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Originally Posted by Damien435 What do you think made the Mongols under Genghis Kahn so successful? Keep in mind they are the only people to have ever conquered the Russians and were on the verge of invading Europe when Genghis Kahn died and the Army was called back. |
Lemme give you a copy of what really happened when they were invading Europe (from my post in another topic).
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The fact of the matter is that there WAS NO TRADITION compelling the Mongols to head back, it was something MUCH BIGGER. The fact of the matter was this: The current Great Khan, Ogedai, was chosen by Ghengis Khan to be his successor. Nobody even tried to debate Ogedai's position because of the tremendous respect the Mongols had for Ghengis Khan. At the death of Ogedai Khan, no certain tradition existed for succession, so much was made up as they went.
The leader of the Mongol armies attacking Europe was Batu, with Subedai (the most brilliant general the Mongols ever had) accompanying and Gayuk along as "co-commander". Batu and Gayuk were cousins and both grandsons of Ghengis Khan. Gayuk was the son of Ogedai Khan as well. They also didn't much care for each other. Gayuk and Batu clashed on several occasions and ultimately, Batu sent a very pissed off Gayuk packing back to Mongolia.
In Europe, Batu's forces annihilate the best that Europe can muster at the Battle of Liegnitz. True, they lost a couple battles, but consider the fact that very shortly following Grobnok, the cities of Lahore and Pest were razed by Batu's forces. One of the big things that drew the Mongols into Eastern Europe was the Cumens. The Cumens had appeal to King Bela of Hungary for protection, pledging to convert to Christianity in return. The Cumens were from the same region as the Mongols and there was some significant bad blood between the two groups. Batu warns King Bela to cease his protection of the Cumens or suffer the wrath of the Mongol armies. King Bela refuses and Batu attacks. He relentlessly pursues the Hungarian monarch until he is dead, tearing further into Eastern Europe in the process. Having punished Bela, and having already achieved what the Mongol armies set out to do (the conquest of Russia), Batu elects to continue with his invasion of Europe.
That pursuit continues until he receives word that Ogedai Khan had died. At the moment of Ogedai's death, Batu was the most respected of Ghengis Khan's grandsons, and the most likely to succeed Ogedai as Great Khan. So, naturally he head home post haste. He backs his armies up to Russia and has them setup rulership there, and takes a portion of his army with him back to Mongolia.
What happened while Batu was hurrying back home was Töregene. She was one of the wives of Ogedai and mother of Guyak. She was also a master saboteur at court. Guyak was not a strong candidate for succession initially, but Töregene managed to make it happen anyway. So by the time Batu arrives back in Mongolia, his greatest worry had come true. Guyak was all but guaranteed to succeed is father as Great Khan. The council of the grandsons of Ghengis Khan was only a formality at that point, and Guyak is made Great Khan of the Mongol Empire.
What followed was an escalating feud between Batu and Guyak that very nearly resulted in a very messy civil war, but the tragedy was avoided by the unexpected death of Guyak from some illness or another. Then you have a relatively long period of ironing out that mess, and naturally Batu is central to that process. By the time Batu returns to Russia, many years have passed (and Subedai is dead of course). Rather than resuming the conquest of Europe, he sets up his own rulership what became Khanate of the Golden Hoarde. The steppes of Russia were a lot like home and the Mongols were quite happy there.
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Note that it was not Gengis Khan that died that stopped the invasion of Europe. It was ALSO not Ghengis Khan that was leading those forces. It was Batu, acting under the direction of Ogedai Khan. The expedition to conquer Russia was sent after the death of Ghengis Khan.
The things that made the Mongols successful:
1.) Their tactics were brilliant. The were masters of maneuvering their enemy into traps. In the open field, they always made sure that they fought the battle in exactly the way they wanted to. Subedai was the best of the best at these things.
Contrary to "codes of chivary and honor", the Mongols saw retreat as an excellent battlefield tactic. More than once, they would lauch a tiny contingent force directly into the center of the enemy force. For an example, lets say we have a Russian force of 80,000 and an overall Mongol force of 20,000. The Mongols would be likely launch a group 3,000 straight at the enemy force. They then turn and run, feinting defeat. To the Russians view, there is a tiny force that they can easily handle and its getting away. So the chase is on. The contingent of 3,000 leads them directly into the middle of a trap, and the Mongols will pounce on the Russian forces from 8 sides at once. Caught by surprise, completely surrounded and in complete disarray, the Russian force is defeated very quickly. Now to a Russian soldier's mind, there were at least 200,000 Mongol warriors and he believes they were overwhelmed by superior numbers. This sort of thing lead to the myth that the Mongols were some limitless hoarde, and naturally the Mongols weren't going to discourage such rumors. Those rumors have even lasted to this very day and age.
2.) Ruthlessness: As they were rampaging through modern day Pakistan and Iran, we see the best example of them following this pattern. The arrive at a city and demand their surrender. The city refuses. They lay siege and eventually take it. They then kill every man, woman, child and animal in the city; then level it to the ground and even destroy the foundations of the buildings. They leave and come back a day or two later to wipe out anyone who escaped or managed to hide and has returned.
They get to the next city, and the next city immediately surrenders. The next few will just give up till they reach yet another city that is determined to stand and fight. Then we start the whole cycle again.
3.) Mobility: Every other army in the middle ages was composed of a mixed bag of cavalry, infantry and supply wagons. The Mongols had no infantry and no wagons, and just happened to have one very badass breed of horse. The average contemporary army was able to move 10 miles per day average. The Mongols averaged 80 miles a day. No other army was capable of that kind of movement until modern times. Each Mongol had 3 to 4 horses at his disposal, and he was required to carry all his own supplies. On top of that, they were frontiersmen so to speak; they could make, hunt or gather what they need as they went.
4.) Their bows: Some have debated whether their bow was better or worse than certain other bows. All arguments lead to the same conclusion: theirs were far superior to virtually ever contemporary bow. You're looking at a bow that has a greater average draw than anything other in history, and on top of that, the Mongols were pretty damned accurate at firing it from the back of a galloping horse. (Try doing that with an English Longbow.)
5.) Other Weapons: So much press is spent on their bow, that its often missed that they were amazing with ever other weapon of war. Lances, swords, spears, axes, you name it. They also adapted enemy invention for their own use. Firelances and siege engines (from China) are a good examples.
6.) They Were Tough: There aren't many places on this earth that are more difficult to survive than the broad region of Siberia and Mongolia. Throw on top of that the fact that (prior to Ghengis Khan) there was constant, very brutal intertribal warfare.
Well, that's a start anyways ...
EDIT: Lemme add, during the ENTIRE reign of Ogedai Khan, the Mongols remained completely united under him. It was the fiasco with Guyak becoming Great Khan that really screwed everything up. Even after that fiasco, it would be more than a century before Mongol would fight Mongol, and a sense of unity still existed between the fragements of the giant empire.