mongols childrens book

Mongol War Tactics, Weapons and Conquests of the 13th Century

By: Arthur Nicolás

War Tactics: Feigned Withdrawal A preferred war tactic of the Mongols was to withdraw their troops

from a battle and pretend to be defeated, so that the enemy would pursue the Mongol troops in order to lead them into a trap where big groups of troops in armor or cavalry would appear by surprise and overwhelm them.

War Tactics: Use of Horses The Mongols used horses for hit-and-run raids and because of

their speed and flexibility in battle. The Mongols were notoriously good horsemen and often kept between 2 and 4 horses for each soldier.

War Tactics: Spying

The Mongols would spend a long time, even years, on spying on places that they would invade in order to find out how much resist would be put up so that they could plan out their invasions.

War Tactics: Psychological Warfare

The Mongols would often give a chance for the enemy to surrender or they would threaten to destroy them. When they destroyed towns and cities they let some people escape in order to let them spread word of their terror.

War Tactics: Strategies used against European Armies

Since European armies emphasized on heavy cavalry the Mongols would attack them from long distances with their bows rather then take them on face-to-face.

War Tactics: High Ground Mongol commanders sought the highest ground possible so that

they could make tactical decisions by having a good view of the battle, it made it easy for the commander to be defended and commanders often did not do much attacking on the battlefield

Weapons: Arrows

The Mongols used many kinds of arrows and some could even penetrate plate armor

Weapons: Saber

When Mongols had to take on enemies close on they used a sharp, lightweight saber

Weapons: Trebuchet

The trebuchet was a type of catapult that Mongols would used to attack walled cities

Weapons: Siege Crossbow

The siege crossbow allowed for the ability to shoot large arrows hundreds of yards away.

Weapons: the Bow

The Mongols made an extremely effective bow that had a range of 350 yards made of sinew and horn and it gave them the edge over foot soldiers.

Conquests: Jin

Genghis attacked the Jin dynasty in 1209 and overtook their capitol of Beijing because of a trade dispute

Conquests: Central Asia

The Mongols set out to conquer Central Asia in 1219 because envoys that were sent there were murdered. This was the last invasion Genghis Khan lead.

Ogodei’s Conquests

Ogodei, the son of Genghis Khan, greatly increased the size of the Mongol Empire by taking over parts of Europe, parts of western Asia including much of Persia, Korea and much of China and Russia during his 12 year reign (1229-1241).

Kublai’s Conquests

The grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, went on to finish the conquest of China in 1279, he had unsuccessful attempts at conquering Japan and southeast Asia.

Works Cited

. N.p.. Web. 22 Nov 2013. <http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/conquests/conquests_2b.htm>.

. N.p.. Web. 23 Nov 2013. <http://www.mongolia-web.com/1203-mongol-military-tactics-and-organization>.

. N.p.. Web. 23 Nov 2013. <http://genghiskhan.fieldmuseum.org/explore/photo-gallery/weapons>.

"Kublai Khan." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Nov 23 2013, 10:53http://www.biography.com/people/kublai-khan-9369657.