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Part 1: Mongols
Part 2: Aztecs
Lesson 21
Part 1: Mongols
Theme: Dealing with Conquered People
Lesson 21
Mongols
• The Mongols were
nomadic people who
lived on the high
steppe lands of
eastern central Asia
• Traditionally, their
strong loyalties to
kinship groups made
it difficult for them to
organize a stable
society on a large
scale
• In the early 13th
Century, however,
they would unify
Karakorum
Modern day Mongolia
was the center of the
13th Century Mongol
Empire. Karakorum
(present day Har
Horin) was the capital
Temujin
• Temujin was born about 1167 into a noble family
• However, when he was about 10 years old his
father was poisoned and Temujin grew up in a
precarious and dangerous way
• In order to survive, he learned to master the art
of “steppe diplomacy” which called for displays
of personal courage in battle, intense loyalty to
allies (as well as willingness to betray allies or
superiors to improve one’s position), and the
ability to entice previously unaffiliated tribes into
cooperative relationships
Genghis (Chinggis) Kahn
• Temujin gradually
strengthened his
position using all
these tactics and
eventually brought all
the Mongol tribes into
a single confederation
• In 1206, an assembly
of Mongol leaders
recognized Temujin’s
supremacy by
proclaiming him
Genghis (Chinggis)
Kahn (“universal
ruler”)
Modern mural
depicting Genghis
Kahn’s inauguration
Genghis Kahn’s Military
Advances
• Organization of the army
• Characteristics of the
troops
• Breaking tribal
connections
• Mobility
• Light cavalry
• Strategy and tactics
• Psychological warfare
• New technology
Organization of the Army
• Genghis Kahn created a
command structure that
facilitated flexibility
• He organized the Mongol
soldiers into groups of
multiples of 10 with each
group of soldiers having a
leader who would report to the
next higher level
– This allowed the Mongol
army to attack en masse,
divide into somewhat
smaller groups to encircle
and lead enemies into an
ambush, or divide into
small groups to track down
and destroy a fleeing and
broken army
• Mongol Army Organization
– Tumen: 10,000 man division,
made up of ten minghans,
led by a noyan appointed by
the Khan.
– Minghan: 1,000 man
regiment, made up of ten
jaguns, led by a noyan
appointed by the Khan.
– Jagun: 100 man squadron,
made up of ten arbans. The
arban leaders selected their
own leader for the jagun.
– Arban: 10 man unit. The
men in the arban selected
their own leader.
Characteristics of the Troops
• The Mongol army also was highly
flexible due to the durability of its
soldiers
• Mongol soldiers were extremely
tough, disciplined, obedient, and
tireless
• They could go on extended
campaigns with only meager
provisions
• Genghis Kahn’s army was relatively
small (100,000 to 125,000 Mongols
plus some allies), but his success
was built on quality not quantity
Characteristics of the Troops
• Mongol soldiers were used to living in the
harsh steppe climate and required little in the
way of comfort
• “And in case of great urgency they will ride ten
days on end without lighting a fire or taking a
meal. On such an occasion they will sustain
themselves on the blood of their horses,
opening a vein and letting the blood jet into
their mouths, drinking till they have had
enough, and then staunching it…”
– Marco Polo
Breaking Tribal Connections
• Genghis Kahn’s personal experience had made
him distrustful of Mongol tribal organizations so
when he organized his army he broke up the
tribes
• When integrating new soldiers into the army, he
put them in new military units with no tribal
affiliations
• He chose high military and political officials not
on basis of kinship or tribal status, but because
of their talents or their loyalty to him
Mobility
• Mongol horsemen were
among the most mobile
forces of the pre-modern
world, sometimes
traveling more than 62
miles a day to surprise
the enemy
• Superior mobility and
excellent political and
military organization,
gave Genghis Kahn
advantages in speed,
surprise, and intelligence
gathering
Light Cavalry
• The core of the Mongol
army was its light cavalry
• Mongols grew up riding
horses and possessed
outstanding equestrian skills
which they honed by hunting
and playing competitive
games on horseback
– Mongol horsemen could
shoot an arrow at full
gallop
• Stirrups allowed the
cavalrymen improved
maneuver and the ability to
stand while shooting
Light Cavalry
• Mongols didn’t favor close
combat, instead preferring
to fight from a distance
with their excellent bow
marksmanship from
horses
• “They never let
themselves get into a
regular medley, but keep
perpetually riding around
and shooting into the
enemy.”
– Marco Polo
Strategy and Tactics
• Before invading a territory, the Mongols would
conduct extensive preparations at a meeting of the
participating commanders called a quriltai
– Intelligence was a key planning consideration
• The Mongols would usually advance in three
separate columns
• The flanking columns would spread terror, gather
intelligence, and eliminate smaller opponent armies
• When the time was right, the columns would reunite
to defeat the main opposition
– The technique of advancing in separate columns facilitated
independence and the detailed planning facilitated
concentration
Strategy and Tactics
• A favorite Mongol tactic was
to feign a withdraw only to
lead the enemy into an
ambush
• “And you perceive that it is
just when the enemy sees
them run, and imagines that
he has gained the battle, that
he has in reality lost it, for the
Mongols wheel around in a
moment when they judge the
right time has come. And
after this fashion they have
won many a fight.”
– Marco Polo
Battle of Sajo Bridge, April 27, 1241
Psychological Warfare
• If enemies surrendered without resistance, the
Mongols usually spared their lives, and they
provided generous treatment for artisans,
craftsmen, and those with military skills
• In the event of resistance, however, the Mongols
ruthlessly slaughtered whole populations,
sparing only a few, whom they sometimes drove
before their armies as human shields or allowed
to spread the word of Mongol power to
intimidate future adversaries
New Technology
• The Mongols developed a
composite bow, made out
of horn and sinew, that
gave them a significant
advantage over their
enemies
• The Mongol bow had a
range of more than 350
yards
– The European
crossbow was
accurate only up to a
range of 250 yards
New Technology
• The Mongols originally
had no knowledge of
siege warfare, but later
became masters of it
through careful
acceptance of new
technologies
• In some cases, the
Mongols used
trebuchets to hurl
diseased corpses into
the besieged city
Death of Genghis Kahn
• Genghis Kahn died
in 1227
• He had united the
Mongols, established
Mongol supremacy
in central Asia, and
extended Mongol
control to northern
China in the east
and Persia in the
west
Growth of the Mongol Empire
Under Genghis Kahn
1204, before Genghis Kahn
1218
1227, when Genghis
Kahn died
The Empire of Genghis Kahn
• Genghis Kahn was a conqueror, not an
administrator
• He ruled the Mongols themselves through his
control over the army, but he did not establish a
central government for the lands that he
conquered
• Instead, he assigned Mongol overlords to
supervise local administrators and to extract a
generous tribute
– Contrast this technique with the other means of
maintaining order and population control we
discussed in Block 3
The Mongol Empire After Genghis
Kahn
• Genghis Kahn’s death touched off a struggle for
power and his heirs divided his realm into four
regional empires (Similar to what we talked
about in Lesson 19 after Alexander the Great’s
death)
– Khanate of the Great Kahn (China)
• Ended in 14th Century
– Khanate of Chagatai (central Asia)
• Ended in 18th Century
– Khanate of the Golden Horde (Russia)
• Ended in 16th Century
– Ilkanate of Persia
• Ended in 14th Century
The Mongol Empire After Genghis
Kahn
Genghis Kahn’s Place in the
History of Warfare
• The Mongol army transformed the scope of warfare
– Made it an intercontinental affair fought on multiple fronts
stretching across thousands of miles.
– Sustained the campaign over years of constant fighting.
• Innovative fighting techniques made the heavily armored knights of
medieval Europe obsolete, replacing them with disciplined cavalry
moving in coordinated units.
• Speed, surprise, and effective siege techniques helped reduce the
reliance on defensive fortifications and helped make walled cities
obsolete.
• In twenty-five years, the Mongol army subjugated more lands and
people than the Romans had conquered in four hundred years.
• Whether measured by the total number of people defeated, the sum
of the countries annexed, or by the total area occupied, Genghis
Khan conquered more than twice as much as any other man in
history.
Part 2: Aztecs
Theme: The Purpose of Warfare in
Society
Lesson 21
The Mexica
• The Mexica are what the people we know
as the Aztecs first called themselves
• They migrated to central Mexico from the
northwest in the middle of the 13th Century
• They had a reputation for kidnapping
women and seizing land cultivated by
others
The Mexica
• For centuries they
migrated around
central Mexico
• In about 1345 they
settled on an island
in a marshy region
of Lake Texcoco and
founded their capital
city of Tenochtitlan
– The Spanish
conquistadors later
built Mexico City on
top of Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan
• Living on the island had
military advantages
– The lake served as a
natural defensive barrier
– Water protected
Tenochtitlan on all sides
– Mexica warriors
patrolled the three
causeways that
eventually linked the
capital to the
surrounding mainland
The Beginnings of Empire
• By the early 15th
Century, the Mexica
were powerful enough
to overcome their
immediate neighbors
and demand tribute
from their new subjects
• Under the rule of “the
Obsidian Serpent”
Itzcoatl (1428-1440)
and Motecuzoma I
(Montezuma) (14401469) they conquered
Oaxaca in southwest
Mexico
Itzcoatl, the Obsidian
Serpent
The Triple Alliance
• The Mexica populated Oaxaca with colonists and used
it as a bulwark for their emerging empire
– From Oaxaca, the Mexica turned to the Gulf Coast
– After that they conquered the cities between
Tenochtitlan and the Gulf Coast
• In about the mid-15th Century, the Mexica joined forces
with the neighboring cities of Texcoco and Tlacopan to
form a triple alliance that guided the Aztec Empire
• The alliance imposed its rule on some 21 million
people and most of Mesoamerica
Tribute
• The main objective of the
triple alliance was to exact
tribute from subject people
• The annual tribute owed by
the state of Tochtepec on
the Gulf coast included
– 9,600 cloaks
– 1,600 women’s
garments
– 200 loads of cacao
– 16,000 rubber balls
Tribute of precious stones in
jade, serpentine, and
turquoise paid by Tochtepec
The Aztec Army
• The Aztecs had no
permanent, standing
army and they did not
maintain military
garrisons throughout their
empire
• They simply assembled
forces as needed
whenever they launched
campaigns of expansion
or punitive expeditions
Pendent in the shape of
an Aztec warrior
Maintenance of the Empire
• The Aztec had no elaborate bureaucracy or
administration
• They simply conquered their subjects and
assessed tribute, leaving local governance and
the collection of the tribute in the hands of the
conquered people themselves
• The Aztecs reputation for military prowess was
usually enough to keep subject people in line
due to fear of reprisals
– Contrast this technique with the other means of
maintaining order and population control we
discussed in Block 3
War in Aztec Society
• War benefited all segments
of Aztec society but the
religious component was an
especially important
beneficiary because war
produced victims for ritual
sacrifice
• The Mexica believed their
gods had set the world in
motion through acts of
individual sacrifice
– By letting their blood flow, the
gods had given the earth the
moisture it needed to bear
maize and other crops
War in Aztec Society
• To propitiate the gods and
ensure the continuation of
the world, the Mexica
honored their deities through
sacrificial bloodletting
– Mexica priests regularly
performed acts of selfsacrifice such as piercing
their earlobes or penises
with cactus spines in
honor of the primeval
acts of their gods
Aztec sacrificial knife
War in Aztec Society
• Mexica warriors took
Huitzilopochtli as their patron
deity in the early 14th Century
as they subjected neighboring
peoples to their rule
• They felt that their military
successes showed that
Huitzilopochtli especially
favored the Mexica and the
priests of Huitzilopochtli’s cult
demanded sacrificial victims to
keep the war god appeased
Huitzilopochtli
War in Aztec Society
• Many of the people conquered
by the Aztec warriors ended up
becoming human sacrifices to
Huitzilopochtli
• The Mexica honored
Huitzilopochtli in a large
temple in the center of
Tenochtitlan
• When the Spanish
conquistadors arrived they
found racks holding the skulls
of hundreds of thousands of
sacrificial victims in temples
dedicated to Huitzilopochtli
throughout the Aztec empire
Tzompantli Altar decorated with 240
human skulls made of stone
War in Aztec Society
• After an enemy was captured, he was incapacitated
with a wooden collar and taken back to Tenochtitlan for
formal presentation.
War in Aztec Society
• For the Aztecs, human sacrifice was not a gruesome
form of entertainment, but a ritual essential for the
world’s survival
Aztec Warriors
• All males were considered
potential warriors and
individuals of common birth
could distinguish themselves in
battle and therefore raise their
social standing
• For the most part, though,
military elites came from the
Mexica aristocracy
– Men of noble birth received
intensive training in military
affairs
Clay statue of an elite
Aztec eagle warrior
Aztec Warriors
• In the rigidly hierarchical
Aztec social structure,
most public honors and
awards went to the
military elite
• Accomplished warriors
received extensive land
grants as well as tributes
from commoners for their
support
• The most successful
warriors formed a council
whose members selected
the ruler, discussed
public issues, and filled
government positions
Illustration depicting six different
levels of military achievement
Aztec Warriors
• Elite warriors ate the
best foods Aztec
society had to offer-turkey, pheasant, duck,
deer, boar, and rabbit-and enjoyed luxuries
such as vanilla and
cacao
• Warriors were allowed
to wear brightly colored
cotton clothes while
commoners had to
wear coarse, burlaplike garments
Aztec emperor personally
awarding warriors with ritual dress
and gifts taken in tribute from
foreign states
Aztec Warfare
• The Aztecs mainly fought during the dry season between
December and April
– Marching was easiest
– Post-harvest supplies were at their height
– Farm laborers were available for service
• The Aztecs marched about 12 miles a day with each
army departing on separate days or traveling by parallel
routes
• There was one human porter for every two soldiers and
the Aztecs carried a total of eight days’ supply of food
Aztec Warfare
• Usually battles were fought in
the open and began at dawn
with a slingshot and arrow
barrage at a range of about 60
yards
• Under this cover, soldiers
armed with stone-bladed
broadswords and spears
advanced
• All soldiers carried shields and
those who had earned it had
cotton quilted armor
Aztec Warfare
• As the two sides
closed, combat
became hand to hand
• In most cases, the
Aztecs’ primary
objective was the
enemies’ submission,
not their destruction,
so tribute and
sacrificial victims
could be obtained
The preferred
Aztec weapon
was the
macuahuitl.
The obsidian
blades were
razor sharp
and intended
to disable an
enemy so he
could be
captured.
Aztecs Meet Their Match
• In 1519, Hernan
Cortes led about
450 soldiers to
Mexico and
Tenochtitlan
• After an initial
repulse, Cortes built
a small fleet of
ships, placed
Tenochtitlan under
siege, and in 1521
starved the city into
surrender
– We’ll talk more about
this in Lesson 25
Hernan
Cortes
Montezuma II
Cortes’ Advantages
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Population density,
Large animal domestication,
Agriculture,
Resistance to diseases
passed from animals and
plants to humans,
Technological inventiveness,
Acceptance of change and
improvement,
Literacy, and
Centralized government
– Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs,
and Steel
Next
• The Crusades