Chormaqan and the Mongol Conquest of the Middle East

"He had gathered more intelligence than all of Christendom had ever known about these mysterious, terrifying horsemen from the east."

These mysterious horsemen, fighting in great hordes and able to darken the sky with arrows which reigned down on their enemies were out-maneuvered and out-generaled by the first Crusaders. According to Hilaire Belloc the first Crusaders were riding over a bluff and were taken by surprise by a great horde of lightly armored bowmen with fleet horses. The battle tactic of the Turks was to keep attacking the enemy army with waves of arrow attacks, wave after wave, all the while encircling them for the final kill. The outnumbered Crusaders quickly understood what was going on and performed a counter tactic that prevented the Turks from flanking and surrounding them.

They formed several long lines, with the front being the longest, the rear acting as reinforcements. They attacked the hordes of Turks head on with this long, extended line. As the battle progressed they kept the front line extended by using the rear guard as reinforcements for the killed and wounded, hence frustrating the horsemen from surrounding them. The fierce Turks, though greatly outnumbering the Crusaders in this clash fled for their lives. The European Crusaders, with thousands of Knights amongst them, were too strong, too tough and too skilled for the Turks to handle. The Crusader armor and swords were heavier, but they were physically stronger than the Turks.

Hilaire Belloc noted that over the centuries as the remains of the Turks killed in these battles were unearthed it was not unusual to find them nearly cut in half, from shoulder to groin, by one mighty swing of a Crusader's sword. Apparently they attacked swinging that huge sword over their heads so the force coming down was able to cut a man in half, armor and all. Belloc, a great historian and former military officer, could not understand why the leaders of the following Crusades did not employ these same defensive tactics against the Turkish horsemen.

Yes, he was. During the first invasion, he and Jebe co-commanded a part of the Quan's army. I forget the name of the city involved, but they used a feigned retreat to lure the Chinese into opening the gates and come out to "play", then they wiped out the garrison, and rode in right behind the survivors. I believe they also found a very useful pass to flank part of the Wall on the approach march.

I read somewhere, a long time back, that after Europe and Guyuk's quriltai, Subodei did some more campaigning in China before he finally hung 'em up.

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