ᠴᠢᠩᠭᠢᠰ ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠪᠠ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠤᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠳᠠᠶᠢᠯᠠᠨ ᠳᠠᠭᠠᠭᠤᠯᠤᠯ 1190 ~ 1400

Essential Histories Genghis Khan capture of Wolohai 1210 Surrender of Yinchuan 1211 Invasion of the Jin Empire by Genghis Khan 1212 Siege of Datong︔ Genghis Khan is wounded by an arrow 1213 Mongol attack on the Juyong Pass 1214 Siege of Ningjiang in Manchuria 1215 Capture of Zhongdu ︵Beijing︶ 1216 Mongols drive the Khitans into Korea 1218 Fall of Kashgar︔ Mongols defeat the Kara-Khitai 1219 Invasion of the Khwarazm Empire and the siege of Otrar︔ capture of Bukhara 1220 Capture of Samarkand 1221 Death of Shah Muhammad of Khwarazm︔ Genghis Khan'︔ s Afghan campaign begins︔ capture of Tirmiz, Balkh and Merv︔ capture of Nishapur 1222 Visit of the sage Changchun to Genghis Khan 1223 Battle of the Kalka river 1227 Second Xixia campaign begins︔ siege of Ningxia︔ death of Genghis Khan︔ death of Jochi 1231 Death of Jalal-al-Din︔ siege of Hezhong︔ siege of Kuju begins 1232 Siege of Kaifeng begins︔ Korean court moves to Kanghwa Island︔ Sartaq is killed at the siege of Ch'︔ oin 1234 Suicide of the last Jin emperor 1235 The Great Kuriltai is held 1237 Invasion of northern Russian principalities begins︔ siege of Riazan 1238 Siege of Vladimir︔ battle of the Sit river 1239 Defeat of the Polovtsians ︵Cumans︶ 1240 Siege of Kiev ︵Kyiv︶ 1241 Battles of Cmielnik, Leignitz, Sajo river ︵Mohi︶︔ death of Ogodei Khan︔ Siege of Gran 1242 King Bela of Hungary flees to Croatia︔ Mongols leave Europe 1243 Submission of Prince Iaroslav Vsevolodich to the Golden Horde 1248 Death of Kuyuk Khan 1251 Carving of the Tripitaka Koreana completed︔ Mongke Khan launches the Persian campaign 1253 Siege of Ch'︔ ungju︔ destruction of the Nanzhao kingdom at Dali 1254 Final Mongol invasion of Korea begins 1255 Death of Batu, khan of the Golden Horde 1256 Hulegu defeats the Ismailis ︵Assassins︶ 1257 Invasion of Annam 1258 Hulegu captures Baghdad 1259 Siege of Aleppo︔ death of Mongke Khan 1260 Accession of Khubilai Khan︔ Mongols defeated by Mamluks at Ain Jalut 1265 Battle of Daioyu. Mongols acquire a fleet︔ death of Hulegu, Ilkhan of Persia 1268 Siege of Xiangyang begins 1273 Peace settlement with Korea 1274 First invasion of Japan 1275 Bayan crosses the Yangtze 1277 Battle of Ngasaungyyan 1278 King of Champa pays homage to the Mongols 1279 Fall of the Southern Song 1281 Second invasion of Japan︔ Chains repudiate homage︔ invasion of Champa 1282 Mongol treaty of amity with Siam 1285 Battle of Siming 1287 Capture of Pagan︔ Capture of Hanoi 1288 Battle of the Bach Dang river 1293 Mongols land in Java 1294 Death of Khubilai Khan 1296 Mongol embassy to Cambodia 1301 Mongol attack on Lan Na︔ death of Kaidu 1356 Ming capture Nanjing 1368 Ming dynasty supplants the Yuan dynasty 1370 Death of the last Yuan emperor 1380 Battle of Kulikovo Background to war The rise of the Mongols The Mongols entered history as just one among a number of nomad tribes on the steppes of central Asia. As Juvaini puts it: Before the appearance of Genghis Khan they had no chief or ruler. Each tribe or two tribes lived separately︔ they were not united with one another, and there was constant fighting and hostility between them. Some of them regarded robbery and violence, immorality and debauchery as deeds of manliness and excellence. The Khan of Khitai used to demand and seize goods from them. Their clothing was of the skins of dogs and mice, and their food was the flesh of those animals and other dead things. Their wine was mare'︔ s milk. The rise of the Mongols and the beginnings of the Mongol conquests arose out of a dramatic shift from such disunity to unity, and it was achieved through the personality and military skills of one man. In all probability he was born in 1167. He was given the name of Temuchin. The nomad world he entered was a fierce and unforgiving one of rivalry and survival skills. Like all Mongol children, Temuchin learned to ride with great skill and to handle a bow and arrows. After an eventful younger life his thoughts turned towards the OPPOSITE Genghis Khan, who unified the Mongol tribes and created a world empire. ︵Author'︔ s collection︶ BELOW The steppes of central Asia. ︵David Lambert︶ Background to war 13 14 Essential Histories • Genghis Khan︖ stan︶ . It dates from the I Oth century. Uzgen was a major city in the Kara-Khitai state, ︵David Nicolle︶ around him to form an army that would pose a threat to the security of the Mongol Empire, so in 1218 a Mongol corps of 20,000 men under Jebe appeared before Kashgar. The local population saw the Mongols as liberators from Kuchlug, so rebellion broke out, and Kuchlug was captured and killed. The Kara-Khitai lands were integrated into Mongol suzerainty. Warring sides The Mongol army The army with which Genghis Khan had achieved supreme power among his own people was shortly to be unleashed upon their neighbours. The lighter Mongol cavalrymen wore sheepskin coats over their ordinary clothes, but recent research, including some very valuable archaeological finds, has demonstrated that a Mongol army would have consisted of a large number of heavy cavalrymen in addition to light cavalrymen. The armour that these horsemen wore was made In the common Asiatic stvle of lamellar Mongol society, both civil and military ︵between which there was little distinction︶ was characterised by firm discipline. After visiting the Mongols in 1246, Giovanni dl Piano Carpini wrote: The Tartars - that is, the Mongols - are the most obedient people in the world in regard to their leaders, more so even than our own clergy to their superiors. They hold them in the greatest reverence and never tell them a lie. At the apex of the Mongol social structure was the ruling Khan of the family of Genghis Khan, and the grazing lands allocated to Genghis Khan'︔ s four sons became the basis for the future khanates. This was the aristocracy of the steppes, a feudal structure found also in the army. A bond of personal loyalty linked the captains of tens ︵arban︶ with the captain of hundreds ︵jaghun︶ , thousands ︵mingghan︶ and ten thousands ︵tumen︶ , a simple decimal system that aided both delegation and communication. There was also an elite bodyguard for the Great Khan. In principle, the Mongol army was divided into three wings of left, right and centre, plus reserves. Mongol campaign logistics An army, said Napoleon, '︔ marches on its stomach'︔ , a celebrated dictum that has enshrined for ever in military history the importance of considering logistical matters when campaigns are being described. The supply and sourcing of food and water, the chains of command and of communication between the general and his lowliest foot soldier, the physical capabilities of the cavalry'︔ s mounts, the terrain to be covered - all are matters that require careful attention before drawing any conclusions about the course of an operation. It is, however, noticeable that there is one army for whom such painstaking analysis is frequently abandoned. In the popular view, the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan and his successors stand alone in being spared from the harsh reality of campaign logistics. In this caricature, Mongol horsemen are invariably depicted as galloping everywhere. armour, whereby small scales of iron or leather were pierced with holes and sewn together with leather thongs to make a composite armour plate. Alternatively, a heavy coat could be reinforced using metal plates. A coat was worn under the suit of armour, and heavy leather boots were worn on the feet. The helmet, which was made from a number of larger iron pieces, was roughly in the shape of a rounded cone, and had the added protective feature of a neck guard of iron plates. The Mongol heavy cavalry rode horses that also enjoyed the protection of lamellar armour. Bows, swords and maces were the main offensive weapons. The organisation of the Mongol army 18 Essential Histories • Genghis Khan and then, when exhausted by these endeavours, they even sleep in the saddle as their mounts carry them unerringly towards their next encounter. This larger-than-life image must certainly have been the impression given to the Mongols'︔ victims during their great conquests, and one can easily imagine a central Asian peasant standing in bemused terror as a horde of mounted demons suddenly appear out of nowhere to destroy utterly the world he has known. There is also considerable evidence that the Mongols deliberately fostered this superhuman image to help their campaigns along, until the cumulative effect of their unstoppable reputation led some cities to surrender without putting up any resistance. But if medieval peasants could be fooled into thinking that the Mongols were superhuman, the same should not be said for modern historians. Yet time and again we meet the same assumptions of immense speed and complete independence from conventional logistics, whereby the armies are portrayed in an almost endless charge, sustained only on mare'︔ s milk and horse blood. Needless to say, the Mongols themselves were under no illusions about logistical reality. Each man kept a string of 16 horses, not just one or two, a huge asset to mobility that arose out of their nomadic background. The addition of another two horses to this total to provide meat on the hoof would have kept a Mongol army in the field for about six months without cutting appreciably its rate of movement, leaving the milk and the blood for emergency situations. Yet the rate of travel of a Mongol army was by no means as rapid as is popularly assumed. During the campaigns in China against the Jin Empire the Mongols travelled on average only up to about 14 miles ︵23km︶ a day. This was because the immense logistical advantage they gained from the horses'︔ ability to live off the pasture lands over which they rode had a limitation in that the horses had to have time to graze, a process that takes longer than feeding horses with fodder. Nevertheless, it was this factor, which derived directly from the nature of life on the steppes from which they had come, that allowed the initially remorseless spread of the Mongol conquests. The enemies of the Mongols So far-reaching were the Mongol conquests that they fought a larger variety of enemy than any army in history. Some were nomads like themselves who relied on swift light cavalry. Others were sedentary societies who took refuge behind heavy armour or city walls. The easiest target for the Mongols would appear to have been European heavy cavalry. The Mongol never placed themselves in a position where a charge by mounted knights could hurt them. At Leignitz and Mohi, clever Mongol tactics neutralised the better defensive armour possessed by the knights. China produced a multitude of challenges, and for much of their history the Chinese seem to have had the technological edge over the Mongols. The Chinese were the first to use exploding gunpowder bombs. The first type to be devised were soft-cased '︔ thunderclap bombs'︔ . These were followed by iron '︔ thunder crash bombs'︔ or '︔ heaven shaking thunder'︔ as they were sometimes known, which killed people by the shattering of their metal cases and destroyed objects by the increased force of the explosion that is implied by the dramatically enhanced name. They were shaped like a bottle gourd with a small opening, and were made from cast iron about 5cm ︵2 inches︶ thick. The fragments produced when the bombs exploded caused great personal injury, and one Southern Song officer was blinded in an explosion that also wounded half a dozen other men. Warring sides 19 Their first recorded use in war dates from the siege by the Jin of the Southern Song city of Qizhou in 1221. Land mines were also used against the Mongols as the Song fought to the last man. The simplest sort were just large explosive bombs placed at a spot where one'︔ s enemy was expected, and then detonated using some form of time fuse. A dramatic incident involving just such a planned delayed explosion occurred in 1277 at Guilin in Guangxi province, one of the last outposts of Southern Song resistance to the Mongols. When the main citadel fell, a truce was arranged so that the garrison could receive supplies prior to an honourable surrender. During the interregnum some Mongol soldiers climbed up on to the now undefended walls, when suddenly there was an enormous explosion which brought down the wall and the Mongols with it. The Southern Song defenders had prepared a huge bomb at its foundations, and had ignited it at just the right moment. The Koreans made use of more primitive siege weaponry, throwing molten iron projectiles at the Mongols. But one other means of Korean resistance was used for the first time during the third invasion of Korea. This was guerrilla warfare, conducted by the Korean py'︔ olch'︔ o ︵patrols︶ . They laid ambushes for Mongol columns and fought small-scale skirmishes. They also raided Mongol camps, taking many heads and much plunder. This proved to be a very effective way of harassing the invading armies. Unlike the Koreans, the Japanese seem to have suffered a remarkable culture shock when the Mongols launched their surprise invasion. At first the samurai tried to fight back using their traditional techniques. Their ideal of martial behaviour was still that of the individual and elite mounted archer testing his skills against a worthy opponent summoned by issuing a challenge. The great difficulty that the Mongol invasion produced for the samurai was the impossibility of communicating challenges to an opponent who did not speak Japanese. As the Hachiman Gudokun relates: According to our manner of fighting we must first cult out by name someone from the enemy ranks, and then attack in single combat. But they took no notice at all of such conventions. They rushed forward ail together in a mass, grappling with any individuals they could not catch and killing them. The Mongols'︔ advance and withdrawal to the accompaniment of drums, bells and shouted war-cries alarmed the Japanese horses. The samurai were also faced with a different archery technique, whereby arrows were shot in huge clouds, rather than being used in long-range individual combat. Dense showers of arrows, some tipped with poison, were poured into the Japanese lines. Any individual combats that did take place were anonymous affairs, although there are several accounts of samurai attempting to seek out high-ranking Mongol warriors. In Burma the Mongol horses were startled by Burmese war elephants, but as on so many other occasions the Mongols refused to be panicked and calmly dismounted. They first took their mounts to the rear and then relumed to loose arrows against the elephants. This action stampeded them, leading to a great Mongol victory. The Chinese chronicles of the Mongol conquest of Java tell us little about the weapons used by the Javanese, but later Javanese epics, written during the 16th century about events during the 14th century, enable us to make some educated guesses about the warriors who faced the Mongols. There would almost certainly have been only a few elephants,