Mongolia's three voyages to the West communicated the economic and cultural ties between the East and the West, and spread China's inventions such as gunpowder, papermaking, printing and compass to countries such as West Asia and Europe. At the same time, western astronomy, medicine and almanac were introduced into China.
The Mongols' Western Expedition killed many people, but this was not the main harm they caused.
The greater harm is that Mongolia basically destroyed the civilization of Central Asia. And let Arab civilization and Russian civilization suffer different degrees of damage.
Central Asia is the intersection of Asian and European civilizations, with a relatively developed level of civilization. But after the Mongols were killed, they have not recovered.
In the Middle Ages, Arab civilization was much more developed than European civilization, but it never recovered after the Mongols were killed, and it is still in a state of division.
Russian civilization is similar to other European countries, but after more than 200 years of Mongolian rule, its development level lags far behind other European countries. It was only in modern times that it slowly caught up. Still not as good as other European countries.
As for China, it was ruled by Mongols for the least time (only 100 years). Although the most people were killed, civilization suffered the least damage. Therefore, during the Ming Dynasty, a part of Chinese civilization was quickly restored.
Historically, the Mongolian army launched several large-scale western expeditions in the13rd century, defeated all the enemies with less troops and longer logistics supplies (excluding the defeat of Muslims in the Battle of Ain Jarut in 1260), changed the history of the Eurasian continent and promoted the military revolution in Europe and the Near East. In several expeditions to the west, the number of Mongolian troops was usually very small, and at most it was about 200 thousand in total (the European battlefield never exceeded 1.5 thousand), and the number of people in a single battle was even less. In the battle between the Central Plains and Zhou Jun, there was no "layer upon layer, with a thickness of 20 Li". What is the reason? I want to analyze it from the following aspects.
First, the tactics adopted by the armies of western countries are not suitable for the eastern tactics improved by Mongols.
In fact, the differences in culture and way of thinking between the East and the West have long been reflected in the tactics of the two sides. In the war history of the East (represented by China and Arab culture), there has never been an army in the West with extremely tight formation and dense phalanx, and the arms of marching, horseback riding, archery and javelin work closely together. This shows that westerners are rigorous in thinking, pay attention to scientific division of labor and are good at organizing large-scale system engineering. However, the traffic jam in China during the Warring States Period, the Yuanyang fighting the Japanese in Qi Jiguang in the Ming Dynasty, and the chariot riders fighting Tatar together are far from comparable.
When the Eastern Army fought, the formation was irregular, and it paid attention to the mobility and tactical flexibility of the troops. Influenced by Sun Tzu's Art of War, he paid attention to "cunning" rather than righteous tactics. Under the control of this tactical consciousness, the unit attack and protection of the army are not strong. If we deal with the dense infantry phalanx of the Roman Empire and the Macedonian Empire, it is impossible to win by adopting a frontal battle.
Different from the Eastern Army, the Western Army adopted a strict formation from the beginning, with special emphasis on the attack and protection of the main battle, taking the infantry phalanx in Rome and Macedonia as an example. This infantry phalanx usually consists of more than 20 rows of dense teams of nobles and civilians, wearing heavy armor and holding long guns. The farther back the phalanx is, the longer the pike on the front shoulder will be, thus forming a real cluster of guns in front of the phalanx. Behind the phalanx, slaves usually do logistics and nursing work, or javelin soldiers keep throwing javelins at each other. The two wings of this phalanx are protected from impact by cavalry. Obviously, the influence of this tactic is far less than that of the eastern army, but its weakness is also very prominent: the team rotation is inconvenient, and we must always pay attention to keeping the formation clean and tidy.
Even in the Iron Age, the development of saddle made cavalry more and more important, and the tactical use of cavalry was also very different between the two sides. Eastern cavalry rarely have heavy armor, so they can use sabre, pike and bow and arrow. The main purpose of cavalry is to fight a wide range of battles for the mobility and frontal impact of the army. The cavalry units in the west have developed powerful heavy armored cavalry. Soldiers wearing heavy chain mail can effectively resist the killing of swords, guns, bows and arrows. Cavalry use spears and swords, which is more lethal. However, different from the East, the use of cavalry tactics is still the same as that of the infantry phalanx in ancient Rome, paying attention to formation and frontal lethality and protection, with little tactical mobility and still operating in a small scope.
Due to geographical obstacles, the eastern and western armies centered on China have never met the western armies thousands of miles away, except for the large-scale war between the European army and the Middle East army. The only possible opportunity, when Alexander conquered India and prepared to move eastward, ended in illness.
Mongolian tactics.
After Genghis Khan unified the tribes, the Mongols immediately launched a large-scale attack on the dynasties in northern China. At the beginning, the Mongolian army relied entirely on the mobility and attack power of cavalry. Just like the nomadic army in the past, there was no infantry to attack the enemy. In front of the tall and solid walls of the Central Plains, powerful cavalry can do nothing, even though they are invincible on the battlefield. Soon, the Mongols learned the hard attack ability of infantry from the armies of Liao, Jin and Xixia, changed the tactics of relying solely on cavalry in the past, and learned to use gunpowder and riprap weapons newly invented by the Han nationality.
In the application of tactics, Mongolians especially emphasize the mobility of troops, with long-distance detour and division as the main tactical characteristics. Mongolians' long-distance maneuvers have reached an unprecedented level in history. They can often maneuver hundreds of miles on a large scale, making it difficult for the enemy to predict and stop their attacks. They seldom rely on simple frontal impact in battle. The usual method is that a small number of cavalry constantly harass the enemy and retreat after being attacked. When the enemy formation to be pursued was scattered and tired, cavalry who had already been copied from all sides flocked after a burst of intensive bow and arrow shooting. This tactic was used by Xiongnu, Han nationality, Qidan and Jurchen in the past. However, like the Mongols, they used to wander around as spies, and large-scale cavalry could attack from a distance at any time. In addition, a large number of Mongols were incorporated into the Han nationality and other northern minorities, and they used the advanced equipment of the Han nationality to undertake the task of siege, so that they could almost do whatever they wanted in the East, whether they were fighting wild or destroying cities and villages.
In fact, at any time, the cavalry of the Mongolian army could not single out the European heavy cavalry. The spears and epees of European heavily armored cavalry are far more lethal than the sabres, spears or maces of Mongolian cavalry. The horses of European cavalry are also much taller than Mongolian horses. But the strategy and tactics of Mongolian cavalry are far behind those of European cavalry. The battles of European armies, no matter how big they are, are fought on small battlefields. In addition, European armies have the usual chivalry, and they believe in one-on-one decent fighting. When they met the Mongolian army who could use Fiona Fang as a battlefield and was used to circuitous, they really encountered unimaginable war scenes.
When the Mongols went west, when the big troops confronted the enemy head-on, the Mongolian cavalry would quickly form a tactical team and launch a frontal attack. Its tactical formation is usually arranged in about five horizontal teams, each of which is a line. The horizontal teams are far apart. In this way, a wide front far larger than the opponent is formed (from the perspective of modern tactics, this wide front that is easy to impact the opponent is extremely unfavorable). The first two horizontal teams are heavy cavalry (relative to the Eastern Army), and the rest are light cavalry (relative to the Xiliang Light Cavalry, they can be regarded as unarmed cavalry). In addition, there are a lot of rangers around doing seemingly meaningless sports.
When the two armies approach, the Mongolian light cavalry will suddenly rush out of the huge gap in the front heavy cavalry line at a very high speed and throw spears and poisonous arrows learned from the Central Plains at the enemy in the west. After several volleys, the heavy cavalry quickly retreated, and then the light cavalry quickly retreated and returned to its original position. However, the attacked western troops, whether infantry phalanx or cavalry phalanx, are difficult to counterattack quickly at this time, and must strictly keep the formation forward, otherwise they cannot use their own advantages to kill Mongolian soldiers. Usually the cavalry of the Mongolian army will shake the morale of the enemy once or twice and make the formation chaotic. This repeated attack on Mongolian soldiers can be carried out day and night, because the teams are far apart and do not need to be too neat, and the formation of Mongolian soldiers is easy to rearrange after being far away from the enemy. As long as the enemy formation is chaotic, the morale of the army begins to retreat, and the broad Mongolian cavalry formation will quickly become a flank formation, and the enemy will be cut at close range.
When the Mongolian troops advance rapidly and deeply, generally only a few troops are left to guard, waiting for the follow-up attack engineers, and the large troops continue to advance at high speed, making it impossible for the enemy troops in the rear to prepare for war.
In addition, Mongolian troops often use the frozen winter of rivers to wage wars.
Examples of war. 124 1 year, Subutai and Badou of Mongolia led troops to attack Eastern Europe, forcibly crossed the Carpathian Mountains, and prepared to meet in the Hungarian Plain. On the far wings of the two armies, there are two small cavalry units sweeping Poland, Silesia and East Prussia along the way to cover the strategic intention of the main force. Before the Mongolian army arrived in Pace City, Hungarian King Bella saw through the intentions of the Mongolian army and immediately organized an army of 654.38+10,000 people to seek a decisive battle with the Mongolian army. The main force of Mongolia's nearly 60,000 people retreated slightly to avoid the attack of the Hungarian army. In April, the two sides finally confronted each other on the Shoyo River. After Hungary judged that the other side was the main force of Mongolia, it quickly seized a huge bridgehead and built a solid barracks with a large number of carriages on the west bank, waiting for the attack of the Mongolian army. After the follow-up engineers arrived, the Mongolian army immediately fired at the Hungarian army guarding the bridge with powerful riprap vehicles and rockets at dawn. The defenders were instantly defeated under the unprecedented attack, and the Mongolian cavalry quickly crossed the bridge and attacked the main force of the Hungarian army who had just woken up. When Hungarians rightfully lined up to kill the Mongolian army, which was absolutely inferior in number, they soon found that this was not the main force! The main force of the Mongolian army is about 30 thousand people, and they have crossed the Hanjiang River in the south at night nearly a hundred miles away. The Mongolian main force killed the Hungarian army from behind, and the chaotic Hungarian army immediately retreated to the solid barracks for self-defense. Mongolian engineers fired dense boulders, rockets, poison arrows (historical records show that Mongolian poison arrows contain arsenic croton, which can produce strong toxic smoke) and burning oil at the barracks. Most of these attack weapons were first seen by western troops, and their inner panic can be imagined. The Mongols adopted the tactic of "siege is inevitable", and the Hungarians quickly collapsed and fled from the gap. However, the Mongolian army, dressed in light clothes, is much faster than the fugitives and can withstand it. It can constantly change horses and intercept them everywhere. In the Battle of Shoyo River, more than 70,000 Hungarian troops were killed. The Mongols soon conquered the city of Perth, killing1100,000 people.
With the high mobility of the troops, the Mongolian army wiped out a large number of well-armored but clumsy European troops in Europe. Due to the low speed of European troops, few people fled back to the battlefield. For a long time, Europeans have always thought that the number of Mongolian troops is huge. In addition, because the European army mainly relies on close combat and killing, the Mongolian army has only a small number of casualties when using mobile operations. Modern European military historians believe that the proportion of casualties between European troops and Mongolian troops in the war may be the most disparity in the cold weapon era.
Second, the Mongolian special equipment
Mongolian horse.
Mongolian horse should be the worst horse from the perspective of modern people. Mongolian horses are short in stature, slow in running and far less capable of crossing obstacles than European burly horses. But Mongolian horses are the most tolerant horses in the world and have the lowest requirements for environment and food. Whether in the cold desert of Asia or in the plain of Europe, Mongolian horses can find food at any time. It can be said that Mongolian horses have the strongest adaptability. Mongolian horses can run long distances continuously, and can survive in the wild regardless of cold and heat. At the same time, Mongolian horses can ride and pull heavy objects at any time, which is why the traditional good horses in China are finally replaced by Mongolian horses.
Moreover, Mongolian horses are not only used as riding tools in the Mongolian army, but also as a food source-Mongolian cavalry use a large number of mares to provide horse milk. This also reduced the requirements of the Mongolian army for logistics. And Mongolian cavalry usually has more than one horse.
The special advantages of Mongolian horses made the Mongolian army have the speed and maneuverability unmatched by any army at that time. For example, in the winter of 124 1, Subutai's main cavalry crossed the Carpathian Mountains from the ruska Pass and suddenly appeared at the foot of Gran City in the Danube River basin. It took only three days, and the two places were more than 300 kilometers away from the snow-covered area.
And most of them are mountainous areas without roads.
New weapons in the central plains.
The new weapons used by Mongols in the Central Plains, such as stone carts and rockets, were originally used to defend the strong city defenses of Mongolian troops in the Central Plains dynasties. But the Mongolian army quickly attacked the tall Yugoslav capital with this equipment. Gunpowder and rocket weapons appeared in the era of cold weapons, and their power was naturally amazing. In addition, they also have a great psychological shock to the enemies they have never seen before. On the battlefield in Europe, many times, before gunpowder weapons have completely destroyed the city walls, the defenders will lose their will to fight and start to abandon the city and flee.
All kinds of equipment of Mongolian cavalry.
Because Mongolian cavalry has never strictly divided the weapons of arms as in Europe, and it is not as heavy as the weapons used by European troops, Mongolian cavalry carries all kinds of weapons with them in order to complete different tasks at any time. The weapons carried by Mongolian cavalry usually include bows and arrows, sabres, spears and maces. It is worth mentioning that the Mongolian bow and arrow, which is long and big, needs about 80 kilograms of force to open (there is a scene in TV "Kyle Polo" that he can't open the Mongolian hard bow all the time). It has a long range and is almost the most important killing weapon for Mongolian cavalry. In addition, Mongolian cavalry are often equipped with other weapons according to their personal hobbies, such as pulling horses with rope harnesses and netting horses with net harnesses, which is unimaginable and unpredictable in the eyes of European regular troops. In addition, the armor of Mongolian cavalry is mostly made of leather, which is light and tough. Although it is far less than chain mail, a European heavily armored cavalry, it has a light burden and is easy to keep fighting capacity for a long time. In addition, it will not become an unbearable torture in hot and cold summer like real armor.
Third, the training and endurance of Mongolian soldiers and their militarized special social organizations.
Like the nomadic people in northern China, the Mongolian army has been a soldier since childhood. Growing up on horseback, toys are bows and arrows since childhood, and they can be counted as professional soldiers in adulthood. Because they grew up in a cold and hard environment, they all have very tough and hard-working personalities, and they almost never pay attention to material conditions. Climbing on the ice and lying in the snow is considered to be a very common thing. Long-distance travel is a habit formed from childhood. The neglect of material conditions makes the logistical burden of the Mongolian army very light. Mongolian soldiers have the will and ability to fight continuously that the eastern and western farming peoples have never had, which is beyond the reach of the pampered aristocratic cavalry in the west and the people who are short of money in China.
Compared with all enemies, Mongolians are in a backward position in culture and material, and large-scale capture and plunder have always been the reason and motivation to motivate them to maintain strong combat effectiveness. The desire for wealth stimulated the killing, so that the Mongols hardly stopped waging wars abroad. The Mongolian policy of letting soldiers slaughter at will can psychologically inspire soldiers' belligerence and primitive courage, and make Mongolian soldiers become extremely brave and barbaric soldiers. The wanton plunder partially solved the logistics supply problem of the Mongolian army.
In addition, after the unification of Mongolian tribes, foreign wars were almost regarded as the dependence of national survival, but nomadism came second, and Mongolia moved towards the road of complete militarization. In order to train the best army, Mongolian children aged three or four were put into special military training departments for military study. They are strictly trained in horse riding and archery. These cavalry units, composed of children trained since childhood, have amazing fighting qualities and skills. Whether charging or retreating quickly, they can shoot the enemy accurately on horseback. In other words, ordinary soldiers are sharpshooters like Li Guang. This is almost impossible for their foreign enemies. This is also the reason why European troops suffered heavy casualties without killing Mongolian cavalry.
The Mongols established social organizations adapted to the war. The leader of the tribe is the organizer of life, production and military action. To wage war abroad, the whole people can be mobilized, and everyone, regardless of gender, age and age, can participate in combat operations. For example, the long-term siege of the country of Hualamozi is the participation of the whole people, grazing at the gates, and maintaining the continuous attack of the army until the city is captured.
To sum up, it is almost inevitable that Mongolian troops will conquer the west in Eurasia. Mongolia's failure in the battlefields of Japan and Vietnam is precisely because these two battlefields are the places where the Mongolian army can't give full play to its advantages. They must get off their horses and take a boat. Only with God's blessing can they reach their destination safely. After landing, they could not maneuver in large scale in front of jungles and mountains, or even fight on horseback. To make matters worse, the humid air makes their noses unable to breathe. They are sick or killed by the plague, just as the European army can't adapt to them, so they can't adapt to the army that always comes out of the jungle here. Besides, their comrades-in-arms are suspicious Han Chinese.