Mongols Conquest

The Mongolians conquest is one of the most peculiar parts about history. How horse nomads from the steppes were able to create the largest land empire in human history is a question that historians have tried to address for a long time. Mongolians were so successful in their conquests because they were created from their steppe lifestyle of horse and bow and received the uniting leader that they needed in 1204, Genghis Khan. The Mongols were first recorded in 618-907 in China. Their word for "Mongol" means brave fighter who knows no fear ("The Mongols Conquests..." 9). The Mongolian lifestyle was one of great hardship and contributed to their success. Mongolians were shamanistic like many other steppe tribes and worshipped the gods of the
plains and the sun (Barnes). Also, Mongolia is set geographically in the Gobi desert which is considered one of the harshest environments in the world. These factors all contributed towards Mongolians remaining nomadic and barbaric. This nomadic way of life made it so that Mongolians were always in small units and in order to survive, had to become very proficient in what they do (Barnes). Because of this need to hunt, Mongolians were taught to use a compound bow, often having a 130 pound draw, from a very young age. According to Barnes, this mastery of horse and bow from a young age distinguished the Mongolians from other steppe tribes. The Algerians, masters of bows themselves, called the Mongolians the "Nation of Archers". The danger from even the unorganized Mongols is illustrated by top Chinese foreign policy at the time which was to try to keep Mongolians warring with themselves. This fatal flaw of the Mongolians would come to an end when Genghis Khan united the Mongolian tribes. According to Szczepanski, Temujin was born to a chieftain in 1162. He is said to have been bron with a black blood clot in his hand, a sign that he would become a great warrior. At a trip to a neighboring tribe when Temujin was nin, his father was killed. Temujin was exiled with his family and made a slave. He barely survived and escaped later on. After his escape, his new adopted father took him under his wing and Temujin started showing his ambitions. At 27 years old, Temujin held a "kuiltai" and was elected khan. His adopted father helped with politics and Temujin was a successful leader. In 1204, Temujin defeated the Naimen tribe which was the only major obstacle in his way of uniting Mongolia and was crowned Genghis Khan. After this unification, China 's, specifically the Jin and Tangut Xi Xia dynasty 's, worst fears began being realized. As Barnes noted, Genghis was an excellent leader and developed many amazing strategies.
According to Barnes, probably the most effective tactic was "nerge". This was an encirclement and was used to instill fear. This was practiced both on the battlefield and on a large, regional, scale. the "Arrow Storm" was another great tactic developed by Genghis Khan. This would be the Mongols using their skill with bow and arrow to keep distance from the enemy and raining arrows into a "kill zone". It created chaos on the battlefield and rained terror down on to their enemies. With the agility from their amazing skill with horses, the Mongolians moved so fast that the Chinese believed that Mongolian forces were 10 times larger than they actually were. This instilment of fear is one of the most famous and most genius of Mongol tactics. The terror of the Mongols is what sets the Mongolians apart from any other famous conquerors. Everywhere the Mongols went, the local populace was quick to either die or surrender (Barnes). Genghis ' terror is shown throughout all of the staging ground of wars and battles that were fought. Local populaces that fought back were massacred. This destruction is shown in Hungary, in that 50% on the total population there were killed (Barnes). A quote from Genghis Khan that shows is attitude towards conquering is, “The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in
tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters.” (Taylor 63). Mongolians were successful because of their lifestyle and their leader.
As we can see with accounts from those conquered and who met face to face with the Mongolians, they were the most terrifying conquering force because of their agility with the horse and accuracy with the bow. None of this would have been possible without an amazing leader and tactician that is Genghis Khan. He revolutionized the already great warriors of the Steppe with tactics such as the nerge and arrow storm and led them into a storm of terror across the Eurasian
continent.

Works Cited
Barnes, Matthew. "The Mongol War Machine: How Were the Mongols Able to Forge the Largest Contiguous Land Empire in History?" Thepicaproject.org/. PiCA, 2009. Web. 05 May 2013

Szczepanski, Kallie. "Biography of Ghenghis Khan." Asianhistory.about.com/. About.com, n.d. Web. 05 May 2013

Taylor, Robert. Life in Ghenghis Khan 's Mongolia. San Diego: Lucent, 2001. Print.

The Mongol Conquests: Time Frame 1200-1300. Alexandria, VA: Time Life, 1989. Print.