I have always been struck by distinctive features of Genghis Khan strategy. Religious tolerance or indifference towards his subjugated peoples. The spurning of occupation and all the accompanying problems of such. Simply riding forth to annihilate, obliterate, any defection or insurrection. Afghanistan became a waste-land because of it's constant use as a by-pass for the Mongol hordes' forays. I believe that scattered along the routes are still to be found small buildings built of human bones, as, of course, the Mongols destroyed everything in their paths.The development of a Medical Corp! The cavalry of man and horse becoming one creature ( I have known one other group described thus - confederate militias of the American civil war).
However, in appraising the warrior, this fact really creased me. We know of the benefits of aiming to disable the enemy, rather than going for a straight kill. Torrents of arrows in battle must have been devastating to deal with.
At his siege of Bejing, we are told that ,knowingly charging at such a storm, at the forefront, pushing his artillary equipment, were his enemy prisoners. Standard practice perhaps, but what stuck in my mind was the fact that, next to their skin, he ordered that all his warriors should wear a silk shirt; when they were pierced by arrows the silk was not pierced but followed the arrow-head into the wound, making it much easier to remove the arrow! Was this thinking outside the box - or had it been previous military practice.