While the Mongol army of the 13th century
is often presented as a vast disorganized horde overwhelming its foes through sheer
numbers, this could not be further from reality. The army of the Great Khans was a well disciplined
and strictly organized host, with a level of complexity which was part of the key to
Mongol military successes across Eurasia. In this video, we will discuss the structure
of the Mongol army, and how it contributed to their dominance over their enemies. We are happy to present the sponsor of this
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the link in the description and using our code KNG to get 25% OFF all 12-month Memberships! Most Turkic and Mongolic nomadic armies of
the great Eurasian steppe were organized through the decimal system, dating back to the time
of the Xiongnu. In this system, warriors were grouped in multiples
of ten; 10, 100, 1,000, up to 10,000. These divisions were kept within tribal lines:
men from one tribe would not make up a decimal unit with men from another tribe. It was the innovation of Chinggis Khan during
his unification of the Mongols to largely break down these tribal ties. With few exceptions of tribes like the Onggut
who showed their loyalty, Chinggis Khan dissolved the old tribal organization and reformed the
Mongol tribes into these decimals units for social organization. As new nomadic tribes were added to his empire,
Chinggis was able to likewise integrate their warriors among these units. All new recruits of this system were held
to the same rigid standards of discipline set out by Chinggis Khan, mandating strict
adherence to the orders of the commander; non-Mongol nomads even had to shave their
heads in a distinctive Mongol hairstyle. Instead of a confederation of tribes agreeing
to follow a single leader, by the time Chinggis Khan began attacking sedentary powers in 1209,
he was followed by a host which had assumed the ‘Mongol’ identity, a unified single
entity. By largely removing the original tribal allegiances
and the old tribal chiefs from power, Chinggis ensured all ties of loyalty led directly to
him, and that tribal feuding would not be able to tear apart his empire. Further, Chinggis Khan extended this decimal
system to their families as well. Each unit from 10 men to 1,000 had its corresponding
‘civilian’ unit made up of their families, supplying much of the equipment and serving
as the new basis for taxation. The base unit of the Mongol decimal system
was the arban, or ten lightly armoured horse archers, supplying their own bows and horses. The smallest organizational unit, it was quite
comparable to the similarly sized contubernium of the Roman legions. These were men who had to live, train, hunt,
and fight together, a unit designed to be self sufficient and move on its own as necessary. Carried with these ten men were their spare
horses, tools for repairing equipment and clothes, cooking utensils, and other supplies. Often, they traveled with a felt tent (ger,
or in Turkish, yurt) for shelter, as well as goats, sheep, or even cattle or camels
for hauling a cart with their extra equipment. Down to its lowest levels, the Mongol army
was intended to be as self-sufficient and mobile as possible, so when travelling long
distances or designating a meeting point, each unit could move on its own. Building on this foundation, Mongol army units
could move independently to surround larger, less maneuverable enemy armies. Discipline for the arban was strict: should
one man within the arban flee a battle, then the other 9 men would be put to death. With the intention that strong bonds of loyalty
would build between them, such a threat was a burden few were willing to bear. More important than draconian punishment was
reward. Men could be expected to be rewarded for meritorious
service. One of Chinggis Khan’s promulgations was
to forbid looting until after the battle was won; only then would all the loot be collected,
tallied and distributed among the soldiers. This ensured the army would not break down
into men scrambling for loot and allow the enemy to escape, and that every soldier could
now earn a share for his service. Further, the widows and children of fallen
soldiers were cared for as well. From his own difficult childhood, Chinggis
Khan knew what social upheaval was caused by the abandonment of families. By keeping soldiers content with the knowledge
their families would be protected, Chinggis Khan prevented the societal infighting that
could tear his union apart and reduce the effectiveness of his armies. It was the efforts at this level which instilled
the fierce Mongol discipline and loyalty to their commanders noted by all of the medieval
authors who encountered them. Ten arbans formed a jagun, 100 men. 10 of these formed a minggan, or 1,000 men,
and 10 minggans formed the most famous unit, the tumen, 10,000 men. While the tumen is more well-known, the minggan
was the more important and common in terms of administration and command. When Chinggis Khan declared the Mongol Empire
in 1206, the Secret History of the Mongols, the chronicle written for the imperial family
after his death, informs us of 95 minggans, and who was assigned to command each of them. The numbers of each minggan were only nominally
1,000: some would be greater and some lesser, due to the realities of battlefield losses
or incorporation of new tribes. Nonetheless, it allows us to estimate the
Mongol army in 1206 had about 95,000 men, soon enlarged with the submission of neighbouring
tribes over the following years. Based off this number, assuming a ratio of
warriors to the general population of 1:4 or 1:5, the population of the region has been
estimated at around 600-800,000 people, with higher estimates of 1 million; similar figures
for the region at the beginning of the 20th century. Nomadic societies did not distinguish between
warriors and civilians: all men between the ages of 15-60 could be called up for war,
and since all nomads learned to ride a horse and shoot a bow, each had the skills for war. Compared to sedentary societies in China,
Europe, and the Islamic world, a far greater portion of the male population could be considered
warriors, and called up for battle. This is how the comparatively small population
of Mongolia could raise armies large enough to combat the great strength of the Jurchen
Jin Dynasty. Each division was given considerable freedom
in how they achieved their goals. Aside from setting the target and the timeline
to accomplish the task, interference from higher command was minimal. Numerous Mongol commanders consistently operated
independently from the Great Khan, separated at times by thousands of kilometres. In the early 1220s, picked generals like Jebe
and Subutai in the western steppe and Mukhali in North China campaigned independently of
Chinggis Khan, at that time conquering the Khwarezmian Empire. Unlike Temur, who never let a campaign be
led by anyone but himself, the military system of the Great Khans allowed them to place complete
trust in their commanders, who routinely led armies across the continent and returned without
hint of seeking independence. The Mongol high command was a flexible and
very experienced body. The men chosen to lead the imperial armies
at the beginning of the conquests had fought alongside Chinggis Khan for years, joining
him when he was a minor warlord and sticking beside him throughout his early trials. These were the nököd, followers who had
risen through the ranks, proving not just their loyalty but their ability. Their background on the steppe hierarchy was
diverse: some his distant relations, some members of the original steppe aristocracy,
while others were simple herders who had shown military ability or aided the Khan. Their elevation and position relied on the
Khan’s continued favour, making them utterly loyal to him. With the declaration of the Mongol empire
in 1206, perhaps the most important institution of the Mongolian military was the keshik,
the imperial bodyguard. Established in 1204 and carrying over many
members of the nököd, the keshik was expanded to 10,000 men in 1206. Made up of younger sons and brothers of the
commanders of 10, 1000 and 10,000, sons of subject rulers, and worthy commoners, the
keshik served as the Khan’s bodyguard, elite units, royal household, and much of the imperial
administration. The keshik was divided into three main groups:
8,000 turaq’ut, who protected the Khan during the day, 1000 quiverbearers - qorchi - the
only men who could wear arrow quivers in the presence of the Khan, and an elite unit of
1,000 called kebte’üd who guarded the Khan at night, and only fought on the battlefield
if the Khan himself was present. Within the dayguard was a further thousand
man unit of braves, or bahadurs in Mongolian, who formed the heavily armoured vanguard of
the keshik. Discipline was strict: no one approached the
Khan’s person without first being searched and vetted by the keshik. All keshik commanders outranked commanders
of equivalent sized units in the regular army. The keshik also served as a military college. The young men brought into the keshik learned
the ropes of command, and the necessities of strategy, tactics, logistics, and training,
so they could be appointed to lead minggans and armies. Many a well known Mongol general had earned
his position through meritorious service in the keshik, such as Chormaqun, Baiju, Kitbuqa,
and Subutai. Qarachar Noyan, the ancestor of Temur, served
in the keshik of Chinggis Khan, and later, his son Chagatai. Aside from the purely military role, the keshik
also acted as the closest servants of the Khan. Numerous offices of the keshik are named,
the Khan’s elite bodyguards also maintaining his personal herds, equipment, weapons, clothing,
camp, and musical instruments, organizing hunts, and preparing his meals. One office was specifically for the collection
of items and animals left behind when the imperial camp moved, while another was for
holding a parasol over the Khan. The keshik also served as the most important
administrators of the empire, with the chief judges, military leaders, governors and confidants
of the Khan being members of the keshik. Members of Mongke Khan’s keshik like Menggeser
and Bulgai were the most powerful figures of the empire below the Great Khan himself:
the senior ministers, judges of state, as well as head of the imperial guard. Due to its close proximity to the Khan and
the lead princes of the empire, it was therefore a highly prestigious, and valuable, position
to gain. As the keshik was made up of sons of commanders
and vassal lords, they were invariably hostages to ensure the loyalty of their families. Those of foreign royalty, when they returned
to their homeland, were expected to serve as loyal servants of the Khan upholding his
rule. Richly rewarded and their positions hereditary,
the keshik was a reliable and powerful arm of the Great Khan’s military and government. At the highest level, the Mongol army was
organized into ‘wings,’ associated with directions within Mongolia. The army of the Left Wing of Eastern Mongolia
- jun-qar - the army of the Right Wing in western Mongolia - bara’un-qar - and the
Army of the Centre, the Imperial ordu, which the keshik and the Khan’s personal troops
were associated with. The heads of each of these divisions were
the closest, most trusted followers of Chinggis Khan. Together, these formed the Mongolian regular
army. Under this system, there was a dual level
of elites: the altan urugh, the family and descendants of Chinggis Khan, and the qarachu,
the noyans, commanders, appointed often from humble beginnings to lead armies. Working alongside the regular army was the
tamma. First mentioned during the reign of Ogedai,
the tamma was something of an occupation force. Made up of a large percentage of non-Mongol
troops and officers, and generally drawn from the various minggans, it was often commanded
by a member of the keshik called a tammachi. The tamma was placed on the frontiers of the
Mongol Empire, a largely cavalry force which would situate itself in the best available
pasture. They were a consolidating force which would
move with the frontier as the empire expanded; unlike the great invasions which saw the Mongols
rapidly pass through a region and depart, the tamma was intended to spend years in the
region, and if necessary, set up permanently. Acting as temporary military governors, behind
the advance of the tamma the permanent civilian administration would be established, and the
region thus fully incorporated into the Mongol empire. Crushing what remained of local resistance,
the tamma raided, extorted, and subjugated the independent powers on the Empire’s borders. One tammachi, Chormaqun, completed the subjugation
of the former Khwarezmian territory, Iran, and into the Caucasus during his deployment. Since the Mongols did not rebuild the fortifications
they destroyed, the tamma also acted as the empire’s borderguard, desolating and patrolling
the borders as necessary to protect the empire from attack. The tamma comprised two main forces: the main
body, situated in several camps in the pasture, and an advance force of scouts posted closer
to cities and between the camps called alginchi. As the empire expanded, greater numbers of
sedentary peoples were incorporated into the military. These roles could be shockingly inhumane,
such as the hashar. The hashar, so called in the Persian sources,
was a forced levy of local peoples, driven before the Mongols as living shields against
enemy arrows, to push siege equipment, and fill in enemy moats with dirt or their own
bodies. This was particularly common in Chinggis Khan’s
campaigns in North China and against the Khwarezmian Empire. Yet, the Mongols also learned relatively quickly
that sedentary peoples could provide knowledge, military roles, and manpower the Mongols themselves
lacked. It was most notably in the form of Chinese
siege engineers, but within a few years of the invasion of the Jurchen Jin, more Han
Chinese were fighting for the Mongols than there were Mongols fighting in north China. Likewise, as the Mongols expanded westwards,
subject peoples served them in a variety of supplementary roles. The Mongols, primarily lightly armoured horse
archers, were more than happy to allow their subjects to take on more vulnerable positions
on the battlefield. These same groups also served the Mongols
in other roles, especially as labour or manning local garrisons. These local forces, the cherig, are what Mongolian
regional governors had to rely upon to put down local uprisings, as Mongol horsemen were
utilized for the expansion of the empire. Sedentary kingdoms not destroyed in the initial
invasions had to provide their own armies and commanders to serve alongside and under
the Mongols, such as the Tangut Kingdom and Armenian Cilicia. While continuing to fight in their traditional
manner, and not directly incorporated into the Mongol army, they had to follow the commands
of a Mongolian general. We will discuss the importance of these non-Mongolian
troops in a future video in this series, so make sure you are subscribed to our channel
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