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8 - The Military Machine

from Volume I Part 2 - Thematic Histories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

By
Timothy May
Edited by
Michal Biran  and
Hodong Kim
Michal Biran
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hodong Kim
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
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Summary

The Mongol military centered on armies of decimally organized mobile horse archers. This system provided the Mongols with both a rationally organized military and a means of incorporating defeated enemies, as soldiers now belonged to units of a thousand rather than retaining old tribal identities. As the Mongol Empire expanded, new groups joined their ranks and the Mongols found new ways of accommodating them into their war machine without fundamentally disrupting their own ways of war. The Mongols also realized that regional needs sometimes dictated the use of other forces. Siege engineers, infantry, heavy cavalry, and naval forces all found use within the Mongol military. The Mongols showed flexibility not only in using personnel and military units, but also in adopting technologies, including gunpowder. After the dissolution of the United Mongol Empire, Mongol armies primarily fought each other in internecine wars. It became increasingly difficult to share training, technology, and personnel.

Keywords

Mongol armycavalryhuntingkeshigmilitarysiegestrategytacticstammawarfare
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Chapter
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The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire , pp. 460 - 487
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Military Machine
  • Edited by Michal Biran, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hodong Kim, Seoul National University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire
  • Online publication: 01 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316337424.009
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  • The Military Machine
  • Edited by Michal Biran, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hodong Kim, Seoul National University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire
  • Online publication: 01 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316337424.009
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  • The Military Machine
  • Edited by Michal Biran, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hodong Kim, Seoul National University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire
  • Online publication: 01 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316337424.009
Available formats
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