The Lethal Weapons Used by Mongols to Dominate Europe and Asia
Their weapons and tactics made it possible to sweep through Asia and Europe easily
The Mongols were undoubtedly the fiercest warriors in the 13th and 14th centuries who stretched their empire as far as China, parts of Russia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.
They couldn’t have conquered such vast swathes of the area without their fast light cavalry, tribal loyalty, stupendous bowmen, flexibility in their war tactics, and most of all, they could easily adapt enemy war techniques to subdue them. Over their war campaigns, they adapted to the challenges posed by tough terrains, learned the art of siege and naval warfare, engaged in diplomacy, espionage but also used the horrible mass massacres as a terror element to psychologically overwhelm enemies.
Adopting new war techniques and their inherent talent for horsemanship and tactics made them fearsome that helped them defeat powerful military might in Persia, China, and Eastern Europe.
Influential leaders of the war that ensured success
Mongol leaders play an important role in ensuring success in wars. The founder of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan, reorganized Mongols into an established army by breaking down the immediate tribal loyalty for the larger cause of the Mongols.
He patterned his army by dividing it into 98 units called ‘minghan’ (Thousands) having a thousand men in one unit. Along with these, the Mongols made allies and recruited soldiers from the conquered nations, and trained them to fight for the Empire. To keep the army loyal, the leaders treated their soldiers well, respected them, called them friendly names, promoted them to higher ranks on merits and services, and gave them titles for their valor and bravery.
They also shared booties of war with the soldiers so that they may remain loyal to the cause. But they also kept their army disciplined and punished those who deviated from rules or broke any discipline. The punishments ranged from demotion to death for serious offenses or breaches.
Planning and logistics
Being the largest disciplined army, they had also given serious thought to planning.
They planned their invasions and supported them with logistics. Their invasions were not as disorganized horde overrunning a country or a nation. But they planned and orchestrated activities that often took months of preparations.
They used highly speedy and novel ways of communication systems and messenger services. They used smoke signals to call for support or regrouping of different units to discuss serious matters. They were also flexible in recruiting other nationalities in their armies to strengthen their position. In the later parts of the empire; Uyghur Turks, Kaitans, Kurds, Koreans, and Chinese made larger chunks of their armies.
Another thing that made them successful in a short time was using the new techniques and war strategies of the nations they conquered and recruited in their ranks. That’s why they successfully conquered an area they invaded.
Training and using of lethal weapons
As a Mongolian tradition, they prepared both young boys and girls for war since their childhood.
As young children, they would take part in athletics, wrestling, sword fighting, archery, hunting, and horse racing. The Mongol warriors were capable of using lances, battle-axes, daggers, spears, swords, long knives, and other lethal weapons efficiently.
However, they could use a variety of deadly weapons. The composite bow was famous among Mongol warriors and was their first choice. They liked it because it could shoot more accurately, with high force and strength, and could easily penetrate even the shields.
The composite bows were made from the horn or bamboo tied with multiple layers of flexible wood, thus making them strong and durable. This flexibility of the composite bow coupled with a wooden horse seat with a high front and back offered stability in riding. This enabled the archers to shoot arrows in almost every direction. They could shoot as much accurately behind them as they could do in front of them.
Arrows were also of different kinds and used on various occasions. But they made most of their arrowheads from bones and rarely used metal and used birds’ feathers in fletchings. Some arrows were designed for closed-range attacks while others were made to carry poison. A very distinct kind of arrow was designed that whistled in the air and used for signals to other units.
An average Mongol warrior carried 30 light arrows and 30 heavier in a quiver. They also had other tools such as a coil of rope, bones for making arrowheads, a sewing kit, an ax, a horsehair lasso, a leather bag for food and a cooking pot, leather pouches for carrying liquids. Every ten soldiers would spend their nights in a classic yurt tent.
The Mongols loved horseback riding
Mongols loved horse riding. It was everything for them. Horses were a basic component of their lives.
They traveled on horses, traded in it, used it as a food source, and most of all, they conquered nations over horseback. They took greater care of their horses and prided to have the fastest horses.
They loved speed and could travel up to 120 kilometers a day. A single warrior would keep up to 16 spare horses to use them on different occasions or to use them alternatively.
They used light armor
Armor was part of the ancient battles, but not everyone could afford it. The Mongols loved to wear armors on their chests. But they didn’t like the traditional fashion of heavy metal armor.
Because heavy armor would impede their speed and would tire them for nothing. They wore light armors made of heavy coats that were sometimes strengthened by plates of metals, bones, or hardened leather to protect the vulnerable areas.
They rarely used chain mail but loved using a silk undershirt in the fashion of the Chinese. The silk undershirt was used to protect their arrow shot wounds as it would wrap up the arrowhead.
They sometimes used plate armor for their horses. They would cover the heads of their horses with hardened leathers or metal plates to protect them from arrows. They also loved to wear iron helmets and sometimes used neck guards or Mongol fur hat.
Lethal war tactics
The Mongols used a variety of war tactics that would easily subdue the enemy. They knew the psychology of warfare.
They knew that mental work is more important than physical force to defeat an enemy. So, they employed both physical brute force and psychological weakening tactics.
An Efficient Espionage Network
One of the important war strategies the Mongols used was their extensive and efficient spies network. They would spread spies in the enemy’s region in the forms of priests, defectors, and merchants to gather information about the enemy’s preparedness for war.
They often found spies in the ranks of the enemies who were disloyal to their country. The first thing they try to know was the weaknesses of their enemies.
Next, they would try to prepare for the strengths of the enemy and how to convert their strengths into weaknesses. They could easily do this through dissenters among enemies who would efficiently help Mongols to conquer them. Through spies network, they also kept themselves safe from sudden enemy attacks and avoid falling prey to an ambush plan.
Strength maneuvers
They knew their speed and coordination of war well and utilized it almost on every battlefield.
First, they would send a small unit of the army to meet the enemy and play foul with them. This small number would identify the weaker sides of the enemies’ lines and would engage them unnecessarily.
Their 1000 man units (a minghan) were divided into 100 man units (a jagun) and then again into 10 man units (an arban). They rarely used larger armies of 10,000 cavalrymen in campaigns except in Europe once where they needed to defeat a much larger army.
Most of the time, the enemies outnumbered the Mongols. But this was a trick. They played this trick because they were speedy and could maneuver their strength easily. However, this was a flawed strategy in terms of replacing the casualties as they sometimes faced.
But their small number would attack an enemy, would feign a retreat to give an upper hand to the enemy. The enemy would then follow them and would thus be trapped by the larger waiting Mongol army.
Another favored war tactic they used was charging with heavy cavalry units that would engulf the enemy from all sides. This was basically a strategy they used in hunting.
Once they would surround the enemy from all sides with their fastest cavalry, they would march ahead with speed and would crush the army. The standing army would still be waiting in the circle and would hunt and kill the escaping enemy soldiers.
They also employed ambush tactics when they would allow the enemy to get relaxed after forcing the small cavalries of Mongols into retreat. They would take the enemy off-guard and would slaughter them with speed unknown.
They also used smoke from the burning grass or dust to make a sort of cloudy cover to hide their strength. The enemy would then be unaware of the strength and movements of the Mongols. The most common deceiving techniques they used were filling larger dummies and setting them on horses' backs to let the enemy think they are facing a larger army.
Spreading terror
The most effective strategy they employed was implanting terror in the enemy's minds. To that end, Mongols would slaughter the entire population once they captured a city.
They would even burn the crops, kill the cats, dogs, children, women, old and young, and even priests. The Mongol commanders would allow a handful of people to escape to other regions to tell their stories of atrocities to spread terror.
The Mongols would mutilate the dead bodies and take their noses, lips, and ears with them as trophies and would pride counting the ears of the fallen they had cut. This would help them capture the neighboring regions without war, as the leaders of the region surrendered to avoid being slaughtered.
Another loathsome strategy they used was that they would dress the prisoners in Mongol army uniforms, set them on the frontline while in attack on a fortified fort. The city people would unleash their first attack on these people, thinking of them as Mongols.
This would drain their arrow's stock. They would also grieve the killing of their compatriots once they would know. And that would crush their courage for war. This would allow ample time for the Mongols to reach near the city walls and would mount it easily.
According to a well-known military historian, S. R. Turnbull remarked about Mongols that:
“Mongol field warfare was therefore an almost perfect combination of firepower, shock tactics, and mobility. The moves themselves, built on a sound framework of experience, training, and discipline, were performed like clockwork… They believed themselves to be invincible, and most of the vanquished believed it too, regarding them as a visitation from heaven and a punishment for sin.”
Employing siege and Naval warfare
As mentioned earlier, the Mongols were quick to adopt new techniques and integrate them into their warfare.
When they faced the Song China, Eastern European empires, Persians, and other Muslim empires in the Middle East, they employed siege warfare extensively. At first, they would block the food supply, naval blockades, but it didn’t work properly. Then with the advice of the locals, they used gunpowder and catapults to breach the fortified cities that tested the Mongols patience. They used mobile and ship-drawn catapults as well as rockets, triple-firing crossbows, and cannons to break the strong fortifications of the cities.
But it was not all that easy. They waited for years to demolish the fortifications of the Song dynasty in China with bombardments through cannons, catapults, and battering rams.
Once they realized that only land battles can’t help them subdue the Chinese, so they took to naval battles and commanded 5000 ships and 70,000 sailors. These ships were manned by Koreans, Japanese, and Asians and were largely cargo ships. They could hardly be proved instrumental or used as warships.
But they saw a steep decline
Despite their speed and strength, they couldn’t last long. They stretched their empire from the Korean peninsula to the Black Sea but they failed to sustain it.
Partly because they failed to capture some cities that proved to be a hard nut to crack and partly because after the death of Genghis Khan, they developed internal leadership rifts. They also failed to provide logistic support to huge armies over such a vast expense of land. They failed to conquer India as the then Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji defeated them and crushed their aspirations of conquering India.
They also succumbed to the guerrilla warfare tactics, war elephants, used by South Asians. The new power of the Ming Dynasty that rose in East Asia also overpowered them and defeated them. In various geographies, they couldn’t adapt to the climate and perished by diseases, heavy rains, and lost into the tropical jungles.
However, these external factors were not that much responsible for their decline. They were rather defeated by themselves as they developed a sedentary lifestyle and left their nomadic life. They also had dynastic disputes that divided the Mongols within themselves that weakened their loyalty for the greater Mongol cause.
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