How did they do it and why haven't they done it since?
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How did they do it and why haven't they done it since?
How did they do it and why haven't they done it since?
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>How did they do it?
Horseback archers
Is that easy?
You south american monkey homosexual
It was then
It wasn't then either, that's why steppe horse archers were so successful and so desirable as levies or mercenaries for any adjacent empire through history.
To be a steppe archer you had to almost literally have been born on horseback. These guys spent most of their lives outdoors on horseback, they did almost everything on horseback. These dudes shot arrows in mid-air and controlled the horse with just their legs while maneuvering, and if I remember correctly they started riding at the ripe old age of 3. But they were not allowed to execute anyone shorter than a cart axle, although they broke that rule quite often to say the least.
this, but also nomadic sheperds vs sedentary farmers
I don't think you guys are answering my question seriously. How did fricking *Mongolia* conquer the largest adjacent land mass in history?
Temujin was a godlike strategist that revolutionized warfare.
Not only that, but all of his generals were on the same caliber as he was. It was like a country got five napoleons at once, invented the idea of meritocracy in the first time in their culture, at the same time as all their neighbours were going through decadence.
>It was like a country got five napoleons at once
This, it was an incredible alignment of stars that the world would not have expected. Temujin was simply one of those brilliant rulers that saw not only today and tomorrow, but years ahead. He also managed to surround himself with equally brilliant people that he could trust wholeheartedly. This combined with their physical strength in comparison to those they conquered, and their eye for new strategies and weapons meant that they were a world changing force.
But I've also heard that horses are actually overrated as proven by The Northman (2022) so that's all probably bullshit and it was complete luck
The generals (and especially the princes and others of Temujin's family) don't get enough credit. Jebe and Subutai are always mentioned, but rarely do we hear of Muqali, Jelme, Boorchu or even Ogedei and Tolui during Genghis' reign. Likewise Jochi and Chagatai led their own expeditions in he Khan's name, although the two hated each other.
Didn't he also use several units to act indepemdently. I don't exactly know the lingo, but until recently the whole army moved as one. Like if you look at Alexander's conquest where his whole army moved as a whole vs German army in WW2 where different unit conducted independent operations (one arrow vs several arrows). This was why the mongol army was constantly overestimated despite being outnumbered. You'd have one of these units attack somewhere and the enemy would think it's the main army. Well how can you attack so many places at once? Surely they must have a massive army.
He could do this because the entire army was on horseback. Until automotives, horses were the fastest way to transport. One mongol warrior had 3-4 horses that would follow the main rider without a harness. They could simply switch horses and keep riding. They lived off the land, would drink horse blood mixed with horse milk when on lightning campaigns, brought cattle as food. An army was as fast as it's slowest components. When you have miles long supply lines, you can't do the things mongols did. This why everytime a stongman united the fractious steppe peoples, the settled civilizations had a hard time.
Yes
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Units
So each division could move independently and take orders. This was a Gokturk thing too.
diversity
They also “conquered” the most empty part of the world.
It wasn't empty before they conquered it.
Kek. Genghis was going to make China empty too. A Chinese advisor convinced his son to let them be and tax them instead.
history's greatest tragedy
They came at what was the perfect time. China was fractuared into 3 kingdoms. The Caliphate just got done with a civil war and was still pretty decentralized. While the Song had land/sea mines, guns and cannons, they weren't spread out or developed enough other than pausing the mongol invasion by about 80 years.