composed of seperate parts of article written by Originally written by David Kuijit into one super article form by me 
"The Scourge of Heaven," "The Devil's Horsemen", "The Golden Horde"....these are just a few of the names assigned to the Mongols and/or their constituent parts. Highly disciplined horsemen capable of employing both shock and harrassing tactics and skilled in the arts of feint and ambush, the Mongol armies conquered all that they encountered, assimilating all that they found useful. Predominant for nearly 150 years, their conquests covered almost all of Asia, the mid-East, and Eastern Europe.
The initial expansion of the Mongols was perhaps one of, if not the most devastating and successful series of invasions in such a short period of time by one "nation" in history. The list of nations and kingdoms they crushed goes on and on. The conquered the Hsia-hsia, Khwarizm, the Abassid Caliphate, Georgia, the Alans, the Kipchaks, the Ghuzz, the Volga Bulgars. They conquered the Russian Principalities in the winter. They conquered the Sung, Korea, the Seljuq Sultanate. In a huge raid to divert attention from an invasion of Hungary they shattered the Poles and Teutonic Knights at Leignitz; at the same time their invasion force in Hungary shattered and obliterated a feudal force twice their size in the battle of Mohi. The Mongols fought battles as far south as Annam (modern Vietnam) and Burma, as far east as Korea and Japan.
News of the death of their Khan caused the Mongols to turn around when they were within a few hundred miles of Venice and Vienna. Similar news caused them to withdraw from an invasion of Egypt; the forces they left behind in Syria were soundly thrashed by the Mamlukes in a rare defeat. An invasion of Japan was stopped only by nature, as a tremendous storm shattered their invasion fleet.
Outnumbered in every battle, they won through toughness, discipline, ruthlessness, and planning. They investigated their neighbours thoroughly, spread propoganda to demoralize them, and exploited any weakness or dissension. During a period when most Kings were glad if their nobles would obey a direct command without debate, Mongol commanders would think nothing of planning and sending forces out on independent maneuvers that took days, weeks, or months to execute.
Army Notes
-Cavalry: The strike arm of a Mongol army is their heavy cavalry. Many of them would have armour and a lance to supplement their bow and sabre. Some would even have horse armour. Armour would be lamellar with the plates made of iron (described in some sources as very brightly polished), or of leather hardened and waterproofed with pitch. (very similer to Byzantine armour...
)
-Light Horse: the bulk of Mongol troops were unarmoured light horsemen, armed with bow and a sword or axe or similar handweapon; often with a lassoo as well. The prototypical Mongol army fighting in the west would have as many light horse elements as possible.
-Spear: The Mongols often dismounted and fought behind large pavises in siege operations. In open battles in Europe they always fought mounted, however. The justification for the Spear elements is in their warfare in the Orient, especially in the invasions of Japan, where they used large numbers of Korean and Chinese foot equipped with large rectangular pavises of bamboo, and long spears. The spears in particular impressed the Japanese, and were important in the pre-eminence of the Yari in later Japan. Luckily, a sequence of illuminations were made soon after the first Mongol invasion, called the "Invasion Scroll". Most books on Japan at that period will have at least one picture from the Invasion Scroll.
-Bow: The Mongols seem to have dismounted their light horse to face elephants in Burma. In those battles they fought as infantry bow. I'm unaware of any other occasion when the Mongols fought as dismounted archers...
-Artillery: the Mongols used artillery in a number of field battles. The first illustration, anywhere, of an exploding gunpowder weapon is in the Invasion Scroll showing their assault on Japan. They used relatively fast-firing human-powered trebuchets that were also adopted by the Mamlukes, and also appear in the Maciejowsky Bible (Western European, c. 1250). In particular, they forced their way across the river Sajo against the Hungarians at the battle of Mohi with the aid of artillery, though this gun powder artillery was still not common in any stretch of the imagination.
Notes on Tactics
The army of the Mongols had a nearly untarnished record of victory. Their constant stream of victory, however, was due to systematic planning, reconnaisance of their foes, strategic mobility and initiative, propoganda, discipline, and many other factors that do not appear on the battlefield. In one case the Mongols spent nine consecutive days in feigned flight from a Muslim foe before regrouping and attacking their very shocked "pursuers".
As a Mongol commander, one would have his work cut out for him. Ghengis Khan was one of the most brilliant commanders of all time, and many of his commanders were also men of tremendous ability (notably the redoubtable Subodai, who may have even outshone Ghengis). When the sons of Ghenghis passed on, his grandsons were not so well served. Under later commanders, the ferocity of the Mongols was not enough to win them victories. The Golden Horde was feared in Russia, but no more than the Kipchak Turks that had preceded them there. The Ilkhanate of Persia only lasted about a century before collapsing to internal trouble. The Yuan Chinese Empire of Kublai Khan also lasted barely more than a century before a rebellion led by a peasant formed the Ming Empire. And the Chagatai Khanate sunk into the nomadic backwater it had been before Ghengis arose.
One interesting note, however -- even a century after the death of Ghengis' son Ogedai, the Chagatai Mongols were still tools that great commanders could devastate the world with. Timur the lame arose in the late 14th century as a commander among the Chagatai Mongols in Transoxiana; he used them as the core of an army that may have equalled or even exceeded that of Ghengis. With the Mongols as the core of his army he defeated the Delhi Sultanate, Islamic Persia, the Mamluke Egyptians, the Golden Horde, and shattered the Ottoman Sultanate under one of its greatest commanders, Bayezid "the Thunderbolt".
What does all this mean? It means that a good general who can use light horse adeptly can win with the Mongols, but one who cannot is going to have trouble. The Mongols are a maneuver army; you must use maneuver, outflanking, threats and confusion to keep your enemy off balance.
*all this said, even after my study on the mogols, i am still of firm opinion that 7 ou tof every 10 battles could have been won by Justino-Heraclean-Basillian Byzantine frield commanders, and forces.
*as an interesting note,in 1251 AD - 1556 AD)The Golden Horde was quite hostile to the Ilkhanids, and maintained an alliance with the Byzantines, against them for a very long time.
"The Scourge of Heaven," "The Devil's Horsemen", "The Golden Horde"....these are just a few of the names assigned to the Mongols and/or their constituent parts. Highly disciplined horsemen capable of employing both shock and harrassing tactics and skilled in the arts of feint and ambush, the Mongol armies conquered all that they encountered, assimilating all that they found useful. Predominant for nearly 150 years, their conquests covered almost all of Asia, the mid-East, and Eastern Europe.
The initial expansion of the Mongols was perhaps one of, if not the most devastating and successful series of invasions in such a short period of time by one "nation" in history. The list of nations and kingdoms they crushed goes on and on. The conquered the Hsia-hsia, Khwarizm, the Abassid Caliphate, Georgia, the Alans, the Kipchaks, the Ghuzz, the Volga Bulgars. They conquered the Russian Principalities in the winter. They conquered the Sung, Korea, the Seljuq Sultanate. In a huge raid to divert attention from an invasion of Hungary they shattered the Poles and Teutonic Knights at Leignitz; at the same time their invasion force in Hungary shattered and obliterated a feudal force twice their size in the battle of Mohi. The Mongols fought battles as far south as Annam (modern Vietnam) and Burma, as far east as Korea and Japan.
News of the death of their Khan caused the Mongols to turn around when they were within a few hundred miles of Venice and Vienna. Similar news caused them to withdraw from an invasion of Egypt; the forces they left behind in Syria were soundly thrashed by the Mamlukes in a rare defeat. An invasion of Japan was stopped only by nature, as a tremendous storm shattered their invasion fleet.
Outnumbered in every battle, they won through toughness, discipline, ruthlessness, and planning. They investigated their neighbours thoroughly, spread propoganda to demoralize them, and exploited any weakness or dissension. During a period when most Kings were glad if their nobles would obey a direct command without debate, Mongol commanders would think nothing of planning and sending forces out on independent maneuvers that took days, weeks, or months to execute.
Army Notes
-Cavalry: The strike arm of a Mongol army is their heavy cavalry. Many of them would have armour and a lance to supplement their bow and sabre. Some would even have horse armour. Armour would be lamellar with the plates made of iron (described in some sources as very brightly polished), or of leather hardened and waterproofed with pitch. (very similer to Byzantine armour...
)-Light Horse: the bulk of Mongol troops were unarmoured light horsemen, armed with bow and a sword or axe or similar handweapon; often with a lassoo as well. The prototypical Mongol army fighting in the west would have as many light horse elements as possible.
-Spear: The Mongols often dismounted and fought behind large pavises in siege operations. In open battles in Europe they always fought mounted, however. The justification for the Spear elements is in their warfare in the Orient, especially in the invasions of Japan, where they used large numbers of Korean and Chinese foot equipped with large rectangular pavises of bamboo, and long spears. The spears in particular impressed the Japanese, and were important in the pre-eminence of the Yari in later Japan. Luckily, a sequence of illuminations were made soon after the first Mongol invasion, called the "Invasion Scroll". Most books on Japan at that period will have at least one picture from the Invasion Scroll.
-Bow: The Mongols seem to have dismounted their light horse to face elephants in Burma. In those battles they fought as infantry bow. I'm unaware of any other occasion when the Mongols fought as dismounted archers...
-Artillery: the Mongols used artillery in a number of field battles. The first illustration, anywhere, of an exploding gunpowder weapon is in the Invasion Scroll showing their assault on Japan. They used relatively fast-firing human-powered trebuchets that were also adopted by the Mamlukes, and also appear in the Maciejowsky Bible (Western European, c. 1250). In particular, they forced their way across the river Sajo against the Hungarians at the battle of Mohi with the aid of artillery, though this gun powder artillery was still not common in any stretch of the imagination.
Notes on Tactics
The army of the Mongols had a nearly untarnished record of victory. Their constant stream of victory, however, was due to systematic planning, reconnaisance of their foes, strategic mobility and initiative, propoganda, discipline, and many other factors that do not appear on the battlefield. In one case the Mongols spent nine consecutive days in feigned flight from a Muslim foe before regrouping and attacking their very shocked "pursuers".
As a Mongol commander, one would have his work cut out for him. Ghengis Khan was one of the most brilliant commanders of all time, and many of his commanders were also men of tremendous ability (notably the redoubtable Subodai, who may have even outshone Ghengis). When the sons of Ghenghis passed on, his grandsons were not so well served. Under later commanders, the ferocity of the Mongols was not enough to win them victories. The Golden Horde was feared in Russia, but no more than the Kipchak Turks that had preceded them there. The Ilkhanate of Persia only lasted about a century before collapsing to internal trouble. The Yuan Chinese Empire of Kublai Khan also lasted barely more than a century before a rebellion led by a peasant formed the Ming Empire. And the Chagatai Khanate sunk into the nomadic backwater it had been before Ghengis arose.
One interesting note, however -- even a century after the death of Ghengis' son Ogedai, the Chagatai Mongols were still tools that great commanders could devastate the world with. Timur the lame arose in the late 14th century as a commander among the Chagatai Mongols in Transoxiana; he used them as the core of an army that may have equalled or even exceeded that of Ghengis. With the Mongols as the core of his army he defeated the Delhi Sultanate, Islamic Persia, the Mamluke Egyptians, the Golden Horde, and shattered the Ottoman Sultanate under one of its greatest commanders, Bayezid "the Thunderbolt".
What does all this mean? It means that a good general who can use light horse adeptly can win with the Mongols, but one who cannot is going to have trouble. The Mongols are a maneuver army; you must use maneuver, outflanking, threats and confusion to keep your enemy off balance.
*all this said, even after my study on the mogols, i am still of firm opinion that 7 ou tof every 10 battles could have been won by Justino-Heraclean-Basillian Byzantine frield commanders, and forces.
*as an interesting note,in 1251 AD - 1556 AD)The Golden Horde was quite hostile to the Ilkhanids, and maintained an alliance with the Byzantines, against them for a very long time.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA 
you misspelled Byzantine 
