The Most Successful Commanders You’ve Likely Never Heard Of
And why a “swarm of bees” is a more apt description of Genghis Khan’s astonishingly brutal “dogs of war”
The Mongols came out of historical obscurity like a bolt of lightning on the vast Eurasian steppe — from which they continuously punched the world in the face after Genghis Khan was [in]famously elected to power on the banks of the Onion river in 1206.
Most have probably heard of Genghis — there’s even a not-so-small chance you’re related to him—but fewer know of his generals, some of whom would comfortably join him amongst the top ten military strategists who ever lived.
I’m a history enthusiast and through Dan Carlin’s excellent episode on “Wrath of the Khans” I dug deeper. What you read here is a combination of the most valuable insights from the episode and my research.
You’ll understand how Genghis and his “Dogs of War” brutally carved out his massive empire, how Mongol military tactics, light years ahead of their time, gave birth to the modern warfare seen centuries later, and how the word “great” hides a dark shadow of the sheer brutality of history.
How the Four Dogs of War Were Groomed Around Genghis Khan
The arrow whizzed through the air and to a loud roar found its resting place in Genghis’ muscular neck. Zurgadai wasn’t a fool enough to celebrate, swinging his horse around and letting loose a flurry of arrows as the animal found flight, landing on a single hoof. The Khan’s men were closing in…
“Who was it?” whispered Genghis Khan, walking down the line of kneeling, terrified men. “Which of you unleashed the arrow that fell my horse?”
“It was I,” proclaimed Zurgadai, loudly, “but it was not in your horse’s neck I saw it strike — but yours. The Khan has every right to kill me”.
Zurgadai was given a new name, Jebe, meaning “arrow”. He went on to become known as “the greatest cavalry general in history” and one of Genghis Khan’s most loyal commanders.
Subutai was the more ‘big-picture’ strategic thinker.
Junior to Jebe, and serving as a doorman for Genghis from his early teens, Subutai took his first command at 22 and went on to conquer and overrun more territory than any other commander in history.
Subutai took his first command at 22 and went on to conquer and overrun more territory than any other commander in history.
Individually Jebe and Sabutai were formidable, together — they were unstoppable. Together with Kublai and Jelme, they made up Genghis Khan’s “dogs of war”, helping him amass the largest contiguous land empire in all of recorded history.
“…in the day of battle, they devour enemy flesh. Behold, they are now unleashed, and they slobber at the mouth with glee. These four dogs are Jebe, and Kublai (different than Kublai Khan), Jelme, and Subotai.”
— The Secret History of the Mongols, the oldest Mongolian literary work, written at around 1230
A Swarm of Bees
The reason for the Mongols’ success? Tactics.
The Mongols attacked like a swarm of bees — from all directions, but with one objective. Genghis Khan’s advice to a younger Subotai well describes their approach:
“Though your army will divide beyond the great rivers, all must continue in pursuit of one goal. Though mountain ranges separate your men from each, other think of nothing else but this task.”
The Mongols were known to split up their armies and simultaneously attack enemies, fighting with coordinated units spread out hundreds of kilometres apart.
Match this with the speed and mobility these armies could achieve — being entirely on horseback — and their devastating long-range firepower in the form of mounted horse archers, and you start to see what all the fuss is about.
Compare the Mongol tactics below to those used in the Battle of Grunwald 200 years later, the Mongols swarmed their enemies from all sides as opposed to the more standard forms of combat typical of more sedentary civilizations throughout history.
Despite often fighting outnumbered, the Mongol swarm mostly emerged victorious thanks to their highly advanced and instantly recognizable tactics, which are still used by modern military professionals — these days they’ve swapped out horses and arrows for fighter jets and tanks.
Revisiting the Meaning of “Great”
The “Great Man Theory” was a 19th-century approach to studying history —which asserts that major movements in history can be largely explained by “great men,” or exceptional individuals who have a unique historical effect.
“Hitler, Churchill, Mussolini, Stalin, Roosevelt — towering figures that the world would never see the likes of again, men who relied on their own resolve, for better or worse, every one of them prepared to act alone, indifferent to approval — indifferent to wealth or love, all presiding over the destiny of mankind and reducing the world to rubble. Coming from a long line of Alexanders and Julius Caesars, Genghis Khans, Charlemagnes and Napoleons, they carved up the world like a really dainty dinner. ” — Bob Dylan,“Chronicles, Volume One”
This outlook on history went somewhat out of fashion but has lately been given more limelight. I’ve seen the more gender-neutral term “Big Beast” history — think Margaret Thatcher, Joan of Arc.
Events do indeed shape history, and oftentimes these events are shaped by individuals.
Here, “Great” is perhaps not always the right word. These figures certainly cannot be ignored — they refuse to be — but are they admirable? The word “great” somewhat implies so, and to achieve this status, the likes of Genghis Khan and his dogs may be held responsible for the violent deaths of as many as 40 million people — an estimated 11% of the entire world’s population at the time. Even so, as he is left further behind in the annals of history, popular culture and movies such as Mongol portray him somewhat heroically.
As Solzhenitsyn writes,
“the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
The heroes are often the villains — when seen from another angle — and the more power they have, the larger the magnitude of their impact on either or both sides of Solzhenitsyn’s line.
But this magnitude is what interests people, and is too often chased before direction or ‘side of the line’. Magnitude alone seems to be the divider between being remembered and fading into historical obscurity, for better or worse.
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References & Further Resources
- CLEAVES, F. W. (1982). The secret history of the Mongols. Cambridge, Mass, Published for the Harvard-Yenching Institute by Harvard University Press.
- Beckett, J. (2016). The Poor Man Who Almost Killed Genghis Khan With An Arrow To The Neck: He Became The Khan’s Best General. [online] WAR HISTORY ONLINE. Available at: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/jebe-poor-man-almost-killed-genghis-khan-arrow-neck-became-best-general-khan-ever.html?chrome=1.
- Hdogar (2021). Subutai — Genghis Khan’s ‘Dog of War’. [online] Lessons from History. Available at: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/subutai-genghis-khans-dog-of-war-b2ae0bffad21.
- Which of Genghis Khan’s generals was the most effective, Subutai, Jebe, or Muqali? (n.d.). Quora. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.quora.com/Which-of-Genghis-Khans-generals-was-the-most-effective-Subutai-Jebe-or-Muqali
- Preskar, P. (2020). Subotai — Genghis Khan’s Mastermind General. [online] Medium. Available at: https://historyofyesterday.com/subotai-331483059709.
- Wikipedia. (2022). Subutai. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai [Accessed 5 Apr. 2022].
- Vershinin, A. and RIR (2014). Lessons in warfare learnt from the Golden Horde. [online] Russia Beyond. Available at: https://www.rbth.com/arts/2014/05/21/lessons_in_warfare_learnt_from_the_golden_horde_35375 [Accessed 5 Apr. 2022].
- Wikipedia Contributors (2022). Ögedei Khan. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96gedei_Khan#Expansion_in_the_Middle_East [Accessed 5 Apr. 2022].
