military organisation under Genghis Khan (explain clearly why he made the army heterogeneous)5m
Answers
The Mongol military tactics and organization enabled the Mongol Empire to conquer nearly all of continental Asia, the Middle East and parts of eastern Europe.
That system was founded originally on the expansion of the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols. Other elements were invented by Genghis Khan, his generals, and his successors. Technologies useful for attacking fortifications were adapted from other cultures. Foreign technical experts were integrated into the command structure. In many cases, the Mongols defeated significantly larger opposing armies.
Transfer of troops between units was forbidden. The leaders on each level had significant license to execute their orders in the way they considered best. This command structure was highly flexible and allowed the Mongol army to attack en masse, divide into smaller groups to encircle their enemies and either lead them into an ambush or divide them into small groups of roughly 10 to mop up a fleeing and broken army. Although they fought as a unit, individual soldiers were responsible for their equipment, weapons, and up to five mounts. Their families and herds would accompany them on foreign expeditions.
Above all units, there existed an elite force called Kheshig. They functioned as imperial guard of the Mongol Empire as well as a training ground for potential young officers. Subutai, a powerful Mongol general, started his career in the Kheshig.
Genghis Khan
The knights at their tournaments, in their finery, armor and emblems of ancestry, believed they were the foremost warriors in the world, while Mongol warriors thought otherwise. Mongol horses were small, but their riders were lightly clad and they moved with greater speed. These were hardy men who grew up on horses and hunting, making them better warriors than those who grew up in agricultural societies and cities. Their main weapon was the bow and arrow. And the Mongols of the early 1200s were highly disciplined, superbly coordinated and brilliant in tactics.
The Mongols were illiterate, religiously shamanistic and perhaps no more than 700,000 in number. Their language today is described as Altaic, a language unrelated to Chinese, derived from inhabitants in the Altay mountain range in western Mongolia. They were herdsmen on the grassy plains north of the Gobi Desert, south of Siberia's forests. Before the year 1200, the Mongols were fragmented, moving about in small bands headed by a chief, or khan, and living inportable felt dwellings. The Mongols endured frequent deprivations and sparse areas for grazing their animals. They frequently fought over turf, and during hard times they occasionally raided, interested in goods rather than bloodshed. They did not collect heads or scalps as trophies.
Mongolia. Click for more images.
Genghis Khan's Empire in 1227.
Click to enlarge.
Mongolia
Mongolia, with white "yurts" in the valley
From his late teens to age thirty-eight in the year 1200, a Mongol named Temujin (Temüjin) rose as khan over various families. He was a good manager, collecting around him people of talent. He was vassal to Ong Khan, titular head of a confederacy, and Temujin joined Ong Khan