Mongol warrior

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May 24, 2001
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"The hunt was the training for the Mongol warrior, and a lesson in tactics for his officers. In an operation of vast proportions the game was beaten into a huge, pre-selected reserve, and then the killing would begin. Whether the victims of the chase were enemy soldiers or wild animals, the whole operation was carried out methodically and ruthlessly.
Once the enemy were prepared for action the Mongol army took up its battle formation. The standard formation consisted of five ranks, each jagun being separated by wide intervals. The two front ranks consisted of heavy cavalry armed with lances, maces and swords, and probably with armored horses too. The remaining three ranks were light cavalry with little or no armour and armed with bows and javelins. When battle began the light vavalry advanced through the gaps in the heavy jaguns and poured a devastating volley of arrows and javelins into the enemy ranks. At the same time either or both the wings of light cavalry began an encircling movement to take the enemy in the flank or in the rear, a tactic known as the "tulughma" or standard sweep.
If any light troops were forced were forced back by an enemy's determination they calmly withdrew, shooting as they went, and their place was taken by other units. Very soon the enemy would become disorganized, at which point a charge by the ehavy cavalry would be ordered.

Source: Osprey series, "The Mongols" by S R Turnbull and Angus McBride
pp 25-26

amazing. Those of you who have frequented the Chinese Swordforum know about my fascination with the Mongol warfare and swords
;) . Unfortunately I have no been able to spot an antique one yet.

a) Do Nepalese talk about the ancient Mongol warfare?
b) Do they know about existing examples of Mongol swords?
Although China is in-between!!!

BTW, I never posted the above info on Swordforum, so this is my present to the new forum.
Regards,

Manoucher
 
Man, I've never heard stories of Mongol warfare and there is almost no contact between Mongolia and Nepal. I did some reading about Gengis Khan when I was young but that's about all I know and I've always wanted to visit Mongolia but never made it.
 
I haven't seen any specifics on Mongol swords. But the Magyars, whose kit/dress was very similar to the Mongols used a short saber type of sword. The primary weapons seemed to have been the javelin and bow, with the mace and a long handled tomahawk-like ax (can't remember its name, but I could find it), as other well used arms.

I too am very interested in the Eastern Europe/Asian horse tribe cultures. It is really a very cool culture.

Uncle, if you ever wanted to go to Mongolia, I have a very cool web site that take folks on two-week horse trips though the Mongolian steppes! I don't know how much, but I think it's one of those that if you have to ask, you can't afford it! Someday I'd love to go. ... it is on the list right under a bike tour of Nepal. ... :)

Alan
 
The Mongol's best weapon was their composite longbow.. The pull was well over 100 pounds and range was effective around 50 yards (I think) They were a modern army before the first modern army. They communicated using horns, drums, standards, and smoke, etc.. I read that GOOD generals of the day got all their men to the battlefield. But the mongols made heavy use of tactics.. They'd attack with their light cavalry and draw the enemy out of their position.. the enemy would follow, and then the mongols would swoop down with armored cav and shred them. They had the largest land empire in history. It came and went in around 70 years. They took over asia and the middle east. In the mid east they sacked cities and didn't leave one stone on top of the other. Alot of the Iraq-Iran area was fertile due to a large underground irrigation system. Now, as you know, its back to desert. Guess who did that? Guess what they would have done to Europe?

The Mongolian army was literaly poised to take Europe when the khan died and the generals had to go back to their homeland.. and they just decided not to take Europe. A pretty close call, eh? Hilter wanted to conquer the former Mongolian Empire but he couldn't get past Russia. The Mongols had such balls that they attacked Russia in the winter! They would halt in the summer and feed their horses and in the winter, go on the war path. A mongolian army is called a horde.. and for good reason.. Each soldier had three or four horses. They would even put dummies on horses to fool enemy scouts. I could go on and on.

I've not read anything about the Mongols in Nepal.. I doubt it is horse country. They would have prefered the open plains. Mongolian influence is heavier in China and somewhat in Russia.
 
Dear friends,

if anyone goes to Monolia, could you do research and find out about the activities of the smiths over there? If there is any swordmaking or local knifemaking I would like to have pics and interviews and even buy some pieces.

Could someone take up this challenge?

Regards,

Manoucher
 
Vicks,

One fun fact that I've read is that the Mongol armies that hit Russia and the mid-East were largely non-Mongol. Supposedly, they picked up alot of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia along the way.

Not that the Turkic folks were all that different from the Mongols. Same material culture, similar customs and, IIRC, related languages. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this last point, Beo.)

S.
 
Well this is more along hear-say lines, and I cant remember if Im remembering things correctly, but I seem to recall that Mongolians relied heavily on outside made weaponry. Logic being why waste time and energy building weapons if you can make slaves do it for you. On the other hand my memory may be incorrect. I think though this may have been discussed on the EEWRS, and you may want to do a search of old threads there.
 
Interesting stuff. At any rate they sure shook up the known world.

Al, I think it would be more than I can afford and I doubt the back would hold up. A bike tour of Nepal sounds easier -- but we'd have to carry weaponry just in case we encountered some Maoists in the back country.
 
The Mongolians were influenced by the Turks. As they empire grew, they became less nomadic and the Turks and their language rose in importance in their empire. There were other nomadic tribes in central asia, like the huns from further back in history, but I haven't read anything about their interactions with the Mongols (not because its not out there.. but because I haven't read very much)

The Mongols heavily influenced the middle east and most of asia.. a good understanding of those ancient events is needed to really understand current events. Europeans say that Americans have no sense of History.. because when we walk down the street the buildings are tens of years old instead of hundreds. There is something to this, I think.

George Patton was fond of the saying "Those who do not learn their history are doomed to repeat it." He was also heard to say "I understand the Mongols better than anyone!" Think he knew something we don't?
 
..were a race of Indo-Europeans called the Scyhthians. These folks were primarily active in the Russian steppe areas fron 700 B.C.E. to 300 B.C.E. Fought the Greeks and Persians, Laid the groundwork for the asiatic horse warriors, the Huns, Mongols, etc.

Osprey Man-at-arms series writes a grat book about the Sythians, and Tacitus even mentions them in his work 'Germania.'

The Scyhtians were waaaay ahead of their time, even in the bronze age.

--Keith
 
So many books, so little time -- story of my life. I spent two years trying to plow through the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
 
I had no idea that the Tibetans wrote on of those. The egyptians wrote a Book of the Dead as well, not to mention the HP Lovecraft and other Sci-fi/Horror/Fantasy spin-offs that have Necronomicons and such.

what is the name of the Tibetan book of the deat? I assume that "Book of the Dead" is the English moniker for the book?

Keith
 
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