The Handy Military History Answer Book. Samuel Willard CromptonЧитать онлайн книгу.
the Mongol army at its peak?
Population statistics are lacking, but we think there were roughly one million Mongolians, of whom no more than 120,000 could be sent to war. Genghis, however, incorporated many other peoples into the growing empire, and he could—by 1219—perhaps send 200,000 men into battle. Far more important than the numbers was the terror he induced, however; Genghis proved an expert at spreading his ferocious reputation, and many people chose not to fight at all.
Many religious persons attempted to convert Genghis, and the same held true for his descendants. Virtually all of these efforts failed, because to the Mongolians it was patently obvious that the Sky was supreme and all other powers were lesser ones. The Mongol leaders, however, were skillful at listening to various religious leaders and acting as if they might convert.
Could Genghis have stopped at this point?
No. He had unleashed such vital energy that the movement could no longer be contained. He was the supreme leader, but his battle-hardened warriors would not have stayed in one place even had he commanded this. Instead, he put them to use in the pursuit of the fallen Khawramzeen emperor, who died of disease on an island in the Caspian Sea. Genghis then pursued what remained of the Khawramzeen forces into northern India, where they escaped just in time. Tradition has it that Genghis—observing the bold leap of a ravine by the son of the emperor on horseback—called out “Happy the man who has such a son!”
Genghis and his Mongols pursued this man into northern India and carried out many sieges, but the lands south of the Himalayan mountains were of less interest to Genghis than the northern countries. He, therefore, returned to Mongolia and began a series of attacks on the Xi Xia, which still existed, though in a weakened state.
To this point, how many people had been killed, captured, or just plain murdered by the Mongols?
The number must have been at least half a million, but it does not include those who were displaced, and that number may well have exceeded half a million. In truth, given their own population size, the Mongols disrupted, disturbed, or outright destroyed the lives of more people—on a pound for pound basis—than any people before or since.
Genghis’ initial probes into the Xi Xia and Chin empires revealed their relative weakness, but he knew these campaigns would be filled with sieges, which were not the Mongols’ preferred type of warfare. Genghis was now old—for a Mongol—and it would have behooved him to turn over control of the battles and sieges to any one of his four sons by Borte, his principal wife. He chose to lead from the front, however, and in the late summer of 1227, he died shortly after he fell from his horse.
How successful was Genghis in his lifetime? How much remained to be accomplished?
Given that he became supreme leader of the Mongols in 1206 and that he died in 1227, Genghis has to rank—on anyone’s list—among the most successful men of all human history. In those twenty-one years, he conquered more territory and felled more empires and kingdoms than any person before or since.
Who learned of whom first: Europe or the Mongols?
The Christian West heard its first stories of the Mongols in the 1230s, but these were fragmentary. The Mongols, on the other hand, once they learned of Europe, used their first-rate intelligence service to find out more about the West. By the time they entered Eastern Europe in 1238, the Mongols knew a great deal about medieval Christian society.
To the Mongols as a whole, however, it was evident that much still remained to be done. Southern China had not even been invaded, and the Muslim kingdoms and potentates in the Middle East were still untouched. The Mongols, at this point, knew little of Eastern or Western Europe, but their spies would eventually inform them that there was yet another area which could be conquered.
Who succeeded Genghis as leader of the Mongols?
Jochi, his eldest son, died in battle about the same time as Genghis, and the throne passed to Ogedai (ruled 1229–1241). He was never as well known—either to the conquered peoples or the Mongols themselves—as his father, but Ogedai seems to have been a clever and careful ruler. More than his father, he appreciated the need for consolidation, and he worked on this while maintaining a stately life in his tent city in Mongolia.
Meanwhile, Genghis’ grandson, Batu Khan (ruled 1227–1255)—a son of Jochi—carved out a nearly separate and independent kingdom in southern Russia. Batu may have been angry at the death of his father and the loss of dignity to his part of the Mongol dynasty; then, too, he may simply have seized an opportunity as it appeared. Tensions built between him and his uncle Ogedai, however, and there might well have been an armed clash had events not moved in another direction.
When did the Mongols first invade Europe?
They came in the winter of 1238, attacking what is now the heartland of Russia. The kingdoms and principalities they attacked were a mixture of Christian in religion and Scandinavian in descent, with numerous Viking names among the rulers.
Moscow—which was still but a village—was sacked in 1239, and the much more important capital of Kiev in 1240. By now it was apparent that the Mongolian ponies were much more adept than their Russian counterparts and could cover longer distances. The Mongols, too, had refined their techniques; they were almost as good at siege warfare as they were at fighting in the open. They, therefore, decided to press on, and in the winter of 1241–1242 they attacked Eastern Europe. Polish and Hungarian knights met them but were crushed at the Battle of Leignitz, and the Mongols moved on into Hungary. They reached what is now Budapest and were ready to cross the Danube a second time—in a northward direction this time—when they learned of the death of Ogedai Khan.
How did Ogedai die, and how was his successor chosen?
Ogedai died of natural causes, although excessive drink may have contributed to his demise. He had no natural successor, and the Mongols held a great camp meeting, or election, at which it was decided that the throne would pass to his younger brother Kuyuk (ruled 1246–1248). It is important to remember that when we say “throne” we mean it in the European sense, but to the Mongols it was a much more mobile thing: to them, the great leader was more like “master of the horses and master of the camps.”
Kuyuk’s reign was short but eventful. He received the first embassy from the West, sent by none other than Pope Innocent IV. Kuyuk’s reply is worth quoting here.
“You have said that supplication and prayer have been offered by you, that I might find a good entry into baptism. This prayer of thine I have not understood. Other words which thou hast sent me: ‘I am surprised that thou hast seized all the lands of the Magyar and the Christians. Tell us what fault theirs is.’ These words of thine I have also not understood. The eternal God has slain and annihilated these lands and peoples, because they have neither adhered to Chinghis Kgan, nor to the Khagan…. How could anybody seize or kill by his own power contrary to the command of God?”
Which nation—or people—was next on the Mongol list?
The Mongols had, by now, penetrated through the northern part of the Eurasian landmass and had found only the Southern Chinese empire—known as the Song—capable of withstanding them. They intended to take down the Song, but higher on the list were the Muslim states and kingdoms in the Middle East, with Baghdad at the very top of the list.
The Muslim Middle Eastern leaders understood their peril and sent numerous embassies to the tent city of Karakorum, which was the Mongol capital during the reigns of Kuyuk and then his younger brother, Mongke Khan (ruled 1251–1259). We know of these embassies because of another pair of Franciscan monks who went east, this time representing the Pope. Numerous religious debates were held, with the Franciscan friar speaking for Christianity against the Nestorian Christians and the Muslims. Mongke Khan listened to all but reached his own conclusion, saying that just as there were five fingers to the human hand, so had God created different ways for humans to reach, or commune with, him.
Could the Mongols have defeated all the major nations and conquered Western Europe?
One hesitates to be too bold, but this is