Chinggis (Genghis) Khan (jan 1, 1206 – jan 1, 1227)
Description:
In 1206 Temujin became powerful enough to be enthroned as Chinggis Khan.
When waging war, Chinggis used an interesting Mongol system: the decimal system.
Tumen: the largest unit 10,000 men (usually only at about 60% strength)
Each Tumen was divided into 10 units of 1000
each 1000 man unit divided into 10 100 man units
each 100 man unit divided into 10 units of 10
Each unit had a commander and Chinggis personally chose the commanders of the Tumens based on military skill and loyalty.
This helped to supersede old tribal lines
Chinggis's personal bodyguard, the Keshig, was recruited from the families of Tumen commanders' and submitted rulers. They could be used as hostages if their fathers rebelled
Principles of Mongol war:
Very mobile
get the enemy to move first
Counter-attack
Inflict casualties even as enemy retreats
Common: send a token force, feign retreat and then ambush from all sides
Avg. Mongol had 2-5 horses and had great endurance and speed.
Strong cavalry and archery skills. Mobility was a force multiplier.
Composite bow show 350 - 550 yards and each man carried around 60 arrows.
The bow took 150 lbs of drawforce
Assimilated new capabilities like siege machines to attack the Jin Dynasty.
The mongols had exreme discipline. You could be killed for failing in hunting exercieses to prepare for war.
Monols used extensive communication and spy networks to gain intell and transmit information very quickly over large distances. Postal stations called yams were set up every 30km at which messangers could stay nights.
Mongols also used psychological warfare: they would massacre a village and then send a few sruvivors on to the next cityor town in order to make them more likely to surrender when the mongol army rolled up.
Added to timeline:
HIST 111 Final Timeline
Date:
