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

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

[LaDivaLoca]

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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

[tomkow6]

Good morning, LaDiva! Good morning, Canteen Crew! Good morning, EVERYBODY!

GOOD  

MORNING

TROOPS!

[tomkow6]

 

Today's FEEBLE

YOKE :

A visiting minister waxed eloquent during the offertory.

"Dear Lord," he began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face.

"Without you we are but dust. . . "

He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening!) leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice,

"Mom, what is butt dust?"

[tomkow6]

 

Chicagoland Weather

November 16, 2004
Chicago, IL
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Hrs. of Daylight	9 Hrs., 47 Mins

Currently
48°

Cloudy

	Hi: 59

	Lo: 48

5 Day Forecast

WED

THU

FRI

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SUN

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High:	64
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Partly Cloudy

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[beachn4fun]

Good morning Everyone. Good morning to our

Military, our Allies and their families.

Prayers for your continued safety.

Thank you Diva for another history lesson. And, thanks for your continued support.

WOW, I am here before 100 posts. Whatdaya know! Ok. so let me go see what I can do before it's time to jump into the work I am paid to do.

Ok, for all you newcomers and lurkers......be sure to come back again tomorrow cause it's Pancakes on Wednesdays here at the Canteen. There are WAFFLES for those who prefer WAFFLES. Like John Kerry!

Now remember, the Canteen is always open

So, come on in and sit for a while. There's alway plenty of coffee, pancakes, conversation, silliness, and plain old BS.

[beachn4fun]

GOD BLESS THE U.S. MILITARY AND HER ALLIES

Thank you all for your commitment and sacrifice.

Thank you to the military families.

Thank you Veterans.

Thank you Canteen Crew for all you do.

GOD BLESS America.

[Centurion2000]

Bump to the greatest bit player in Hollywood. That guy on the horse shows up everywhere.

[E.G.C.]

((HUGS))Good morning, Beach. How's it going?

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!! and AMEN!!!!!!!

[beachn4fun]

Good morning EG.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Tom.

[beachn4fun]

HEY.......PzLdr..............

[beachn4fun]

HEY.......Restorer.............

[beachn4fun]

HEY.........rmlew........

[tomkow6]

Will this do????

[beachn4fun]

WH

Seven got #50

[tomkow6]

Good morning, Beachy!

[tomkow6]

Hi, Centurion2000!

Welcome to the Canteen!

Wanna buy a burka?

 

[beachn4fun]

HEY.....Centurion2000............

[Common Tator]

There is a new 'tator take on the media.

Click here for Media News Bosses.. Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest

[beachn4fun]

Flag at half-mast for Maryland servicemember who recently died in Iraq. Sorry, can't remember the name. May he R.I.P.