FReeper Canteen ~ Part II of The Mongols ~ November 16, 2004

www.coldsiberia.org ^ | November 16, 2004 | LaDivaLoca

[LaDivaLoca]

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served in
The United States Armed Forces.

Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom?
Support The United States Armed Forces Today!

ANCIENT WARFARE





Part II of The Mongols

Mongol Military Might

Mediaeval historians used to assert that the Mongol military superiority was due to their overwhelming numbers. As we are now aware of, this is incorrect, and assertions of Mongol numerical superiority must be interpreted as partly a specious excuse for European inferiority when fighting against the Mongols in the battlefield. Even though they never fought against the most powerful warriors who ever existed in the West, the Celts, there is no doubt that the Mongols proved superior to all those whom they met in battle.

Quality, not quantity, was the key to the incredible unbroken line of Mongolian military successes. Since the spiritual aspects of this phenomenon has been covered elsewhere on these pages, what will be elucidated here is the technical details of their military performance, their equipment and their use of it.

Organization

Although supreme command lay in the hands of the Supreme Khan, the high Mongol principle of promotion to posts of leadership and authority on the basis of ability alone, introduced and enforced by Chingis Khan, resulted in an unmatched quality of troops from the ordinary soldiers to the top command. Each Mongol warrior was simply incomparably superior to their Western counterparts. This exceedingly high quality ensured the competence and integrity of the commanding leaders. Thus, leaders at every level could always be entrusted with a high degree of independence in the decisions and in the execution of the different moves and operations.

After the death of Chingis Khan in 1227, none of his successors inherited his genius. For this reason, the real command of the large armies rested with the generals he picked when he was still alive, although the princes of the blood held the nominal command. The diamond among all the generals of Chingis Khan was Subedei, whose mastery of every aspect of warfare, such as intelligence, psychological warfare, military tactics and strategy and logistics, won him a place in history as the mastermind of the great Mongol campaign in Russia and Europe during 1236-1242. Subedei as a man personified the best characteristics of the Mongol forces: caution, high intuition, great intelligence and understanding, mobility, alertness, speed and power. Other eminent Mongol generals worthy of note are Chepe and Muqali, the latter did much to secure Mongol victories in China.

The organization of the army was based on the decimal system. The largest unit was the tjumen, which was made up of 10.000 troops. A large army used to consist of three tjumens (Plural form t'ma in Mongolian), one consisting of infantry troops who were to perform close combat, the two others were meant to encircle the opponent from both sides. Each tjumen consisted of ten regiments, each of 1.000 troops. The 1.000 strong unit was called a mingghan. Each of these regiments consisted of ten squadrons of 100 troops, called jaghun, each of which was divided into ten units of ten, called arban. There was also an elite tjumen, an imperial guard which was composed of specially trained and selected troops. As for the command structure, the ten soldiers of each arban elected their commander by majority vote, and all of the ten commanders of the ten arbans of a tjumen elected the commander of a jaghunby the same procedure. Above that level, the khan personally appointed the commanders of each tjumen and mingghan. This appointment was made on criteria of ability, not age or social origin.

The commanders of tjumens and mingghans had the military title of noyon. A commander of a whole army, which as mentioned typically consisted of three tjumens or more of light cavalry and in addition several mingghans of artillery, carried the title of orlok. In other words, the orlok was the commanding general.

source: http://www.coldsiberia.org/monmight.htm

Next Tuesday, Part III of The Mongols

[rmlew]

I don't know if you're aware of this, but the Khazars, who were being pressed by the Moslems on one side and the Orthodox from Kiev on the other, converted to Judaism.
Yes and no. The Khazar nobility converted.
The Khazar empire kept the dual-Emperor model of the great Turkut empire. The Khagan (Khan of Khans or Emperor) of the Ashina clan that ruled the older Kok Turkut (Blue or Wester Turkish Empire). This religious and dynastic title allowed the Khazars to claim to be the successor to this empire and (theoretically)keep all of the steppe tribes from the Jurjan and Oxus rivers in the southeast to the Danube river in the west under tributariy authority. Of course this power really only existed where it could be enforced militarily.
The spread of Islam destroyed this arraingement in the South. In 737, the Khazars, betrayed by Muslim allies, lost to the Khaliphate. Fortunately, the Muslim army, battered in battled and cut off from supplies had to retreat. Thus Khazaria did not become Muslim. In 740 the Khagan Bek, who was the actual ruler of the Khazars, decided that the Khazar nobility would convert to Judaism to keep their independence. However, many Khazars remained Tengrists, while others converted to Islam or Christianity. The conversion did not apply to subject peoples in the empire.

They controlled the southern step until the coming of the Pechenegs.
The Pechenegs, Poltsovoi, and Cumans did invade. However it was the Rus/Varangians that destroyed the empire.

[Kathy in Alaska]

(Juliana Gittler / S&S) Soldiers with 14th Cavalry of the 1st Brigade (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), 25th Infantry Division (Light), stand guard over a civil affairs project in a remote town in western Iraq.

(Juliana Gittler / S&S) Soldiers from 1-25’s 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment stand in the hatch of their Stryker after an operation in Mosul, Iraq. The vehicle’s agility and security make it effective in urban environments, soldiers say.

Stryker: Bulky Fighting Vehicle is Winning Over Once-Skeptical Soldiers

November 10, 2004

By Juliana Gittler, Stars and Stripes European Edition

Editor’s note: They rolled in on eight untracked wheels a year ago, one year after being introduced to the Army. Here’s a look at how the Army’s Stryker vehicle has fared.

MOSUL, Iraq — Ask nearly anyone in a Stryker unit and they’ll say they weren’t too crazy about the eight-wheeled vehicles at first.

Something about rubber tires seemed unlikely to withstand the same beating as a tracked vehicle. The Strykers looked slow and lumbering.

But the naysayers have been converted.

After the Strykers’ introduction to the Army two years ago, and after a year of combat experience in Iraq, the vehicles are almost too good to be true, say those who ride them, fix them or command them.

“I was kind of skeptical,” said Sgt. David Finney, noncommissioned officer in charge of the ground support equipment shop for the 73rd Engineer Company, part of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

“I was used to working on tanks. I saw the tires and thought, ‘what are you going to do with broken tires?’ But it’s surpassed everything I’ve expected,” he said. “It’s definitely saved lives. The Strykers can take a pretty big hit and get back on the road quickly.”

In October, a car bomb packed with 500 pounds of explosives hit a Stryker in Mosul. It killed a soldier and pummeled the vehicle.

The Stryker was back on the road in six days.

“Strykers are extremely durable vehicles,” said 1st Lt. Eric James Joyce, battalion maintenance officer for the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, with the 1-25th.

The vehicle’s heavy armor shelters occupants from blasts and ballistics. Its eight individual wheels have a “run flat” technology that allows them to drive on after being blown out.

“I’ve seen Strykers be hit by an [improvised explosive device] and drive home on eight flats,” said Staff Sgt. Lee Hodges, assistant vehicle commander and gunner for the Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron of the 14th Cavalry with the 1-25th, who rode a Bradley in the Persian Gulf War.

The rest of the story

[Kathy in Alaska]

HANKIE ALERT!!

A hug across six decades: Pearl Harbor survivor Houston James embraces former Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke Jr. at Dallas' Veterans Day commemoration. Graunke lost a hand, leg and eye while defusing a bomb in Iraq in July 2003.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Inflatable fun: Boys play with a balloon in the old city area of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Thank you US Military!!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[beachn4fun]

Hey Ma!

?????????

[beachn4fun]

HANKIE ALERT INDEED!

[USVet6792Retired]

I was on the test team for the Styker test at Ft Knox a year ago. They are, without any doubt, a kick-ass vehicle. I saw one stryker gunner take out thumper at night at a range exceeding 800 meters.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Looks good to me, but too big for the overhead bin. Mine is like this.

[beachn4fun]

That's nice. Let me know how it works out.

[beachn4fun]

MINE?

[beachn4fun]

MINE?

[beachn4fun]

MINE?

[beachn4fun]

MINE?

[beachn4fun]

MINE?

[beachn4fun]

MINE?

[beachn4fun]

MINE?

[beachn4fun]

MINE?