WARRIORS

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

The Fearsome Mongolian Horse Archers

Mongolian horse archers were feared by everyone. Their horsebows were very powerful and accurate and they could bring down their enemy up to 160 meters away, while galloping at 45mph.

The warriors could survive on very little food, they wore lamellar armor and could travel many miles each day.

Mongol archery was a type of archery practiced by the nomadic horsemen of the Mongolian steppe, typically Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols and Turkmens.

Mongolian horse archers are iconic figures in western archery history. The horse archer was a feared warrior because of his incredible skill with the bow and were central to the Mongolian army. 

A Mongolian army generally only fought during the summer so the rest of the time the soldiers would stay in their own gers (yurt) and tend to their animals.

The Mongols were able to travel miles and miles without any problem thanks to their horses and they could move at a rate of 10 miles a day and still be strong enough to engage in battle when faced with an enemy.

When going into battle, a Mongolian army would line up in several different areas.

The first row would contain all the bowmen and each row behind them had fewer bowmen than the row before it.These archers were feared warriors because, over hundreds of years, they had perfected the art of the bow and the arrow as a weapon on horseback and utilized tactics and strategies far more advanced than any other army. 

They possessed the ability to bring down the enemy while riding at full gallop from 80 to 160 meters away. They carried composite bows made of horn, wood and sinew, unlike the wooden self bows like those used by english longbowmen. They also carried a quiver of 18 arrows with bone or metal points, and wore lamellar armor made from wood and leather.

Who Were The Mongols?

Mongols helped make up the numerous nomadic groups who inhabited in the large open grassland planes of Eurasia: the Steppe. All of these nomads, including the Mongols, engaged in war with each other on a regular basis, primarily for control of power, and hardly ever consolidated under the control of a single leader. 

Mongol society insisted that hunting, horseback riding and archery were skills that all successful people, including women, must master. 

Culturally, Mongols accepted the behavior and language from other steppe tribes as well as their larger, settled neighbors being the Chinese and the Koreans.

The Mongols were feared and respected through the unbelievable ferocity that they took to war as well as their freakish ability to live on almost no food.

Who Was Genghis Khan and What Did He Do?

Genghis khan was the legendary leader of the Mongol Empire and during his life he was responsible for the deaths of up to 40 million people.

A brutal and ruthless man, Genghis khan was a merciless warlord who controlled most of the known world in a brutal military campaign.

The Mongolian empire under his command expanded to an astonishingly large territory, stretching from China to the Mediterranean sea.

Genghis Khan is regarded as one of the most influential people in history, and one of the greatest conquerors as well. When he acceded to the throne in 1206, he unified the Mongol tribes and forged a huge empire.

Through the sheer terror that he wrought in his enemies and allies alike, he managed to create an empire that was as large as the whole of Europe.

In order to maintain such a vast territory, Genghis Khan established effective communication lines between his regions and developed an efficient transport system. He introduced a service that enabled riders to deliver messages throughout the empire safely and quickly.

In addition, he used modern methods to protect his territory.

Khan learnt how to ride horses at an early age, before learning to fight. He started off doing basic drills and manoeuvres but quickly progressed to attacking live prisoners and animals while on horseback.

How Genghis Khan Died

It’s widely believed that he died an old man of 80.

So How Did Such a Powerful Leader Die?

There are many myths surrounding Genghis khan’s death, but scholars now widely believe that he succumbed to dysentery.

It is possible that he was poisoned on account of his unpopular with the aristocracy. It is also possible that he was assassinated by being thrown off a cliff.

Whichever the cause, Genghis khan was certainly a founder who built an empire that would stretch from Europe to modern day China.

Mongolian Foot Archery

In addition to horse archery, the Mongolian foot archery warriors were also feared warriors because they were the first to combine all many fighting elements into war. In addition to hand-to-hand combat training, Mongolian foot archers underwent intense training in mounted and unmounted archery.

Their archery techniques were very advanced, they used a thumb ring for shooting and a thumb guard for protection. The thumb ring was usually made of silver on some occasions it was made of hemp.

The unmounted archer training consisted of many different exercises, including ~

• Shooting at a target
• Shooting with the wind or against the wind
• Shooting while walking
• Shooting on the move. 
• There were foot drills as well and these might involve ~
• Drawing the bow with both arms and releasing an arrow with each arm
• Shooting while squatting or kneeling

Training with two or three arrows at once.

Mongolian riders learned to ride without stirrups. Foot archers used their feet to unstring their bows after firing an arrow. Mongolian riders were also trained to be able to shoot from horseback.

Mongolian Archery Technique

Ancient Mongolian archery techniques – the ancient Mongolians were masters of the art of archery. their techniques were very advanced and many of them were centuries ahead of their time.

The Mongolians used the same bows and arrows, with a few variations, as their ancestors when hunting or in battle.

They preferred using composite bows over longbows because the longbows required great strength and a lot of training to draw them properly. they believed that drawing the longbow string back to the ear was the equivalent of lifting a heavy weight.

The tension on a composite bow can be adjusted by changing the thickness of the bow string.

Why Were the Mongols So Successful?

The Mongols were the most successful horsemen in history. Their various military accomplishments and tactics are still studied in military academies today. Their global empire spanned over 3,000 miles and lasted a mere century or so, but their influence on global history is undeniable. 

What Made Them So Successful?

They used three different styles of bows and a variety of arrows. The bows used were the powerful composite bow, a recurve bow, and a longbow.

The Mongols also had the best horses in the world so they could move faster than their enemies. 

The Mongol chainmail armor was very tough and lightweight and in order to improve accuracy, they practiced shooting using smaller targets.

Most people would agree that Mongolian horse archers were some of the most fearsome warriors in history.

Feudal European knights feared them, and their contemporaries in Mongolia and China greatly respected their abilities.

It’s Not Hard to See Why!

If you think about it, each Mongol warrior was essentially a one-man army on horseback. Every male Mongol was expected to master riding, shooting, and fighting from horseback with a variety of weapons.

The Mongols mastered the most advanced composite bow in the world at that time. The war bow was of laminated construction which gave it greater power than any other bow, until the advent of gunpowder. 

Mongolian bows were even constructed using recurved designs, making them more powerful than the medieval English longbow.

Are Mongolian Bows Good?

Mongolian bows are often called horsebows as they were traditionally used on horseback, as one can imagine the bow and arrow was a much more effective weapon when shots could be made from a galloping horse.

Traditional Mongolian horsebows are very powerful and accurate, because they have a very large amount of draw weight and a short draw span. The traditional Mongol bows are made entirely of natural materials without any metal parts.

They are very powerful, and can be drawn to the ear and held in full position for a long period of time without discomfort.

They are relatively short recurve bows, usually made of hardwood or laminated wood and horn. Draw weight is around 50-70lbs, with an overall length of 56-65”.

Mongolian recurve bows hold up well to extended use.

Mongolians were hard on their equipment and the bows were often repaired numerous times during battle before being discarded.

How Powerful Were Mongol Bows?

All through history, the horse has become ‘a given’ in cultures all around the globe. The bow and arrow, as well as the art of archery, have become a comparable symbolism throughout Mongolian history.

Archery has been practised in Mongolia since the region’s earliest recorded history. It also has a long history in many places, where it played an important role in the rise and collapse of dynasties.

Mongolians have made composite bows for their armies through history. Composite bows were  cemented together with a material taken from fish bladders and were made of wood, sinew, and horn.

One  bow might take a year or more to be correctly made as a result of the glue’s curing requirements. This ensures that the bow is robust with ability to keep on performing at its best for long periods of time.

This bow is unique in that its string sits on the limbs after releasing, this is the feature that distinguishes it from any other bow. These composite bows were also somewhat shorter than others, and this uniqueness ensured that the bows had the maximum power and draw length posible.

Mongol Bows Were Extremely Powerful

The majority of Mongolians sported a ring on their index and middle fingers to shield their fingers.  Their bows were pulled to a much greater length, which resulted in a lot more power.

As a result, pressure was applied to the finger, and the ring shielded it from injury. Their rings were usually made of horn and had a forward-pointing tab. A notch was carved out of the tab on some rings to retain the string. This resulted in the thumb never coming in contact with the string.

The forefingers of European archers was generally used to draw the string however, by utilising a thumb ring, a Mongol archer could draw the string with their thumb. 

Mongol archers were well known for using this particular style of drawing their string. They would grip the string with their palm facing down, and their thumb would fall under the arrow.

At this point in time the string the string should be centred on the thumb ring. The archer’s index finger is then positioned on the tip of the thumb and the other fingers are positioned in the palm.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking