From Pastoral Chiefdoms to Nomadic Empire

The first historical record of the Mongols dates to the middle of the first millen­nium ce. The Mongols' ancestors were the Otuz Tatars (in Chinese, Shiwei). They inhabited territory in Eastern Mongolia and Transbaikal.

Around the end of the twelfth century, a great variety of peoples lived on the Mongolian steppes. In the eastern part of present-day Mongolia, in the river valleys of the Onon and Kherlen, nomadic tribes roamed that can conventionally be called Mongols. They included the Darliqin, the Nirun, the Tayichiud, the Hongirat, and other groups. To the east of them in Transbaikal and Inner Mongolia resided the Tatars. In central Mongolia, in the foothills of the Khangai Mountains and in the river valleys of the Orkhon and the Tuul, the Kerait lived. Their complex chiefdom, at the head of which stood Toghrul (Wang Khan), was one of the most powerful groupings of nomads during this period. Northern Mongolia, along the banks of the Selenga, was where the Mergids dwelled, while the Naimans occupied the western part of Mongolia. Many scholars classify them not as part of the nomads who spoke Mongolic languages, but among those who spoke Turkic languages.

The everyday life and culture of the medieval nomads of the Mongolian steppes differed little from the lifestyle of nomads from earlier times. They raised “five kinds of livestock” (Mongolian: tavan hoshuu mal)—horses, camels, sheep, goats, and big-horned cattle. Sheep consisted of 50-60 percent of all the livestock. Approximately 15-20 percent of the herd was made up of big-horned cattle and horses, the latter of which was considered the most valuable animal and the measure of one' s wealth. Goats and camels filled out the remaining part—they numbered the least in the herd's structure. The nomads also hunted and had rudimentary agricul­ture. Particularly important was battue-style hunting, as this was a good method to develop military skills. The nomads would split up into two groups and encircle a territory of many kilometers. As they tightened the circle, the hunters drove many wild animals into its center.

In Mongol society, labor was divided according to age and gender. The male responsibilities included grazing the cattle, as well as making bows and arrows and other tools. The rest of the time they busied themselves with hunting, archery, and going on military campaigns. The rest of the burden fell on the women—housework, milking and preparing other products from the livestock, and raising the chil­dren. When the men were absent, the women had to take on the entire burden. However, the role of women in Mongol society was not reducible to the position of a house slave. Women could also play a role, sometimes even greater than within the family unit, in public life. Particularly lofty was the role a widow might come to play after the death of a high-ranking husband. It is sufficient to recall the influence that Hoelun, the mother of Chinggis Khan, had on her sons, and, subsequently, the influence of other khans' wives.

Among the Mongols there existed various types of families. For herders of modest means, this was apparently the nuclear family, consisting of the parents and their young children.

The nomads usually roamed in an ail, a group of five to ten families. When nec­essary, the nomads could merge into larger groups (kuren), but from an ecological point of view, this was not prudent because it sharply increased the burden on the pasture. Higher order groupings also existed: ails could be grouped into a lineage (uruk), lineages into an exogamous clan (obok), and clans into a tribe (irgen) or chiefdom (ulus). As was characteristic for peoples from this time period, there was an overlap between ethnic and political terminology. The same terms could be used to refer to a particular ethno-political group as well as the segments within that group.

Inequality and hierarchy were features of Mongol society in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. At the head of the tribes and chiefdoms were khans, who had retinues of followers, so-called nukers. Social hierarchy was constructed along the lines of a patrimonial society. This structure was reinforced by contrasting older and younger relatives (father-son, older brother-younger brother), by affirming the gene­alogical inequality of different clans (white- and black-boned, that is, noble and non­noble), and by marking lower-status relatives with the terms of slavery (bogol).

Nomadic tribes incessantly attacked each other with the goal of capturing live­stock or taking women and children as prisoners. An anonymous Mongol chroni­cler vividly characterized the dark times of medieval Mongolia:

The starry sky was turning upon itself, The many people were in turmoil: They did not enter their beds to rest, But fought against each other.

The crusty earth was turning and turning, The entire nation was in turmoil: They did not lie on their coverlets to rest, But attacked each other.^[1364]

Such was the state of affairs when the future founder of the Mongol Empire, Chinggis Khan, was born.

His father was Yesugei-Baghatur—a descendant of the famous Mongol leader Khabul Khan. His mother was Hoelun from the Olkhunut tribe. Yesugei abducted her by force from the Mergids and made her his wife. When the child was born, he was named Temujin in honor of one of the enemies his father had vanquished. When he was nine years of age, Temujin was taken by his father to choose a wife. On the return trip, Yesugei encountered a Tatar who poisoned him with a drink. After his father's death, Temujin was obliged to return home to his mother. By this time, the majority of Yesugei's associates had decided to desert his family, dividing his herd among themselves in the process. This was a typical instance of a nomadic chiefdom's collapse. The betrayal of his fellow tribesmen inflicted a deep psychological trauma on Temujin. Subsequently, he would always look at relatives, even his closest ones, with suspicion and strived instead to rely on faithful friends and devoted soldiers.

A trying fate fell to his family's lot—to survive without livestock in the harsh conditions of the Mongolian climate. Hoelun was forced to take up gathering food, while the children had to catch fish. Leadership qualities already started to appear in Temujin during his adolescence. In the heat of an argument, he killed his brother and, as punishment, was bound and put into stocks.

Encouraged by these events, Temujin went to ask for the hand of his bride. Borte received a luxurious sable fur coat as a dowry. Temujin took this fur coat to the Kerait and presented it as a gift to the leader of the Kerait confederation, Toghrul (Wang Khan). In return, the resourceful youth requested patronage and protection. Touched by this display, Wang Khan recalled his former friendship with Yesügei and promised the young man support.

However, Temujin did not have long to delight in the embraces of his young bride. The Mergids, who had for many years plotted their revenge on Yesügei or his relatives, launched a surprise attack on Temujins camp. He was forced to abandon his young wife and hide in a thicket on the sacred mountain Burkhan Khaldun. It was here that he was most in need of friendship with a powerful patron. Temujin went to Wang Khan and another influential Mongol leader, Jamukha, for help. Jamukha was his peer and sworn brother (Mongolian: anda). Even in childhood, the two had exchanged presents and had promised to remain faithful to each other for their entire lives.

The Mergids did not expect the attack and were routed while the victorious coa­lition won considerable spoils. But Temujin was only concerned with his beloved. This is one of the most touching episodes in his biography. As it turned out, by the time Borte was freed from captivity, she was already pregnant with her first child. Despite the delicacy of the situation, Temujin acknowledged Jochi (lit. “guest”) as his own son. Shortly afterward, Temujins companions in arms decided to crown him as their khan. He received a new name and title: Chinggis Khan. Loyal nukers gathered around him. The first, embryonic retinue consisted of only 26 members, and was led by a trio of Chinggis Khan's closest associates—Bo'orchu, Jelme, and Subutai.

The subsequent history of the steppe is a kaleidoscope of raids and wars between various polities of nomads. Several times Chinggis Khan was on the verge of being completely defeated. However, he managed to hold out. His enemies fell. In 1206, on the banks of the Onon River, Chinggis Khan was proclaimed the ruler of the Great Mongol Nation (Mongolian: Yeke Mongol Ulus). He attempted to destroy the traditional system based on kinship and create a wholly new structure founded on the basis of personal loyalty. As a result, the decimal system (the division of mili­tary subdivisions into groups of 10, 100, and 1,000) was instituted. Initially, there were only 95 “thousands” created—they served as both the military and the ad­ministrative subdivisions of the imperial confederation. The tribes and chiefdoms of Chinggis Khan's long-standing allies, as well as those chiefdoms that voluntarily entered the imperial confederation, were able to preserve the old, clan-based struc­ture. The remaining tribes and chiefdoms were reshuffled and included into new “thousands.” Bo'orchu commanded the right “wing” of the empire, consisting of 38,000 soldiers. The left wing was under the leadership of Muqhali. In the left wing and the center there were a combined total of 62,000 men.

Chinggis Khan also created a personal retinue (keshik) numbering 10,000 warriors. They were assigned to guard the khan's chambers, property, and head­quarters; to direct the court' s servants; to supply the khan' s table with provisions; to participate in the khan's battues; and so on. The retinue was a forge of sorts for the cadres in the future imperial administration. To a certain extent, it is possible to re­gard the soldiers in the khan' s retinue as the embryo of the army' s officer corps and the government' s administrative apparatus.

Chinggis Khan's relatives were not deprived of their share either. He granted his mother and younger brother 10,000 yurts, his brother Hasar 4,000 yurts, and his sons Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedei, and Tolui, respectively, 9,000, 8,000, 5,000, and 5,000 yurts. In addition to this, special deputies were assigned to look after them, and they were required to report their every step to Chinggis Khan. The reason for this is rooted in the aforementioned events of his childhood, when he was faced with the betrayal of his relatives who abandoned his family after his father's death. Remembering this betrayal, Chinggis Khan invariably endeavored to rely on his loyal nukers instead of his relatives.

The handling of legal affairs was assigned to Sigi Qutuqu. Chinggis Khan also proclaimed a new code of behavior, which is usually called the Yasa. There is no con­sensus among researchers as to what exactly the Yasa was. Its original has been lost. The only extant information is found in various retellings and references by medieval Muslim historians. By all appearances, the Yasa was not a true written codex of laws. It was rather an aggregation of various dicta and orders of the khan, pronounced on a variety of occasions over the course of a long period of time. According to the great historian Juvaini, “These rolls are called the Great Book of Yasas and are kept in the treasury of the chief princes. Whenever a khan ascends the throne, or a great army is mobilized, or the princes assemble and begin [to consult together] concerning af­fairs of state and the administration thereof, they produce these rolls and model their actions thereon; and proceed with the disposition of armies or the destruction of provinces and cities in the manner therein prescribed.”^[1365] As time went on, the signifi­cance of the Yasa declined due to the disintegration of the Mongol Empire into several independent parts, in which local judicial traditions were of central importance.

Eventually the term “Mongols” spread and came to apply to all tribes and chiefdoms that were part of the steppe empire. Here is a classic example of constructivism— the creation of an ethnic community that occurs when one of the many ethnonyms becomes the name of an entire people, and separate tribes gradually begin to perceive themselves as a single ethnic community. This historical fact was noticed as far back as the fourteenth century by Rashid al-Din, compiler of the famous compendium Jami al-Tawarikh:

[Various] Turkish tribes, such as the Jalayir, Tatars, Oirats, Ongud, Kerait, Naimans, Tangut, and others, which all had their own name and special sobriquet—all these tribes call themselves “Mongols” out of self- praise, despite the fact that in antiquity they did not acknowledge this name. In this manner their current descendants im­agine that from the earliest times they were associated with the name “Mongols” and called [by that name]. But this is not so, for in antiquity the Mongols were only one tribe from the great number of Turkish tribes on the steppe.^[1366]

In 1210 Jurchen envoys demanded the payment of tribute from Chinggis Khan. In theory, the Mongols were still vassals of the Jin (Jurchen) Empire. However, the actual balance of forces between the north and south had shifted dramatically, and this epi­sode was used as a pretext for war. The following year, the Mongols invaded Jin terri­tory with two armies simultaneously. The epoch of great Mongol conquests started at this time. The Jurchens had 1,200,000 soldiers. Chinggis Khan had 139 “thousands.” Therefore, the ratio of forces was approximately 10 to one. However, the Jurchen army was dispersed across separate garrisons, while the Mongols could concentrate their forces at the main point of attack. They breached the wall and took the Western capital. The Mongol army's first victories led to the augmentation of their numbers, as defectors joined their forces.

The usual tactics of the Mongols came down to the following. The Mongol army formed several lines. The first lines were composed of heavily armed horsemen. Behind them were mounted archers. At the start of battle, the light cavalry would rain arrows upon the opponent from the flanks or from the gaps between the for­ward divisions. This steady stream of arrows falling from the sky was a good psycho­logical weapon (especially if some of the arrows were fitted with special whistlers) and could cause harm to a poorly equipped infantry. However, the efficacy of such arrow fire was rather low against an opponent equipped with proper armor.

The Mongols' crowning tactical ruse was the famous feigned retreat, when they sent forward several divisions to first skirmish with the enemy and then make as if to retreat. After this, when the enemy set off in pursuit hoping to pick off some easy prey, the Mongols took advantage of their enemy's stretched lines of communica­tion. The archers set about their task, showering the chasing foes with a cloud of arrows. The Mongols preferred fighting from a distance to overwhelming their op­ponent in close combat. It is possible that this was a result of the fact that the main part of their army was composed of lightly armed archers. The battle was then fin­ished off by the heavy cavalry, which first advanced at a light trot before picking up speed and crushing the tired and disordered opposing forces.

Every Mongol soldier was required to possess a full complement of equipment, including defensive and offensive armament, ropes, and pack animals, among other things. If something was found lacking during an inspection, the guilty party was harshly punished, and in some cases even the death penalty could be invoked.

Chinggis Khan imposed strict discipline and collective responsibility. If one soldier fled from the field of battle, then all 10 in his unit were punished. This system was cruel, but it proved to be very effective.

The Mongols embraced the tactics of total war and large-scale intimidation with the aim of demoralizing their enemy and crushing their fighting spirit. If a city put up any resistance whatsoever, then the Mongols would take no prisoners and slaughter everybody except talented craftsmen. While preparing for sieges, they utilized the local population (khashar, lit. “crowd”), whom they forced to operate giant ma­chinery, gather stones, procure wood, and build siege weaponry.

During the opening phase of military actions against the Jurchen, the Mongols suffered from a lack of experience and lack of specialized means for besieging cities. During the course of their first campaign against the Tangut, they attempted to flood the Tangut capital, but only managed to break the dam they had built and flood their own camp. However, the Mongols were quick studies in military matters. They started to incorporate Jurchen, Chinese, and Muslim engineers and craftsmen into their military units, and this quickly led to tangible results. The Mongols soon mastered cutting-edge military technologies—the construction of siege towers (including those with catapults); the usage of various projectile weapons that shot arrows, stones, and gunpowder-based missiles; the utilization of artillery on a mas­sive scale prior to the assault; the building of dams to flood the enemy's town; and the digging of tunnels under the enemy's walls.

There are various opinions about why the Mongol military was superior to the armies of other medieval states. Particularly widespread is the viewpoint that the nomads were born soldiers. The nomads were notable for their stamina and unpre­tentiousness, their keen vision, their ability to quickly orient themselves in new sur­roundings, and their mastery of horseback riding and archery, which were learned from youth. The Mongol bow was the most powerful bow in medieval times. Long hours of training during battues led to a high level of maneuverability and coor­dination within Mongol military divisions, as well as the capability to quickly re­organize and shift troops around the theater of operations. Their abilities in these aspects of war far surpassed those of their enemies.

But at the same time, it is necessary to take into consideration two important points. First, the nomads usually were inferior to the professional soldiers of settled agricultural societies (for example, the Mamluks) in their mastery of weapons used for close combat. Second, their ability to orient themselves in new surroundings and move quickly with a large number of packhorses was an advantage for the nomads only on the steppes or zones close to them (for example, in Rus'). It was an entirely different matter if the military action unfolded in unfamiliar conditions. Here the nomads lost their “home field advantage” and had to play by the rules of their oppo­nent. Such was the case during the two sea battles the Yuan armada fought against Japan. A similar thing happened in the Middle East, when they suffered defeat at the hands of the Mamluks.

The Mongols' first campaigns won them a huge amount of plunder. The Jurchen emperor paid an enormous war indemnity of10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 pieces of gold. After this, Chinggis Khan set his sights on the lands of the Khwarazmian dynasty to the west. In September 1219, 150,000 Mongol horsemen set off for Otrar. The stronghold was taken in five months' time. Other cities of Central Asia were razed soon after—Bukhara (1219), Samarkand (1220), and Urgench (1221). And in 1226-1227 the Tangut state of Western Xia was conquered.

In 1227, during the siege of the capital of Western Xia, Chinggis Khan died. According to one version, he hurt himself by falling from his horse not long before his death. In another account, he passed away from an illness that swiftly ran its course. A third story tells of the curse inflicted on him by the leader of the Tanguts. There is even an exotic legend that, similar to the case of Attila the Hun, Chinggis Khan was slain by the hand of a young, captive Tangut princess. The burial place of Chinggis Khan is also unknown. The funeral of the empire's founder took place in secret. According to legend, after the funeral ceremony, everyone who participated in it was slain, and a herd of horses was driven over the grave so that no one could ever find the place of burial. Some sources place his grave in Altai. Another version has it that he was buried in his homeland near the sacred mountain of Burkhan Khaldun. Buddhist monks consider his place of interment to be Ordos.