. (Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds) ABOVE RIGHT The ‘cow!’ round the face appears on this helmet ‘and armoured coat on display in the Mongol Invasion Museum in Hakata. (Japan Archive) shape of a rounded cone, and had the added protective feature of a neck guard of iron plates. The Mongol heavy cavalry rode horses that also enjoyed the protection of lamellar armour. Beneath their armour and coat the Mongols wore a silk shirt, the fibres of which acted asa cushion for any spent arrowhead that had been slowed by the armour but had nevertheless punctured the skin. As armies had discovered centuries before, an arrow does its worst harm when it is removed from the wound and its barbed head tears the flesh. The silk shirt was not punctured. Instead, its fibres twisted around the arrowhead as it entered the skin and ensured that it could be removed with safety. Mongol weapons The main Mongol offensive weapon was the bow. It was a composite reflex bow made from yak horn, sinew and bamboo glued together then bound until they set into a single piece. When the bow was strung it was stressed against the natural curve, giving a strong pull. It was loosed.from the saddle with great accuracy. Each mounted archer had wo or three bows, kept within protective bow cases when on the march. Quivers contained types of arrowhead: poisoned arrows are known to have been used as there is a specific reference to them in accounts of the Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274. The arrowheads were tempered in brine and the fletchings were made from eagle feathers. Whistling arrows for signalling also existed. The use of the bow in con Mongols’ experience of battle. A round wooden shield provided personal protection. The shield would be most useful during individual combat, when a Mongol archer would have replaced his bow within its case and turned to his sword, which was slightly curved like a sabre. Axes and spears were alternative hand weapons, and rounded maces also appear in the written accounts. Mongol heavy cavalrymen also carried spears. The other field equipment of a Mongol warrior included a light axe, a file, a lasso, a coil of rope, an iron cooking pot, two leather bottles and a leather bag closed by a thong to keep clothes and equipment dry when crossing rivers. There was also one tent between ten men rows with several differer pat is described in the later section about the This photograph shows one way of producing an armoured coat by fastening overlapping leather plates on the inside of the coat. (Mongo! Invasion Museum, Hakata, Japan Archive) 1516 The use of weapons made from metal poses interesting questions as to how they were produced in a nomadic society. Thousands of arrows must have been expended during a battle, and one wonders how many were collected for future re-use. William of Rubruck, during his travels to the Khan, tried in vain to contact some supposed ‘German prisoners who dug for gold and manufactured arms for the benefit of the Mongols’. This may have been an idea suggested by the existence of settlements originally established by nomad. artisans grouped together because of their commercial specialisation. Within the realm of the Iikhan Ghazan, such guilds were established in towns. Scarcity of weapons led the Mongols to impose taxes in kind. For example, as part of his reorganisation of the tax system Ogodei Khan decreed that besides silk and silver, quivers, bows, armour and weapons should be stored. William of Rubruck noted that in the lands lying west of the River Don, the Mongols exacted a tribute consisting of an axe per annum per household and all the unwrought iron they could find. The Mongol horse The concept of the Mongol warrior is inseparable from that of the Mongol horse. A Mongol learned to ride almost as soon as he could walk. He was tied on to the saddle during infancy and spent his childhood in the company of his mount. The waveller John of Piano Carpini was struck by the number of horses the Mongols possessed, iting, “They have such a number of horses and mares that I do not believe there are so many in alll the rest of the world... . The horse the Tartars ride on one day they do not mount again for the next three or four days, consequently they do not mind if they tire them out seeing they have such a great number of animals’ farious writers support this view, describing the number of horses per man as being between two and 18, with five or six being the usual numbers. The typical Mongol horse was 13 to 14 hands in height. It was watered once a day and for the most part fed on grass. Horses were not ridden until they were three years of age, and when they had been broken in some tens of thousands of horses could be assembled without ‘The attack on the istand of Iki in 41274, from a painting in the ‘Mongol Invasion Museum, Hakata, Japan. (Japan Archive)difficulty. If left untied they never strayed. The Mongol horse was also renowned for its stamina. One traveller noted that a Mongol on one horse could cover 600 miles in nine days, and a remount system could greatly increase the speed. It is by no means clear whether or not Mongol horses at the time of the conquests were fitted with horseshoes. It would seem unlikely, as shoeing such vast numbers of horses would surely have been impracticable, and the sources support this view. Descriptions of the Hungarian campaigns suggest that they were not shod and Raschid al-Din mentions horseshoes as a ‘special precautionary measure’ According to Thomas of Spolato, the Mongol horses ‘run around on rocks and stones without horseshoes as if they were wild goats Mongol saddles were very solid affairs made from wood oiled with sheep fat as a protection against the rain, It was high in the back and at the front, thus providing a secure seat for an archer to discharge his arrows in any direction. The efficient imperial courier service that kept the Khan in Karakorum in touch with his outlying territories bore testimony to the qualities of the Mongol horse and its riders. These elite riders, the eyes and ears of the Khan, wore a large paiza, a medallion of wood, base metal or silver to show the status and rank of the person sending the message. One example that has survived bears the inscription, ist wear the medallion otherwise he the person using the horse m will be detained’. The imperial couriers also escorted imperial dignitaries, and the system that supported them was highly sophisticated. There were hundreds of post stations situated every 30 miles or so from each other. A particularly urgent courier would ride with bells attached to him or would blow a horn so that when the post station staff heard the sound they would ensure that fresh horses were waiting ready saddled, THE DAILY LIFE OF THE MONGOL WARRIOR To some extent the daily life of the Mongol warrior was very similar both in peace and war, but we will begin by describing the characteristics of how these the peacetime existence of the Mongols, and then disc were modified in a campaign situation. Erecting a ger. The framework of the walls was carried on pack ‘animals and was opened up like ‘a trellis. It was then pulled into ‘a clrcle to create the wall of the ger. A number of straight poles ‘were then fitted in around the upper rim of the side wall and joined at the apex by a circle that provided the smoke hole. (avid Sneath) 1718 Erecting a ger. Felt was then draped and fastoned across the ‘ensemble and tied securely in place. The felt covering was in ‘two parts for the wall and the root. (David Sneath) ‘The finished ger. The felt ‘covering of the ger provided ‘good insulation and protection from the severe steppe weather. (Pavid Sneath) It has now been generally accepted that the daily life of the Mongol warrior was far more sophisticated than previously thought. It included trades and trading, but could also be converted into the mobile and selfsustaining community that provides the classic ideal of the nomadic life. In other words, it was essentially a world that could be self-sufficient if it was necessary, but also allowed the possibility of economic contacts with others. As the great scholar Owen Lattimore reminds us, steppe life ‘is based on an economy which is capable of being self sufficient. Its own, resources provide the essentials of food, housing, clothing and transport, even fuel (from cattle dung). Nor does it prevent the mining and working of metals on a small scale, as is known from archaeological evidence. The steppe-nomad can withdraw into the steppe, if he needs to, and remain completely out of contact with other societies. He can, but so rarely does he do so that this pure condition of nomad life can fairly be called hypothetical. For every historical level of which we have any knowledge there is ' evidence that exchange of some kind, through trade or uibute, has been important in steppe-nomad life’. Chroniclers of the 13th century conquests tended to look upon the Mongol exploits as ‘nomadic warfare’, an extension of the everyday nomadic life into the military sphere, and to some extent that concept has great validity. The practice of nomadism is essential to understanding the background to the Mongol conquests. As nomads the Mongols carried out seasonal migrations from summerpastures on the plains to winter pastures in sheltered valleys. Established migration routes were recognised for these processes, but the distances were not excessive: 100 miles or so would be usual. To transfer this tradition to a military campaign lasting many months where everything that the army needed was either transported behind it or obtained locally was therefore both logical and straightforward. It was a far cry from a European feudal lord gathering his levied troops and setting out from a secure walled city. Yet even for nomads, such ‘military migrations’ needed very careful planning, as we will see. The Mongol dwelling ‘The instantly recognisable portable Mongol house is usually called a yurt in European writings on the subject, but the correct term is in fact ger. Yurt isa Turkish word that originally meant the territory on which a nomadic group roamed, and the Russians first applied it to the Mongol dwelling, The ger consists of a mobile home built around a framework of wood covered in felt and secured by stout pegged ropes. The characteristic round shape is the other feature found invariably throughout the ages. ‘The framework of the walls was carried on pack animals and was opened up like a trellis. It was then pulled into a circle to create the wall of the ger and a number of straight poles were fitted in around the upper rim of the side wall and joined at the apex by a circle that provided the smoke hole. Felt was then draped and fastened across the ensemble and tied securely in place. The felt covering was in two parts for the wall and the roof. It provided good insulation and protection from the severe steppe weather. The production of felt is an interesting process. The wool for making felt was sheared from the flocks during the spring and was laboriously opened up to let as much air in between the fibres as was possible. The old felt, referred to as the ‘mother felt’, acted as base layer for the fresh production and was laid flat and wetted with water. The new wool was placed on top of it and then the whole mass was rolled up tightly within a number of animal hides. The felt cylinde compacted by being dragged for miles behind two horses. The doorway of the ger always faced south, principally for symbolic reasons. Trad- itionally, anyone who stood on the door could be decapitated. Inside the ger, the west was the men’s side and the east was the women’s side where the cooking was done. The north side was the elders’ side. The ger thus provided a very efficient living space, but it also reflected the religious beliefs of the Mongols in its symbolic role as a microcosm of heaven and earth, For example, the hearth was sacred, and John of Piano Carpini noted that at the was Interior of a ger, showing the stove underneath the smoke- hole. Note the wooden slats of ‘the roof. (David Lambert)20 ‘The battle on the island of Iki from a painting in the Mongol Invasion Museum, Hakata, Japan. (Japan Archive) hearth ‘they offered their idols the first milk of every mare’. The central hole in the roof allowed light to penetrate into the shadows as a manifestation of divine power and provided the means for spirits to visit humanity. It also acted more mundanely as a clock, because the passage of the shadows cast by the sun into the gerthrough the smoke hole allowed for an estimation of the passage of time Mongol food and drink Prior to establishing their empire and the consequent exposure to oth ary traditions, the Mongols lived off the foods produced by their animals, chiefly dairy products, to create a diet supplemented by whatever else they could take or gather from their immediate environment as the need arose. Marco Polo produced one of the earliest accounts of Mongol food: “They live off meat, milk and game and on Pharaoh’s rats, (marmots or jerboah), which are plentiful everywhere in the steppes. They have no objection to eating the flesh of horses and dogs and drinking mare’s milk. In fact they eat flesh of any sort’ William of Rubruck added that the Mongols would eat any animal out of their herds that happened to die, drying its flesh by hanging it in the sun and wind. They also made great use of dairy products: ‘From cow's milk they first extract the butter and this they boil until it is completely boiled down; then they store it in sheep's paunches which they keep for this purpose; they do not put salt into the butter; however, it does not go bad owing to the long boiling. They keep it against the winter. The rest of the milk that is left after the butter has been extracted they allow to turn until it isa sour as it can be, and they boil it, and in boiling it curdles; they dry the curd in the sun and it becomes as hard as iron slag, and this they keep in bags against the winter He also confirmed the eating of marmots and the provision of other meat by hunting. John of ‘Milking a mare. Marco Polo provided one of the earliest suggestions of how the Mongol warriors may have fed themselves on campaign when he wrote, “if need be they will go or stay for a whole month without provisions, drinking only the milk of a mare and eating wild game of their own taking’. (David Sneath)Piano Carpini has similar descriptions, but cannot prevent his pe distaste to show through: ‘Their food consists of everything that can be eaten, for they eat dogs, wolves, foxes and horses and when driven by necessity they feed on human flesh.... Nay, I have even seen them eating lice’. For example, they gave bones to their dogs only when all the » had already been removed for human consumption. Fish are not mentioned by Marco Polo, but the Mongols did catch fish, and fish may have been an important food in some areas. Although theory disdaining vegetable produets, these were almost certainly as important a part of Mongol diet in the 13th century as they have been in the recent past. Plant foods gathered by recent Mongols include wild seeds, grains, fruits, berries, vegetables, roots, tubers and fungi. Cultivated grains ¢ uncommon, but some entered Mongolia as booty or trade food. Food was consumed fresh or afier some process such as fermenting, drying or cooking, Wherever possible meat was roasted on the spit, but it was rarely available in sufficient quantities to make this means of cooking universally practicable, so boiling was far more common. A broth was made by boiling bones, most often with a small amount of meat still attached. Sometimes a whole leg of lamb was used. To thicken the stew seeds, grains, tubers and gathered green vegetables were added. The resultant dish was a thick stew called shulen. In the Secret History this is the honorific word for food in general. As their conquests spread, the Mongols were exposed to a greater range of foods, and grains came into new prominence. The basic Mongol shulen therefore became a Mongol village in winter. transformed with the addition of new ingredients and spices. (David Lambert) ng‘A Mongo! horse and cart outside a Buddhist monastery in Karakorum, ‘The Mongol warriors were supported by a logistical system ‘that embraced the whole of ‘Mongo! society. (David Lambert) John of Piano Carpini is less sensational when writing about Mongol drinks: “They drink mare’s milk in very great quantities if they have it; they also drink the milk of ewes, cows, goats and even camels. They do not have wine, ale or mead unless it is sent or given to them by other nations’. Mare’s milk is a highly nutritious product. Tea does not seem to have been drunk at the time of the Mongol conquests, but they certainly had alcoholic beverages even if they could not be distinguished by the name of ‘wine’. The first was fermented mare’s milk, generally known by the name hownis, derived from the Turkish word. It was drunk in large quantities during the summer months. There were also drinks produced by simple distillation methods. Koumis must have been a potent brew judging by the large numbers of high ranking Mongols who died from the effects of drinking it! The Mongol wagons Although the popular view of the Mongol warrior is of one who always travelled light, Mongol horsemen were backed up by a large and sophisticated system of logistical support, even though the pace of the ‘baggage uain’ was far slower than the highly mobile scouts. The Mongol warrior was followed by extraordinary ‘mobile homes’ and baggage carts of enormous size. As their use seems to have died out with the passing of the Mongol Empire, we are dependent upon western observations of them from the 13th and 14th centuries, all of which agree on the general appearance of the ca‘The first type were very large yurts, similar in shape to the gers described above, carried on four-wheeled wagons. William of Rubruck described them being pulled by 22 oxen at the front on one yoke, and 1] behind on another. The axle of the wagon ‘was the size of a ship's mast’. Marco Polo’s description is similar. He also mentions the other type of large wagons that were baggage carts covered in black felt, ‘so that even if it rains nothing gets wet’. Under the covers were the women and children, provisions and baggage. William of Rubruck observed convoys of such wagons, tied together and pulled by oxen ‘led by one solitary woman’, When camped, they were arranged for protection with the doors orientated towards the south, because it was often the case that the menfolk were a long way off on campaign. The passage over the steppes of these enormous wagon trains must have created a wide area of trampled grass and deep ruts, but such environmental damage would have been compensated for by the case of support provided to an army by their presence. The Mongol camel ‘The other main means of transporting supplies and equipment was by using camels. The Mongol camel has been little studied in comparison to the Mongol horse, but they showed the same resilience and great usefulness. The beasts were Bactrian camels with two humps, whose presence in the Gobi desert made that inhospitable land suitable for human habitation. A camel would provide its owners with wool, milk, ‘meat, leather and fuel, as well as being a beast of burden. Its meat kept well when dried to preserve it, The wool was particularly prized and dried camel dung was an invaluable source of fuel in a land where wood was scarce. ‘The other main means of transporting supplies and equipment was by using camels. ‘The Mongol camel has been little studied in comparison to the ‘Mongol horse, but they showed the same resilionce and great Usefulness. The beasts were Bactrian camels, having two humps, whose presence in the Gobi desert made that inhospitable land suitable for ‘human habitation. (David Lambert)‘The Buddhist monastery that now occupies the site of the palace of the Mongol Khans at Karakorum. (David Lambert) As a means of transport the camel could carry a heavier load for a longer period of time than a horse. During the Mongol conquests camels carried equipment and also pulled smaller versions of the wagons described above. It was also easier to feed. The Bactrian camels of the Gobi desert will eat the plants that other animals refuse, and can manage for between ten and 20 days without taking water. This is due to the fat stored in the humps, which the camel metabolises into energy: It has been estimated that a Mongol camel could carry 300Ib of equipment for 100 miles with no ‘refuelling’ There is an interesting Mongol legend concerning the camel's supposed sensitivity to its master. When Genghis Khan died, the site of his burial was obliterated so that no enemy might later deface it, Buta young camel was buried with him, and 30 years later the mother of the baby camel arrived at the tomb site and started weeping. The Mongols were therefore able to rediscover the tomb of their great leader. Belief and belonging ‘The sense of belonging to the Mongol Empire was in no way predicated upon an agreed set of orthodox religious beliefs. By contrast, nomad society in the steppes was accustomed to the presence and practice of many different religions. Muslim merchants passed through Mongolia, Buddhism was well known, and several of the Mongol tribes professed Nestorian Christianity. It is therefore not surprising that the overall attitude towards religion expressed by Genghis Khan and his successors was one of inclusive religious toleration. As no one religion could be identified as superior, it was best to let every subject of the Mongols pray for the Khan in his own way. Karakorum contained many different places of worship, even a Nestorian church. As the Mongol Empire spread, however, the Mongols who settled in the new territories tended 1 adopt the religion of their conquered subjects, so Islam was embraced in Persia, for example.Yet there was one religion that may be regarded as indigenous to the Mongols of the conquest period — shamanism, an animist belief with strong elements of ancestor worship. Shamanism was exclusively concerned with the everyday needs of the present life, so it tended not to come into conflict with other religious beliefs. In some ways it was not unlike Japan's Shinto, because it included beliefs in a supernatural hierarchy that included a fertility deity and ruled heaven through a lower order of spirits, Central to shamanism, however, was the crucial role played by the visionary known as the shaman, who passed into a trance and communicated between the spirits and mankind. His other functions were exorcisms, blessings and divination, the latter being carried out by interpreting the pattern of cracks in the shoulder blade ofa sheep after it had been burned. ‘The shaman was a very influential member of Mongol society. Even Genghis Khan came into conflict with a shaman on at least on occasion in his career, and the great Khan's performance of an important shamanistic ritual is well recorded. This was for the devotee to climb up to a high place and kneel nine times with his head uncovered and his belt around his neck. The hunt Marco Polo’s list of Mongolian game animals, which is by no_ means exhaustive, includes wild boar, gazelles and various species of deer: Siberian tigers, bears, wild cattle, wild asses, wolves, foxes, hares, cranes and swans were also hunted. To a Mongol, hunting meant much more than simply acquiring meat for the pot. To a very large extent, Mongol warriors learned the skills of mounted warfare through their passion for hunting. William of Rubruck noted: ‘When they want to hunt wild animals they gather together in a great crowd and surround the district in which they know the animals to be, and gradually they close in until between them they shut in the animals in a circle and then they shoot them with their arrows’. The Mongol ‘call-up’ for the annual winter hunt was every bit as stringent as a call to arms for war. In fact, in many particulars these hunts resembled a military campaign. During one entire month the steppes and mountains were beaten and game was driven into a vast retreat selected beforehand. Once ‘A Mongol fighting a samurai. The Mongol helmet and the close-fitting cowl round the face, which appear in several illustrations, are shown on the ‘Mongol figure. (Japan Archive)all the animals were gathered in, the beaters closed the area by a cordon broken by neither rivers, ravines nor marshes. Sentinels were posted, signal fires were lit and every precaution was taken to prevent the trapped animals from escaping. At the same time it was forbidden on pain of death to use weapons against them, Finally, the Khan opened the hunt, the princes and nobles followed, and after they had killed their choice of game the chase was thrown open to the surrounding troops, ‘The military benefits from such an exercise are obvious, and it is interesting to note that the Khan and his senior officers would afterwards analyse the progress of a hunt as they would a military operation. MONGOL CAMPAIGN LIFE A nation on campaign Because of their nomadic existence, Mongol campaign life was an extension of ordinary daily life converted on to a war footing, and everyone was involved. As Smith (1984) puts it so well: “The Mongol armies were the Mongol people in arms: all adult males were soldiers, and all women, children of age to do herding, and animals served as the logistical ‘tail’ of an army. ‘This ‘citizen's army’ model of the Mongols requires us to look at the Mongol horde in a different light, because the mass of people travelling on campaign included far more than just fighting men. A tumen was not merely confined to 10,000 men but perhaps 40,000 people with 600,000 animals. Logistics were therefore a key part of Mongol warfare Food for man and beast was always a major consideration, particularly ‘The Mongol warrior was followed by baggage carts of enormous size. As their use seems to have died out with the passing of the ‘Mongol Empire we are dependent upon western observations of them from the 13th and 14th centuries, all of which agree on. the general appearance of the carts. The first type were very large yurts, similar in shape to the gers described above, carried fon four-wheeled wagons. William of Rubruck described them being pulled by 22 oxen at the front on fone yoke, and 11 behind on another. The axle of the wagon ‘was the size of a ship's mast’. (Gapan Archive)