Mongol Warrior Thirteenth Century
Posted by critcalmass on August 20, 2007
Nomadic life in the vast steppes of Asia made excellent warriors of the Mongols: conditions of life were difficult, and enemies and armed robbers abounded, threatening their cattle and families. The Mongols were natural riders, good shots from horseback and on foot, resilient, had small needs, and were skilled in warfare and combat. They had a quality then unknown in the west: team spirit.
During the lean winter months, hunts were organized to feed the family and the tribe. These horseback forays, in which bows were used, foreshadowed in many ways their future military campaigns. The leader of the hunt had to be obeyed, and complete cooperation was expected of all participants. The trail was followed in absolute silence, the hunters communicating by visual signals, and this could go on for days. Once the quarry was tracked down, the hunters surrounded it, and shot it with arrows or captured it with lassoes. If a hunter allowed an animal to escape from the circle, he was severely punished.
Building on the basis of these small hunting bands, Temujin organized one ‘large hunting band’ - the army. It consisted of over 100,000 men, and ensnared many opposing forces in its trap during the Mongol conquests of 1211-80. Discipline was strict, as evidenced by preserved fragments of Gengis Khan’s law, the Jasa. Special attention was devoted to matters of heredity, obedience and treason, but even without these strictures, obedience and respect for superiors seems to have been an inbred trait of the Asian nomadic tribes.
All men between the ages of 15 and 60 had to go to war. Nobody was paid, but everyone had an equal share of the spoils of war; part being reserved for the great khan. Every warrior carried his own tools, food bowl, supplies, and waterproof bag for crossing rivers; each man had three to five horses, which could be used as food if the need arose. The horses were about 14 hands tall, and were related to the wild horse discovered in the last century by Colonel Przevalsky in the steppes of what is now Mongolia. The Mongols usually rode mares, because of the milk, and because these were followed at a distance by foals and stallions, who helped to keep the herd of reserve horses together.
The best warriors were taken into the khan’s guard (keshik), which numbered 2,000 men until 1206, and 10,000 thereafter. It was divided into the day watch (turgbaut), 1,000 strong, the night watch (kabtaui), also of 1,000 men, the sharpshooters (korchin) (1,000) and the khan’s personal guards (baatut), numbering 7,000. The guard remained under arms even in peacetime, and assured the khan’s rule. Even though it was mostly made up of the aristocracy, others could reach high positions in the army according to their merit and regardless of origin.
