FReeper Canteen ~ Part V of the Mongols ~ December 7, 2004

www.coldsiberia.org ^ | December 7, 2004 | LaDivaLoca

[LaDivaLoca]

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Part V of The Mongols

Mongolian Bow

Because the Old Mongols lived in an environment where survival skills were always of the utmost importance, it was a matter of course that they should develop excellent tools, both civilian and military. One piece of equipment that was of great significance in war as well as in the daily life of the Mongols was their composite bow. Perhaps this bow is not quite as well-known in the West as the English longbow, which was the best bow ever to emerge in Europe.

Yet the Old Mongolian bow was incomparably superior to everything seen in the West. Not until the advent of breach-loading firearms in the 1800's was the Mongolian bow decisively surpassed as a long-range shooting tool. Still the original Mongolian bow remains a formidable tool for targeting, war or hunting, and the people around the Bajkal sea regularly used these bows for hunting at least up to the twentieth century.

Military Use

When we are talking about Mongolian bows, the first thoughts go the their military use, although hunting and target practice certainly were more prominent activities. Every day was not filled with war, but hunting and the training of skills were part of the daily routine. However, we will start with the military aspect.

In the military, each soldier carried two bows on horseback. One bow was for long-range shooting, another for shooting at close distances. Also, each soldier had two quivers with arrows for different purposes. To mention but a few of these, there were armor-piercing arrows with a particularly heavy arrowhead of tempered steel, there were incendiary arrows for setting buildings afire and spreading fear in the enemy ranks, as well as whistling arrows for signalling. Of course, the most arrows they carried were ordinary arrows where the arrowhead and length of the shaft were adjusted to the normal range at which the particular type arrow was to be used. The standard, according to James Chambers, was that each soldier should have at least sixty arrows with him or her. Yes; it merits mention once more that the strongest and most courageous Mongolian females rode along with the men and fought bravely. Also, the women who did not ordinarily participate in military activity nevertheless had to learn how to wield the bow, a necessary skill for self-defence as well as hunting.

The Construction

We are now going into the details of the Mongolian bow. As already mentioned, it was the best bow in the world, and probably still is. Even though the modern high-tech compound bows are in some ways more convenient to use and can be made equally powerful, the sheer simplicity of the Mongol composite bow with its complete indepencence of foreign equipment and complicated parts that the archer cannot easily repair or replace makes the Mongol bow on balance a superior solution. In order to show the Mongols and their extraordinary bow the proper respect, the story is mostly told in the present tense, which also serves to emphasize the salient point that these things can be done today as well.

The Mongol bow is not as large and long as the English one, but it is vastly more powerful. The draw weight of an English longbow averages around 70-80 pounds, whereas the Old Mongol bow had a pull that, according to George Vernadsky, averaged at around 166 pounds. Chambers states that the pull varied from 100 to 160 pounds. This seeming discrepancy certainly reflects the fact that draw weight varied with the strength of the user, and with what use the bow had been made for. As could be expected, there was a considerable difference in shooting range. Whereas the English longbow could shoot at distances up to 250 yards or around 228 meters, the Mongol counterpart can hit its target at 350 yards or 320 meters and, if the archer is well trained for the task, even beyond that.

There are people who claim that the Old Mongols could shoot and hit their target over truly astonishing distances. Gongor Lhagvasuren, Deputy Director at the Mongolian National Institute of Physical Education, has written an article called "The stele of Chinggis Khan." There, Lhagvasuren refers to an ancient inscription on a stone found in the basin of the river Kharkiraa, a left tributary of Urlengui river which flows into the trans-Bajkal river Erdene. The text of the inscription, supposedly dated from 1226, may be interpreted as follows: "While Chinggis Khan was holding an assembly of Mongolian dignitaries, after his conquest of Sartaul (East Turkestan), Esungge shot a target at 335 alds" (536m). Lhagvasuren draws the conclusion in his article that such feats were rather common for Mongolian archers during the 1200's, and writes: "This case illustrates the strength, accuracy and sharpness, physical prowess of the Mongolians who lived more than 700 years ago." Whether or not we find it likely that Mongolian archers could regularly hit their targets at the distances Lhagvasuren claims they could, there is no question that they and their and bows are outstanding in all of archery's history.

When we take a closer look at the Mongolian bow, we see that it is an intriguing construction indeed. The backbone of the bow is a wooden frame, which will typically be birch, because that wood is resilient and is also readily available. The total length of the frame is 150-160 cm. When the bow is unstrung, it looks like a semi-circle with a beautifully curvaceous shape, but when a string is attached the whole thing is stretched out so that its limbs are bent inward. Even so, these limbs with string attachments are bent slighly away from the archer, forming a double curve. It is this double curve that delivers explosive acceleration and awesome velocity to the arrow. From these limbs or bends of the bow behind the string attachments where the impact is greatest, the frame is covered with elongated and flattened pieces of mountain sheep's (or other wild or domesticated ungulate's) horn or/and bone which adds snapping power to the resilient wood in the frame. These hard parts form a layer that covers the whole area of the so-called belly, which is the part between the grip and the limbs. Chambers describes how the back parts of the bow, nearest the archer, were those covered with horn and/or bone while the sinew layer was applied to the outer side.

The reader will have noticed that I use the term horn and/or bone. This is because the precise details of how the bows were built could vary over the Siberian area, although the main features are clear. The bone elements, when added, are no more than a small part at the center of the bow, and may originally have served mainly ornamental and possibly magical purposes.

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

Next Tuesday Part VI of The Mongols

[MoJo2001]

Welcome to the Canteen!
As a Polynesian, I can tell you that women can be equally fierce in battle. However, some folks may not have ancestry that is capable of getting the job done. That's why it's not feasible to imagine for them. For every Spartan woman, there will be forever a French wimpette.



 

[PzLdr]

In addition to the limbs, Mongol compound bows had "ears" at each end, to which the bowstring attached. These added further tension when the bow was drawn, giving it more power.

Mongol bows were held together with a glue made from fish bladders, which were waterproof. The glue was also used on the wrap used on both limbs, such as birch bark, which added to the moisture resistance. Despite their power, Mongol bows were fairly short ( a requirement for a horse archer, deriving all their power from the construction materials and manufacturing techniques). They were fired in a different manner than western bows, with the arrows placed on the side of the grip away from the hand holding the bow, and with the use of a thumb ring on the on the hand pulling the bow. Mongol success with the bow in battle was the result of three factors: years of hunting, the gait of the Mongol horse, which even at a gallop allowed a rider using short stirrups to fire from a stable platform, and lethal use of the "arrow storm" technique.

Mongol armor piercing arrowheads were reportedly tempered in salt water to make them harder, and the heads came in various shapes. Like the Parthians centuries before them, Mongol ordus went to war with wagonloads of spare arrows. The 60 arrows referred to by Chambers were their "basic load", and readily, and frequently, replaced.

[MoJo2001]

Sweet dreams Mr.Tonkin!
*HUGS*

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, TM, for the link. Very nice Pearl Harbor site.

[malia]

bttt

[mylife]

L0L its a bit loose but I like the general harmony, hope you git a smile as well

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Good Night

*HUG*

[bikewench]

Beautiful flowers...

And the cozy fireplace scenes... They all give my day a lift..

Thanks so much Tonkin..

[Kathy in Alaska]

A PRAYER OF PROTECTION

The light of God surround you
The love of God enfold you
The power of God protect you
The presence of God watch over you
Wherever you are,God is,
And all is well.
Amen.

Bless This House

Bless this house O Lord we pray;
Make it safe by night and day;
Bless these walls so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out:
Bless the roof and chimneys tall,
Let thy peace lie over all;
Bless this door, that it may prove
ever open to joy and love.


Bless these windows shining bright,
Letting in God's heav'nly light;
Bless the hearth a'blazing there,
with smoke ascending like a prayer;
Bless the folk who dwell within,
keep them pure and free from sin;
Bless us all that we may be
Fit O Lord to dwell with thee;
Bless us all that one day we
May dwell O Lord with thee.

(Click on praying hands above, or on banner at the top to hear the music)

A PRAYER OF PROTECTION

The light of God surround you
The love of God enfold you
The power of God protect you
The presence of God watch over you
Wherever you are,God is,
And all is well.
Amen.

Bless This House

Bless this house O Lord we pray;
Make it safe by night and day;
Bless these walls so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out:
Bless the roof and chimneys tall,
Let thy peace lie over all;
Bless this door, that it may prove
ever open to joy and love.


Bless these windows shining bright,
Letting in God's heav'nly light;
Bless the hearth a'blazing there,
with smoke ascending like a prayer;
Bless the folk who dwell within,
keep them pure and free from sin;
Bless us all that we may be
Fit O Lord to dwell with thee;
Bless us all that one day we
May dwell O Lord with thee.

(Click on praying hands above, or on banner at the top to hear the music)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Duty ~ Honor ~ Country

Click above to visit "A Day in the Life of President Bush"

[MoJo2001]

Fabulous thread Diva!
*HUGS*
Thank you for all your hardwork and effort on behalf of the Canteen and our Troops!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Observed at Baghdad, Iraq
Scattered Clouds. High: 62° F Low: 42° F

[mylife]

Night Capt'n

[HopeandGlory]

I am French, English, Scotch, and German. What am I?)

AMERICAN?

(actually its Scots m'dear . . . Scotch is the drink . . . ;-)

[PzLdr]

Actually, Mongol women not only traveled with the Army, they had a great deal of power. When Chinnghis Quan's son-in -law Toguchar was killed during the Khwaresm campaign, his widow , the Quan's daughter, supervised her brother's (Tolui?) destruction of the city where he died, including the killing of every human being there.

When Uggedai, Qua Quan died, his widow was regent in his place , and delayed the Quriltai to choose his succesor until her son Guyuk was chosen.Tolui's widow, Sorghatani Beki refused Guyuk's attempts to marry her off, and forged an alliance with Batu Quan of the Golden Horde to not only elect her son Mongke as Qua Quan, but to take that office from the house of Uggedai for the rest of the Mongol Empire's history.

Chinnghis Quan's reliance on his mother Houlun, and his principal wife, Bortai, is quoted at length in the Secret History. I can find no firm documentation that Mongol women rode to battle with the men, however. Considering the structure and discipline of the Mongol Ordu, and its almost continual engagement in warfare, I doubt that they did.

[Valin]

Teaser
Died on this day:
Rube Goldberg: 1970 (was 87)/b.Jul 4, 1883
ComicStrip Cartoonist, Boob McNutt, Mike & Ike, Lucifer Butts; made the easy outrageously difficult
/Teaser

[SevenofNine]

Well breaking news off Sky news report that Romania troops found cahce of weapons in Aghaiitairn just couple hours ago

Developing....

Also report off AFP wire reporting that Russia has unveil new long ranch missile that could lay smackdown on smaller targets like terrorists

Also report from BBC reporting that you hear about Dick Cheney go to Aghatiarin guess who making road trip TOOO Rummy that right

Sky news reporting he has arrived meet with US Troops there at this hour

According to witneses he totally suprise miltary troops

[Kathy in Alaska]

Beautiful flower arrangement today! Thanks men in the Military and the Canteen.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Wait...wait...wait! Who has arrived where, Seven?

[Kathy in Alaska]

~ Robert ~

~ A Military Family Member's Wife ~

~ Luke ~

~ Billy ~

~ Britton ~

Thank you to each of these heroes for their dedication and sacrifice for America. We thank all the rest of our Troops whose pictures are not listed here. We extend our gratitude to you and your families. God Bless America! God Bless our Troops! God Bless our Allies! (If you would like to have your family member's picture posted everyday, please FReepmail me.)