The mongol horde, led by the great Genghis
Khan, started campaigns that would eventually lead to the largest empire in history, by
area. In the real timeline, Mongols kickstarted
their empire by breaching the great wall of china at multiple places and conquering Chinese
Xia and Jin dynasties. The city of Zhongdu, today known as Beijing,
eventually fell and the Chinese Jin dynasty with it. But what if someone did stop them? Imagine a modern day US marine infantry battalion,
suddenly taken back in time, appearing in front of the vast mongol army. Could they withstand the attack and perhaps
change history, preventing Genghis Khan from even reaching the great wall? Could the marines stop the 100 thousand strong
Mongol horde and defeat it? Genhis
Khan led his horde into the lands of chinese dynasties. Jin China was attacked in the year 1211. And its then capital, Zhongdu, today’s Beijing,
finally fell in 1215. By conquering these chinese dynasties, Khan
and his successors created an empire that eventually spanned continents. Reaching at one point to present day Poland’s
borders. The Size of the mongol army in the early 13th
century is subject to debate. By 12-25 the army was up to 180 thousand strong. But just a dozen years earlier, when our scenario
happens, it was smaller. The Attack on Jin china is credited with 90
to 120 thousand mongol troops. Some say mere thousands were left in mongolia. So binkov will go with around 100 thousand,
marching towards Jin China. But in our fantastical alternate history,
the mongol horde approaching China gets an unexpected visitor. Travelling through time and space, a US marine
battalion suddenly appears in southeast Mongolia, in the horde’s way. No third party will interfere. The marines appear 15 miles in front of the
horde, knowing where they are and where the horde is. For simplicity, we will disregard the psychological
impact of the fantastical time-travelling event on the marines and on the mongols. Perhaps there were other, smaller us units
going through time. Maybe mongols captured them. So, just as the US forces know their history
and know the basics about the mongols, the mongols know the basics about their opponent. But perhaps Genghis Khan still found the news
hard to believe, since he’s still obviously going for China. So what does a modern day marine infantry
battalion have? It has 3 file companies, a weapons company
and a Headquarters or HQ, and service company. A rifle company, 180 soldiers strong, has
its own HQ, three rifle platoons and a weapons platoon. Rifle platoons have basic weapons. The weapons platoon is more diverse. It has a machine gun section with six 7.62
millimeter guns. It has a mortar section with 3 60 millimeter
mortars and an assault section. The Batallion’s weapons company has an HQ,
a heavy machine gun platoon, a mortar platoon and an anti armor platoon. The heavy machine gun platoon usually has
3 fifty cal guns. The mortar platoon has larger, 81 millimeter
mortars with a total of 8 mortars. The Anti armor platoon uses javelin and tow
missiles, totaling some 16 missile launchers. The Battalion’s HQ also has communications,
service and logistics, scout and medical platoons. Some of those have 60 men each. The HQ and service unit is responsible for
feeding, supplying, providing data to and commanding all the units in the battalion. The battalion has nearly a 1000 soldiers. With nearly 30 percent being HQ support troops. Now, those soldiers are light infantry, fighting
on foot. Usually, when sent on a mission, and not just
whisked away through time and space from their position, they operate with further detachments. The weapons units and the HQ units usually
feature several humvees. And if the battalion is a part of a larger
expeditionary group, various armored vehicles, trucks and added humvees are present. But for simplicity sake, in this video we’re
interested to learn if pure infantry can withstand the mongol army. An infantry battalion is generally without
vehicles or long term supplies. When it is part of a larger system, a batallion
enjoys the support of additional units. There’s usually various armored vehicles,
trucks and added humvees present. As well as aircraft and artillery. All of which then make up a marine expeditionary
unit, a meu. Those have not been taken through time here. But enough about the marines. What do the Mongols have? As said, the scenario assumes 100 thousand
soldiers marching towards the marines. The Mongol army had a system of ten soldiers
per unit, ten units per larger unit and so on. All the way to the tumen, numbering 10 thousand
soldiers. Pretty much all mongol soldiers were horseback
riders. their secondary weapons were short scimitars,
axes and such. The primary weapon differed based on their
role. 40 percent of the mongol army were lancers. Soldiers trained to charge an enemy on their
horses, which even had some armor, using lances 12 feet long. 60 percent of the army were archers. They also rode horses, often shooting on horseback,
using skirmish tactics. They’d engage the enemy from afar and keep
their distance. When needed, they’d dismount before shooting. The Mongol bow was a pretty advanced weapon
for its time. It was a recurved composite bow, meaning that
it used the energy that the archer put into it more efficiently. Compared to a longbow, for example. Even though the draw weights were smaller
than when for the longbow, the range achieved was longer. All while keeping the size of the bow fairly
compact. Binkov has to stress that in the real world,
the mongol army might not even attack but choose to use their superior mobility on horses
and simply bypass the marines. But this video will ignore that, and leave
such broader scope options for a potential future video. The marines know the mongols are close. They have some tiny, short range drones at
the battalion level and they’re hastily preparing a defensive line. Several tumens of mongol riders might first
encircle the marines on the steppe, at a safe distance. The Mongols were known to use field armies
consisting of 3 or 4 tumens. Using flags and horns that they did use through
history, they could command pretty large formations effectively. When hunting for example, tumens were known
to hold a single line, tens of miles wide, and have its ends contract over the game,
as the whole formation moved forward. So a large army of four tumens, 40 thousand
riders and many more horses, encircles the marines and starts testing them. Perhaps rushing with very small archer units
from all directions. The Marines would make good use of their mortars. The 81 millimeter mortars have a decent range
of over 6000 yards. Each of those rounds achieves a 50% chance
of wounding a person standing 35 meters away from the detonation. Neutralization through severe injuries or
death would require targets being somewhat closer. The 60 millimeter mortars are less lethal
and they might not reach as far. Still, they’d contribute to the overall
terror among the mongols and the horses. A lot of the mongol riders and a good deal
of horses would have been exposed to gunpowder by that age, though. The Mongols have already been skirmishing
with the chinese dynasties and attacking the wall previously for some years. The chinese were using arrows with gunpowder
pouches, fire lances with gunpowder tips and even crude metal body grenades, which would
send out shrapnel upon detonation. Marines could and would, of course fire from
a 1000 yards away if needed, with snipers and large machine guns - but each time the
mongols might turn away and accept the casualties. Until the period where marines would be shooting
less and less with those guns, as they get low on ammo. And the mongols would in the following attacks
get a bit closer and closer. The Marines could fire even their regular
assault rifles from say, 700 yards away. But they’d be mostly just wasting ammo at
such distances. Probably taking half a dozen rounds or more
to hit something, and that something would likely be the horse. As our marines vs a roman legion video showed,
with 50% accuracy, each marine platoon could hit some 10 thousand targets before running
out of ammo. At 20% that’d of course drop to 4 thousand. If half would be horses, the marine platoon
would be down to a few thousand enemy troops. Nine rifle platoons altogether in a batallion,
and counting some of the weapons platoons equipment that the marines managed to carry
with them, it’s plausible the marines would simply lack munitions to neutralize more than
another 20 thousand or so mongol troops. At some point, when the Mongols would get
better acquainted with the situation, the attack would commence. The Mongols might drive part of the unridden
horses in front of their soldiers, as sort of a shield and view obstruction. Marines would have to keep together but not
TOO together, as greater density makes them more vulnerable to a shower of arrows. 900 marines would likely take up two circle
lines that are some 150 yards in diameter. That’d enable them all to fire at once,
maximizing fire power. Bunching the marines futher would both present
a better target for the arrows and obstruct the view for some marines. Shooting at 1000 yards with snipers or perhaps
saved up rounds for machine guns, would be possible, but not very precise. Beyond that, it’s likely only mortars would
be used. The mongolian riders would approach the mortar
range in a canter, conserving energy. That’s some 10 to 15 miles per hour. Several miles would have to be crossed under
fire. With possibly over 200 rounds hitting the
areas of the mongol force within a minute. Mongols might cross some 350 yards during
that time. More fire would continue but eventually the
marines would run out of mortar rounds, after neutralizing a few thousand horses and perhaps
half as many soldiers. At 5000 yards away from the marine line, the
mongols could keep several yards between each of them if using several horses in a column,
spaced apart. Those circles would start getting tighter
as mongols get closer. At some 3000 yards away, the canter would
slowly start developing into a gallop. Galloping horses can cross up to 2 miles before
exhausting, doing 30 miles per hour. That’s still almost four minutes to the
marine line. At 1500 yards away some marine sniper shots
might be attempted, and by then the gallop would be in full force. The mongol columns would have to become longer,
as there’d be no room to keep them all in just a few concentric line circles. 19 machine guns and anti tank missiles would
keep firing. Possibly cutting down a horse every second
or so. Another thousand or more horses might die
within a minute, with many riders. During the last minute, pretty much all of
the marines would be firing. 40 millimeter grenade launchers would still
be silent, as not in range. But fire at, say, 700 yards would be very
imprecise. Perhaps a dozen rounds might be needed to
neutralize a target. Automatic fire would be out of the question
for the average marine, if sufficient precision is to be held. At 400 yards precision would be better, but
combat stress would still cause a lot of misses. Meaning less enemies killed per second. And every second would be crucial. By those 400 yards away, the 800 plus marines
that’d be shooting might neutralize another 3000 or more horses. A short digression. Would marines have some anti personnel mines? Unlikely but possibly some, at a battalion
level. Though not hundreds of them, as mine laying
is usually left to specialized engineer units, not infantry battalions. And to place them in a circle 300 yards from
themselves before the battle, would likely mean there’d be a single line of mines in
i circle, with a dozen yards between each mine. Not really contributing to the overall firepower
in a massive way, as unridden horses might set off most of them, and probably cause the
rest of them to finally scatter off. Also, would so many dead horses present a
physical barrier for the mongols coming after them? To a certain, small extent - yes. The casualty figures are big the area is even
bigger. The Biggest casualty density would be between
700 and 200 yards away from the marines. The Average number of dead horses in the way
would be one per every 300 square yards. While it’s not likely many horses would
be stumbling one over the another, some of the riders might be slowed down occasionally. 13 seconds later, by 300 yards away, the marines
would often be able to aim for riders themselves, if needed. Several rounds would still be needed to achieve
a hit. Again well over a 1000 more mongols would
perish. But then, at those 300 or so yards away, volleys
of arrows would fly. Every few seconds a new arrow from a rider. Out of starting 40 thousand troops, some 30
thousand might reach that point, if accounting for a few thousand that’d flee. With 60 percent of them being archers, some
18 thousand arrows would fly in the air, towards the marines. With further such waves every several seconds. Totalling roughly 150 thousand arrows within
roughly a minute. Now, those are ballistic shots. Aimed at a general area. The horse would need to be slowed down, and
then arrows would be fired when all four legs would be in the air, for stability. Today, a steady aim could produce a hit within
a foot or two from the target at 300 yards. Of course, on a fast horse, under stress,
that’d be far less. a ten yard miss distance would not be unrealistic. Still, 150 thousand arrows means almost 7
arrows per square meter of the entire circle area. Probably more arrows per the actual marine
front lines area. A lot of marines would keep getting hit. Even if it just bounces off their helmet or
an arrow falls a foot from their face, it would cause a spike in panic. It’d basically be constant suppressive fire
on all the marines. And some of those arrows would make contact
with unprotected skin. Actually, a good part of each marine, especially
ones laying down, would be exposed. An arrow in a leg would cause at least several
seconds of pause in firing. An arrow in an arm might neutralize most marines. It’s actually likely that more marines than
not would experience a hit during the first 30 seconds of the arrow barrage. And a quarter or more with a hit into a limb
or other unprotected part of the body with at least one arrow. The firepower that the marines would put out
as they’re being peppered with arrows would thus RAPIDLY diminish. After the distance does get to 200 yards the
mongol archers would likely slow down considerably, with the lancers overtaking them at full gallop. Some marines that would be left shooting would
mostly be shooting at the terrifying mass of incoming mongolian lancers. Visibility would probably be quite poor, with
so much dust kicked in the air by so many horses in a small area. Perhaps a few thousand horses might still
be hit, with marines firing indiscriminately, until the lancers finally reach the marines
and plow through them. As often in history, a person on foot, especially
one not trained to deal against a cavalry charge, has little chance against a lancer. Within seconds the marines on the perimeter
of the circle would all perish. If they lay down arms, some of the inner circle
marines could be taken as prisoners, as Khan would likely order some to be left alive. Capturing people from the future COULD be
a worthy asset. But… Would such mongolian attack ACTUALLY succeed? Or would the casualties cause the horses or
even troops to break rank and flee? We’re talking about 8 to 9 thousand dead
or seriously wounded horses that had a rider. On top of a few thousand horses without a
rider. That’s roughly 20% of combat horses or perhaps
10 to 15% of all horses sent against the marines. Or 9% of the total mongol force. Those ARE high numbers, but they are spread
over several minutes. Throughout history there were examples where
attacks broke up after 10% of casualties. And examples where a quarter or more attackers
had to perish before being broken up. So it’s hard to really tell, as psychology
is not really exact. But if you believe 20 percent losses would
NOT break mongolian ranks - then the marines would lose that battle. Though, if needed, a second field army of
further 40 000 riders might be sent after some time. And with a lot of mortar rounds and 40 millimeter
grenades used up, the marines would not be able to inflict as many casualties in a given
timeframe. The Likelihood of them breaking up the second
attack would be very small. In that case, perhaps 12 to 15 thousand mongolian
troops might fall down in total. Not all those would be dead, but even the
wounded would be a burden on the mongol army. And a lot of those would be hardened veterans. How much would that influence the rest of
the mongol campaign into china is unknown. For sure it’d postpone it, possibly by months
or a year. While the marines could not defeat the horde
outright, they might make a sizable impact, perhaps even weakening it enough so the xia
and jin Chinese dynasties somehow survive. Even a pyrrhic mongol victory over the Chinese
might be enough to cause a chain of events that would cause the mongol empire to fall
apart earlier than it did or simply never reach the middle east or european regions. Again, Binkov does realize the two sides would
not likely clash head on. Mobility is the key of most armies and mongol
mobility would direct the contact in another direction. Also, if the marines had vehicles and greater
mobility, they’d be ones to dictate the battles. And of course, this is just ONE of many settings
explored. Different terrain might favor the marines
more. Again, the more defendable a position is,
the less likely the mongols would be to attack head on. But all that’s another story that may get told.
Neither will win. Elon Musk's AI robots will appear mid-video and steamroll everyone, including the CAS F-35s nearby
No nukes and neither can call in allies
It seems like they totally could win if they had a shitload more ammo. This video was fun, cool youtube channel. Definitely surface level, just focusing on numbers, but fun nonetheless.
What the hell is with one guy posting like 5 comments on the video?
Also this reminds me of Rome Sweet Rome and now I’m sad.