For millennia, the nomadic horse archers of the
great Eurasian steppe were among the most fearsome foes an army could face in open battle - and the
thirteenth century Mongols were no exception. In the previous episode, the link to
which you can find in the description, we talked about the structure of the Mongol army.
In this video, we will examine the tactics of pitched battle that made the Mongols the dominant
military power of the world for a century. The strength of the Mongol army rested on
the same skill sets of all steppe nomads: mobility and deadly long-range fire power.
Doctrine for all horse archers was simple: to maximize damage to the enemy from as far away
as possible for as long as possible, only closing once they had been sufficiently demoralized, their
formations broken by an unceasing rain of arrows, or tricked into leaving their lines
in an effort to pursue the horsemen. The Mongols did not invent these techniques,
but they did apply them at a scale beyond the mightiest of previous steppe empires, adapting
them as necessary for a variety of situations. A quick word from our sponsor today! Jurassic
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and 150 d-crystals as a welcome pack for free! Mongolian and steppe nomadic army tactics evolved
out of the routines of daily life. Each warrior on horseback had several remounts, armed with
two or more bows and several quivers of arrows. This was the bare minimum to be a combatant, and
effective enough for most situations. Riding a horse from their earliest years and learning to
draw and hunt with a bow from almost as early, by adulthood every Mongol had a lifetime of
experience shooting from horseback. Nearly every medieval writer comments on the
Mongols’ ensuing hardiness and stamina; the Mongols were able to endure hardship
that made the armies of the sedentary world buckle. Peerless archers and expert riders,
any commander would be a fool to not take advantage of such an army. The Mongol army
was not trained, as much as it was grown. The basic tactics evolved out of two tools:
excellent bows and a massive supply of horses. Every Mongol was armed with a composite recurve
bow which they made themselves. Incredibly powerful, these bows could send arrows immense
distances. One stone inscription from early 13th century Mongolia records that Chinggis
Khan’s nephew Yisungge sent an arrow almost 530 metres. This was likely a specially
made light arrow designed for distance, and lacked any meaningful penetrative power at that
range. Actual effective combat range is debated; Historian Timothy May suggests it was anything
under 170 metres, while John Masson Smith Jr. puts 30 metres as the optimum distance to maximize
accuracy and penetration. Regardless of the range, medieval authors consistently describe the
Mongols as frighteningly accurate with their bows. In the Caucasus, where contact was easily made
with several Turkic peoples proficient in horse archery, one Armenian chronicler specifically
designated the Mongols as the Nation of Archers. Alongside the power of their bows, the horse was
the other vital component of Mongolian tactics. Every nomad of the great Eurasian steppe rode a
horse, where vast grasslands provided the ideal environment for rearing them. The Mongol horse
is smaller than those of sedentary regions, weighing under 300 kg and rarely more than
14 hands or 142 cm high at the withers [the shoulders]. Unlike the grain and fodder fed
horses of China, Europe or the Islamic world, the Mongolian horses lived almost exclusively
off of the abundant grasses of the steppe. So prime is this grassland that even today
Mongolia’s horses outnumber the country’s humans, and account for over 6% of the world’s horse
population. When on campaign each rider brought 5 or more horses with him, riding one a day and
letting it rest for the following days while he rode the others. Like their riders, the Mongolian
horses were hardy, surviving in conditions deadly for larger breeds. Sure footed, well
trained, and obedient, though not the fastest, the Mongolian horse was a reliable platform for
battle. Campaigning and entering battle with strings of remounts provided the Mongols strategic
opportunities unavailable to their enemies. This proficiency with a bow and easy
access to great quantities of horses were the building blocks of the
Mongols’ deadliness in battle. Usually facing off against armies that could not
amass any comparative number of horses or skilled bowmen, the Mongols enjoyed far greater striking
power and mobility, their tactics maximizing this advantage and minimizing the need for
prolonged close quarter contact with the enemy. Perhaps the most recognizable manifestation of
this was the caracole, what historian Timothy May believes is meant by the shi’uchi, ‘chisel’ attack
mentioned in the Secret History of the Mongols. Waves of Mongols, organized in their decimal
units -arban, jaghun or even minggan - would ride towards the enemy, shooting arrows as they
approached. At a set distance -perhaps the 30 metres or less suggested by John Masson Smith-
the wave would pull away. As this wave fell back, the riders would turn in the saddle and fire
backwards, the famous ‘Parthian shot.’ With one wave falling back out of range and to safety
to rest men and grab remounts, another wave advanced and carried out the same process,
resulting in a continuous barrage of arrows. To do this successfully is tremendously difficult.
It requires extensive training to not result in hundreds of men and horses crashing into each
other or sending arrows into each other’s backs. In order to function smoothly, each wave
needs to know when the other is advancing or falling back and move accordingly, so
as to not obstruct the forthcoming waves. When operating effectively, it was extraordinarily
effective. For those subject to the Mongol caracole, it was an immense psychological
attack alongside the storm of arrows. By nature, humans do not generally enjoy
having large groups of horses run towards them- having it occur repeatedly brings on the
additional anxiety of not knowing which wave might not turn away but ride directly into
their lines. All the while, arrows with shocking accuracy and power pick away at the other men in
the line, whittling down both numbers and resolve. To someone on foot, the successive waves
of horsemen would be impossible to count, appearing endless. Even well trained men would
struggle to fight their instincts to flee or charge out at the enemy in anger, both
options aligning exactly with Mongol desires. If the enemy began to rout under the arrow
fire, then instead of pulling back one wave would instead charge into the enemy, falling
upon fleeing men and taking advantage of the opening in the line. An enemy army in the
midst of flight would be unable to resist, allowing the Mongols to
ride them down much easier. If instead the enemy, especially proud cavalrymen,
attempted to charge the Mongol caracole, then this allowed the Mongols to employ the favourite ploy
of all steppe warriors: the feigned retreat. A feigned retreat is easy enough on paper but
difficult to execute in practice. When an enemy ran after the Mongols, the Mongols would appear to
flee, panicked by the charge of the very brave and well armoured enemy horsemen. There was a real
danger of the feigned rout turning into a real one if the enemy horsemen reached the Mongols; their
often superior armour and training would allow them to wreak havoc on more lightly armoured
Mongols. If orchestrated properly however, the fleeing Mongols took their pursuers to
ground of their choosing, where other Mongol units waited in preparation. Archers picked off
the isolated enemy, and heavy cavalry delivered the final blow to the stragglers. If this had
been all the enemy cavalry, the Mongols could then easily surround the surviving infantry
and pick them off at their leisure. The feigned retreat was employed again and
again across Eurasia; against fortresses, where garrisons were tricked into coming out
from their walls to chase fleeing nomads; to epic, nine day pursuits. The most famous
was that which Subutai employed against the Rus’ and Qipchaq at the Kalka River. Perhaps not
quite the master plan it is often presented as, Subutai may have been genuinely
fleeing before the Rus’ and Qipchaq following the death of his friend and
mentor Jebe while scouting the enemy army, as suggested in a recent article by historian
Stephen Pow. Pursued across the steppe, Subutai saw the enemy formation lose structure, the faster
Cuman-Qipchaqs gaining ahead of their Rus’ allies. Turning back to face them, on the Kalka River
Subutai brought the full might of his army against only a portion of the enemy- first the
Qipchap, who broke and ran into the oncoming Rus’. With their advance halted, Mongol arrows
now fell upon them. Order was lost, the Rus’ began to flee, and Subutai carried
the day, annihilating the enemy army. In the event that the enemy did not pursue
or rout, but instead held their position in orderly formation, the Mongols had another option;
simply moving on. More mobile than their enemies and always fighting in enemy territory,
the Mongols could pull away and ravage the surrounding countryside, disheartening the
enemy army by slaughtering the local population, filling the sky with the smoke of burning homes,
or cutting off enemy access to water or resources. Defections and panic set in as refugees fled
to the army with stories of Mongol brutality. A stationary foe or one holding up in a wagon
fort as the Hungarians did at Mohi in 1241, was soon trapped in a nerge, a Mongolian hunting
circle. Cordoning off the area, the Mongols would surround and gradually close in on the foe,
cutting off avenues of escape and driving panicked villages towards the target. At the strategic
level or while hunting, strict orders allowed nothing to leave the circle alive. But on the
tactical level, the nerge had a devious trick. A gap would be left in the steadily closing circle,
apparently overlooked by the overeager Mongols. To those on foot, it seemed a silver lining.
The Mongols understood the psychology of men and animals; when cornered with nowhere to run,
they fight to the death. Provided a means to see another day, either tiger or man will seize
the chance to live. And by doing so, they did exactly what the Mongols wanted. At Mohi, when
the Hungarians fled through the gap in the line, the Mongols formed up beside the fleeing enemy,
whose formation and sense to resist was long since abandoned. Once the foe was suitably bedraggled
and exhausted, only then did the Mongols fall on them, minimizing harm to themselves but
ensuring few, if any, escaped their clutches. Contrary to some depictions, heavy cavalry
was used by the Mongols, though Asian cavalry differed from the heavy shock lancers
imagined in Europe when the term is mentioned. For the Mongols, their own heavy
armoured cavalry was a minority, more usually utilizing subject peoples in this
role. For the majority of Asian heavy cavalry, from China, Iran, and the Turkic and Mongolian
tribes of Central Asia, the primary weapon of heavy cavalry was still the bow, even when
both horse and rider were fully armoured. In the steppe, heavy armour was harder to procure
with limited access to smiths and raw materials. The more common armour varieties reflected
this, created from materials the Mongols had ready access to: felt and leather. Perhaps
the most well known was the hatanga del, a sort of thick, gambeson-like coat of thickly
layered felt. Increasingly over the 13th century, the hatanga was secured with metal
plates within it for a brigandine. For man and horse protection laminar was favoured,
long layered bands of leather laced together. The most expensive was lamellar, consisting of
individual metal plates sewn together in rows. Flexible, the armour was designed to fold over
the legs while on horseback, though the arms and hands were left exposed to not encumber usage of
the bow. The Mongols considered lamellar better protection against arrows than maille, as well as
easier for nomads to both produce and maintain. Mongolian heavy cavalry was intended to be a
decisive finishing blow against enemies weakened by arrow fire or drawn into feigned retreats,
rather than engage in any sort of prolonged melee. With their smaller horses, the Mongols had
to be careful to not overexert the animals, especially when fully armoured, and heavy
cavalry charges were likely limited affairs in the early days of the conquests. As more
subject peoples were added to the Mongol army, their own heavy cavalry could take on these
vulnerable close quarter roles, leaving the valuable Mongolian and Turkic horse archers
safe to pick off the enemy from a distance. While fighting in China, Khitan, Jurchen and
Tangut heavy cavalry were regularly employed by the Mongols, while in the Ilkhanate,
Armenian and Georgian heavy cavalry were at the forefront of the Mongol wars in the
region, particularly against the Mamluks. For extraordinary situations, the
Mongols applied unorthodox tactics. At Mohi in 1241, the initial effort to storm
the bridge was accompanied by Subutai attempting to build a bridge further downriver in
an effort to flank the Hungarian army. When the Hungarians successfully resisted
the attempt to force the bridge, the Mongols pulled back, and early the following morning,
brought up catapults and “shelled” the guards left on the Hungarian side of the bridge. This
was quickly followed up with a cavalry charge. The bridge over the Sajo River was
taken and the Hungarian camp encircled. While fighting off a Burmese invasion
into Mongol controlled Yunnan in 1277, the sight and scent of the Burmese elephants
frightened the Mongol horses. The Mongol commander quickly ordered his men to the treeline to
tie them to the tree trunks. Dismounted, the Mongols advanced on foot and sent volleys of
arrows into the elephants. Under the incessant barrage the elephants panicked, crashing through
the Burmese lines before leaving the battlefield. While part of the Mongol force continued providing
covering fire, detachments filed back to the trees to remount their horses, continuing in
this order until they were all on horseback. Where the Mongols’ tactical ability failed them
was in environments too unsuited to cavalry maneuvers- the humid jungles of southeastern
Asia perhaps the greatest example of this. The conquest of the Song Dynasty was only
completed with the massive conscription of Chinese soldiers and creation of a fleet to challenge
the Song on the vital rivers of south China. In Syria, historians like John Masson
Smith have argued the region lacked the pasture capacity to provide for the vast horse
herds the Mongols liked to bring with them, forcing them to advance with smaller
forces the Mamluks could overcome. In straight tactical engagements, the Mongols
performed their poorest against those who fought in similar fashion to themselves. Chinggis Khan’s
only defeats were against other tribes of the Mongolian steppe, and it seems he considered
the nomadic Turks of the western steppe, the Cuman-Qipchaqs, to be the greatest
single foe against Mongol expansion. The Mamluk sultanate of Egypt and the Sultanate
of Delhi both employed Turkic horse archers, often Cuman-Qipchaps bought as slaves,
to great effect against the Mongols. Essentially, these were armies which could
recognize feigned retreats and nomadic ploys, and force the Mongols into engagements which
minimized their superiority in horse numbers. We will continue to explore the
Mongol army in future videos, so please make sure you’ve subscribed
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